Tag Archives: writing

Murphy’s Law

You’ve heard it before:

If something can go wrong, it will

It’s Murphy’s Law. And as an optimist, that isn’t my attitude about most things. Today is Veteran’s Day, a holiday from work, and so my husband and I set off for the movie theater to watch Interstellar. We are not frequent movie watchers–it takes uninterrupted, focused time to watch a movie. But we do enjoy movies when we make time for them. I knew going in today that this movie was a long one (three hours long), so I settled in, hoping it would be good enough to keep my attention. Right from the start I liked the young character…Murphy. A ten year old girl whose brother teased her about being named for Murphy’s Law. Her father (Matthew McConaughey) assures her that Murphy’s Law is a good thing:

anything that can happen, will happen

And so I was enjoying the movie, it was building to a critical juncture at about two hours in…when the fire alarm in the movie theater went off! The movie stopped, the lights came up, and the loudspeakers asked everyone to exit the building. My first thought was, oh no…I really want to see how the movie ends! People poured out the exits, wondering how they would see the ending of the movie. Most people seemed to think it was likely a false alarm, no one seemed particularly worried about fire.

As we walked back around to the front of the theater, we could smell smoke. Lots of people were milling around, not sure what to do about the incomplete movie. Asking some theater employees, we found out that the Icee machine had gone up in smoke…and we could smell the resulting burn.

We looked up and saw two police car race up the driveway with sirens sounding and lights flashing. Not long after, fire trucks began to arrive.

It was clear that there was no active fire, so the firefighters went through procedures to clear the smoke and ensure the theater was safe.

It was clear that it would take a while for this to happen, so after being reassured that our ticket stubs would be honored to see the movie at a later date, we headed off to enjoy the rest of our day off…without knowing how the movie ends!

It was definitely a Murphy’s Law kind of moment. And when I ran into a couple of my students who had also evacuated from their movie, I found myself thinking about how the fire drills we have at school actually served them well in this situation. They knew about evacuating, they were calm and matter of fact about seeing the fire engines and firefighters…they put their drill experience to use.

Don’t tell me what happens in Interstellar, I’ll be heading back to the theater later this week to see it…even though I’ll have to start from the beginning again! This three-hour movie is turning into a five hour event for me…it better be worth it. Murphy’s Law at work!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Time Change

1 Reply

Do you speak in images? Enjoy taking photos to document your experiences or just to express what you notice in the world? Love to share them with others? Welcome to the weekly photo challenge! I post a new challenge each week…check in regularly and join the fun!

I’m not a fan of the time change in the fall. I mean, I love getting the bonus hour…for sleep, walking, exploration, photography…but I hate getting home when it is dark, especially when it isn’t even 5pm! But in this first week of the time change, I have found some interesting images BECAUSE of the time change.

I’ve been trying to squeeze more time for physical exercise into my life…and this week I’ve been carrying my gym shoes so I can take the time for a walk at the end of the day. Earlier this week I had a late meeting near UCSD, so when I finished my regular work day I put my gym shoes on and took a nice long walk around the campus. As the sun dipped lower and lower into the sky, I loved watching the way it caressed the buildings and played hide and seek through the trees.

In this image, the low sun found its way through the tall buildings, lighting up the midsection of the eucalyptus trees in front of them.

In this shot, the harsh setting sun created a flare of light as I shot directly into it. Using an app to convert it to black and white created a neat effect with the light.

The Geisel Library at UCSD is such an architecturally interesting building that I couldn’t resist framing some shots. You can see the sun setting behind the building in this shot focused toward the west. Again, I changed it to black and white, creating lines of light framing the building.

And as I walked I noticed the moon rising. I chased it through the trees, tracking it down when it hid behind buildings. And as I circled back toward the library, I found the moon sitting on its shoulder with the colorful afterglow of sunset in the background. This image is almost otherworldly!

Yesterday I was at school late, after all, it is report card season. And it’s hard to stay focused on work as the classroom gets darker and darker as the sun sets. About a half hour after the sunset, my teaching partner and I headed out…and looked out toward the end of the hall and saw the most incredible colors in the sky. Brilliant oranges sat on the deep turquoise sea, and even as I took the time to snap a few images I knew that my camera would not do justice to the intensity of the colors.

And here is one more, looking across the field at the baseball backstop with the ocean just beyond.

How has the time change impacted you? What are you seeing and capturing in your photos that are because of the time change? My pictures happen to take place as the sun went down, but I can imagine that the morning light is also different, changing what you see.

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!)

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #timechange for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

How did you take advantage of your extra hour? What are you noticing now that our days are shorter and our nights longer? I look forward to seeing the time change through your lens!

Playing with Constraints: Twitter Memoir

3 Replies

There is something about constraints that create conditions for creativity…especially when I’m just getting started with something. Jeremy, a colleague over at the NWP iAnthology last week offered as a writing prompt an invitation to write a memoir in 140 characters…a tweet! Here’s his directions:

One of the activities that I have my students do is something called a Twitter Memoir. It is a way for me to scaffold with my students on writing memoirs. We slowly build from 140 characters to 25 word memoirs, then 50 word memoirs. Finally they write their full blown memoir about a personal experience in their life. Many of my students are not on Twitter, but as I am introducing this exercise, I get a few to sign-up. I don’t require my students to be on Twitter because I have a Tweet board in my classroom where they can post their Twitter Memoirs.

So, I challenge you this week to write a short 140 character memoir. It does not have to be on Twitter. For the sake of simplicity let’s just write them here at the iAnthology. Also, if you want to know more about this process you can check out the book Troy Hicks and I co-authored titled Create, Compose, Connect. Have a blast doing this, my students do!

I was intrigued by the idea of a memoir in 140 characters and spent some time composing. I was able to whittle down to 140 characters…but realized that I wouldn’t have room for hashtags if I used all the allowed characters. So I trimmed some more hoping to get down to a point where I could include a hashtag like #ce14 (for connected educator month) or #digiwrimo (for digital writing month). I finally posted this Twitter memoir in the iAnthology prompt space, I wasn’t able to get the characters quite small enough for the hashtags I wanted to include.

Here it is. It includes 138 characters (spaces, punctuation, and letters)…and it happens to be exactly 25 words, so it fits two of the criteria Jeremy set out.

With phone in hand I explore my world, snapping photos, collecting thoughts & ideas, searching for new vantages. Through images I connect.

And of course, it wouldn’t be complete without a photo! (This one is from an urban hike on Sunday…just beyond my neighborhood.)

What will your Twitter memoir say about you? Can you craft it to include a mere 140 characters? I’d love to see yours…on your blog or on Twitter! (You can find me @kd0602) I’m going to tweet this post that includes my Twitter memoir…and include some of my hashtags along with the link. I hope you’ll share yours with me too!

Once Upon a Time…Photos That Tell Stories: November’s Photo-a-Day Challenge

2 Replies

Stories are a way of understanding the world, making sense of our experience, and connecting with the experiences of others.

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” – Joan Didion

And even when we experience an event in common, our story of it varies. (I notice that my sister and I have very different stories of our childhood, even though we grew up in the same house, in the same neighborhood, with the same parents!)

“It takes a thousand voices to tell a single story.” – Native American saying

We often think of stories as made of words…but images tell stories too. There are the fairy stories of life among the mushrooms and delicate petals of flowers.

Stories are elaborated by the teller, based on their own experiences and background knowledge. A single image can result in innumerable stories…this image could be an innocent flower bud, a ravenous man-eating plant, or even a robot designed to grab intruders as they enter the grounds.

In some photos we recognize the heroine and anticipate the plot twists. At other times the story shifts and the unexpected happens.

Does this image depict the narrative of professional development, teachers working together to solve problems and provide support to students?

Sometimes a setting alone can create mood and tone for the story about to unfold like this sunshine through the fall foliage.

Action can be shown in subtle ways…in hands to the face, tools strewn around, even the position of the feet.

And light and reflection can also add to the action, foreshadowing events yet to come…

Sometimes the image suggests the music you can hear in the background, in this case a happy, upbeat song of youthful energy.

Others bring tension, that sense that something is coming. Will the doctor diagnose a terminal illness or is this a skeleton that will reach out and grab someone?

What photos have you taken that tell stories? Here’s a list of prompts to help you think about stories and consider as you take photos this month.

1. Character

2. Plot

3. Setting

4. Foreshadowing

5. Suspense

6. Words

7. Narrative

8. Point of view

9. Fantasy

10. Fairy tale

11. Mystery

12. Science Fiction

13. Music

14. Symbolism

15. Narrator

16. Action

17. Humor

18. Hyperbole

19. Happy Ending

20. Heroine or Hero

21. Fable

22. Drama

23. Mood

24. Memoir

25. Fiction

26. Nonfiction

27. Journalism

28. Moral

29. Tension

30. Villain

So go out and take photos that tell a story and then post a photo each day with the hashtag #sdawpphotovoices to Twitter, Instagram, Flicker, Google+ and/or Facebook (the more the better!), so that we can all enjoy the posts. If you are game for some more playfulness, write the story that the photo tells, compose a blog post about a photo, a week’s worth of photos, write a photo essay, or make a video or slideshow. You are invited to create a pingback by linking to this url or post your blog address in the comment section. It’s fun for me to see what others are doing with the same prompts I am using!

Be on the lookout for stories this month…in a single photo or in a series. (You might even try a 5-image story.) You can post every day, once a week, or even sporadically throughout the month…whatever works in your life. You can play this game by posting your pictures in the order of the prompts or post the one you find on the day you find it. You get to make your own rules! Be sure to share and tag your photos with #sdawpphotovoices so we can find them! So go out and use you lens as a story telling tool. I can’t wait for you to share the stories you find through your lens!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curiosity

4 Replies

When I am out with my camera, I notice things in the world that I somehow overlook as I go about my daily business…and I find myself asking questions and wondering about so many things. I think my neighbors must think I am crazy when they see me out in the middle of my lawn as I head out to work, crouched low with my phone in hand, trying to photograph the strange little gray mushroom that somehow cropped up overnight. Where did it come from? Why is it gone before I get home in the afternoon?

The macro lens constantly piques my curiosity. It’s amazing when you are able to bring what’s ordinarily too small to notice to full scale. I love the layers of stacked petals on this mum. I can see why Georgia O’Keeffe painted so many big pictures of flowers!

I didn’t have my macro handy for this shot…and I doubt the butterfly would have stood still enough for me to get close anyway. I was curious when I saw this monarch in Raleigh…just like I do at home in San Diego. What is the ideal habitat for monarchs? Is it about temperature? Available food sources? Are they native to both places?

I’m also curious about learning and how to best support it. We like to have our students sketch, especially when looking closely at something real. This is a sketch of an aspen leaf (not commonly found in our area). I like the way this student paid careful attention to detail, both in the contour shape and in the placement of the veins that run through it.

And what is it about bubbles that draw our attention and make us smile? We use bubbles in the classroom as a way to celebrate birthdays…the birthday child gets to pop bubbles we blow as the kids sing. It always brings a sense of joy and a big smile–to the birthday child and to the rest of us too! Is it the translucent hint of color or the temporary nature of these fragile balls that delight us?

What has piqued your curiosity lately? Has something stopped you in your tracks, to crouch low, drop your guard, and focus that lens? What are you still thinking about long after the photo has been snapped?

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #curiosity for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

So now I am curious about what makes your curious! What are you noticing? What has gone from ordinary to extraordinary as you paid more attention? I can’t wait to see curiosity through your lens!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Wonder

1 Reply

As I headed out my front door this morning a dew covered dandelion puff caught my eye. I was filled with wonder as I noticed the heaviness of the strands of fluff and I couldn’t wait to put my work things in my car so I could head back over to take a photo. Seeing the dew all over my car and windows, I decided to start my car, squeegee the windows and then set up my macro lens to capture that image. At that moment, as I sat in the driver’s seat and pushed the button to start my ignition, my car let out a short groan and then nothing. I tried to pull the key out to try again…but it wouldn’t release and when I tried the ignition button again…nothing.

Lucky for me, my husband was working from home this morning so I was able to head back in to see if he could help. And while he was checking out my car, I got the opportunity to attach my macro lens and snap a few shots. I love the way you can see the dandelion fluff encased in a dew drop in this shot.

(As I write this, my car is in the shop. My husband was able to take me to work and hopefully we’ll be picking my car up later today.)

Yesterday, I reveled in the wonder of my students as they took a close look at some fall leaves my teaching partner brought back from her trip to Colorado. My students had the opportunity to observe, sketch and photograph the leaves…and these will also serve as information and inspiration for some poetry and art. I found myself taking photos of students taking photos of leaves (and you can see some sketches in progress in the background).

On Monday, we celebrated the National Day on Writing (for details you can see this post) by writing collaborative poetry with the older multiage class at our other school. My students continually amaze and delight me as they embrace the wonder of words…and of collaboration. It was such fun to watch kids, from six to eleven years old, figure out how to bring their ideas together in a collaborative poem.

I spent the weekend in Raleigh, North Carolina at the Association for Science and Technology Centers conference. Unlike a usual educational conference, this conference is mostly attended by museum professionals. My colleague from the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and I presented as part of our participation in a partnership between writing projects and science centers. Since we have been exploring ways to transform field trip experiences for students, we included a mini field trip “exhibit” as part of our presentation. It was such fun to catch the wonder and delight on the face of adults as they explored with a science “toy.”

I also had the opportunity to explore the North Caroline Museum of Natural Sciences (I wrote more about it here). This museum is quite unusual and includes many unique features. I got to watch these veterinarians work with this snake, including using a “trach” tube. We got to listen to the snake’s respirations and ask the vets questions about the procedure. You’ll notice that they are also projected onto the screen on the right hand side of the photo. I can only imagine the wonder children will experience as they watch these animal doctors at work!

And in the more traditional part of the museum I happened to look up with a bit of surprise and wonder as I noticed these pterodactyls above my head. You can also see the lights of the city through this windowed dome where the pterodactyls flew.

And sometimes it is the simple things that fill me with wonder. Raleigh is known for its oak trees. While they were not experiencing full blown colorful fall leaves, there were leaves and acorns falling here and there. I love the simplicity of this leaf on the brick walkway.

What fills you with wonder? Is it the simplicity and beauty of nature or watching students at work? Did you catch a scientific wonder (like today’s partial solar eclipse) or revel in the intricacies of man-made structures?

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #wonder for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

Open your eyes and heart and pay attention to what fills you with wonder. Breathe in and take that photo, not so much to make art, but to capture the moment for further reflection. I can’t wait to see those wonder-full moments through your lens!

In a New Light

1 Reply

I had the opportunity today to see a museum through the eyes of people who helped to design it and nurture its continued growth. The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is a gem. The museum is a combination of old and new, growing from a robust history of collection and curation to a modern space of interaction, interrelationships, research, and digital tools. There is something about a tour led by the director of exhibits who clearly loves his work and his museum that refracts the museum experience, bending the light in ways that allowed me to appreciate nuances of museum craft and scientific discovery and learning that I hadn’t considered before.

Having a working research lab in the middle of the museum (actually several of them) seems ingenious! Partnerships with local universities bring scientists out into the open, working in modern, state of the art facilities behind clear class walls. Seeing scientists at work helps to demystify what it means to be a scientist…and they are able to interact with museum visitors, answering questions and explaining their work.

And this interactive projection allows the glass between the lab and the exhibit to nearly disappear, and also works as a tool for the scientists to use to explain their work with school groups and tour groups.

Augmented reality and robotics allow young people access to difficult to understand concepts, using models they can virtually hold and manipulate as they watch atoms come together to form molecules or see the changes in the earth as it is impacted by fire, drought, and storms. This robot, whose head was printed using a 3-d printer, will soon be roaming the museum responding to questions asked by museum guests.

The story of this right whale is both a tragedy and a triumph. Killed by a boat, its skeleton and that of its fetus were recovered and studied by scientists. Experiments to determine the speed a boat would require to break the facial bone of a whale and kill it resulted in legislation slowing boats during the migration season of the right whales off the Atlantic coast. Here’s a great example of science working to save a vanishing species!

And in a unique space, short visual narratives mesmerize you with their beauty and fascinate you with their complexity. Balconies allow you to stop and watch from different locations and you can easily dip in and out of the viewing experience. This sequence on networks grabbed my attention…I know i want to think more about the different kinds of networks in our lives, how they are similar and different, organic and manmade…and how light and movement help us understand them.

These mini movies were projected on the inside of a curved surface that just happens to be this extraordinary globe from the outside of the building…another interesting and beautiful way to learn about our world.

Today’s tour allowed me to experience the museum in a new light, refracted by the passion of those who know this place intimately. This post only begins to scratch the surface of what I saw, heard, and experienced in my short visit. And I’m lucky, I get to return to the museum again tomorrow when it will be filled with museum people from all over the world as they socialize and learn from each other. I can only imagine what new insights I will gain as I return to this magnificent place of science, research, and learning.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Motion

Weekly Photo Challenge: Surprise

1 Reply

Sometimes as I am going about my life I see something that stops me in my tracks and makes me think. I’m having one of those kind of weeks. On Monday I had a meeting to do some planning with colleagues…that happened to take place in the San Diego Natural History Museum. I love meetings there–the grand old building oozes character, and when I walked in the conference room on Monday, I was surprised to see there was a tusk on the floor! I couldn’t resist a shot!

Over the weekend the weather continued to be unseasonably warm (into the 80s on the coast!), so the beach was the best option for a walk. As we walked along I was surprised when I spied this man on a ladder. You can see that he is right along the shoreline, perched on the top, with his big camera lens pointing at the surfers navigating the larger than usual waves. Did he carry the ladder from his car, does he live nearby? Does the ladder make a difference in his photography?

Further down the beach I was surprised by the pop of color from the orange umbrella. It felt like a fall leaf turning in the sea of greens and blues.

Earlier this week I took a photo of the palm tree that graces our school playground. And later in the day came across a new editing app for my phone. It was fun to play with the different effects and lenses. Here is the surprising result.

And this morning on playground duty my eye was drawn to the purple boa on the playground bench. Who wore their boa to school…and who left it on the bench? Will this person be surprised when it is missing?

So what has surprised you this week?

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #surprise for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

Be on the lookout for those things and situations that surprise you this week. I can’t wait to see surprises through your lens!

Looking for Signs…

3 Replies

Six weeks into the school year with unseasonably warm temperatures…I find myself looking for signs of fall. Southern California is not known for spectacular fall colors: the changing leaves, colorful gourds, and orange pumpkins decorating doorsteps. Instead, I notice things like the orange and red kelp washed up by hurricane Simon off the coast of Mexico,

the orange beach umbrella near the lifeguard tower,

and the golden sun highlighting the surfer atop the bigger than usual waves.

And I’m starting to see some even more exciting signs of fall…and of the writing community growing in my classroom. Some signs are subtle, like students settling into writing without any urging from us and sticking with the writing for longer and longer periods of time. There’s a willingness to share writing with one another and with the class as a whole…even from our shyer students. And then there’s the risk-taking…trying out new strategies for revision and composition with independence and confidence.

This third grader uses her reflection notebook to write about a tool we use in class to help with revision. It’s clear that she sees the value of revision for improving her writing…knowing writers, even good writers, have to work at improving their craft.

It’s also fun to see students bring their voice to informal, reflective writing. They are writers whenever they put words to a page…like this student describing something learned from reading a Scholastic News magazine,

and the student who began her reflection on a writing and art project with, “It all started when Ms Boyesen read us a book called Flashlight.”

Like the more obvious brilliant crimson leaves, sweet apple cider, and crisp autumn evenings that signal fall, these subtle signs in the classroom represent our growth as a community of learners and writers. We are ready to dig in, to stretch ourselves as learners, and to learn from and with each other throughout the school year.

I have to look carefully for signs of fall in my place…they aren’t easily recognized by those looking for the gorgeous iconic images we see represented in the media. The same is true in my classroom, looking carefully uncovers signs that might be overlooked otherwise. The signs are there and I’m looking forward to the journey with these young writers.

What signs of a developing learning community are you seeing in your place?