Water, mason jar, ceiling lighting, white background = muted simplicity Water, mason jar, natural lighting, black background = contrasting simplicity
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As I writer, I feel as though I struggle most with sounding coherent. My favorite part of writing is making sure my content comes around full circle, but my sentence structure can be a bit wobbly. I like to add unnecessary words or phrases so as I continue on my writing journey, my goal is to be able to have a style (aka not be boring), but still sound professional and concise. Since my content is the key part in any writing, I need to highlight it, not my asides. Something I usually jip myself on is doing research, so in order to have well-supported content along with connecting concepts, I need to put in the work in the background. All that research helps develop my writing to its full potential.
I used to go on walks a lot. My pup and I would mosey our way through a path in 'the woods,' but I have forgotten to slow down lately. Today, I slowed down. I took a stroll at a local Fort Collins park and took the time to just be. I didn't have to think about one thing in particular, but I let my thoughts drift as they will, patching up lost connections from my rushed life. My joy was found at looking at the lively flowers springing up all around me.
I start my day in an apartment off of Lemay and then ride my bike three miles to get to campus. My first class is in the Oval and my last class is at the Stadium on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Then, I had back home. Here's a math question for you: how many 3-foot diameters do I cover during the day? How many times do I get the chance to make a positive impact around me? SO many. Will my students feel positively impacted by me? Am I going to represent a role model who pauses before she speaks out of anger or imparts random acts of kindness for the world that I belong to? I hope so. I hope to greet my students at my door with an authentic smile and plan of action for the day. My students will deserve my effort as they count on me as I count on them. Our democratic classroom will be full of contextual thinking and kindness-first discussions that revolve around collective and personal growth.
I want to teach now because somebody has to and I honestly want to be that somebody. We are dropping teachers like flies. I'm in school right now to equip myself to face the world of education on the other side now. Instead of a player, I want to train myself to be a coach. And you know what? We haven't won state in a long time. It's time to change the pace of the game for the next generation. How are they going to identify issues, recognize problems, and come up with action plans to positively impact the community? I want to teach now, so that students can gather in love, joy, and peace. I want to teach now, so that students can be love, joy, and peace. I teach today for a better tomorrow.
Let me give you a scenario.
"Today, we are going to begin our next writing unit: Persuasive Papers. I'm passing out the rubric now. Please read it carefully because that is how you will be graded. You have two minutes to come up with a thesis. Then, please find three quotes per focus point to use in your paper." Sound familiar? Trust me, I understand that students need structure in their academia because it's easy to flounder in school's bits of information scattering all over the place. It is nice to have a rubric to position ourselves to make clear expectations for our writing. However, does writing really fit into a few boxes on a page? Not writing from the heart anyway. Expression comes in so many forms. It's time to deconstruct structure. Mr. Friedman gave my class and I the chance to drop the rubric and play around with our written communication. We had in-class and outside of class essays and instead of having a rubric, we had one-on-one meetings with him after our first draft and final turn-in. In my experience, most teachers didn't converse with students after the grade was circled at the top. I appreciated Mr. Friedman's dedication to our work since he saw it as a journey, not a destination. There was no grade to mark the finish line. We discussed the next plan of action that I can do in order to take my writing to the next notch, but get this, specifically for my style. I have a style? Yes, he guided me to explore my comfort in grammar and content. He didn't compartmentalize language use, but combined all my elements, almost like us as people. Can you really separate your hobby life and your social life? I bet there is an overlap. Expression has a lot of overlap too. Here's to celebrating writers' journeys. Writing can be intimidating that's for sure, especially when you are aware someone is going to read it. Who would be your "you" that you would be comfortable sharing your writing to? What makes them trustworthy?
If I could pick one person, it would be a teacher that has encouraged creativity and allowed room for imperfection. Mistakes, you know those silly grammatical ones, can be fixed with an equation-like process that is pretty standard. But imperfection, you know when your content isn't quite cohesive or your structure is unusually wonky for the point your trying to get across, is an entirely different process that I would want my reader to respect. They would visually and verbally point out my strengths while also correcting those little sillies I've made. Here's the big thing though, they look at my writing as a whole and help me figure out my style. Maybe there is a line,
A wall, that separates Our thinking hemispheres Because humans like to Divide. We divide Our genders, our races, Our religions, ourselves, Just like we set aside the natural world. Maybe there is a line, A wall, that traps Students inside Since society tells us That learning happens Indoors. The real world Isn't just civilization, but nature's space. Our environments collide with one another. Maybe there is a line, A wall, that stops Our line of thoughts When we live From one angle. Learning is the Earth, Revolving around perspectives. Maybe I'll teach one day without a line. Moment #1
I'm in sixth grade and I'm loving the structure that middle school offers. At this point, I know that I love to read so maybe English class might be fun, but honestly, school does not interest me. Then, Mr. Mosack came. He was our Language Arts student teacher for the semester and he told us that his goal was to be 'real world' with us. One day, he called me up to his desk and he asked me if I write. I kind of glanced around the room, wondering if he was tricking me. "I write, yeah, for homework and stuff," I answered. He gave me a half smile and said "No, no I mean do you like to write for fun? You are very creative and have solid writing skills. I think you could write a great story. Would you think about writing a short story for me sometime?" In short, I handed him a copy of my short story a few weeks later and we worked together to publish it to a youth publishing site. Writing is a huge part of me to this day and something that gives me confidence in who I am. I'm not sure where I would be without Mr. Mosack's belief in me. Moment #2 Good ol' junior year of high school. A teacher once again gave me a chance to step it up and believe in my potential. At this point, I know that I can write well and honestly I don't have time to write in my free time anymore, so I wrote to get good grades. Then, Mr. Friedman came. He stood up in front of the classroom and told us there would be no grades this year. Our jaws drop of course because college applications are being stuffed into our brains right now. He and I had a one-on-one conversation together outside of the classroom afterwards because I was ignorantly concerned. He said, "Kelly, you don't have to write for a grade now, aren't you happy? Take your risks. Let your thoughts go and just write." He is why I am an English Education major because he gave me the a-ha moment that I could use my time in school to do something I enjoyed, freely write. I wasn't being tied down to a grade that defined me. He was letting my own words define me which is ultimately why I am passionate about writing to begin with. Moment #3 A lot of discovery happens freshman year of college am I right? I was looking for an outlet to be Kelly and I stumbled across CSU's magazine. They were looking for writers and I not-so-surprisingly interviewed to fill a spot. A week later, I turned in my first article to my editors about making peace with others around you by respecting differences and celebrating identities. Two days later, my editors emailed me asking if I could come in to talk about my article. I was so nervous that entire day because I was filled with dread about being knocked down for my unique writing style or the content I chose to write about. I was prepared to defend myself with the excuse that I wasn't a journalism major, but I shakily walked into their office and joyfully walked out of their office. They had offered me the cover story for the next issue. Once again, people believed in me. My editors had handed over their trust with abundance and I accepted it by writing directly from my heart. I want my students to know they can be trusted so they can find their soul through pen and paper, musical notes, a baseball bat, meditation, or whatever their heart desires that helps them see the horizon a bit more clearly. |
Greetings!I'm Kelly! I like to find beauty in what might seem mundane to us over time and bring to life what we experience each day. Check out the About Me tab for an additional look at who I am. Archives
July 2019
Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is. |