Skip to main content

The Places I Love

It's hard to write about just one place I love because I love a lot of places equally. I have no favorites. You might think that's a cop out, but not for me. It would be like saying I have a favorite child, or book, or student. I don't on all three counts. I love each of my children equally and have distinct relationships with each one. I love the current book I'm reading and it's always my favorite. And, I love all of my students, even if sometimes they drive me crazy (just kidding) or if I feel frustrated at myself (not kidding) on those days when nothing seems to be working. I love them all. So, I'm not going to write about one place I love; I'm going to write about several places I love.

I love the beach. Any beach. I love the heat and the ocean water on a hot day. I love the food at the beach. It's different than at any other place. That's why I rarely eat food I associate with the beach when I'm in the city. It just doesn't appeal to me. I love walking from one end of the beach to the other, collecting shells or just watching the birds swoop down on the waves hoping to catch a fish or two in its beak. I love evenings at the beach. After the sun goes down, we take showers and have dinner with the sound of the ocean for music. I love the beach.

I love public libraries. I loved frequenting my neighborhood library in Calgary when we lived there. My son and I loved going to the library, several times a week, to shop for books to take home. I would always have to make two or three trips to the car because we always took out as many as we wanted. I loved watching my son run into the library, corner the librarian and start a conversation about one book or another. I loved that whenever we walked in, the librarians called him by name and were happy to see him. Where we live now, we don't have public libraries. That has taken some adjustment on our part for sure. But those memories will always be precious for me and my son. I love public libraries.  

I love bookstores. Any bookstore. I love the smell of books and the book displays and the changing possibilities depending on which aisle I choose. I love sitting down in a comfy chair sipping coffee at odd times on a weekday (this only happens when I'm on vacation) to browse through books and decide which one I want to buy. I love not being able to narrow down my selection to one or two books, so I buy them all! I love browsing the new books display to see if my favorite authors have published a book recently. And, I especially love that my son's idea of a great outing is to go to a bookstore, any bookstore, in whatever city we find ourselves. I love bookstores.

I love our house because we designed it from scratch. It has just the right amount of space for us and the most amazing view of the city. I love our house because everywhere you turn, there's a place to sit and relax with family and friends. I love that as I'm driving down our street the tension from a day of work slides off my shoulders. I love walking our dogs during early evening. The streets are quiet except for the birds chirping away. I love that more than a house, we've built a home. I love our house.

These are some of the places I love.

Cross posted to Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge, Day #21

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Partner Reading and Content, Too Routine (PRC2)

I'm a hoarder. There, I've said it. I try to deny that I'm a hoarder but it comes back to haunt me every time I move houses, or pack up my classroom at the end of the school year. I have old articles, lesson plans, handouts, folders brimming with teaching ideas, past issues of profesional journals. I hardly throw anything out though I've learned to be more selective over the years. My one rule of thumb, and I really try to stick to this, is that if I haven't used or referred to something in a year, then it's time to toss it into the recycle bin. One exception to this rule (you knew this was coming, didn't you?) is past issues of journals from professional organizations. However, with the ability to locate articles online through my professional memberships, even this exception is becoming less and less useful, which brings me to the topic of this blog post. I am currently reading a copy of The Reading Teacher from 2010. I've clipped a cou
Post a Comment
Read more

The Reading Strategies Book - Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension

The strategy lessons highlighted in Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension, in The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo are critical to students’ engagement and comprehension, as well as their ability to write literary essays, or even book reviews, summaries and reflective pieces about books. If students aren’t able to talk about books in a way that is invigorating and joyful, they will be less likely to develop an interest in growing ideas for writing about books. In her introduction to this chapter, Jennifer Serravallo, reminds us that when conversations go well, children are inspired by what they read and are motivated to keep reading. However, when conversations fall flat, then kids get bored and tune out. How do we avoid this situation and teach kids to  have  focused conversations about books?  The answer is easy: teach kids  strategies to help them develop effective conversational skills .  As in
Post a Comment
Read more

Are we listening?

A child sits alone with a ripped worksheet packet on his desk. He appears to be singing or subvocalizing something though no one hears him. Or, perhaps they're ignoring him. The teacher stands at the front of the room teaching on the SmartBoard. The children follow along in their worksheets. Except the child sitting alone. He is in his own world. No one engages him and he engages no one. My heart aches for this child. He is physically and emotionally removed from the class. I ask him why his paper is ripped. (It's not an accidental rip.) He says he did that on a different day. When he had been frustrated about the work. He tells me that he sometimes sits by himself because the work is too hard for him. He later tells me that he sits by himself because the teacher thinks he talks too much during the lesson.  He says he does that because he wants to find out about the "lives of the other children". My first impulse is to rescue him from the wrongheade
10 comments
Read more