Tell me if this ever happened to you...
You're driving in the car, and a song comes on the radio that is so well sung that you start singing it yourself. You get all the confidence you need to belt it out like you yourself were on stage. I won't embarrass myself here by telling you the songs that make me do this, but we all do it sometimes, don't we? It's a release. It's a rush that feels good even after the song ends. Why does this happen?
My hunch is that there are certain songs that are just well written, and performed with such talent, such attention to the sounds, and with such heart that you can't help but be drawn in to them to the point where you feel like you want to sing them, too.
You're driving in the car, and a song comes on the radio that is so well sung that you start singing it yourself. You get all the confidence you need to belt it out like you yourself were on stage. I won't embarrass myself here by telling you the songs that make me do this, but we all do it sometimes, don't we? It's a release. It's a rush that feels good even after the song ends. Why does this happen?
My hunch is that there are certain songs that are just well written, and performed with such talent, such attention to the sounds, and with such heart that you can't help but be drawn in to them to the point where you feel like you want to sing them, too.
The same is true with writing. I have two examples of things I'm reading right now. Our school librarian charged us with the task of reading a new chapter book during the holiday break. Last night, after the dust settled around all the holiday action, I sat down to finally start Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo. Like two of her other books, Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux, this book drew me in right away. The long, rich sentences, the humor with which she describes what goes on inside a squirrel's mind, even when being sucked up by a vacuum ("Man, I sure am hungry," you have to read it to get it!), the elegant way she tucks in words like "malfeasance" and "capricious" to add layers to her meaning without making you say, "What does that mean?", and the entire premise of this book all make for one that makes me want to sit down and write myself.
For my birthday a few months ago, my brother got me a CD of Garrison Keillor telling his stories called, "The News from Lake Wobegon," as featured on his weekly show The Prairie Home Companion. I began to listen to it in the car, and with each reading and rereading (or re-listening, if that's a word...), I started to feel like I wish I had written that. Garrison Keillor tells these stories of his hometown in Minnesota, a community of mostly Norwegian-Americans who congregate around their local Lutheran church and get into all sorts of situations, and he uses the stories to point to larger lessons about family life in the US. When I read up on it, I learned that Lake Wobegon doesn't really exist, and that Keillor bases these stories on other places he knows and people he knows. Yet, he tells these stories so well, that not only do I believe them, but I feel like I want to engage in storytelling or writing right after myself.
Yes, artists who are particularly good at what they create can inspire us to create as well!
So why am I telling you this?
Well, there's barely 36 hours left of 2014. We've lived a great deal these past 12 months. We've done many important things. I'm glad I've begun to blog with all of you. It's opened up my eyes to teaching in a new way. Listening to your comments online and in person has made me talk to kids differently. It's made me watch lessons in classrooms differently also. Now, more than ever, I'm inspired by teachers I see every day!
So why am I telling you this?
Well, there's barely 36 hours left of 2014. We've lived a great deal these past 12 months. We've done many important things. I'm glad I've begun to blog with all of you. It's opened up my eyes to teaching in a new way. Listening to your comments online and in person has made me talk to kids differently. It's made me watch lessons in classrooms differently also. Now, more than ever, I'm inspired by teachers I see every day!
Whether it's in paying attention to how closely some teachers listen to their students in the midst of a science lesson, in watching literacy coaches work with teachers to figure out the hard parts of teaching (and as Katie Wood Ray says, "...and they're all hard parts!"), in listening to honest and smart professional dialogue in summer institutes, after-school study groups, staff development, or conferences, I get excited and can't wait to go back and try the teaching out myself.
Recently, I've watched special education teachers handle difficult situations behaviorally and academically with such finesse that it makes me want to try it out myself. I've heard master teachers have difficult conferences with parents, explaining the difficulties their children are having, reassuring moms and dads that we will be with them all the way in helping their kids through these problems. I've visited schools led by amazing principals in which the hallways cry celebration to the point where I want to go back and revise parts of my own leadership. I've sat in an after-school think tank with some amazing teachers, teaching me about how to bring choice and voice to teaching and learning, and most recently how to create learning communities where risk-taking feels good, and that's made me want to work harder at these myself.
Yes, when we see others create amazing worlds of music, writing, and learning, we are inspired to create also!
Recently, I've watched special education teachers handle difficult situations behaviorally and academically with such finesse that it makes me want to try it out myself. I've heard master teachers have difficult conferences with parents, explaining the difficulties their children are having, reassuring moms and dads that we will be with them all the way in helping their kids through these problems. I've visited schools led by amazing principals in which the hallways cry celebration to the point where I want to go back and revise parts of my own leadership. I've sat in an after-school think tank with some amazing teachers, teaching me about how to bring choice and voice to teaching and learning, and most recently how to create learning communities where risk-taking feels good, and that's made me want to work harder at these myself.
Yes, when we see others create amazing worlds of music, writing, and learning, we are inspired to create also!
In what is undoubtedly my final blog post for 2014, I wish you a happy new year, filled with lots of moments like these--where you are inspired by your colleagues to the point that it makes you go back and rework the masterpiece of your own teaching.
When I taught 3rd Grade, I had a student who couldn't participate in music class, because of religious reasons. This meant that we could no longer sing "Happy Birthday to you." We created a new set of birthday traditions, one of which was a literary gift. The literary gift was a way in which someone in the class would honor the birthday person by reading something special.
Today, I leave you with a literary gift also. It's the video of the speech in which Kate DiCamillo accepts the Newbery Award for Flora and Ulysses this past January. I hope you enjoy it, and that you continue to find inspiration for the important work you do every day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH5GZkmmJik
When I taught 3rd Grade, I had a student who couldn't participate in music class, because of religious reasons. This meant that we could no longer sing "Happy Birthday to you." We created a new set of birthday traditions, one of which was a literary gift. The literary gift was a way in which someone in the class would honor the birthday person by reading something special.
Today, I leave you with a literary gift also. It's the video of the speech in which Kate DiCamillo accepts the Newbery Award for Flora and Ulysses this past January. I hope you enjoy it, and that you continue to find inspiration for the important work you do every day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH5GZkmmJik
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