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Every week Holly posts a theme on Twitter for our #spiritualjourney posts. Every week it seems to be the most appropriate theme. This week is gratitude. I am posting my acceptance speech for the Donald H. Graves Award. I will give this speech this afternoon at the NCTE Elementary Section Get Together. Reading it aloud makes me cry. I am praying I will be able to get through it without croaking up.
Emily snuck our class lemur, Jack, into my bag. He is helping me write my speech.
Thank you, Detra Price-Dennis, and the Elementary Section Steering Committee for this honor. I am overwhelmed and humbled. Writing drives my work with students and my interactions with the world.
Kate DiCamillo, our National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and one of my favorite children’s authors, says that stories connect us. “When we learn someone else’s story, it shifts the fabric of our being. We are more open. And when we are open, we connect.”
My One Little Word for 2014 is Open, so when I saw the call for submissions to the Donald H. Graves Award, I thought, never in a million years, and why not?
I was encouraged when I saw that Julie Johnson was the 2010 winner. I know her! I read her blog! That is how I have connected to so many wonderful authors and educators. These connections, their stories, have given me courage to be open to new adventures. My fellow blogging teachers have also given me confidence in my own voice through their comments. My small world has grown.
These wider connections have not only enriched my life, but they have affected my students’ lives. Earlier this fall, my 4th grader Emily lost her mother. This should not happen to anyone, let alone to a nine-year-old girl. Of course, I wrote about this profound experience on my blog. Amy Ludwig Vanderwater read it and wrote a poem for Emily. She didn’t say that the poem was for Emily but I knew that she had read my blog.
Amy became that someone for Emily. When Emily wrote a poem about clouds, she made an Animoto video, so I said to her, “Would you like to dedicate this poem to someone?” Her eyes lowered. I know she thought I meant her mother. But when I said, “Amy Vanderwater,” her eyes danced. We tweeted the poem-movie to Amy. For Poetry Friday the next week, Amy posted it on her blog along with some writing tips from my 4th grader. These connections, these stories, strengthen us when we need it most. Emily feels like a real poet. She will always have that gift, and Amy recognized her and honored her.
I began this journey when I attended the summer institute of the National Writing Project of Acadiana. There, Ann Dobie, director at the time and an important mentor ever since, introduced me to the work of Donald Graves. His philosophy that a teacher of writing must be a writer has entered my heart and soul.
I am grateful to the National Writing Project for supporting my desire to be a writer. I am grateful to the works of mentors like Ralph Fletcher and Aimee Buckner. I am grateful to the Two Writing Teachers, all 6 of them, who support the Slice of Life challenge and hold each teacher/writer in their gentle and wise hands. My family and my colleagues back home in New Iberia give me love, confidence, and the freedom to write and teach in way I believe is right and true.
Our stories connect us and make us partners on this journey of life. I encourage you to be Open, open to the lives of your students and to the lives of others. Write your life and, as Amy Vanderwater reminds us, Be the someone.
My view of the National Harbor from my hotel room at NCTE. What a beautiful day!
Reflections on the Teche 
The lemur was in your bag! Many congratulations, Margaret, for this honor. All of us are so lucky you’re here on this planet. *Cheers!* xo
I’m so glad you shared your acceptance speech since I won’t be there to hear it in person. It’s beautiful! There won’t be a dry eye in the house. 😉 YOU’RE that someone for so many people!
This is just beautiful. So happy for you!
This is very beautiful and thought-filled, Margaret. I imagine that you are giving the speech now & receiving this award so deserved. Happy happy Friday!
Oh Margaret, how lovely. I am eager to hear how your speech went and all about your ceremony and celebration. Such a well-deserved honor. Having met, heard and learned from Don Graves on many occasions, I know that he would love your speech. I also love how you feature your student and that you wrote about Amy and her poem. That day when it came on the blog, I was substitute teaching in a 5th grade in my old school. The teacher across the hall came in to alert me that Devin’s dog had been killed that morning and that he might be a little sad. (That teacher is close friend’s with Devin’s family.) I asked if I should say anything about the dog to him, but she said I should to let it be. I found Amy’s poem by luck, printed a couple of copies and gave it to the teacher and asked her to share it after school with Devin and her own son who had also recently lost his dog. I shared it with our school counselor, too. So that poem and Emily helped some kids in my town. Please thank Emily for me if you will. Next connection. Detra was a presenter in my “blended” session last year at NCTE. If you see her again after your award ceremony, please mention a hello from me! (She should recall that I talked about teaching my kids to recite and love poetry, I hope.) Oh, I am teary-eyed thinking about your speech, success and all the writing love that will be in that room with you. A big hug and congratulations.
I was certainly surrounded by love. Thanks for sharing your story. We are all connected.
What an honor! Congrats and thanks for sharing your wonderful gift with us all.
Congratulations, Margaret. I remember when you shared your story about a teaching experience that was discouraging. How you stayed true to your self by walking away from that job. This week, you must feel as if you’re at the top of that hill. I’m thrilled for you. Kudos to NCTE for recognizing an educator who is giving to and present for students.
Margaret, I am so appreciative that I met you on my journey and that I was in the crowd when you received your Donald Graves award. He was a gentle, wise man who loved literacy and children. It is appropriate that you received the award that honors Donald as a writer. I have watched your teaching talent from afar and lingered in the stories of your students. They must be proud that their teacher earned an esteemed honor. May all of your days be as wonderful as this one has been. May I count you as one of my Twitter buddies, now F2F friends, and a writing colleague. Thank you for sharing the depth of your soul today in front of a huge crowd of literacy educators at NCTE 14.
Congratulations again, on such a deserving honor. You continue to inspire not only your students but teachers like me! For that, I am grateful. I am sure the celebration will continue for a long time. Enjoy!
Margaret, thank you so much for posting your acceptance speech here, and for sharing Amy’s poem. You are so right when you say that our stories connect us and make us partners in life’s journey. Congratulations!!!
Margaret,Congratulations on your award. I too am glad you posted you speech here. Have a great time celebrating. 🙂
Margaret–I was there to see you accept your award and hear your heartfelt speech, but I didn’t get a chance to say hello! I hope to cross paths with you here–let’s look out for each other!
Heidi, I am so glad we got to meet, if only briefly. I had an amazing weekend at NCTE.
Congratulations Margaret! I am grateful that I get to “hear” your speech through your words as I won’t be there in person. With your guidance and sensitive teaching you are touching so many lives–both young and old (or just older). They picked the right person for this award! Rejoice!
[…] Get Together for the Donald H. Graves Award for teaching writing. My acceptance speech is here. I was surrounded by notable writers Lester Laminack, Ralph Fletcher, and Georgia Heard. All three […]
This is beautiful and so very humble. Congratulations on this wonderful award. I loved how you connected with Amy’s poem and passed it on to your student. They certainly gave this award to the right person. xo
Congratulations, Margaret! I had the privilege of attending the University of New Hampshire and working with Don Graves. An amazing teacher and human being! I think his strongest trait was that he understood that above all, relationships matter. I see a lot of him in you and your words!
I’m sure it was a privilege to work with Don Graves. I never met him, but I have read and met many who were touched by him. What an honor to have an award with his name on it. Thanks for your kind comment.