Minute Thoughts (“my-noot” not “min-nut”)

I am not sure how other people write, but I have a definite process for this blog, and for my other writing for that matter. I tend to be inspired in spurts. Sometimes I feel the need to write immediately, and I will write on anything that I can get my hands on. That might be the back of the church bulletin, a paper placemat at the local Chinese restaurant, the back of an envelope, or in a homework notebook that one my own children has in their backpack. Other times I will see a quote or a line from something I am reading and realize that it has peaked my interest. When this happens, that line tends to stay in my head longer, and doesn’t need immediate writing but requires immediate thinking. Since a lot of my reading comes in the form of web sites, tweets, and blog posts, I can capture the quote or sentence that sparks my writing instincts for use later. It is a process, but I keep everything.

I have since tried to explain this process to my writing students, and one student in particular. This student says that she often will begin her writing with something that she thinks will turn into something phenomenal and then gets 150 words into it and realizes that she is at a dead end and she saves it, and starts another. I keep trying to explain to her that is normal and that someday she will revisit that writing and it may turn into something-but if it doesn’t that is ok too. So today as I am skimming through my blog notes, searching for a spark since my Internet connection is down, I realized I have a lot of really great quotes, but they don’t lead anywhere. And these quotes are something that no one will ever get to see, or realize that I think they are intriguing thoughts. So here is the big moment… I am going to post my “minute thoughts.” (“my-noot” not “min-nut”)

“Sell stupid somewhere else.” I have always wanted to write about this… I have always wanted to say this to a student who is giving me a lame excuse that they think I should fall for, which is usually a lie. But I am not sure how politically correct it would be. So, if any of my students are planning to give me a lame excuse in the near future, and you see my eyes roll back in my head, and I look away quickly, know without a doubt that I am thinking, “sell stupid somewhere else.”

“The journeys are different but the trip is the same.” This is actually the title of a book by author Doug Polk who visited our school recently. He is a wonderful author and he has many good messages about people with physical and mental handicaps, so everyone should share this book with their kids. But the title as a quote is what makes my head leap in different directions, and I think that is why I struggle with narrowing my ideas down to one, blog post of reasonable length. The journey could be to a laptop initiative. The journey could be to a love a reading. The journey could be from a struggling learner to the doors of higher education. The journey could be through a good book. The journey could be self-discovery. It could be finding friends on Facebook and reconnecting with those people you have lost over the years. It could be anything…

“Whatever happened to manners?” Recently, my son was complimented by a complete stranger. This person stopped me on the way out of a door at sporting event and thanked me for raising children with such nice manners. My first instinct was to say, “surely you weren’t talking about my kids,” but I didn’t say anything, and if truth be told, my kids do have good manners. So I asked, “what did they do?” The answer, “they helped me catch one of the items I was about to drop as I was walking to my car. Then they divided up the rest of the things and walked me, and my belongings, to my car. They even loaded them in my trunk and asked if I needed any more help.” I was thrilled by the compliment, but not totally surprised, they do like to help people. So I said, “I am glad they could help, and thank you for brightening my day.” We talked for a few minutes about the fact that this person also had children, but they were inside waiting for him to finish loading the car so they could leave. As he was walking inside he said, “Whatever happened to manners?”

“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.” When I first read this quote in the book Twilight, it caught my attention. It stood out as a metaphor I could use with my students that they would understand. It made me think of one of our teachers who, just a couple of years ago, was campaigning against our 1:1 laptop program. Just this last month he presented to a group of 60 educators from the region of how he integrates technology into his daily classroom. He actually said, “I don’t know how I would go back to traditional teaching.” Of course the quote is also so pertinent for the month of March and the weather at this time of year in Nebraska. This weekend, we had a horrible blizzard, and the month went out like a lion leaving us all really anxious for spring.

… Maybe these minute thoughts should become a regular post…