Zillionbeats, a Connecting Place for Writers, Teachers, and Passersby

Welcome to my Blog, Zillionbeats! My passion is children's poetry, literature, and teaching.  As a career elementary teacher, I loved watching children emerge into the world of literacy, and strove to ease and excite their passage.  I've learned many things along my way, one of which is my own love of writing for children.  My goal for this blog is to share and continue my learning, to share my writing, participate in the development of the art of teaching, and to connect with others on the same or parallel paths.

Perched on the edge of the web, readying my first "shout out," I absolutely fear that no one will be able to or interested in listening.

When Neal Armstrong made his famous phrase, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” how did he come up with a hook that would rest in the hearts of people, enhancing, framing, and cementing the moment in our collective souls?

When Lincoln said in his Gettysburg address, “the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,” he never imagined the impact he would have.  He wasn’t attempting to capitalize on the lost lives, pain, passion, lament, and loss that had soaked sadly into that meadow for his own purposes.  But what he said did matter, resting in hearts, changing conscience, pushing the envelope of civilized thought, making a difference.

Okay, what’s the segue? How do I get from Armstrong and Lincoln to Sonders?

Well, hoping to make a difference, I am going to share some of what I have learned about children, teaching, and writing.  I have a love of poetry, and am often captive of cadence in search of lyrics, story in search of vehicle, and consequently voice in search of medium. 

As this blog will serve as voice, what is voice without listener, without dialogue? Dear reader, I hope that what I can offer in thought and voice will be of interest, and that this will not be a monologue, but a dialogue, so that we can through discourse…

Travel together

Adding a measure of

Light to darkness

Friendship to solitude

And certitude to confusion

Martin Sonders

March 23, 2014

Fear of Failure: Watch Out for that Bus

Jasmin H posted a thoughtful and enjoyable article on February 25th in Pen & Pad Publishing.  It got me to thinking about my own nervousness at making and following through with a decision to publish, or pressing "SEND." She frets about her inability to employ logic as a means of knowing, and worries about not landing on her feet.

When to Press Send

Here is my partial response:

And what if we don't land on our feet? It's not as though a bus squashes our momentarily prostrate form. I've felt the electric moment also, hovering anxiously over the button, teetering over the abyss to everyone and no one. But upon reflexion inspired by your writing, if the very elite, who often miss-step and set off a riot of protest, survive, even flourish, then so can you and I.

... and I did it.  I landed on my face instead of my feet, but I refuse to fall on my sword.  I used "reflexion" when I should have used "reflection." Turns out that the former is an old English form of the word, or more frequently used in a scientific context.  Sigh...well I am old, and perhaps it fits in that context.