Split screen

I’ve spent the day grading research projects, with one browser tab open to my students’ final drafts and a second open to the reflective letter they write to accompany those drafts. First, I read each student’s description of their research process, then I read their final draft, toggling in my mind between process and product.

Today has been mild and sunny–a quintessential Spring day–so I’ve had the windows open to birdsong. Earlier, I heard the year’s first oriole singing from a neighbor’s yard, my mind toggling between the papers on the screen before me and my mental image of a brilliant orange and black bird whistling from a towering oak that is just starting to leaf.