Welcome to WriteOut
You’ve probably seen the posts– you may have visited the site– you may be observing others who are participating in #writeout from the National Writing Project / National Park Service two week celebration of parks and the outdoors.
Whether you are actively participating, creating your own celebrations, or just observing and learning on the sidelines, Welcome!
However you want to learn is OK! And we invite you to continue in your own natural way to enjoy the beauty and lessons from nature– wherever it may be in your community, urban, rural, or in between.
The home page at WriteOut [click here] takes you to all the events and activities, so keep checking in for the next two weeks, even if you just want to look and learn on your own.
Learners, Being By
In online spaces, many people just observe, some call them lurkers, others listeners: I call them Learners, Being by — like water, we stick to things; we are curious, wondering creatures. Sometimes, being by is enough.
In the classroom— see these learners hopping around, looking at what others are doing, wondering about how some ideas connect to their own, curious about interpretations, wondering about possibilities. We are all connected, and we all belong.
In nature, water drops are everywhere, cohesive in their own being, yet adhering to other things— connecting all together: a lesson on “lurkers,” connecting everywhere and everyone.
One of my daily prompts is the Daily Create and today’s prompt was to “Depict A Lurker,” one of those who learn by “being by.”
I’m a frequent lurker– I observe, wonder, and learn from others and from the things and events and nature around me. We all learn from others to find our connection and to sort out the world. It’s a good thing. And sometimes it helps by building confidence to reach out and join in.
Everywhere, people look and learn– it reminded me of water, which seeks to stick to its own, but also to stick to others: adhesion and cohesion. We’re like that with our curiosity and wonder– taking moments to stick to something, maybe just to observe, maybe to join in.
We learners who learn by “being by” are everywhere, and like water, we seek to learn that way. It reminded me of a picture I took in my front garden in 2019 of the drops of water that formed, stuck to the plants, and magnified the parts.
So the little beads of water clinging to the small plant is a lesson from nature about our own nature of learning by “being by” through the “stickiness” of our curiosity and wonder.
Welcome to #WriteOut
in however you
choose to participate.
Learners, Being By
Everywhere
In the world, curious
Seeking to understand-
Gather aside,
Magnifying ideas
Observing the interconnections
Hanging onto hope
For better,
Absorbing what’s needed-
Carrying forward
Falling to flow
Where others gather, learning too,
Adhere with wonder,
Curious, in the world
Everywhere
@grammasheri
Photo: my front garden