This is a picture of the Feather Circle Stick on top of the stack of essays written by my students. Today, I tried my first community writing group, a Feather Circle. Following the concepts bestowed upon me in my graduate program, I asked my classes to design a logo and write about it for the class. The black and white beads represent the monotonous pattern that we face on a day to day basis. The clear beads represent the fact that reading in front of people feels strange and uncomfortable---like people can see right through you. But after you go through the feather circle, it gets easier. Encouraged by the excitement of my students, I'm a firm believer in the community based writing theories. At the conclusion of the readings, we write thank you notes to our peers to thank them for sharing. One of my students wrote, "I love this class. Thank you for making me feel like I can do anything." Wow. I love my job!
Our neighbors got creative with the snow. I could not stop laughing at their crafty creation! Two snow dudes lounging on a snow couch watching a snow tv! I hope they were watching it in HD!
The new manly fad is to carry Care Bears in your backpack. These furry friends were cool when I was a kid! I am often asked to "babysit" the bears while they go to their other classes.
I spent the day preparing my visual representation of my experiences in the classroom last year. Each picture represents a lesson or a concept that I learned. My favorite is the picture of the kids jumping into the bowl of spaghetti. It represents the day that I learned seventh graders love to play with food. Three students ended up projectile vomiting because they mixed and consumed a concoction of Powerade, tomato soup, hot sauce, ketchup and beef nuggets. Sick.
Georgia is experiencing a dreadful drought. Although this well is fake, I thought it was appropriate. I'm trying to do my part to conserve water. I don't rinse the dishes. Plus, I cut my hair so my showers are not quite so lengthy!
After an exhausting sled ride, I plopped my husband's adorable cousin in the the snow for a supermodel moment.
Two giant Belgians proudly plodded through the snow on a beautiful sleigh ride. We dined on gooey roasted marshmallows and hot chocolate when we reached the edge of the woods. Noticing the overwhelming amount of dead pine trees, we asked our tour guide about the issue. She informed us that a pine needle disease was plauging the gorgeous greenery, but new pines were not infected and should grow to be healthy. I guess nature was doing some spring cleaning.
Our cozy cottage was nestled atop Meadow Ridge near Winter Park, Colorado. The home took nearly eighteen months to construct because the owners did the majority of the work on their own!
