Showing posts with label Teaching Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teaching Writing. Show all posts

Monday, December 6, 2010

365 Days of Blessings, Day 190

Giving Thanks and Praise for these simple blessings today:

1. The amazing talent of my writing class.

2. One of my writing students taking a chance on publishing. He sent out his story to a prospective on-line magazine publisher just last week. I'm gladdened by his confidence and praying that his story is accepted. He is a ten year old boy who hated writing until he started taking my class. He is now writing between 2-5 pages a week, and looks forward to hearing feedback!!! I don't know if I will ever forget my favorite description in his first story. "Lime green lamborghini" is a memorable phrase.

3. My writing class has been asked to write "Dear Santa" letters for the co-op newsletter.

4. Two of my Shakespeare students are so intrigued by Macbeth that they asked me permission to read ahead . . . maybe even the whole play this week. Wow!

5. Shakespeare uses plenty of Biblical imagery in Macbeth, and it is fun to study.

6. There are students interested in taking my Writers Workshop and my C.S. Lewis classes next year at co-op.

7. My youngest daughter may be sick, but she has an active imagination.

8. My youngest has already written the sequel to Rick Riordan's The Lost Hero in her head. She knows exactly what she wants to have happen. Too bad we won't find out for six more months. I know these aren't Christian books, but we are all reading them simultaneously and then discussing them. (arguing over whose turn it is to read is a normal activity in our household)

9. Books that capture our imaginations and help us soar creatively.

10. God Came Near by Max Lucado. Gripping, descriptive, loving and thought-provoking book that lifts me up when I read it.

11. God came near, really, literally, as a baby in a manger who grew into a man who saved us from our sins.

Scripture Blessings:

"In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn." Luke 2:1-7


From God Came Near
"Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter.

This baby has overlooked the universe. These rags keeping him warm were the robes of eternity. His golden throne room has been abandoned in favor of a dirty sheep pen. And worshiping angels had been replaced with kind but bewildered shepherds.

Meanwhile, the city hums. The merchants are unaware that God has visited their planet. The innkeeper would never believe that he had just sent God into the cold. And the people would scoff at anyone who told them the Messiah lay in the arms of a teenager on the outskirts of their village. They were all too busy to consider the possibility.

Those who missed his Majesty's arrival that night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it because they simply weren't looking.

Little has changed in two thousand years, has it?"
by Max Lucado, in God Came Near

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

365 Days of Blessings, Days 170, 171, and 172

Time is flying by, and I've been forgetting to type up my blessing counts, and my thanksgiving! So here goes, for three days, in no particular order, the blessings I'm giving thanks for:

1. Windstorm stories.

2. My favorite windstorm and power outage story - as a friend of ours drew breath to blow out her birthday candles at home with her family, the lights went out. She waited to blow them out until they found a flashlight.

3. Flashlights are very useful!

4. Candles glowing in the darkness.

5. Only losing power for a minute, but keeping the candles lit just in case.

6. The sound of the wind.

7. Walking on a windswept street, with the fresh clean scent of pine from all the limbs on the road.

8. Pulling the large tree limbs off the road as we went on our two mile walk.

9. Fingers that smell like tree sap. That smell brings back so many memories.

10. My Beagle makes me laugh when he scratches his back on my husband's exercise bike.

11. One of my writing students went beyond her short writing assignment into a typed three page story. Wow!

12. All of my writing students wrote wonderful stories and created great comic strips.

13. A funny story with a moral: being yourself is best.

14. My husband has offered to teach me how to edit video . . . I'm thankful, and I think we'll need prayers. He gets everything techie in a flash, and I plod along at a turtle's pace, so it's hard for him to teach me. He has to slow down, and find all those "hidden" steps that he skips through without thinking.

15. My husband is a generous man. Last night he worked on two projects, one for children's choir at church, and one for our dance studio director.

16. Vanilla Tea.

17. Vanilla Candles.

18. Imaginative, colorful dreams.

19. Revising, and re-submitting three poems, and feeling really, really good about one of them, and pretty good about the other two.

20. A New Favorite Tea! Stash's Chocolate Mint Wuyi Oolong Tea. It's really sweet and tasty.

21. Having good conversations at the dance studio, and having someone tell me, "your mom is such a nice woman."

22. My Dad, and his courage.

23. My father-in-law's dedication to the things he loves: Jesus, his wife and family, and skiing. Oh, and golf too.

24. My mother-in-law's sense of humor. I sent her a link to a poem about grammar the other day, and she wanted to add just one word to the end: "whatever."

25. The Grammar Twins poem. Check it out here: Grammar Twins

26. My mom's cheery attitude in the face of opposition, "I'm not borrowing trouble today."

27. Snoopy comics about the craft of writing found in Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life edited by Barnaby Conrad and Monte Shulz.

28. Calvin and Hobbes comics. I miss them in the paper, but I have the books!

29. Roots that go down deep. (Faith roots and tree roots that can't be uprooted by any storm)

30. God gives us hope for a new life here and now, and a hope for eternal life in Him.

Scripture Blessings:
"The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.'" Matthew 28:5-6

Normally, this is where I would end my post, but lately, I've had many reasons to pray and many prayer requests. If you can, please pray for these people. I'm only going to share their first names and a general way they need to be prayed in an attempt not to break any confidences.

So, if you pray, please send up a prayer for:
My Dad, Ron - for healing, and strength
Michelle - for healing, and strength
Jessica - for healing, and encouragement
Susan - for comfort, and encouragement
Vicki - for encouragement, and strength

Sunday, November 14, 2010

365 Days of Blessings, Days 168 and 169

Counting these as Blessings and Giving Thanks for:

1. Seeing "proofs" of Every Day Poets first print anthology, including the proof pages where my poem, "Grace Unexpected" will be in print! Woohoo!

2. The editors at Every Day Poets who give constructive criticism whether they are sending me a rejection letter, or a "please revise, and resubmit" letter.

3. Two Sunday School teachers who made my day yesterday afternoon. When I said I needed help, they jumped in and created solutions for today's Sunday School session.

4. Watching three toddlers at play yesterday evening at a double family birthday party.

5. Giving swinging rides to two twin boys (one at a time) and smiling with them.

6. My daughters are thankful for the fun they had playing with their twin cousins who led them on a merry chase upstairs and downstairs, shrieking with delight.

7. The double 80th birthday party yesterday.

8. My oldest played soccer with two of her cousins, and had fun getting muddy. Soccer isn't her usual game, but she liked it.

9. Finding out that one of the older girl cousins is/was an Irish Step dancer, and having the girls all show each other some of their dance steps.

10. Seeing family that I haven't seen a while.

11. Enjoying the beauty of someone else's nearly finished construction project. My husband's cousin, who hosted the party, is building his own home with the help of his talented wife and his Dad. The tile work is gorgeous, the floor plan is open and welcoming, and the place is wonderful.

12. Feeling re-energized about our home projects. That pesky upstairs bathroom isn't finished yet, but it will be soon (we hope). Then we have a messed up sliding glass door to replace, carpet to pull up in three places, new paint, closet shelves, the downstairs bathroom with its water damage, and when all that's done, we might work on the fireplace. Oh, and the roof, and one of the foundation posts . . . those actually need to be done sooner rather than later. The joy of living in a 60 year old home is that there is always something to do. Boredom is never an issue.

13. Operation Christmas Child!!! We love this project!

14. Shopping for Operation Christmas Child with my daughters and my mom this afternoon. We have so much fun filling up our shoebox containers with goodies for children in need. We pick out toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrushes and barrettes, and then . . . the fun happens. Scarves, hats, shirts, toys, dolls, teddy bears, colored pencils and paper can call be stuffed into those containers, and we get so much joy out of deciding what each of our boxes will hold. As we go through the store, we each have our own container to fill up, and each one gets something a little different.

15. Seeing my youngest daughter write a card to go with her shoebox of gifts this year.

16. A homemade folded flip origami toy with special drawings going into a shoebox.

17. Making vanilla brownies with chocolate chips. Yummy!

18. A wonderful gracious friend having us over for a "chili" party.

19. A house full of cooking smells.

20. God gives us the gift of giving.

Scripture Blessings: "We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness." Romans 12:6-8

Monday, November 8, 2010

365 Days of Blessings, Days 162 and 163

Blessings and Thanksgiving!

1. All Saint's Sunday! I love celebrating the 'great cloud of witnesses' that have gone before us.

2. My Uncle Lloyd's twinkling smile . . . that's what I thought of yesterday during the All Saint's remembrance at church.

3. Time to read. Ok, I didn't really have time to read, but I did it anyway, and I'm thankful for that rest.

4. Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Shakespeare . . . I think I spent four hours immersed in research for my Shakespeare class.

5. Puck's wonderful ageless line: "O Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

6. Getting my basic lesson plans done for next week's classes . . . already in just a few hours!!! WooHoo!

7. Having a list of materials to gather, and planning to get them ready before next Monday morning.

8. The faith of a woman who recently underwent surgery. Wow!

9. Wonderful compliments from parents of students - thank you!!! I needed that.

10. Midsummer Night's Dream Act 3, Scene 2 when Lysander and Demetrius are led on a merry chase by Puck.

11. My writing class is full of imagination and great writing.

12. Writing and drawing comic strips in class.

13. Parents dancing with kids again, just for a few weeks of fun.

14. Veggie soup.

15. Streetlights.

16. The sound of a train in the distance.

17. A house of quiet.

18. The click of keys on a keyboard.

19. Bedtime prayers.

20. God's gift of hope.

Scripture Blessings:"Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." Psalm 25:5

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

365 Days of Blessings, Days 135 and 136, Manic Monday and Too Busy Tuesday

Manic Monday

1. Map-building for plotting with my writers' workshop adventure class.

2. Shakespeare live, with students reading through part of Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 1 with paper swords for a sword fight.

3. Facilitating for a different writing class, and just listening in on some of the teaching there. I like hearing different methods for writing process. I find it interesting, fun, and fascinating.

4. Having an awesome conversation with another homeschool mom!

5. Having awesome conversations with dance moms.

6. Doing the dance mom walk, 2 miles.

7. Writing character sketches, and character setting sketches. So much fun!

8. Dance fun, and excitement with dance kids happily chatting, playing and dancing together.

9. Ballet class with Damaris, an excellent ballet teacher, and a wonderful friend.

10. Home to watch the last 20 minutes of a movie before bed-time.

11. The scene in The Silver Chair when Prince Rilian is freed from the silver chair.

12. Praising God in all circumstances.

Too Busy Tuesday

1. Letting the girls sleep in a little bit.

2. Seeing neighbor friends on a wonderful 2 mile walk with sunshine overhead.

3. Fruit and toast for breakfast.

4. Talking about our history lessons. We love history.

5. Harriet Tubman.

6. Hatshepsut.

7. Writing dialogue with my daughters.

8. Picking out paint for our bathroom, and countertop colors and materials.

9. Watching the girls pick out paint colors for their room, hoping to combine neon green and blue.

10. Dance, dance, dance again with the dance mom walk coming soon.

11. Prayer.

Scripture Blessings:
"When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed." Matthew 14:34-36

Monday, September 27, 2010

365 Days of Blessings - Day 121

365 Days of Blessings, Day 121

1. The Lord is always there for me, or actually "here" for me. God is always my refuge.

2. At this very moment, at my house, a 20 minute drive from where I'm currently sitting, a gentleman from our church who happens to be a construction contractor is tearing apart the remnants of our upstairs bathroom, and preparing it to be attacked by the plumber tomorrow.

3. Even with a bit of extra company this morning, we managed to get to our homeschool cooperative ten minutes early . . . which gave me enough time to realize that I didn't have everything as together as I thought I did . . . and then fix it.

4. My Writing Class of 9-11 year olds. I'm not sure if I'm teaching them well, but they are writing really well. Plus, they are sweet, and fun, and full of stories.

5. Despite being somewhat painfully shy, all of my writing class students have been sharing their work out loud in class, and complimenting one another. Yes!!! We'll work on constructive criticism in second semester. For now, reading something we've written out loud, and giving positive feedback is our main focus . . . well, after writing, writing, and more writing.

6. My Shakespeare class has some wit.

7. Romeo, in the movie version we're watching, looks like Zach Ephron . . . never noticed it before today. However, the girls think that the actor playing Tybalt is cuter. :-) They are reminding me of what it means to be 13 and 14.

8. Knowing that my expectations of myself as a teacher are probably higher than my students' expectations. Somehow I think I'm going to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and lead them into writing with passion and zeal their whole lives long, or into becoming avid Shakespeare lovers . . . depending on which class I'm in at the time.

9. Random compliments make my day. Thank you once-met stranger, for stating that my sweater looks cozy.

10. Time to take a moment and reflect . . . without taking too many notes or writing out the next lesson plan just yet.

Scripture Blessings:
"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. As the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.'" Matthew 9:36-38