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Long time, no see!
How to gracefully juggle writing time, work life, and family in acceptable measures? The balancing act is challenging for many writers. Most of the time, I feel lucky to have this balance in my life. I love my teaching, treasure my writing time, and my family anchors me to the here and now, to what is most important.
All the layers of technology ( Read more... ) -
Helping others along the way...
Writing is tough. Fun, thrilling at times, but tough. I sometimes focus too much on the edge of my learning, what it is I don't feel confident about. I forget to look back and think about how much I've learned, how far I've come.
I am just finishing up teaching a college course on critical writing, and it's been a huge professional challenge for ( Read more... ) -
For Young Children, in an Imperfect World
It is difficult to think about explaining our broken world to young children. Even if they are not explicitly aware of current events such as the Newtown tragedy, they are indeed aware on some level that their world is off kilter. Jean Gralley’s picture book THE MOON CAME DOWN ON MILK STREET is a perfect vehicle for talking to young children about ( Read more... ) -
There is no perfect offering...
The world seems darker today, a different place than it was yesterday morning at this time. As a parent, as an educator who has spent my entire career caring for or thinking on behalf of young children, I woke up with two responses to yesterday’s tragedy: outrage and love.
I’m going to focus my outrage on my elected officials, and write to them ( Read more... ) -
Patience and Fortitude for the Writing Journey
I get a deep feeling of connection when I visit the majestic New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue, as I did a few weeks ago.
It has a lot to do with the lions, and the stonework.
Because in my mind and heart, “lion” pretty much equals “library,” thanks to some very early imprinting. Growing up, my first library was the Jerome Park branch in the ( Read more... ) -
Gay Pride in Kindergarten... thanks to Tomie dePaola!
It's Gay Pride month, and I'm thinking about how picture books, and adult role models, can affect young children's perceptions of sexual orientation and gender.
As teachers, we can make the ground fertile and plant some seeds--- but sometimes there’s some magic involved, too. In my early days as a kindergarten teacher in Cambridge, MA, I felt lucky ( Read more... ) -
Connecting the South Bronx and Cape Cod
Like I tell my writing students, putting words down on the page has a power all its own. It can help us to travel through time and leap across a map in a single bound. I was reminded of that this week in my very own town here on Cape Cod, in the Harwich Fire Department.
Back in September, I wrote about my father's work as a firefighter, and how he ( Read more... ) -
The Voice of Innocence, the Voice of Experience
The voices of innocence and experience were our topics last night in my Time to Write class, where a lively group of writers gather in my home twice a month to deepen our writing skills.
Sue William Silverman's wonderful article "The Meandering River: An Overview of the Subgenres of Creative Non-Fiction" served a perfect jumping-off point. It has an ( Read more... ) -
Poems for Little Ones
In one of the early childhood courses I teach, the talk has turned to using poetry as part of a solid literacy curriculum. My go-to book for early childhood teachers is Here's a Little Poem, a wonderful anthology of poems for young children collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters. The illustrations by Polly Dunbar are vivid and eye- ( Read more... ) -
The Writing Class is a go!
Four people have now signed up for Time to Write, the fun writing class I will be offering starting next week. That was the minimum number I had in mind in order to get some momentum and energy flowing in the group. We can still take on one or two others. Do you know someone who might be interested?
Time to Write: a relaxed yet invigorating writing ( Read more... )