Clare’s post yesterday got me thinking about change, so today I decided to change things up a bit. While I was out doing errands I didn’t follow my normal routes, but found other ways to get to where I was going, always on the lookout for new things to notice. If I hadn’t done that, I might never have noticed that a restaurant near us that has been abandoned for years was finally torn down, or that there are live llamas in the front yard at Discovery Day Care. (Really!)
My greatest discoveries came when I was walking Cyrus. Instead of starting the trail where we normally do, I drove to the endpoint and started backwards. So while technically I always walk that portion of the trail, today it was first, not last. I kept my ears and eyes open and this is what I noticed:
a child’s delightful laughter coming from the playground
the quiet rush of the meandering stream
the stump of a tree in the shape of an eagle
the distant rat-a-tat-tat of a woodpecker
a lone clump of yellow daffodils on a hill
buds emerging from climbing vines
a swing on the tree in front of the house I often wonder about
a bench for sitting or thinking or reading or writing
In the classroom, some kids have trouble with change, but small changes, even temporary small changes, may be just the thing to give them a new perspective or energy boost – a new sharing partner, a new spot for reading, a new responsibility. And then I think we have to talk with kids about how that change affected them. For me, I think the changes I made in the routes I took heightened my senses and made me more aware of my environment.
And without that small change I made in the direction I walk with Cyrus, I might never have noticed the bench, where we paused for a selfie.
My greatest discoveries came when I was walking Cyrus. Instead of starting the trail where we normally do, I drove to the endpoint and started backwards. So while technically I always walk that portion of the trail, today it was first, not last. I kept my ears and eyes open and this is what I noticed:
a child’s delightful laughter coming from the playground
the quiet rush of the meandering stream
the stump of a tree in the shape of an eagle
the distant rat-a-tat-tat of a woodpecker
a lone clump of yellow daffodils on a hill
buds emerging from climbing vines
a swing on the tree in front of the house I often wonder about
a bench for sitting or thinking or reading or writing
In the classroom, some kids have trouble with change, but small changes, even temporary small changes, may be just the thing to give them a new perspective or energy boost – a new sharing partner, a new spot for reading, a new responsibility. And then I think we have to talk with kids about how that change affected them. For me, I think the changes I made in the routes I took heightened my senses and made me more aware of my environment.
And without that small change I made in the direction I walk with Cyrus, I might never have noticed the bench, where we paused for a selfie.
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