Teaching With Words By Cleo Lampos Narrative nonfiction is a writing style that makes true events read like a novel. Is it any wonder that when Torey Hayden submitted her manuscript for One Child that the publisher snatched it up and put her under contract? Using narrative nonfiction, Torey gives the reader glimpses into the […]
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“I always have the most fun on the Fourth of July. You don’t have to exchange any gifts. You just go to the beach and watch fireworks.” -James Lafferty Linda Nelson Johnson- Fourth of July hand dyed fabric with metallic thread Learning How to Celebrate We were just married. Inexperienced. Not thinking things through. My husband […]
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“You were unsure which pain is worse – the shock of what happened or the ache for what never will.” […]
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“Headlines don’t sell papes. Newsies sell papes.” -Jack Kelly Newsies were the toughest kids on the streets of New York City during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Their plucky, can-do, ambitious attitudes have gained these newspaper hawks respect in today’s pop culture. But those kids on the street corners in knickers and slouch caps […]
CHILDREN OF SILENCE By Cleo Lampos Thomas struggled to take a breath in the spring air. As the other children ran around him, playing, pushing, screaming, he tried to inhale enough oxygen to walk to the stoop of his home. The oldest of twelve children, Thomas did more sitting and daydreaming than he did […]
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“The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.” -Mary McLeod Bethune, educator Artist Unknown It started with my first born, Jessalyn, wrapped papoose-style in her cotton candy pink quilt, and tucked in my elbow. With my other hand, I held a magazine with lots of pictures and slowly turned the pages […]
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“As a creative person, you are especially sensitive to the world around you.” -Matt Tommey The word makes me uncomfortable. It conjures up projects that are too grandiose for a person like me to create. Using the word stops progress on my work. Even today, it is difficult to for me to say that I […]
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“To be invited within the circle of handiwork is one of the oldest forms of female acceptance and companionship.” – Patricia C. McKissack When I was teaching school, my personal life morphed into a crazy quilt pattern, with some heavily embellished patches, but no organized pattern. The “in the ditch” grind of curricular demands left […]
Ever read a book that changed the way you viewed lif? The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton was that book when I was a college student in 1967. I was ready to start student teaching in a school set in a culturally deprived neighborhood. The prospect of assuming responsibility for 42 fourth grade students squeezed into […]
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“A child born to another woman calls me mommy. The magnitude of that tragedy and the depth of that privilege are not lost on me.” -Jody Landers Another parent-teacher conference ended with the stars twinkling in the night sky, and me scuttling to my Saturn in a nearly empty school parking lot. Invariably, the […]