January seems to have taken on a life of it’s own and here comes February. We had snow–lots of it–that closed our offices and made little things big. Roger and I did our first grandparent trip, taking Schon to visit Zachary and Caroline in DC–now that was fun. Roger turned 65 with love all around him. Kirsten Haugen and Christa Griest were at the office to move Global Leaders and World Forum Working Groups forward.

And then I flew to Lincoln, NE, for meetings with Nancy Rosenow and her Dimensions team. Lots of brainstorming and thinking and good times later, I left feeling supported and energized by the many ways we collaborate, both on Exchange and the World Forum. Here are some photo highlights for you to enjoy.

Ken, Stacy, Me, Nancy, Julie, Tara

Chris, Tina, Nancy

Tara, Me, Stacy, Nancy, John

At World Forum Office: Christa, Kirsten, Roger, Jennifer

This morning I received a typical message from Amazon. This one was promoting a new book by Andy Andrews. It wasn’t the book or Andy that caught my attention; rather this phrase: “Andy Andrews is first and foremost a Noticer.” It set my mind to thinking about all the emphasis we in early childhood education place on observation, but I’ve never heard anyone speak about being a “noticer.” We are very skilled noticers who have trained ourselves to act when we notice something. We turn noticing into observing and observing into learning and seeking understanding. Noticing by itself is only the beginning. The words we choose to define ourselves and our work make a difference in setting up frameworks for thinking.

We have had kind of a tech summit at World Forum headquarters the last two days with team members Josh, Jennifer, Scott and team members in town for the meeting, Kirsten and Christa. It’s exciting to see all the possibilities for connecting and communicating that technology offers collaborative global work such as ours. It’s overwhelming to make the necessary choices and choose a pathway that honors and enables our mission. We talked quite a bit about how hard it is to create new habits–that’s true whatever we are talking about from making wise food choices to learning new ways technology skills. It’s hard for everyone, but technology habits are especially difficult to change for those of us who understand it only so much as we use it. I looked around the room at all the eager young faces and felt safe and confident as they guide us forward–because they know, but they also listen.

Roger and I visited MacDonald Montessori School in St. Paul, Minnesota last week.

It’s a great school. As we visited each classroom, every teacher wanted to meet us and share their work. There was such energy–you could feel it. Each child and adult and everyone together had purpose and ownership. The walls were filled with invitations to learn about their work, and it was difficult to pass by without engaging in each piece of documentation and display. They have the courage to be unique, to invest in intensive study of two approaches to being with children, and then to create their very own work. It was a truly wonderful day.

I would be interested to know what you think makes a school great . . .

Roger and Beth MacDonald

Beth with son Aaron

And speaking of pride…while in St. Paul, we had the honor and pleasure of meeting Nancy and John Rosenow’s son Matt and his wife Chris and new baby Sylvie.

The focus of our holiday celebrations was the 70th anniversary party for Clara and Hal, Roger’s parents. They are grateful for the blessings of sharing life for such a long time, for health, for each other. We have much to learn from them, and as a family we will be sharing those lessons in my Speaking column for Exchange magazine, March. One special evening when all was quiet and calm, we asked them about what they wanted to teach us. It was an intimate evening of reflective conversation and sharp wit. I could wish to have such an evening when Roger and I celebrate 70 years.