Love this quote:

“Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.”
  Jane Yolen

Closing in on Close Reading

Closing in on Close Reading

Nancy Boyles

We can't wait until middle school to teach students to read closely. Three practices bring close reading to the lower grades.

A significant body of research links the close reading of complex text—whether the student is a struggling reader or advanced—to significant gains in reading proficiency and finds close reading to be a key component of college and career readiness. (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, 2011, p. 7)

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Closing in on Close Reading

Empowering Others

Written by: Asnat Greenburg

One of the more important lessons I learned as a child came from my father. One day a beggar knocked on our door looking for a giving hand. Though I was a small child, I still remember how he looked. He was old, with an untamed beard and tattered clothes. He had a wretched odor; I imagine he hadn’t showered in months. He was, more likely than not, homeless.

I remember how my father treated him. I remember my father inviting him into our home, seating him in our kitchen, opening the fridge, and feeding him a hearty meal. I don’t remember much more than that, yet my father’s actions that day taught me an important lesson. It was a lesson about how to treat others. It was a lesson about empowerment.

Each of our inner circles is growing and encompassing more people: children, significant others, friends, colleagues, and random people we meet and don’t know as intimately. As the circle grows, so too does our influence.

Every nod, every smile, every interaction can completely change the course of someone else’s day. We can either wield that influence in a positive or negative way. Empowering others is one of the most important acts of kindness one can do for his fellow man.

Empowering others means not criticizing them.

Empowering others means not judging them.

Empowering others means not being cynical toward them.

Empowering others means praising the struggling student in the class on his or her progress—any progress, no matter how small.

Empowering others means curbing your ego.

Empowering others means connecting to the best elements that lie within you.

Empowering others is contagious.

Empowering others means giving them the feeling that they are loved.

Empowering others is to understand that the cashier at the supermarket, the waiter at the café, the guy who pumps your gas, the doorman, the street cleaner, and the janitor are not transparent. They are people just like us.

Empowering others means smiling at these people, inquiring about their wellbeing, thanking them for the services they provide, and wishing them a good day.

Empowering others means being happy for them, and praising them on their accomplishments. Praising them in any way possible. Always.

Empowering others means identifying with them.

Empowering others is easy. It does not require any effort.

Empowering others means smiling when someone else approaches.

Empowering others also empowers us.

Empowering others makes the world a better place.

Empowering others means to be moved by the American poet and author Maya Angelou who said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”