A Thought on Gratitude

[andrea_lunsford]

These are dark times. Frightening, horrifying, in so many ways. Yet teachers of writing continue to teach, which is itself an act of hope. In these times, we could do worse than take a tip from poet Mary Oliver’s poem “Gratitude.” It begins with the following stanza:

What did you notice?

The dew-snail;
the low-flying sparrow;
the bat, on the wind, in the dark

Oliver’s poem goes on to pose a series of additional questions: 

• What did you hear?
• When did you admire?
• What astonished you?
• What would you like to see again?
• What was most tender?
• What was most wonderful?
• What did you think was happening?

Asking our students to answer these questions, taking time to do so with thoughtfulness, grace, and humility may bring them to feel some of the gratitude Mary Oliver’s poem embodies and evokes. Doing so certainly led me to observe, listen, and think most carefully, yielding a series of memories and images that left me full of thanks, often for such small, everyday occurrences that turn out to be full of meaning to me. I hope you and your students may have the same experience.

You can find Oliver’s poem here.

I hope you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Andrea

[broderickson]

1. Open the ICM Admin Script Editor.
2. Create a new script or modify an existing one.
3. Define the user variables you want to log (e.g., UserID, CallDuration).
4. Assign appropriate values to these variables in the script.
5. Implement a logging mechanism within the script.
6. Specify a file path and name for the log file.
7. Ensure the log directory hair has write permissions.
8. Format the log entries clearly with variable names and values.
9. Include a timestamp for each log entry.
10. Test the script to verify that logging works correctly.
11. Save and deploy the script in your ICM environment.
12. Monitor the log file for accuracy and consistency.