April | 2015 | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for April, 2015

Be Still and Know

Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, tagged #DigiPoetry, poem movie, spiritual journey, stillness on April 30, 2015| 3 Comments »

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When you take the time to be truly still, how do you feel? Do you keep multiple tabs open so if one website is taking its time loading, you can be reading another one? Do you multi-task? While you are eating, do you read or watch TV?

More and more our society demands our constant activity. When I work out at the gym, I can plug my headphones in and watch TV or listen to my iPod. When I am driving, the radio plays. I have a little notebook in the console of my car to make lists on. I am rarely without my cell phone.

I crave quiet and stillness but in all honesty, rarely do I allow myself this luxury. What I need to understand is that God will not come in when it’s noisy. The Spirit wants my quiet time. The Holy One begs me to slow down and listen.

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

Writing poetry also requires my silence, my listening, my opened and uncluttered mind. I love to take a walk in the park and absorb the colors, the scents, the fresh air, and make it poetry. In the spirit of stillness, spring, and digital poetry, here is an original poem movie entitled, “Come Out, Green.”

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

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Stormy Weather

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged calm teachers, school emergency plan, thunder storm on April 28, 2015| 10 Comments »

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Heading to school on Monday morning, I saw the warnings. I figured I had time to get to school before the storm hit, and I’d be safe at school. I was right. The storm didn’t hit until 8:45, a few moments after I had gotten students settled in for post-testing.

The rain came down so hard and fast that Jacob said, “It sounds like the ocean.” I told him he should write that down for a future poem. As soon as he opened his journal, the lights went black. And I mean black! No lights, inside or outside. The classes next to mine started filing out into the hallway directed by calm teachers holding their cell phones in flashlight mode.

While we sat in the hall and answered concerned questions, I noticed a colleague sit on the floor next to her student. She put her hand on her shoulder and talked to her quietly. This child was scared and crying. This teacher was calm and comforting.

My classroom phone rang. I answered it. A man made a joke and I told him he had the wrong number. (Later, I found out this was the secretary’s husband.) The calls kept coming. I eventually figured out that somehow my phone was the only working phone in the school and all incoming calls were coming to me. I began answering with kindness, taking on the soothing tone of our dear secretary. I was comforting panicked parents.

The storm passed quickly. We were left with no power. Teachers began making up games in the hallway. I continued to answer the phone. The security office called. I told them our power was out, but we were all safe. The superintendent’s office called. I explained the situation. Eventually the decision was made to dismiss school since a tree had knocked out power that wouldn’t be restored for hours.

The calls continued. “Yes, we are dismissing.”

“Your child is safe.”

“Be sure someone is home to meet the bus.”

“We are in emergency mode. Please call back tomorrow.”

This was not an extreme emergency, but it tested our system. It tested our teachers. It tested me. We all remained calm and placed the safety and comfort of our students first. I am confident we are prepared for any stormy weather.

Doppler Radar of storm over New Iberia.

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Poem Movies

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Poetry, Teaching, Writing, tagged Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, critical thinking, digital literacy, poetry project, TPCASTT on April 26, 2015| 4 Comments »

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Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

My students are enjoying Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s poetry month project, Sing that Poem, over at The Poem Farm. This week a group wrote their own verse to a popular tune. I posted the poem here. Here is the recording of them singing it.

I have challenged my students with a poetry project this month. For the assignment, they must read 3 poetry books, TPCASTT one poem from each book, write a reader response to each book, write an original poem using a form from one of the books, and create a video presentation of a poem. Only a few have gotten to the video presentation stage.

I talked to them about what I expected to see in the video. The design and the music would reflect the tone and theme of the poem. Design is where digital literacy comes in, to be able to evaluate the poem and represent it through image and sound is the highest level of critical thinking. It is important for me to push my gifted students to use their highest levels of thinking. Both Tyler and Tobie got it. Animoto provides enough choices that my students were able to find what they were looking for in design and music.

Tyler presents a haiku by Issa from Cool Melons Turn to Frogs. Tobie presents House by John Frank from Lend a Hand.

Link up your DigiLit Sunday posts.

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Celebration Saturday

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Gifted Education, Writing, tagged Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Shining Light Foundation, Sing that Poem, student leadership, The Poem Farm, young musicians, Zydeco on April 25, 2015| 5 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

This morning, I’ve been cleaning and doing chores like kitty litter and laundry. My hands smell like bleach. I kinda like the smell, tingly clean, but I should’ve worn gloves. As I swept the kitchen floor, what else was there to do but reflect on my week. Do I really have anything to celebrate? The list got longer and longer.

The logo for SCBWI is a kite. I set out my kite last weekend. I found out it needs a few repairs, but it may fly one day. I have hope. The Houston conference gave me hope, but I also connected with other writers on this journey and that is what I celebrate today: Connections. I wrote about the conference for Slice of Life Tuesday.

On Tuesday night my husband and I attended a fund raiser for a fairly new nonprofit called the Shining Light Foundation. The organization provides financial assistant to children who have a dream. The event offered a roundup of local Cajun and Zydeco bands. I was particularly taken by a young girl playing the washboard. She has such a natural rhythm and a sense of confidence. I celebrate young talent and passion for going for it.

Chubby Carrier and students

This week our gifted sixth graders finished up their project on Wonders of Iberia Parish by painting sets for an original play. Their performance was held at our Gifted by Nature Day for all elementary students, and the three boys that I teach felt proud of the accomplishment. I can see how this experience changed them into confident leaders. I celebrate student leaders.

My students continue to enjoy singing poems with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater over at The Poem Farm. Some of them are going to the site on their own between class meetings. One of my groups created their own song this week. See if you can figure out the tune. Here is a matching form from Amy’s site. Like Amy, I will post the Soundcloud tomorrow for you to see if your guess was right.

Written by Matthew, Tyler, Noah, Jacob, and Vannisa

Tree Song

Apples fall from apple trees
Watch out! Watch out!
Syrup comes from maple trees,
Sweet, a sticky mess!

Acorns fall from old oak trees.
Squirrels eat them.
Squirrels and humans both alike
all depend on trees.

All depend on trees,
All depend on trees.
Squirrels and humans both alike
All depend on trees!

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Gifted by Nature

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged Gifted by Nature Day, I am poem, torn paper art on April 24, 2015| 10 Comments »

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Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

Every year we gather all the elementary gifted students at our local city park for a day of playing strategic games and combining nature, art, and poetry. This year our 6th grade students led the day. They’ve been working together once a month all year to plan a day of wonder for all our students. They performed a play about the Wonders of New Iberia. Written, designed, and performed by students, the play led the audience on a tour of the wonders of our area.

The 6th grade students led an art and poetry activity. Their instructions were to think of something you wonder about and write an I am poem about it. The form was simple. The students wrote and tore paper to create an art piece to accompany the poem. I participated because I wanted to sit next to students and be one of them. I thought about my diva cat, Mimi. One of the students helped me with my torn paper art.

Torn paper Mimi by Margaret Simon

Galaxy by Kaiden

Air by Matthew

Nature by Vannisa

This post is my 600th post. I never would have thought I would get here when I started this amazing journey. Thank you, friends and readers!

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Family

Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, tagged digital poetry, family, spiritual journey on April 23, 2015| 2 Comments »

Join the Spiritual Thursday round up at Reading, Teaching, Learning.

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

Holly Mueller leads us to spiritual reflection each week. This week the theme is family. I didn’t think I could write a poem about family without being trite or cliché. Sometimes cliché just happens, and this is one of those times.

Family is a full cup
overflowing
with nourishing water
a twist of lemon.

Family is a dog,
four cats,
an occasional frog.

Family is photo albums
in the antique armoire
saving the years.

Family is a favorite restaurant
where they know your name.

Family is a daily text,
Facetime, calling Bluetooth,
feeling close together
while far apart
knowing there is no place like home
and no friend like family.

–Margaret Simon

Last night I happened upon a Twitter chat for #TCRWP. Someone mentioned using PicLit, so in the spirit of digital poetry, I tried it out. The first picture that came up was the Bean in Chicago where we have posed a few family pictures. The word family was not listed, so I used people instead.

See the full PicLit at PicLits.com

And here a family Bean photo with haiku using Picmonkey.

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Jumping into the Deep End

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged Kelly Light, middle grade fiction, SCBWI, writing on April 21, 2015| 18 Comments »

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This weekend I attended my first ever SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) regional conference in Houston. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was nervous. I thought maybe I was jumping into a place I would not belong, a pond made only for big fish. My fears were relieved almost immediately when I met Caroline walking across the street to the Westin. She told me how scared she was the first time, so she decided she would always find a new person and be welcoming. How great for me. We found a place at a table together, and everyone started chatting and exchanging cards.

I was asked, “Are you an author or an illustrator?”
“Uh, well…”
I said with confidence, “I am an author.”
Then I giggled. “Yes, this is my first time.”

Our first presenter was the illustrator Kelly Light. I fell in love with her. She put us all at ease with her humor and her very real story about her struggle to find herself and live her dream. I was moved to tears by the end. Her first book is adorable, Louise Loves Art.

At her signing, she gave out stickers. I wore my favorite sticker on Sunday to have some courage to “Be Fierce…So Feline…So Fantastic!”

Fierce feline sticker on my journal with my fierce feline, Mimi.

Amidst the inspiring speakers and the chatting with new friends, I had an editor’s critique of my middle grade work in progress. My palms were sweaty and my stomach was churning, but I walked in bravely. The editor was calm and respectful. She did not treat me as a total idiotic-what-do-you-think-you-are-doing writer. However, I have a lot of work to do. I have hard decisions to make. Revisions to write. But my work is viable. This work is doable. I will not be sending in a manuscript any time soon. I know I am not ready; however, I am a fish in the pond. I can swim freely alongside the other fish. I am one of them. I am an author.

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Sing That Poem with Students

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Poetry, tagged Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, soundcloud, The Poem Farm on April 19, 2015| 3 Comments »

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is doing a unique and fun writing project on her blog, The Poem Farm. My students are huge fans. We have been checking in daily to see the new poem, to sing all the match up songs possible, count syllables, then make a guess. We have recorded our guesses on Soundcloud using my iPhone.

My students have gotten good at this. They are not in the least bit shy about singing. This week was mostly filled with more state testing. So when testing was over, and we finally had uninterrupted time together, they insisted on visiting The Poem Farm. We read Amy’s poem Memories and after quite a few fails, we decided it was the tune of “London Bridge is Falling Down.”

Writing workshop became a frenzy of experimenting with different songs, counting syllables, and writing original poems to the tunes. I was particularly fond of Emily’s because I helped her with it. She was writing about stinky feet. We googled a picture of a labeled shoe to get the proper shoe vocabulary. I talked to her about how she could personify eyelets. Finding rhymes was a challenge, too. (Rhymezone.com helped) I kept trying to describe that reeking of feet as steam. She came up with word vapor. So we made a near rhyme with vapor and garbage collector. It worked. Read the poem first to see if you can guess the tune, then listen to the Soundcloud. Thank you, Amy VanDerwater for inspiring such creativity and fun.

Do your shoes smell bad?
Do your laces stink a tad?
Can the eyelets see the dirt?
If they can, they may avert.
Does the footbed reek and vapor
like the garbage can collector?
Do your shoes smell bad?

by Emily

Link up your Digital Literacy posts below:

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Acrostic Verse

Posted in Chalk-a-bration, Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, tagged Creativity, student acrostic poetry on April 17, 2015| 9 Comments »

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Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

I am staying true to my blog title and reflecting today. I discovered a student of mine has been writing acrostic poems. Lani is new to my gifted class, in third grade, and works on math with me. She knew the others were blogging for the month of March, and she wanted to join in. Of course, I let her, and her mother welcomed the challenge by allowing her computer time at home to post. With the crazy number of posts during March, I was not completely keeping up. I thought I was until I saw this post from Lani from March 25th.

Since today is International Poetry Day for me… this is my poem…..

Hour long punishment
Expelled from school yesterday
Lectures from my mother
Practicality flunked sixth grade

My worst day ever
Everyone knows that I lied to get their attention

I hope that you liked my poem!!

This form intrigued me. As I said, Lani is a third grader, and none of her lines were true to her, so I assumed that she was writing a novel in verse as a 6th grade character. Here was another post from the same day.

Crazy unpredictable things have happened
Once I had a pig for supper
Maybe a dog would have tasted better
Eww!!!

Inviting you is not a problem
Never a problem because I need a witness

All my relatives have not survived
Nor my family
Dad did not want to come in fearing that he will be finished

Sometimes I do not know how people can lie
Even if they are lying to themselves
Everyone thinks that I am lying and I am!!!

After reading this, I had to have a discussion with Lani. I was wondering where she was getting her ideas from. She didn’t have an explanation. She just wanted to write poems, and she knew she was good at acrostic. The only time she had written a poem with me was for Chalkabration, an acrostic about March. I gave her loads of praise because it was a great poem.

I talked to Lani about her fictional character. She made some notes in her notebook. I encouraged her to keep it going. Since this conversation, we have had disruptions with spring break and testing, so I hadn’t checked in with Lani. These poems seem to get crazier and crazier. Not everything makes sense, and yet, I think I have a creative writer on my hands. I hope we can make time again to put aside the math book and write poems. I love how she gives me credit for “coaching” her.

Hard-headed
Ant=my brother
Reading maniac=my sister
Dare addict=my dad
Especially the hard ones
Sardines eater=my cousin
Tardy=my friends

Dummy=my other cousin
Arnold=my brother’s name
Reaction=crazy
Extreme dare

Elapsed time:02 seconds
Ventriloquist people call me crazy (look at them!)
Even my mother! Listen to what she calls it!!!!
Ridiculous lying is what my mother calls it

This a poem for MY International Poetry Month. It took me a few days but I finally finished it. (with a little help from Mrs.Simon and some ”coaching”)

You can leave comments directly to Lani here.

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Love Poem

Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, tagged Kwame Alexander, spiritual journey, Spiritual poetry, vocabulary poems on April 16, 2015| 10 Comments »

Join the Spiritual Thursday round up at Reading, Teaching, Learning.

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

The theme for today’s Spiritual Thursday round-up is love. At first I thought, “This is easy.” However, the more I thought about it, writing about love is hard. What do I have to say that is new and refreshing or inspiring? When I have a difficult writing assignment, I often turn to form. Today I turn to Kwame Alexander and his amazing 2015 Newbery Award book in verse, The Crossover. In The Crossover, the character writes definitions in a particular form. My blogging friends, Michelle and Holly, each used the form (vocabulary poems) this month. I haven’t tried it with my students yet, but I usually like to practice before presenting them with an idea. Here’s my definition of love.

love

/ləv/

a person or thing that one loves.

as in: the curl of an infant’s
new fingers around your thumb.

as in: looking through the open window
of our arms as we dance
the Lover’s Waltz.

as in: let the soft body
of your heart love
what it loves.*

as in: He gave his only
begotten son so that
you and I have eternal life.