Close reading, looking, and thinking

I have been (and still am, at times) 

Guilty of scanning quickly without reading, 

Glazing over details without recognizing what's important, 

Responding without reflecting,
Flying through life without stopping 

To appreciate the details.     

My reading of Chris Lehman and Kate Robert's book, Close Reading has contributed to an increased awareness of how I read, see, and think differently when I stop and look closely at the details of what I read, see, and live.

While the strategies of close reading are becoming part of teachers' reading strategies - their "bags of tricks," I am finding that another, unexpected lens is how I am looking at visual media, my yard and my life a bit more closely.  I am taking the time (at least at times) to stop and smell the roses - even when they have not yet bloomed!  

I am noticing the snow on the roof in the first chapter, Spring, in Frog and Toad are Friends.  I've read the story a zillion times but never noticed the snow as a sign of how Frog probably tried to wake up his hibernating friend on the first day of spring, in March! 

 

I am looking closely at the honey bees swarming the cherry blossoms.  What noise they make!  How busy they are during those first warm days when they have so much to do.  

I am hearing the complaints of my elderly mom as calls for attention.  I am not taking the complaints personally these days.  

I am seeing things (like our APPR binders) in a new and less stressful light.  They are things that need to be done, like laundry and cleaning!.  They do not need to be perfect - just good enough to show that we have tried and are working professionally. 

I am noticing and finding JOY ( my OLW) in what I have rather than what I want ( most of the time); complaining about the CCS less and embracing the good parts more.

   Perhaps this is an objective of the CCS?
   Perhaps we all need to stop and smell the roses a bit more?