December | 2015 | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for December, 2015

Celebrating Creativity and Caroline Starr Rose

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Writing, tagged Caroline Starr Rose, Gelli plate art on December 12, 2015| 7 Comments »

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

Celebrating Easy Art and Creativity: I was doing some shopping at A&E gallery when I saw Marcie. I asked her if we could get together to do gel printing for Christmas stuff. She put it all together last weekend and four of us met at the gallery to play with our gel print plates. This is such a fun and easy way to create art. On the gelli plate (they were original made with real gelatin), you squirt and roll out paint. Then you can press in a stencil or even grab a paper towel roll and print circles. Place the paper down and pull up. There you have it. I designed gift tags, note cards, and tissue paper.

The mess of creative play with gel printing.

Gel printed tissue paper

Celebrating Skype Author Visit: My students were beyond excited about their Skype visit with author Caroline Starr Rose. She set up her computer outside a Starbucks in Albuquerque because she had roofers at her house. She looked a little red-nosed from the chill, but all worked fine. (I was especially happy the technology worked.)

Caroline Starr Rose wrote May B and Blue Birds, both historical fiction verse novels, and Over in the Wetlands, a picture book about the creatures in the wetlands surviving a hurricane. Her writing is lyrical and beautiful. But we messed up in preparing for her visit. I read aloud Over in the Wetlands as well as parts of May B and Blue Birds, but we didn’t read the Author’s Note. She gave them a quiz. Let me just say that gifted kids are not accustomed to failing quizzes. They didn’t do too well on her wetlands quiz, but they learned a lot.

They were inspired to be creative with their thank you notes.

Creative thank you note from Kielan

Emily reproduced the cover of “Over in the Wetlands” in her drawing.

Lani made her a construction paper purse using a star symbol for “Starr.”

I celebrate the creativity of playing with art. My students “get” this sense of play as well. I love that. I am grateful to authors like Caroline Starr Rose who inspire with good literature and generosity of spirit.

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Oh Christmas Tree

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Christmas on December 11, 2015| 12 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up with Tara at A Teaching Life

The multiple pictures of Christmas trees started showing up on Facebook before Thanksgiving. The more pictures posted, the more anxious I became. When we moved into this house eleven years ago, I didn’t get a tree until Dec. 18th, and Christmas came anyway. So what made me think on Dec. 1st that I was running behind? Should I let Facebook run my life? Get a grip.

My tree is here. We ventured out last Saturday afternoon to find the just-right one. It’s up. There are lights on it. That’s all.

I know I will enjoy putting the ornaments on. I will travel through the years and think of all the kids I have taught. I love the ones that mark “Baby’s First Christmas” and other milestones. Many memories in the box. But I can’t make myself do it yet. What am I waiting for? (A chunk of time that seems to get more and more elusive with each new December day.)

Tall evergreen in my living room,

long branches reach out,

my fingers touch your soft fur.

I’ll adorn you soon.

But today I watch

your twinkle lights

twinkle.

–Margaret Simon

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Respect the Divinity

Posted in Gifted Education, Spiritual Growth, tagged differentiation, spiritual reflection on December 10, 2015| 8 Comments »

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

There are reflections that can be tough to write. I thank Holly for offering this spiritual space for me to write the tough stuff.

An angel entered my life and left quickly, but I feel his presence still. When I first found out that C. would be joining my class, the directive came with a large stack of paper. The papers told a story of a troubled boy, adopted, who began his life with seizures. The story unfolded with a diagnosis of superior intellect, ADHD, ODD, depression, and Asperger’s. Who was the child who was going to enter my classroom?

On the day I set out to meet him, he was in line with his class returning from lunch. He was being yelled at to stop. He was ignoring the directive. He continued looking forward and following his class. “Which one is he?” I inquired. Blonde hair, blue eyes and a focused stare straight ahead. His mother was subsequently called to come pick him up. He was being defiant.

I met him again in the office with his mother. He talked to me about planets and stars. The day he started coming to me for gifted, I introduced him to Wonderopolis. I showed him how he could write about his learning on the blog. We went to the library and checked out 4 Seymour Simon books. His face lit up. A teacher reported to me that for the first time he looked at her and smiled in the hallway.

Boy by Kathleen Hartman

I kept up with C.’s daily behavior report. I talked with his other teachers. Things were running smoothly. He even had a few days of rewards.

Then one day I got a phone call from the assistant principal telling me that he was having a melt down in the hallway. I made my way to his hall. When I found him, he was lying on the floor with his booksack over his face. He was completely alone. I pulled the bag away from his face, and he woke up. Yes, he was sleeping.

“How did you fall asleep?”

“I guess I was bored.”

“Why were you bored? Why are you out in the hall all by yourself?”

“I had to sit for recess. I forgot my math homework.”

I walked him to the cafeteria to meet his class for lunch. We talked to his teacher. Yes, he had to sit out of recess, but his response was disrespectful.

I am afraid this was not the last time that he was “disrespectful” to this teacher.

I know that I have the privilege of teaching students in small groups. I know that I am allowed to use interest areas to inspire students. However, I am saddened that the regular class cannot differentiate for children like C. He needed to be treated differently. He needed cool down time. He needed respect. He needed…

Now this light has moved on. His mother thought it best to move him to another school. I miss him. I miss the scent of him, too. He said it was an essential oil called, “Peaceful Child.” I miss his eagerness. He greeted each new day as an adventure. “What are we going to do today?”

“Thank you for being an advocate for my child.” His mothers last words to me. He gave me a bear hug. Tears welled up in my eyes.

In the Baptismal covenant of the Episcopal church, we say “I promise to respect the dignity of every human being.”

I think the word dignity should be divinity. We need to recognize the God in each child. We need to respect the divinity in every human being. Think of what a change that would be. If every person you meet is God, how would you behave differently?

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Squirrels and Bears in the Minneapolis Airport

Posted in Creativity, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #NCTE15, story, student writing on December 8, 2015| 6 Comments »

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

After four days at NCTE, my brain was mush. I made it to the Minneapolis airport just fine with about an hour to spare before my flight. So I moseyed to my gate, stopping off at a cute shop. I decided to buy a squirrel for a new class pet. Not to replace Jack the lemur, or Ernie the penguin, but to add to the bunch. I took this picture outside of the shop. I planned to tell my students that I found the squirrel who needed a home.

Little did I know I was taking my time getting to my seat number, not my gate number. I got to terminal B and realized that my seat was 8B, but my gate was C5. I backtracked and made it to the gate with few minutes to spare before my flight.

When we returned to school last week, I told my students all about this adventure. I challenged them to write a story about the squirrel. Of course, we needed a name, too. Two of my creative writers took the challenge. I want to share them both because they are just too cute.

The Squirrel Anthony and And Bear Mowgli that got Lost at the Airport

One day not too long ago, they had a stuffed squirrel at the airport. The name of this creature was Anthony. Anthony had a friendly bear for a friend. His name was Mowgli. Mowgli and Anthony had been left at the airport for years, desperate for a home. One day many years after they had given up they found a nice, friendly, lost lady. Her name was Margaret. She was trying to get to Minneapolis but she got lost. Desperate for a new class pet for her kids that she teaches, she found Anthony talking to Mowgli in the crack of Mowgli’s arm. She asked Anthony if he would go back to Louisiana with her. Not being hesitant Anthony said yes! She finally recognized Mowgli. With a sorry and a, ”Will you come home with me and Anthony?” Mowgli said no! The reason he said no was because Mowgli was a statue and all Margaret had was a tiny little backpack. The bear also said that he wanted Anthony to be happy and that maybe someday he will get another offer to go home with somebody else. With a shrug and an, ”I wish you could come!” Anthony and Margaret set off into the depths of the airport and finally found the gate and set off to Minneapolis and came back to Louisiana to a nice Thanksgiving break and a room full of happy kids that is also the home of a pet squirrel named Anthony. They all loved him…(Lani)

Meredith, the Squirrel, and Smokey and Bruno, the Bears

Once upon a time there were two bears, a big one named Bruno and a small one named Smokey. And, they were the airport bears.They were statues and they stood there all day greeting people. But, one specific day Bruno and Smokey saw a rushing business lady, running to catch her flight and her bag was half-way open and as she ran a little grey squirrel fell to the cold airport ground. Then, a little girl picks up the squirrel and waits on the bench by the bears, when the child’s mother said that she couldn’t have the squirrel because they don’t know where it has been. So the mother places the squirrel in the crook of the arm of Smokey. Then they left to get on their flight. So, Bruno and Smokey started talking to the squirrel and found out that her name was Meredith. And, over the period of about 5 days they became good friends much better friends than she was with the business lady. And the most special day was when Margaret a GT teacher from New Iberia was on her way to Minneapolis when she found Meredith, and she took Meredith with her. Smokey and Bruno were sad , but they knew that it was right. So Margaret brought Meredith back with her class and they loved her very, very much. THE END (Emily)

Are you smiling? All the best stories end with “they loved her/him very much.”

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Passion Projects

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Writing, tagged DigiLit Sunday, passion projects, research on December 6, 2015| 4 Comments »

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

At NCTE 2015 a few weeks ago, I attended a session titled “The Power of Passion-Driven Research” including Laurel Snyder, Deb Perryman, Jen Vincent, Kate Messner, LeUyen Pham, and Laura Purdie Salas. Before the conference, I told my students which authors I would likely see, so they could write a letter to their favorite author. My new first grader, Lynzee, wrote to Kate Messner because she had read both Ranger in Time books, Oregon Trail and Rome.

During her response, Kate mentioned Lynzee’s letter. Lynzee wrote, “Your books changed my life. Before I read them, I didn’t know anything about the Oregon trail or Rome!”

Kate’s enthusiasm for Lynzee’s letter touched me. All I had done was put the books into Lynzee’s hands. What power lies in that!

I came back to my students with a renewed enthusiasm for research. One thing I know about gifted kids is they can become hyper-focused on one topic of interest. For Erin, it’s narwhals. She loves fantasy and unicorns, so of course, narwhals, too. She wants to raise money to send to the World Wildlife Fund to get an “Adopt a Narwhal” kit.

For Lani, she can’t get enough of Anne Frank and the Holocaust. And the range of interests are wide. Vannisa is fascinated by sleep. Emily wants to know everything about Pompeii.

This week I talked to my students about writing their own nonfiction book about their passions. We are calling them “Passion Projects.” Using Nancy Bo Flood’s book Water Runs through this Book as a model, we discussed text features. We created a rubric. And now they are on their way to making books of their own.

Some of my students are adding the element of poetry to their projects as Nancy did in her book. Here is Kaiden’s sad poem about elephants.

Shiny Ivory
made into piano keys
Some are lucky and get recovery.
Others get the key to death just lying there
flies swarming around them as they drift away.

–Kaiden

I don’t know if this project will change my students’ lives, but I do know that when you go deep into a subject, you remember. I have loved Maine (never been there) all my life because of a project I did in fourth grade. Passions matter. And when we allow our students to follow their passions, great things can happen. Or great books can be written. We’ll see.

If you are writing today about digital literacy, please link up.

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Gallery Poetry

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, tagged A&E Gallery, ekphrastic poetry, Paul Schexnayder on December 4, 2015| 15 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up with Buffy at Buffy’s Blog

Walking down Main Street you may find a poem in a window.

Or you can stop in at A&E Gallery and see that poets have been there.

Space Man and Space Dog
walk the moon alone,
with only each other
to keep company
on the long way home
–Vannisa

Paul Schexnayder has started a series of Circus Gators in his paintings. This makes for a crazy circus poem.

Cirque du Gator
a green gator circus,
a scaly trapeze,
two mingy gymnasts,
and a sharp-toothed dancer.
–Emily

$100 is the price
for a patriotic watermelon sunrise.
A alligator
stealing a watermelon from a chubaka?
Greedy green gator
masking the red white and blue.
–Kaiden

Beauty marks the spot.
An angel from high above is calling.
I won’t let go of your baby boy,
I promise.
–Kielan

I joined in the secret poem walk and wrote to the work in progress.

An empty frame
waits
layers
of color
build
a world,
a circus
of imagination.
–Margaret Simon

A field trip down Main Street can be a poetic treat.

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Write Beside Them

Posted in Creativity, Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged A&E Art Gallery, ekphrasis, The Shadows on the Teche, Writing to art on December 1, 2015| 8 Comments »

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

Write Beside Them was the title of the NCTE panel of Donald Graves winners from the last three years. I felt so proud and privileged to be on this panel along with Heidi Weber, 2013 winner, and Emily Elizabeth Smith, 2015 winner. Donald Graves’ philosophy that the teacher of writing is a writer herself drives my interaction with my students.

On Monday, the first day back after a week long break, we had a field trip. Not usually a good idea, but I signed up for the first rehearsal spot for our play at the Shadows, a local historical home. The gifted students in grades 4-6 practice the parts and perform for first graders. They tell the story of one of the boys, Charles Conrad Weeks, his sister Harriet, and his friends Riley and Caroline who lived and worked in the home in 1840. My students look forward to this play every year.

In addition to the play practice, I led my students down Main Street to an art gallery. There they looked at local art. This is where we wrote together.

I wrote beside them. Each of us chose a painting or other piece of art to inspire our writing. I wanted to leave behind little snippets on the artwork, so I found miniature brown bags for the kids to write on. We left them next to the art pieces. When the owner walks in this morning, he will have words waiting for him.

I wrote a poem for the work in progress on the easel.

An empty frame
waits
layers
of color
build
a world,
a circus
of imagination.
–Margaret Simon

Writing and art mix well together. My students described the artwork as well as found some inner truth to express. I don’t have any of the poems to share here today, but check back on Poetry Friday.