Saturday, February 4, 2017

What You Look For, You Find

January and February are tough months for me. The long, dark days and lack of sunshine weigh on me like a heavy quilt. It would be easy to succumb to the gloomy, doomy days of winter and be a crab all the time.

But that won't help.

Instead, I am trying to stay focused on thinking positively and focusing on the blessings of my life instead of my stressings.

This has been a week of many blessings, both personal and professional:

* My daughter surprised me at school on Thursday with a belated birthday visit. She brought cookies, balloons, and flowers and hung out with us for awhile. My students loved seeing her too (especially since she brought cookies).
                                   
* I found out that I will be a presenter at two conferences this summer, All Write in Indiana (!!!!) and the USM Summer Spark conference in Milwaukee. I will be sharing a project I've done at my school called "The Cartonera Project: Every Student an Author" which is a celebration of writing and of the growth of our student writers over time.

* I have been chosen to be a peer reviewer of articles for The Wisconsin English Journal, a publication of the Wisconsin Council of Teachers of English.

* The sun came out TWO days in a row!!

* We held a Twitter chat (#EDG507) on Wednesday night for one of the university courses I am teaching and it went very well. It's exciting to watch teachers learn about the power of a PLN!

How is your winter going? If you are feeling the weight of the season, I encourage you to take a moment and look for the good in your world. Remember...what you look for, you find.

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10 comments:

  1. Leigh Anne EckFebruary 4, 2017 at 8:36 AM

    Your title is so, so true. What we look for, we do find and I see that every day in my students, my colleagues, and even myself. Congratulations on your wonderful blessings! I can't wait to hear more.

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  2. Alice NineFebruary 4, 2017 at 8:44 AM

    Congratulations on your summer presenter opportunities! Great wisdom in your final sentence: "Remember...what you look for, you find." Practical application: On these winter days, when the sun comes out, I do not look closely at my wood floors.

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  3. Diane AndersonFebruary 4, 2017 at 8:47 AM

    Look forward to seeing you at AllWrite (I won a free registration last summer!)

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  4. Linda BFebruary 4, 2017 at 9:06 AM

    I certainly agree that 'what you look for, you find', Jennifer. We are lucky here in Colorado. Unless there is a snowy or frosty day, it's always sunny. I grew up in Missouri, so I do know about those grey days, though. Congratulations for all the good things you've been tapped for. That is just wonderful. Have a good weekend, and maybe a bit more birthday celebrating?

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  5. TaraFebruary 4, 2017 at 10:26 AM

    Lovely that you will be presenting at All Write - it falls on the last week of school for us, sadly.

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  6. Jane @ www.raincitylibrarian.caFebruary 4, 2017 at 2:43 PM

    I really struggle with winter, too - it gets so grey and dark and gloomy here, it can just be so hard. But wow - you have so many amazing things to celebrate - those presentations in particular sound so exciting!!

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  7. Michelle HaseltineFebruary 4, 2017 at 3:17 PM

    Hooray!!! So much to celebrate! I'm so excited for your presentations at both of those conferences. How exciting!! Woo Hoo!

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  8. Carrie GelsonFebruary 4, 2017 at 4:07 PM

    Congratulations on your upcoming presentations! And happy belated birthday!

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  9. Margaret SimonFebruary 4, 2017 at 4:55 PM

    Balloons and cookie cake! Happy Birthday! I'm glad you are finding ways to celebrate this week.

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  10. Carol VarsalonaFebruary 6, 2017 at 8:43 PM

    How wonderful that you had a week of marvelous celebrations, Jennifer. Happy Birthday and congratulations on being an upcoming presenter at the conference.

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