Saturday, March 1, 2014

Celebrate with Birdsong

Visit Two Writing Teachers for details on how to serve up your own slice. 

Because life is worth celebrating, join in the fun at Ruth Ayres Writes.


Sometimes a sweet slice is a celebration in and of itself.  My moment came this morning as I was working on the couch to finish up a proposal review. I had to capture the moment on camera so you can share in the sunshine. 



Listening to the birds sing, I smiled. I paused as I worked. It was a count-my -blessings -glad-to-be-alive-and-healthy moment,  a breath of gratitude. I have good, meaningful work to do and friends and family who value and share in it. Today I'm celebrating:

1. Keynoting at the South Carolina State Council of the International Reading Association last Saturday. I didn't hyperventilate, nor pass out, nor experience any embarrassing bodily function on stage--all worth celebrating. Plus, the keynote went well. I made new friends and met great teachers and educators. I even met someone who's  family lived near and  knew Mickey Spillane. I love South Carolina.

2. Learning with Chris Lehman and finally meeting him in person. I love that I get to work and learn from smart people who write well and work to inspire others. I thoroughly enjoyed his "Inspiration and Perspiration" keynote and the strategies he shared for research and note-taking during his workshop.


3. Learning with educators this morning on #satchat discussing technology integration and purposeful use of digital tools to amplify and maximize instruction. Twitter is a twenty-four-seven, one-stop station for professional development. I can tune it, connect,  link up and be off and reading or  talking/tweeting with others over topics I care about in no time. If you haven't tried it, scan this amazing list of opportunities and dip into the learning pool. 

4. Writing with my students who volunteered to blog as part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge. Most have never blogged before and we may hit a few bumps on the blogging trail, but I'm excited for students who will share their writing on our 31 students page this month. 

5. Creating header art for the students' blog and learning to navigate Wordpress from Lizzie, who's just beginning to blog her faith and wanted to show me how Wordpress works. 



Those sheets are going to smell so good fresh off the line. I'm sure I'll celebrate stretching out and smelling the sunshine later. I hope your Saturday has you celebrating too. 


20 comments:

  1. Wow! You met Chris in person! I hope to accomplish that someday, too. Our paths just have crossed in life - just virtually. :)

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    1. Virtual paths count too! He is as smart and brilliant in person as he is in books and on Twitter. I have a long list of folks I hope to meet too.

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  2. I love that header art for the students' blog! I want to learn how to create art like that! Any advice? Meeting Chris Lehman in person and being the keynote speaker--your week is definitely worth celebrating!

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    1. Thanks, Jaana. I created it using Photoshop, but you can use an open source image editor like GIMP too. I work in layers and for this one, I found the hands image,altered it and repeated it. Then I layered in the "pie" or ball, it's a pie if I'm going slices but my boys said it looked a bit like a basketball which they liked. I love playing with images.

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  3. I love that header art! I'm so glad the keynote went well. I can't wait to hear more about it.

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    1. Thanks, Lee! I love how it came out too. Now I'm nervous though for the posts... no first post yet. I'm going to use it all as teachable moments, so even if we're not right on track with dates/posts, students will get there.

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  4. So jealous of your sunshine. Here in Chicago we just have snow, snow, snow.

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    1. Oh, Mindi, spring is coming. The birds from my back yard are heading home soon. Last week I met a teacher from upstate New York. Over lunch at the conference we got to talking and she bemoaned the fact that her dryer had broken. When I said, "that's why I love my clothesline" I got a lesson in freezing temperatures. It never dawned on me that clothes hung out up north would freeze. Florida native, that's my excuse.

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  5. Glad u had a glorious morning! Had a glorious afternoon will slice about it in the morning! Glad everything went smashinly in SC! Can't wait to see your kid's slices!

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    1. You and me both on the kids' slices! Tomorrow would be a great day for an outdoor adventure if we have the same weather. Thanks for taking up the writing challenge with me--I love writing in community with you.

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  6. Gorgeous header, Lee Ann. You've had an amazing week, from key noting to taking up the SOLC. Bravo!

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  7. Lee Ann,
    I love your header as well! It's so unique. I want to takes photoshop class sometime. Also, love that you had so many great things to celebrate. I had the opportunity to meet Chris in person too and think that he's very inspirational, great to learn with and from, and very down-to-Earth! Glad your keynote went well!

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  8. Beautiful weather...waiting for spring. and that heading. We are all so jealous. Looking forward to connecting this month.

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  9. Wow, so many things to celebrate! I love how nature can bring those pure happy-to-be-alive moments. I also loved your reaction to your keynote speech -- it never occurs to the audience that someone special enough to be the keynote speaker might also be human enough to hyperventilate! :-)

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  10. Oh, Lee Ann, that video is torture! It would be heaven to climb into a bed with line-dried sheets tonight. And even though the sun was out today, my sheets would have frozen within minutes. I'm glad to know it's spring somewhere! Sounds like you had an incredible week, and I love the header for your students' blogs. Thanks for sharing!

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  11. Seriously? Was that today??? Oh, I wish it looked like that here. Unfortunately, it appears more snow is on the way. I hope to hear the sound of birds soon. Congratulations on your keynote. Good luck to you and your students in this month's challenge.

    Cathy

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  12. So many wonderful things to celebrate here. The weather alone would make me jump for joy! Have a fabulous weekend.

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  13. Wow-Lee Ann, much here to end my day celebrating! I haven't seen a glorious clothesline like that in a long time-beautiful to see, & to hear the birds, although we're having more birdsong already here in Denver, some great warm weather, then a little snow today. Congrats on your keynote-what a gift to be able to do that. And one of my fun memories of NCTE is that Chris Lehman RT'd one of my tweets during his presentation! Fun, fun. Thanks for such a sweet 'tweet' post, including that awesome heading!

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  14. Lee Ann - I love that you shared a video of birds singing and sheets drying in the fresh air. Great way to celebrate and you truly had many wonderful things to be thankful for. Your keynote sounds like it went super. Hope you have another fantastic week.

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