“The new humanity will be universal and it will have the artist’s attitude; that is, it will recognize that the immense value and beauty of the human being lies precisely in the fact that he belongs to the two Kingdoms of nature and the spirits.” Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann’s words strike a deep and rich chord in this educator’s heart. Deep
within me, I believe that my real job is to woo the young people in my classroom into a love affair with all that the universe graciously gives us. To allow them to be the artists and create rich and vibrant forms that cherish the beauty, the reality, and the struggle transcends all other agenda.
I think of my own personal geography as a landscape dotted with cottages where each cottage contains a small collection of the books I love. There’s a remarkable book store in Oxford, England on a beautiful tree lined street with bicycles parked outside each little cottage. There is a cottage with only children’s books, one with science books stacked to the ceilings, one where its cozy charm made me fancy every book on architecture it contains. I count the book cottages in my mind. These are the places I would go to live any day of the year. These are the places where the books I read aloud to others or where others read aloud to me reside. If someone ever codes my DNA, I’m certain they will find these favorite stories embedded in my genes. I cross my fingers that all my children and grandchildren carry these genes. And through the magic of story-cloning, every child I have ever read to or told a story will magically carry the same delightful gene – this infectious love of stories.
Since posting my first and only blog, life has been harsh for me. My husband died on April 14th after spending 10 weeks in the hospital trying so hard to recover from back surgery only to discover a massive cancerous tumor in his stomach that had spread everywhere. I am working hard on putting balance and purpose back in my life. One constant is my passion for education. I am renewing my commitment to parents and teachers in an effort to work together finding our way through this thick molasses morass we find ourselves stuck in right now.
It’s Sunday morning as I write this, my first blog of what I plan to be many, and a blanket of silky snow covers my corner of our Colorado world. I heard yesterday that 49 of the 50 states are blanketed with this snow, some with just traces, others with many feet. Magical feelings well up when snow starts to cover our world. It’s something beyond “snow day” and “roads closed”, it’s a return to that primitive feeling of nesting, of staying close and warm, unhurried. Perhaps, the piles of snow smothering cars and windows are womb-like, providing a comfort that radiates into feelings of well-being.
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Have any of these topics entered your conversations:
- Paying attention to the individual needs of kids
- Integration of curriculum
- Project based learning
- Role of read-alouds in all grades
- Poetry, memory, and life-long learning
- The social - emotional curriculum, so how do I do it?
- The value, importance and inspiration of play
- How do I go about being a more inspired teacher?
- Is this all there is to teaching?
- Culture & Community - two essential ingredients
- What role do outdoor experiences play in my classroom?
- So, what's this about the importance of transitions?
- Discovering your brain all over again