November | 2015 | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for November, 2015

Author Heroes from NCTE 15

Posted in Digital Learning, Gratitude, Writing, tagged #NCTE15, middle-grade authors on November 29, 2015| 4 Comments »

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One of the highlights for me at NCTE is meeting all my favorite authors. Every one I meet is generous and kind. I love sharing stories of how my students connect to their books. The authors feel so proud when you talk to them about their books. They also reflect right back to me and appreciate the work I do in the classroom.

I can’t wait to share this video with my students. Some of them wrote letters that I delivered to their favorite author. Kate DiCamillo has already written back.

Making connections to authors enriches the experience of reading. Students learn that there is a real person behind the words. They realize the importance of writing. They aspire to be authors themselves.

If you are writing about digital literacy, please link up your blog post. Thanks.

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Celebrating Full House, Full Fridge, and Full Hearts

Posted in Celebration Saturday, tagged family, satsumas, Thanksgiving 2015 on November 28, 2015| 6 Comments »

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

Morning walk in the park, a great egret in Devil’s Pond.

My house is full: three daughters, one fiancé, one sister, one brother-in-law, one niece, one nephew, two dogs, three cats.

My fridge is full: turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, Brussels sprouts, salad, pumpkin cake, and a big pot of gumbo.

My heart is full: card games, laughter, stories, tiny hats, satsuma rum, dog hugs, cooking, cleaning, Venti latte, “whose phone is this?”, laughing, hugs, smiles, photos, swinging on the rope, harvesting satsumas, canoeing on the bayou.

I celebrate this wonderful full house that fills my heart with health, love, and peace.

My nephew Jack climbs into the satsuma tree to harvest.

My son-in-law-to-be learns the way to my heart is with coffee from Starbucks.

Sisters enjoy the feast.

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Cat Whispers a Poem

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged nature poem on November 27, 2015| 15 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up with Carol at Carol’s Corner.

I signed up years ago for the Poem a Day email from Poets.org. But my inbox gets full of them. I feel like I need a stretch of time to read them all. And then sometimes when I open the poem-of-the-day, I am inspired to write. I get distracted from what needs to be done. I am like an artist in “flow.” Borrow a line. Steal a pattern.

My bumper sticker should read, “I’d rather be writing a poem.”

This one is patterned from Rebecca Lehmann’s poem Natural History using anaphora (repetition) of “Here comes” and “Tell me.”

Here comes light
streaming down the bayou
like a surfer riding the waves.
Here comes wind,
in a stream of its own
wiggling those chimes.
Tell me bent cypress branches,
how year after year
you shed and redress
in brighter green.

Here comes the sun
casting a shadow of the mother oak
I spread my arms wide
in tableau, statue of majesty.
Tell me the child swinging on your rope,
how she came to you when her mother cried,
finding another mother in your shade.

Here comes the land
softened by hard rain
answering our prayer.
Tell me about wet,
how all at once you feel fat
and full like resurrection.

Here comes grey cat
the one with no tail
flipping at my feet.
Tell me what you see
at night on the lonely road.
Whisper your wisdom.
Follow me home.

–Margaret Simon

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Harvest Home

Posted in Gratitude, Spiritual Growth, tagged harvest, spiritual journey on November 26, 2015| 7 Comments »

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

I love that the word harvest is on my list for preparations for Thanksgiving. I have a brown thumb. I am no good at growing stuff. I tend to forget to water, prune, anything that a plant requires for survival. So I am filled with pleasure when I can harvest in my own backyard. God blessed citrus trees with resilience. They don’t need me. And yet they give back to me.

This is how God’s love is. Abundant. All we have to do is harvest it.

I am wishing for you this holiday season an abundant harvest.

Like that tiny mustard seed. When planted it takes root and turns into a large tree with many branches.

Open up your arms to the world.
Glow like the lemon in the sunlight.
Be joy.
Be love.
Be the harvest.

A bowl of life from my own backyard!

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Kindness Comes Back to You: NCTE15

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #NCTE15, Wonderopolis on November 24, 2015| 12 Comments »

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

“I write to know what I am thinking.” Someone said this. Someone wise. I can’t remember who because there are days and people and ideas between hearing these words and today. But this is exactly what I am doing. Trying to process my thinking from NCTE15 through writing.

My trip home from Minneapolis was long. My brain is full to overflowing with words, ideas, love, and hope. At NCTE, teachers are honored. Teachers are fed. Teachers are inspired.

At NCTE15, I discovered…

Teachers are rock stars to authors. The work we do in the classroom around books is why authors do the work they do. They love hearing the stories of what we are doing with their babies (books).

Allow students to explore what they are passionate about. Real authors like Kate Messner, Laura Purdie Salas, Laurel Snyder, and more are driven by their endless curiosity. We need to allow wondering and wandering to ignite passionate research for our students.

Kate DiCamillo says to give young writers the gift to be themselves. “Break the rules and find yourself.”

Sharon Draper says, “Words are Power!” We need love–connections–peace, and books are how we do that.

The books authors write are their babies, and when you love their babies, you love them. I watched author after author brighten up when I talked to them about how their books affected me and my students.

“Literature can empower young people. Books are like amusement parks. Sometimes you have to let the kids choose the ride.” Kwame Alexander.

Schools should be scavenger hunts, places where students can feel safe to wonder, wander, and discover. Georgia Heard, Wonderopolis breakfast

When I look through my notes, I notice that most of what I heard affirmed my teaching philosophy: Open the door. Be safe. Be curious. Expand the horizon. Reach for the stars.

At the Children’s Literature Awards Lunch with Julianne Harmatz, me, Laura Purdie Salas, Catherine Flynn, and Heidi Mordhorst.

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Wonder Poems

Posted in Digital Learning, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Animoto, Wonder poetry, Wonderopolis on November 20, 2015| 7 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up with Tricia at Miss Rumphius Effect.

Every once in a while a volume of poetry comes along that blows me away. The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry is an anthology that will keep my poetry self satisfied for a while. Edited by J. Patrick Lewis, the poems are illustrated by amazing images. This glossy book even smells good.

Laura Purdie Salas posted last week about her poem Brinicle which is included in the Book of Nature Poetry. This was a totally new subject for me, so I took the chance that it was new to my students. They were transfixed by the video she posted. Then we read and discussed her poem. Laura gave us lots to talk about. (free verse, imagery, personification, metaphor, and sounds)

The assignment: Turn your Wonder into Poetry Using Animoto. Since I am traveling to NCTE this week, I wasn’t sure how or if my students would write their poems and make a video. I’ve checked in on their kidblog site, and they have been posting some cool poem videos. I’ll share a few here.

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NCTE 2015: Do you want to Vox?

Posted in Digital Learning, Writing, tagged #NCTE15, digital literacy, student blogging, Voxer on November 15, 2015| 13 Comments »

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NCTE 2015 is only a few short days away, and I am beyond excited. This year I am participating in two presentations. I will be on a round table session on Friday at 4:00 #E20: Igniting Wonder in Students and Teachers: Fueling the Fires of Creativity and Independence in the Classroom. Here I will be talking about DigiLit Sunday and digital literacy. I created an Emaze to show. In it I show how my students present their various “Wonders” to the class. Last week I wrote about how I assign and assess these weekly research endeavors.

The second session is a panel of Donald Graves Award winners from 2013, 2014, and 2015. I’m a little intimidated by this one because I am beside some amazing teachers as well as on of my all time favorite mentors, Katie Wood Ray. J02: Write Beside Them Saturday, 2:45.

For this panel, I have made a Google Slide Show about blogging with students. I made a card with the major reasons for student blogging.

I would like to start a Voxer chat for NCTE 15. If you are going and would like to chat, let me know. Even if you are not going, and you would like to hear and comment on what we are learning and sharing, you can join in. Contact me by Voxer, email, Twitter, or in the comments.

And as always, if you are writing about digital literacy, please leave a link.

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Shadows Play with Words

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, tagged Laura Purdie Salas, student poems, writing to images on November 13, 2015| 9 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up with Bridget at Wee Words for Wee ones.

Photo by Laura P. Salas

If you haven’t discovered Laura Purdie Salas’s Writing the World for Kids and 15 Words or Less, you’re missing some poetry fun. I love playing with words. Every Thursday, Laura gives us a chance to “wake up our poetry brains” by writing a quick poem in response to an image.

If you are having trouble fitting poetry playtime into your schedule, this may be your answer. Earlier in the year the site was blocked by our school server, but yesterday I tried again and by some miracle (or maybe a little nudging email), the site was open for viewing. I set the timer for 7 minutes and we wrote. Sacred writing time. I am always amazed at what my kids can do in such short blasts of writing.

Not everyone followed the rules. Tobie tweaked them a bit and quickly produced a rhyming poem that has 15 words in each stanza. I told him I couldn’t post it in the comments on Laura’s site, but I would share it here.

X marks the spot of chests of gold
They who find it prove themselves bold

X marks the spot of ye treasure
As he who finds gets thee pleasure

The spot to find depends on thee
the shadow of branches of a tree

He who finds it grants one wish
Most men want an excellent dish

As one wise man steps up to thee plate
He wishes for ye wishes eight

So if ye find the sacred treasure
Be wise with your choice, others or pleasure
–Tobie

Can trees really walk
Or dance while we’re not watching?
Disco, cha cha, frozen in place.
Emily

Giver of life
Lush green leaves
Shade for the creatures
Thank you trees
For life.
Erin

Shadows copying
Shadows dark
Shadows curly
Shadows straight
A big family of shadows
Kaiden

On these writing days, Laura and other writers chime in with comments on each other’s poems. Here’s what Laura had to say about my three writer’s offerings. “I love these, Emily, Erin, and Kaiden–thanks for sharing! I like the three different moods/techniques. Emily’s is full of whimsy, Erin’s of reverence, and Kaiden’s of pattern. And all full of imagination:>)” Real feedback from a real author! So cool!

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Sacrifice of Presence

Posted in Gratitude, Spiritual Growth on November 12, 2015| 3 Comments »

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

A year ago, one of my young friends was in a terrible car accident. This week we celebrated her life. Her 24th birthday, and she is walking and talking and trying to build her future. But recovery is long. Her balance is not totally back, so she walks with a cane. Many days she is depressed because she isn’t sure what the future will hold. What is there to do now?

When I don’t know what to do, I think about the ministry of presence. Sometimes that’s all we have. Prayer is presence, the willingness to sacrifice–to give of ourselves to service. Humble our own egos and respond to God’s call to love. That’s it. Love. Sounds easy.

The doorway to true joy is not the need to be loved, but the need to love.

Open the door, welcome the one who has made us all, and free your soul to love without judgement, without ego, without expectation.

A picture of Glenae holding the prayer shawl I made for her when she was in the hospital.

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Wild Hair

Posted in Blogging, Poetry, Writing, tagged Irene Latham, Wild on November 9, 2015| 11 Comments »

Read more Wild posts in Irene Latham’s Blogiversary Round up.

Irene Latham is one of my very favorite Poetry Friday bloggers. She’s also an awesome author and sweet writing friend. She is having a “blogiversary” celebration rounding up blog posts for her 10 year blog anniversary on the theme of WILD! How wild is that?!

When you get a wild hair about something, you go off into new territory. Live outside the box, so to speak. The urban dictionary defines a wild hair as a decision to do something unexpected.

Wild Hair

Give me wild hair today,
the kind that waves at everyone,
happy to be alive
and free.

Give me wild hair today,
remind me to reach for the sky,
grateful for the curls,
ready to be me.

–Margaret Simon

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