Happy summer! School has been out for two weeks and I finally feel that I have settled into the routine of summer: longer walks, lazy afternoons, and lots of reading!
Notice writing is not on that list. I’ve been very slowly getting back into the habit of writing every day. Amid last minute grading and writing report card comments, I completely missed our June Inkling challenge. So better late than never. Molly’s challenge was inspired by a talk she attended by Pádraig Ó Tuama. She paraphrased his remarks, asking us to “’write something narrative and by narrative I mean something that has story and observation to it…write about the first time you saw somebody who’s become a you to you…a you that you love to say…detail what else could be seen”… and let those other things convey what it all meant to you.”
Of course, I went in my own direction with this idea. On a recent episode of On Being, Krista Tippett interviewed Janine Benyus and Azita Ardakani Walton about biomimicry and what we can learn from the world around us. During the course of the conversation, Janine Benyus commented “don’t let the good stuff go.” This resonated with me on so many different levels, but really hit home regarding what is going on in the world of teaching reading in the wake of “the science of reading.” My work has been deeply impacted by the fallout from this movement and the resulting legislation, and I have really struggled this year to make sense of this.
My response to Molly’s prompt uses Benyus’s wise words in an attempt to cheer myself on as I prepare for the coming school year.
Please visit my fellow Inklings to see how they responded to this challenge:
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Then be sure to visit Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Reading to the Core 
I love how this quote becomes a larger mantra with lines like “Stay true to your strong, good heart.” That is my plan for the next few years before retirement. I’ve been doing this long enough not to get sucked in by curriculum debates. I know what I know in my heart is good for kids. As you do, too!
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I could sit with just your first line alone, Catherine… Hello, You. It is nice to be with you.
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Ah, bless that good, strong heart. This is lovely. Hang in there. Librarianship is so difficult for my friends in the field right now – but hearts, strong and true, will carry all of us through…
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Oh that noise around us can be so loud. I hope you are able to sink into some rest and enjoy your summer!
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Catherine, great topic for your poem, and such a good message to teachers of reading. I had that struggle as a reading specialist in the early years of No Child Left Behind. Yikes. All the best to you as you rest up this summer and keep the advice in your poem!
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I’m glad to see you here again, Catherine! I am aware of the changes happening & sorry for the miscues that appear to be occurring with little interchanges with those who really know, you, the teachers. Yikes! I love that you write “Stay true to your strong, good heart.” What great teachers do, right? Enjoy your weekend!
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Love this! It’s good for my soul 🙂
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Thanks for these good reminders to write every day and focus on what really matters!
Alice Horning
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Listen to your inner voice…as long as it is not sabotaging you into getting lost in the minutiae!
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