May | 2015 | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for May, 2015

Sometimes on the Lake

Posted in Poetry Friday, tagged lake, Mississippi, poetry on May 15, 2015| 18 Comments »

Sometimes on the lake in June
white pelicans fly in together
and you get out the camera.
Then they turn as a drumline in step,
swim away swiftly in a cloud.

Sometimes on the lake in June
a lone blue heron fishes.
Sly step, long beak held high,
drinking in the sunlight.
A small boat passes by
lines thrown out,
catching nothing.

Sometimes on the lake in June,
I wake before dawn,
put the coffee on,
Sometimes Dad will join me
silent, reading the daily news.
Mom comes in pleased to have fresh coffee.
We sit on the porch, quiet
content to be together
on the lake in June.

My parents live on a lake in Mississippi. I am anticipating my annual visit in June. This poetry exercise can be found in Kate Messner’s 59 Reasons to Write.

Diane is hosting today at Random Noodling.

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A Speck of Dust

Posted in Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged Enneagram, Matthew 7:1-5, Richard Rohr, spiritual reflection on May 14, 2015| 5 Comments »

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

Holly Mueller invites you and me to contemplate our spiritual journey each week. This week she tweeted the theme: “Hypocrisy based on Matthew 7:1-5.” This verse is the one about taking the log out of your own eye before you notice the speck in someone else’s. Since I am already pretty good at beating myself up over the tiniest speck, I wasn’t looking forward to dealing with the proverbial plank.

I subscribe to a few inspiration emails. One is the Ennea-thought of the day which asks me to pay attention to the faults of my personality type. Some days this email just makes me mad. Others, I say “Oh, yeah, that,” and others days I carry the inspiration around with me. Especially when it is affirming. I liked May 11: “Remember, that at your best, you are profoundly creative and self-revealing.”

This one was not as affirming. “Remember that your key motivations are to be yourself, to find the meaning of your life, and to take care of your emotional needs before attending to anything else.” I like that I want to be myself and find meaning, but to meet my own emotional needs before anyone else’s seems a bit selfish. The speck is growing.

Then there’s this wonderful gift called Grace. God wants to be with us at every moment of the day. We cannot see this gift when our vision is clouded by specks. So I must not only be true to myself, but I must also be aware when myself is getting in the way of grace.

Holidays tend to be particularly difficult for my overly emotional self. I wallow in the should haves. Mother’s Day was becoming a sad day for me, and with no rhyme or reason. I am a mother of three beautiful young women. I have a mother who is healthy and wise and loving. I have a mother-in-law who claims me as her daughter and wants to spend time with me.

In the midst of my self-imposed sadness, I got a phone call from a friend who I haven’t talked to in a while. She’s been having a rough time. She lost her only son years ago and is currently going through a divorce. And here she was, calling me to wish me a happy Mother’s Day. I said, “This must be a tough day for you.”

She responded completely opposite of what I expected. (Who was I to call attention to that little speck?) She told me she was blessed to have been chosen to be a mother for 21 years. She was not mourning. She was rejoicing in God’s gift. May I be so wise as to rejoice in God’s ever-present grace each and every day.

From Richard Rohr’s Center for Action and Contemplation

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May Funk

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged end of year, teaching, touching lives on May 12, 2015| 18 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for Tuesdays Slice of Life Challenge.

I’ve been in a funk for the last few days, and I’m not sure why.

It could be that the temperatures are warmer, so it’s time to turn on the A/C and close the windows.

Maybe it was the book I was reading. All the Bright Places drew me in. I was reading anytime I had a few moments to grab. I was taken in by Finch and Violet and then… Well I won’t spoil it, but let’s just say the end could put one in a funk.

The weeds were bugging me, so on Saturday, I got after them. Weeding, mulching, making my front yard look nice. The funk was still there.

This is not the kind of funk that makes me cry. Actually, on the outside I’ve been keeping a pretty cheery disposition. Until Sunday. My choir director and friend said, “You must be happy that school is almost out.”

No. Not at all. Then I ranted about all the things I hate about the end of the school year. But the biggest, glaring thing for me was I will miss my kids. Some of my students will return to me next year. Some will not. These last few weeks are full of activities that draw my students away from my class. This is the time of year I become well aware that I am not a regular teacher. Between field trips and reward activities, game days, splash days, award days, I fall to the bottom of the totem pole. And I’m in a funk about it. There is nothing to be done, so I need to just let it go and enjoy the time we do have with each other.

This weekend a former student got in touch with me through Facebook. She messaged me, and we started a conversation about what we were both doing now. She’s a wife, mother, a personal chef and fitness instructor. She wrote, “I know this is gushy but you were such a strong part of my childhood because I was so close to the school and church and you were such a strong, caring teacher. I have told my children about you on numerous occasions. If you ever wonder how you have touched the lives of your students– you give such warmth and caring and belief. I am so glad God called you to teach and that you were part of my life! And I am so grateful that I can tell you that now.” Tears. Heartbeat. Breathe. Funk lifted.

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Trying on Other Poets’ Clothes

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Georgia Heard, List poems, Naomi Shihab Nye on May 8, 2015| 9 Comments »

Michelle is hosting today at Today’s Little Ditty!

Poets are some of my favorite people. I want to be one, so sometimes I try on their clothes. I shared this confession with my students. One of my poet-heroes, Laura Shovan, tried on Naomi Shihab Nye’s list poem, Words in my Pillow, that you can find in Georgia Heard’s collection Falling Down the Page. I shared Naomi’s poem as well as Laura’s with my students.

My students are smart kids who are really stubborn about wanting to break the mold, but I told them, “This is the form we are trying on today.” When the third student asked about breaking the form, I turned to them and said, “What did I say?”

“We are trying this one on today!” Sometimes when you try on another poet’s form, it is confining and doesn’t fit at all. Not this one. I was surprised at how well this poem fit.

Words in my Bathroom

I keep words in my bathroom,
Words that keep me clean.

SOAP
TOWEL
SHAMPOO

No one sees them
Until I put them on,
But I know they’re there.

BATHROBE
FACE CREAM
BODY WASH
HAND SOAP
LEFTOVER CLOTHING
TOILET PAPER

TOILET is in there.
BATHTUB is in there.

The words wish they were something else
When I’m not looking.
This TOWEL and that RACK
like being together.
CANDLES brighten up my bathroom
TOILET yells NO
in my bathroom.

My friends the words
know better than I do
what makes me feel good.
–Tobie

Words under the Couch Cushions

I keep words under the couch cushions.
Words that make me cool.

HANDSOME
BLACK
STYLISH

No one sees them until
I put them on.
But I know what’s in there.

REMOTE
TOYS
PAPER
FEATHERS

WHITE SOCK is in there.
GOOGLY EYES are in there.

The words make a PUPPET
when I am not looking.

TISSUE
GUM
CARD

My friends the words know how to fluff a cushion
better than I do.
But I love them.
–Jacob

Words in my Closet

There are words in my closet that say “you’re chic!”
OLD NAVY
GAP
JUSTICE
“No one sees them until I put them on, but I know what’s in there–”
SILK
SPARKELS
POLKA-DOTS
RHINESTONES
“DENIM”
FLOWERS
SHOES are in there.
EXTRA LACES are in there.
The words choose my outfits.
I’m just not around when they do.
This SHIRT those SHORTS Already pieced together.

NEON colors brighten up my closet.
LSU shirts shout “GO TIGERS” in my closet.

My friends the words
know me the best.
–Emily

Words in my Journal

I keep words in my journal.
Words that dance from
my thoughts to the page.

BUZZY
PATIENCE
BOUQUETS

No one sees them
like LOVE LETTERS I hide in a box,
but I know what’s in there.

PURPLE
SKY
VICTORY
UMBRELLA

STARLINGS flit in there.
Even DILLY-DALLY trots a page.

The words make poems together
when I’m not looking.

LAKE
MAZE
WONDER
RUSH

My friends the words know better than I do
how to sing songs.

–Margaret Simon

This form fit reluctant poets as well as confident ones. Laura Shovan is posting student poems, too, from a writer in residence program. Check them out here.

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Seeking Grace, not Perfection

Posted in Spiritual Growth, tagged grace, Spiritual poetry on May 7, 2015| 6 Comments »

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

Image created in Canva. Photo taken by Maggie Simon in New Orleans. A sky writer send messages of hope.

Perfect is an imperfect word
with its soft purr beginning
to its hard -fect ending.
It crashes down on you
at the worst possible moments
when everything is clear as mud
and life has offered lemons.
Perfection is illusive
as the light shining through
the stained glass window,
pointing the way one minute
and spreading shards of colors the next.
I choose not to follow you, perfection.
I will find a path littered with debris,
broken into pieces by storms and crashing waves.
I will seek grace,
that smooth silky word that whispers softly
and leads me to knowing the one
whose spirit is in us all
seeking only love and to be loved.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

When Holly tweeted out the theme for the week, “Let’s get real, no need to be perfect,” I rolled the word perfect around on my tongue. I didn’t like the taste. On Michelle Hendrick Barnes site, Today’s Little Ditty, she interviewed Nikki Grimes and put out a poetry challenge to write a wordplay poem. Perfect was not one of the words suggested, but I liked the idea of thinking about the word itself. For me, the process led to a deeper realization (which is often the way when writing poetry) that perfection is not what God wants from us. Grace is a gift given by God always, whether or not we are perfect. Grace is never taken away. It is our choice to respond to this gift with our works, our prayers, and our love. Stop seeking perfection. Look instead for the light of grace in your life, and say thanks.

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Magical Mentors

Posted in Gifted Education, Slice of Life, tagged gifted education, magic, Magic Matt, mentorships, Michael Dardant on May 5, 2015| 16 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for Tuesdays Slice of Life Challenge.

Magic Mike and Magic Matt

I received my masters in gifted education in 1999. I have been teaching gifted students for the last eight years, but only this year was I able to put into practice the idea of using mentors. In a chapter titled “The Role of Gifted Personnel in Counseling the Gifted” by Joyce Van Tassel-Braska and Lee Baska, the writers include mentorships as a strategy for addressing the special affective needs of gifted children, needs such as “understanding one’s differences, yet recognizing one’s similarities to others and developing skills in areas that will nurture both cognitive and affective development.”

What they do not say is how the mentor relationship is as rewarding to the mentor as to the mentee. I have had the privilege of offering a mentorship to my 5th grade student Matthew who dubbed himself “Magic Matt” years ago. I just happen to know the family of a famous magician in New Orleans, Michael Dardant. Michael visited with Matthew for the first time back in February. I wrote about it here.

A magical package arrives.

Since then, Michael has emailed with Matthew and sent a package of magical stuff. When Michael contacted me to say he was coming by for another visit, I was thrilled. On Wednesday last week, he personally delivered a magician’s jacket to Matthew. And once again taught Matthew a few tricks. As a bystander learning the slights, I am still in awe. Even knowing how they are done, I could not possible execute the trick. There is a talent in the slight of hand, the patter, and even the stance of the magician.

After witnessing again the power of mentorship, I told Michael by text, “You have become someone’s hero.” I can feel Michael’s passion about magic and his increasing interest in this relationship.

Matthew performed for the Mother’s Day program at school on Friday. He was a featured performer on the sidewalk outside a local gallery for Art Walk on Saturday night. He is well on his way to following Michael’s footsteps. I do not have a crystal ball to predict the future, but I am convinced that mentorships work. (And wearing a red jacket helps.)

Matthew amazes children and adults with his slight of hand and card tricks.

Michael is on his way to the world championships of magic in Italy this summer. Watch his promotional video (He has a hilarious Cajun accent.) and consider supporting his trip.

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Wonders of Iberia Parish

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, tagged gifted education, New Iberia Tourist Center, New Iberia travel, project based learning, wonders of Iberia Parish on May 3, 2015| 6 Comments »

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Take the wonder tour of Iberia Parish. Our 6th grade gifted students culminated their year long enrichment project with a presentation of the Wonders of Iberia Parish. The video was created from a PowerPoint slide show of the 10 wonders. Students created a list of possible wonders after meeting with the director of the Iberia Parish Tourist Commission. They created a survey on Survey Monkey. To display the results, each student painted a wonder image. These images have been glued to a quilt top. They also researched and wrote a blurb for a selected wonder.

The quilt is on display at the Bayou Teche Museum on Main Street in New Iberia. The video is posted on the Iberia Parish Tourist Center website.

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Celebrate Today

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Writing, tagged Billy Collins, dog walk, nature poetry, sky writing on May 2, 2015| 7 Comments »

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

Today by Billy Collins

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

Read the rest here.

Today was just this kind of day. Open the doors and windows and let spring come in. The weather in South Louisiana has been incessant rain for two weeks. The sun finally came out. Every green thing is happy. The birds are happy. The dogs are happy.

This morning our local humane society, Angel Paws, had a dog walk in the park. Charlie loves other dogs. He enjoyed meeting new friends. He got a Cane’s kerchief and is wearing it still.

I watched a group of girls climb a huge live oak. I ran into friends and other children that I know. A great community event to enjoy a beautiful spring day.

I found this poem I wrote after Billy Collins in the spring of 2011. I have to say this is my favorite time of year.

Burst into Spring

**After Billy Collins, Today

If ever there was a spring day so perfect,
so stirred up by a cool crisp wind

that you wanted to breathe more often
to taste the wisteria blossoms,

and throw open all the doors,
lift them clear off the hinges,

a day so bright the pink azaleas
pop open like a birthday balloon bouquet,

seemed so delightful that you felt like
running naked among them,

released from all inhibitions taking flight
outstretched arms playing airplane,

so you could fly on steady wings
balanced for lift and drinking nectar,

yes, you can imagine it,
today is just that kind of day.

Yesterday my daughter was texting me pictures from New Orleans of an airplane painting words of hope in the sky. She told me it was a response to the unrest in Baltimore. We should all write our hope into the sky.

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Chalkabration Cinco Style

Posted in Chalk-a-bration, Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged chalk poetry, cinquain, Read Write Think on May 1, 2015| 8 Comments »

Join the roundup at Space City Scribes

Join the Chalk-a-bration at Betsy Hubbard’s site Teaching Young Writers.

What is Chalk-a-bration? The brain child of Betsy Hubbard of the Two Writing Teachers. The last day of the month is dedicated to chalking poems. And what better way to end National Poetry Month! My students have been looking forward to this day for months. (We were on spring break for the last day of March.) Now it is May Day, and we decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo early with cinquain poems.

Read, Write, Think is a go-to site for me for all sorts of literacy lessons and fabulous student interactives. We pulled up the Theme Poems student interactive. Together as a class, we chose a shape, brainstormed words, and wrote a cinquain. Then it was outside time, playing with words, shapes, chalk, and shadows. Enjoy!