My Love of All Things Present and Past I sit on my front porch swing in the twilight hour, pondering, reflecting and remembering, I reflect upon the beauty of nature surrounding me in the warm glow of the remaining light. I see the beautiful trees in their many hues of glorious, lush green leaves of varying sizes. I view the lovely lavender blooms on the Rose of Sharon bushes, planted so many years ago. I hear the buzz of the bumble bees’ wings that love to envelope the nectar of those sweet buds. I smell the scent of fresh turned soil emulating from the garden, only recently plowed. I breathe in the wild honeysuckle growing somewhere nearby in the woods. I observe the growth of the blackberry brambles, lush with the deep, purple berries; I can almost taste their essence of summertime, and long for the first cobbler of the season. I listen closely and hear the dull babble of the creek that rests close by, full from recent rains. I hear the melodious song of the lonely sounding Whip-O-Will that comes to visit each night. I then recall a sweet, young voice say, “Mommy, I hear your birdie singing” and smile to myself. I look out at the mountain cliffs off in the distance, and reflect on what I know is beyond. I ponder on how quickly time has flown by, how the beautiful scenery before me has changed over time. I remember the pitter-patter of little feet and the sound of little voices that grew their wings and flew away, Flew away, way too fast, I sit here and reflect and ponder. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Narrative on Life by Tanya Coffey published in the MSU Inscape publication 2017 edition
Life just sems to be passing us by. Work, eat, sleep, repeat. Our children are grown now. My husband and I are alone most nights. We look forward to the random visit from our granchildren. We love to hear the pitter-patter of their little feet across the hardwood floor. Tired, we are so tired and weary. We long for retirement, it seems so far away. The hustle and bustle of daily life is so mundane.
We love just being home, looking out over the tree-covered mountains, especially this time of the year. Fall, our favorite season. We love the changing of the leaves, hearing the birds singing their sweet songs. It seems as though we never get to spend enough time there.
Time moves so quickly and yet so slowly. Retirement consumes our thoughts. We dream of the beach. We both grew up in Florida. We miss it. Kentucky is our home now though, for twenty three years. We yearn for vacations that take us to our "happy place", if only for a little while. We adore the sound of the ocean and the lull of the waves...particularly at night. We are divided, for we love both places. We have lived half of our lives in one place, and the other half in the other. Water draws us, wherever we are. Both are home.
Where to go and what to do, when retirement finally arrives. Dreaming of a motor home, adventures and exploration of the unknown. And yet always remembering that home is where the heart is. *version slightly modified for updates since publication -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Professional Piece based on 2017-2018 MWPSI "Journal Upgrades-Project Reflection"
Reflection on Journaling Project during the 2017-2018: After completing my writing project as a requirement for the Morehead Writing Project Summer Institute of 2017. I want to reflect on what I believe, based on evidence and student commentaries, on the success of the project. The project involved implementing some "journal upgrades" as I choose to call them during the 2017-2018 school year.
I maintained my original journaling techniques during the first nine weeks of the new school year. These consisted primarily of journal prompts that I used from two journaling resources obtained from some annual Special Education conferences I attended in the past (approximately 13 years old). The resources have some adequate journal prompts but I have been very selective in the use of those based on what I believed the students would be most receptive to. I would ocassionally use some that I had "created" and "freewrites" were my "go-to" in times of desperation. Students weren't always very receptive to participating in some of the topics and prompts that were presented.
After attending the MWPSI 2017, I walked away with a whole new bag of tricks and resources that I was eager to take back to my classroom to implement. So, my first nine weeks consisted of implementing my old techniques of journal topics and prompts. At the end of the first nine weeks, I had the students complete a survey based on the Likert scale regarding their likes and dislikes of journal writing, the topics and writing in general. The results overall were a little better than I had initially expected them to be. During the second nine weeks, I began using some of the new journal prompts and techniques that I had learned and used during the summer institute. I was so excited to begin these new procedures. There were so many and so little time. I tend to have my students journal write an average of three times per week. Unfortunately, there just isn't enought time with ACT preparation, On-Demand practice, Grammar Review and Literature to do all that I would like to do.
One of the first things that I began incorporating was sharing, something that I really had never done before. Mostly due to time constraints but also due to what I thought would be lack of student interest and participation. Some of my students were extremely receptive to the idea of sharing but many were hesitant due to shyness or lack of confidence in their writing capabilities. When students were hesitant to share, I would share what I had written, as I too would try to write over the assigned topic or prompt as well. This opened the door for others to share. Some of my stronger and more confident students began to share, we discovered that we enjoyed hearing what was written and shared. With some coercion, I was able to convice some others to share. Sometimes, I would decide that everyone would share. Everyone did so but with great reservation from some.
Towards the end of this school year, I had students complete the same survey that they had completed at the beginning of the school year, however, I requested that students comment on the positives and negatives of the new processes incorporated this year. Of course, some students didn't provide any feedback, but I was encouraged by the ones who did. I discovered that they especially liked the picture prompts and several liked the Poetry Slam. Many stated that they really enjoyed hearing what the others had to share, but did not like sharing themselves.
So, I have found myself at a dilemna for the coming year. How do I get my students to share without forcing them to share? I wish that they would all share. They obviously enjoy hearing what others have written. I just don't know how to get them all to willingly share. One student suggested that I draw from the popcycle sticks that I use for random calling, say roughly 5 each time. This is a good thought and well worth trying, but I am still forcing some to share when they really don't like sharing. I will start by trying this next school year. In the meantime, I am open to suggestions and ideas. If you stumble upon this and you have some good advice for an "old dog" who is receptive to learning and implementing some new tricks, drop me a line as I would love to hear about what works for other teachers. You may email me at [email protected]. Thanks for taking the time to read and share! :) Tanya Coffey