Tag Archives: learning

Write Out and Data

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I spent the morning with writing project colleagues–writing, reading, thinking, and talking. It was the first of our virtual study groups. Participants chose from one of three books: Tell Your Story, Writer to Writer, and Cultures of Thinking in Action. We started the morning as a whole group, writing our way into the day and then moving into breakout groups to share our writing and to connect with our colleagues. Each of our three meetings will also offer a “taste” of one of the books. This morning, it was Writer to Writer. We learned about Exploration Boards (in workshop 4). One of my take-aways was that data could work as a writing prompt.

I keep thinking about the ocean and all the devastating impacts our current climate crisis is wreaking. The warm waters that I love are devastating our kelp forests and the ecosystem they provide for numerous species. The awe-inspiring sightings of orcas off our coast are the result of ocean changes that are disrupting food chains and contributing to starvation events for sea birds.

We often think about storms as the cause of flood events, but along the coastline tidal changes can cause huge amounts of devastation. An instagram reel I watched this morning was a vivid reminder of the havoc high tides can cause. I love a low tide–and we have some low ones coming this week that will provide an amazing walking beach and maybe even some tide pooling opportunities.

But those low tides also mean very high tides. It means that the trains that run along the coast will not be running for fear of the wave activity impacting the railroad tracks. It means coastal flooding of roads, dangers to homes, and potential cliff collapses.

When I open my weather app, I see a coastal flood warning right below the temperature. Combined with this graph from my tide app, I can see that very high tides are the reason. How often do we use charts and graphs of data to help us understand information? How often do we offer this kind of data to students? How can making sense of data also become a writing prompt? What kind of data is relevant to your place and can help those who live there take action?

My beautiful walk on the low tide beach today also became a time for thinking about data and fueled my writing about the (literal) ups and downs of the ocean.

It was a gorgeous day on the beach, in spite of my ongoing worries about our coastal environment.

Write Out in Learning Spaces

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Some days getting outside is less about a walk on the beach and more about walking among buildings, on paved paths, up and down stairs, places where concrete, steel, and glass outnumbers the trees.

After last night’s rain, the clouds put on a show. They gathered and hovered, swooped and curved, showing off against the brilliant blue sky lighted with October’s still-warm sun.

Feeling a bit stuck about what to write today, I turned to the Write Out mentor text list. I found Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s For This I walk Outside and borrowed the line Outside everything is teacher: to get started.

I can never get enough of the spectacular architecture and whimsical Stuart art collection at UCSD. The Geisel library and Fallen Star caught my eye–especially with the clouds nestled up against them.

Outside everything is teacher:

clouds bubbling

swaths of cotton

nestled low

cuddling with straight lines

and sharp angles

rising in this human-made

environment

I count snake path scales

and scale hundreds of stairs

hiking skyscrapers

as I watch clouds race

each other across the sky

today the show is outside

between the raindrops

and slant of sun

the lessons keep falling

like raindrops

like wafting fog

like screaming Santa Ana winds

like abundant sunshine

and cool ocean breezes

I walk through the school of life

taking in all that is outside

#writeout #writewherewestand #mentortext #learning

What are you learning with the outdoors as your teacher? Where are the lessons falling?

Blogging on the Beach

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On this 31st day of the Two Writing Teachers’ Slice of Life challenge I’ve been thinking about the lessons that daily writing for a public audience offers and why I continue to choose to write and publish on my blog every day in March.

1. There is something incredibly special about this particular community of writers. There is a kind of welcome that encourages participation even when I feel like an imposter as a writer. Those who comment manage to find a nugget of meaning and bring it to my attention, fueling that desire to continue and teaching me to comment thoughtfully as well.

2. Even when I write every day, writing doesn’t get easier. It feels hard to have something to say that others may want to read. It’s different than writing in a journal for your eyes only, public-facing adds a different kind of pressure.

3. But, when I do commit to everyday writing I wake each day with an expectation of writing. Every moment becomes potential fodder for my writing, from elephants and play to the fun of sending and receiving postcards to the lost art of knot tying. Living a writerly life means paying attention to the little things, breathing them in so I can exhale words on the page.

4. Writing everyday makes me a different kind of reader. I notice the way other writers use language, how they develop topics, what they say and don’t say… And I don’t confine myself to books. I’m reading song lyrics, advertising copy, overheard conversations, notes scrawled on the sides of buildings and bathroom stalls…

5. When I’m writing every day, there is no perfect place or setup for accomplishing my writing. I write on airplanes, in the few minutes before I need to set up for a Zoom meeting, when I should be writing report cards, and even on the beach. Luckily my blogging app makes it pretty easy to at least get a draft going no matter where I am.

6. And I’m convinced that daily writing makes me a better teacher of writing. I’m living writing as a process…and knowing that on the other side I am also producing a product. Just like my students know that at least some of their writing will be read by someone else, I, too, expect that someone will read what I write. Writing for myself is important, but writing for others is another aspect of writing to consider whether I am writing emails, reports, newsletters, poetry, or even social media posts. Understanding writing from the inside out helps me make writing instruction more playful and responsive and is an important reminder of the power of words across contexts.

With March done, it’s time for National Poetry Month. Will I continue to write and post throughout April? That’s the plan—with the help of Verselove. Thanks Two Writing Teachers community, I hope to see many of you as we continue into April.

Be a Tree

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Earlier this week I read the book, Be a Tree by Maria Gianferrari to my first grade students. I’m so fortunate to have an amazing librarian at my school who seems to know just what books I’d love to read before I’ve ever heard of them! Anyway, Be a Tree is a gorgeous book that is a blending of factual information about trees and metaphorical thinking and comparisons of humans and their communities to trees and their ecosystems. And the illustrations by Felicita Sala are worth just sitting and poring over.

I mentioned last week that I had taught my students some photography techniques, one of which was the bug’s eye view. So after reading and examining the photos in Be a Tree, we took out our sketch books and practiced drawing a forest (okay, 2 or three trees) from a bug’s eye view…with a real focus on the trunk, looking up like a bug would from the ground. Then we also took some times to think and write a list of all the ways we need and use trees.

The next day we sketched our forest again, this time on larger watercolor paper and then used oil pastels to blend colors to create texture and depth on the trunks and branches. Today we pulled out our watercolor trays to paint in the backgrounds. Honestly, the results have exceeded my expectations.

First graders also tried their hand at writing some tree metaphors. Here’s a few:

The roots can be the tentacles of an octopus.

Trees shake their branches like hands waving.

Pine trees are as sharp as mountain tops.

Tree bark is as brown as chocolate ice cream.

I love watching students grasp a new technique and/or way of thinking. Their ability to identify a metaphor is currently much stronger than their ability to generate one of their own. But that’s all part of the learning process. and the beauty of giving space to try on new ideas.

And there’s nothing better than wrapping all this learning in an appreciation of nature and all that it offers. There’s so much to learn from trees…and kids.

Math Walking: SOL25 Day 26

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There’s nothing I like better than extending the walls of the classroom and taking learning out into the world…or at least outdoors around our campus.

And you might know, I love to take photos. I like to share my passions with my students, so I also teach my students to take photos. What could be better than combining going outside with math and photography?

We headed outside yesterday morning in search of odd. My students have learned about odd and even numbers and are getting pretty good at feeling confident that they know which is which (even as numbers get quite large). I set a few parameters for them:

  • They had to take 5 photos–and only 5 photos (using their iPads)
  • They had to find examples of different odd numbers
  • They were to use a photography technique they had learned
  • There could be no humans in their photos
  • They were not allowed to move things to get to “odd”
  • They could not take a photo of 1
  • They could only venture as far as where they could see me and I could see them

At that point, the fun began. At our first stop on the playground, most students were immediately drawn to our wall ball courts and saw 3 right away. Many of them aimed their lens and took photo number one.

But then they started to notice other numbers. Some students found large numbers (by counting windows), some found interesting images. There was quite a variety.

I listened as they negotiated with each other about the number they saw. Some realized they had miscounted, others clarified their understanding of odd and even through conversation with a classmate. They looked up, knelt low, got close, and angled out from afar.

We returned to the classroom and examined our work. Each student picked a favorite photo to share–we are in the process of putting together a display of odd for our classroom wall.

I’m already thinking about our next math walk. Maybe we’ll focus on triangle…

Teachers and Unicorns: NPM24 Day 13

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A brain dump. That’s what Barbara asked us to do as part of the #verselove poetry prompt for today. And I don’t think I followed the rules at all. Maybe my poem isn’t a poem at all or maybe it is an 100 word prose poem or even a manifesto in the making. Whatever it is, it was fun to write. There might be some more there there.

Teachers and Unicorns

They tell me I’m a unicorn. A serious person who believes that learning should be fun–should be real. Experiences immersive: audio, visual, tactile, numerical, connected. Classroom walls don’t contain learning. A serious person who believes that play is essential. For children in and out of school and for adults too. That reading and writing and math and science are all opportunities for play and playfulness. School is a place for making–friends, memories, art, poems… Where processes are more important than products and where kids matter. I’m a teaching unicorn who’s serious about the joy of learning. We need more unicorns.

Big…a mini review: SOL24 Day 6

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I love picture books. I do have some old favorites, but I am passionate about reading my students newer books, especially those that represent positions and characters that haven’t historically gotten enough attention. In some years I look for stories that help my students see themselves, in other years I look for ways for my students to see beyond themselves.

We have an amazing school librarian who has been making an effort to make sure the teachers know about new books–especially those that represent diverse experiences and address issues of equity and inclusion. Big by Vashti Harrison was a book I had been hearing some buzz about, but I hadn’t yet come across it in person. So when I saw it in the basket of books in the teacher’s lounge, I had to pick it up. As I began to read it, surrounded by my colleagues chatting and eating, I felt drawn into a quiet place. It was just me and the words and images. My breathing slowed, my heart raced, and I could feel tears welling. The careful selection of words and the powerful, beautiful pictures grabbed hold of my heart. I needed to read this book to my first grade students, even though not a single one of them can be described as “big” in these terms. Maybe that’s why this book seemed perfect for them.

My class tends to run on the chatty side. They have a lot to say about everything. As I opened this book and started to read I heard a few comments about the baby, but as I got a few pages in a hush settled over the classroom. I watched students lean in, faces serious. When we got to the pages with no words (a powerful series of images), it was almost as if they were holding their breath. They stayed quiet and seemed to have a communal exhale as the book ended. After a breath or two, they had some things to say. They felt sad for the girl in the story and they were thinking hard about how the words had hurt her.

I read this book for a second time this week (I read it for the first time to students on Monday) because this book has so much to say. Again, my students settled into quiet attention. They paid close attention to the illustrations, noticing the use of color and space…and the ways that words were also part of the illustrations. We talked a bit about my favorite page…the one where the girl has a hand full of their hateful words and says, “These are yours. They hurt me.” as she hands them back to the people who used them.

This book won the Caldecott award and is a Coretta Scott King honor title and I can see why. I highly recommend this book not just for younger children, but for people of all ages. Bias–both implicit and explicit is something we can all learn more about and pay attention to in our daily interactions, especially as educators. And don’t miss the author’s note at the end! Add Big to your TBR pile today!

Sunshine on a Rainy Day: SOL24 Day 2

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My alarm rang early on a Saturday. Today was our San Diego Area Writing Project Spring Conference! Before I got out of my cozy, warm bed I checked the weather app on my phone. Drizzle. Drizzle is not really rain, right? I decided against dressing for rain and opted for my Vans tennies and some black almost dressy pants to go with my cute sweater top. (I would have to open the conference, but I also had to walk a good bit to get from the parking structure to the conference venue on the UCSD campus.

About 5 minutes before I was planning to head out, I looked out the door and changed my mind. That was NOT drizzle–even by Southern CA standards, that is called rain! I rushed back to my bedroom, kicked off the Vans, changed into jeans with skinny legs so that I could pull on my cowboy boots–the dressier footwear option for rainy conditions–and then headed out the door wearing my raincoat with my umbrella in my bag.

With windshield wipers on high, I braved the slick freeway and low visibility, and as I approached the university, the weather began to clear. The ground was wet and puddly as I walked from the parking garage, but the sky had cleared a bit and it wasn’t even drizzling.

It’s hard to get up on a rainy Saturday morning to attend professional development–even when it is self-selected. But I knew once I arrived that the energy of the participants and presenters would carry me through. And I was right. Our morning keynote by our own Christine Kane focused on the value of conversation, how the best conversations reveal things about ourselves both to those we are conversing with and to ourselves as well. She referenced David Brook’s newest book, How to Know a Person, and shared some of his advice about being a “loud listener.” She also reminded us of the Chinese symbol for listening which includes the eyes (to see), the ears (to hear), the mind (to think), undivided attention (to focus), and the heart (to feel).

Screenshot

What a perfect set up for being conference participants! The three sessions I attended were excellent! Even with 35 years of teaching under my belt, I felt inspired and motivated by gems of wisdom and practice shared by the presenters. I enjoyed my interactions with fellow participants and left the conferences knowing it was a morning well spent.

My drive back home included one surprise rain shower along the way, but as I headed off the freeway toward my house, the sky was bluing and the sun was shining. As I stepped out of my car into the driveway I was greeted by tiny yellow suns sprouting right out of the driveway cracks. Dandelions! I couldn’t resist kneeling down to capture their light and glow. Nothing like a bit of sunshine on a rainy day!

Prime Learning: NPM23 Day 11

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Prime numbers, creating limits and brevity of language, a structure to build with. Many thanks to Erika at #verselove for a prompt that asks us to craft a poem that explores an abstract concept using lines built of prime numbers. I’m not sure that everyone will agree with me, but I see learning as an abstract concept–one that is hard to pin down and define. As one who spends all day with young learners, I’m constantly reminding myself to get out of the way and let the learners in my room do their thing. I’m not quite satisfied with my effort–and I really wanted to end up with a prime total. Maybe I’ll get some feedback that can lead me back in that direction!

Prime Learning

Define learning: Time for play, messing and making, hands in and hands on

like water through stone, it will find its way through to joy

explore, engage, express — get out of the way

if you let learning happen

pitched squeals of delight

in their eyes

wonder

Nerdy Fun: SOL23 Day 27

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I’ll admit it. Sometimes I’m a bit of a nerd. As a classroom teacher, I love it when the date does something interesting. And this month has offered a big bonanza. Sometime earlier this school year we had a date that was a palindrome (honestly, I don’t remember exactly when, but I do remember the conversation with my students). In case you are wondering, a palindrome is a number, word, or phrase that reads the same backwards and forwards–mom is an example of a palindrome word, 3223 is an example of a palindrome number. So last Monday (3-20-23) I was delighted when one of my students pointed out that the date was a palindrome. Then I heard the murmuring, kids were talking to each other, something was brewing. Then someone piped up with…we”re going to have palindrome dates until we get to March 30th.

Brilliant! Not only did they pick up on the palindrome date, they also noticed that the trend would continue…for the next ten days!

Today, the student who has a birthday on Thursday pointed out that his was a palindrome birthday–and the last day of our current string of palindromes. Then another student shared that today was her grandma’s birthday and they had celebrated with her yesterday, highlighting her palindrome birthday. They even gifted her with a robe that had the date (32723) embroidered on it!

I so love when students carry our uniquely nerdy learning home with them. I’ve been making such a big deal out of how wonderful it is to notice a palindrome date, how fun it is to write a palindrome date, how cool it is to have a palindrome birthday… And now I am hearing students figuring out when (and if) they have a palindrome birthday coming…and Grandma’s birthday with a palindrome theme? That is the best!

I think I have three years before I get a palindrome birthday…here’s to 2026!