Writing Is A Gift: Two Gifts in Two Days

Writing is a gift. 
It's a gift from the author, of course...
A gift of time,
commitment,
ideas,
life reflections,
of heart and soul.
It's a gift to the author, too...
A gift of enlightenment,
voice,
discovery,
challenge,
triumph. 
Writing is a gift.
It's a gift to the reader...
A gift of connection
to familiar ideas,
of inspiration 
from new ideas,
of joy in the beauty 
of words on a page.
Writing is a gift.
It's a gift of creation 
for everyone who writes
and everyone who reads.


Yesterday I received a gift in a padded manila envelope.  Inside...a poet and her classmates finally come to life, ready to inspire other writers to look at the world in new ways while writing oodles and oodles of poetry.  Poetry is a gift we can easily give to our students regularly.  Their words on the page become gifts they can keep forever.

Today I received another gift in a big cardboard box.  Inside...over a year of deep reflection about a career of teaching comes to life in 300 pages of purposeful, joyous instruction.  The gift we give our K-2 students when they see how reading and writing fit together and are used to achieve real purposes is life-changing.   

Two HUGE gifts in two successive days.  Out they go, these gifts, to make their mark on the world. Thanks to all those who've contributed.