Noticing Tiny Moments--Listening,hearing, loving in details

Things are starting to transform here at Covecrest, and the greens of summer are fading into the burnt colors of fall. Madison and I have been working to notice things as writers do--paying detailed attention to the things that are going on around us. Rather than simply traveling from one thing to the next, we have been looking for treasures in our everyday lives, things that might inspire us to create beautiful writing. Madison and I sat outside at the little green table on our front patio and discussed building a story rather than talking about a story. We took a few minutes to “think in detail” and take time to notice the setting around us. What do we hear, see, smell, feel on this beautiful September day? We saw leaves falling around us, we could hear the chickens (yes...we do have a chicken coop next door to our school!) we could smell the fire burning across the river, and we could feel the warmth of the fall sunshine pouring down over us. I saw it "click" in her eyes when she realized that she could write in the way that she was thinking in details. Maybe I will tell her one day that watching her realize this was an absolute treasure in my teaching day.