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SOL #19: DigiLitSunday: Innovation

Posted in Creativity, Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged innovative ideas, Slice of Life Classroom Challenge, student writers on March 19, 2017| 17 Comments »

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

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Some weeks a word will pop into my head for a DigiLit topic. Then I’ll mull over it and wonder why. This is how it’s been with Innovation. Like Blended Learning last week, I am wondering if innovation is happening in my classroom.

I think of my young students who are writing for the Slice of Life Classroom Challenge every day. Last year I put together a treasure box of writing prompts. I decorated it and filled it with little odds and ends I found around my house. One of these was a wishing rock. Andrew put his hand into the box and came out with this rock. I immediately thought of this Harris Burdick image.

“Maybe you could write a story to go with this image?”

“I’ve never written a story before.”

Andrew proceeded to type furiously into his Kidblog post. The next day when he came in, he said “I can’t stop thinking about my wishing rock story.”

This is creativity working hand in hand with innovation. You can read Andrew’s story here (part 1) and here (part 2).

My student, Noah, created a list post of “Things I Trust.” Two of the curators of the Two Writing Teachers blog read his post. They wanted to publish it to give other students ideas for writing.

Creativity and innovation happen in a classroom that is open to new ideas. The let-me-try-this-out attitude. I believe in my students. They are more capable than I am when it comes to creativity. Just look at Lynzee’s word cloud she created using the root word color. She went on to write her post and change each word into a different font color.

Sometimes I feel like I just stand by and watch the brilliance of my students shine. They are gifted kids, but more than that, they are open to the ideas floating around in the universe. This openness will lead them on to produce wonderful innovations in the future, but for now, they are my little wonders.

To link up your own DigiLit post today, use this button.

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DigiLitSunday: Patience, Practice, and Persistence

Posted in Creativity, Digital Learning, tagged #WhyIWrite, Mary Oliver, Word Swag on October 23, 2016| 5 Comments »

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

On Thursday, NCTE hosted a Twitter frenzy on #WhyIWrite to celebrate National Day on Writing. I gave myself an assignment spurred on by the many posts I read about Why I Write. I collected quotes and added them to images. I posted a few here. I also tweeted them out throughout the day on Thursday.

I asked my students to write on this topic and tweeted out their responses using Word Swag, an iPhone app.

Jacob’s #WhyIWrite quote on Word Swag

Any time you use a new application, you have to commit yourself to patience, practice, and persistence. Even my mother is learning about the three Ps as she switches my dad to Mac from PC.

Kids are so much more adept at this than we are as adults. They know right off that anything new will take patience. Two of my 6th grade boys have decided to do a project that uses animation. I was amazed at the concentrated time they spent to get a stick figure to move his arm up and down.

Digital literacies motivate us to put in the practice it takes to learn something new. We all know this, so we seem to have more patience when it comes to learning a new app. Don’t you hate it when your phone updates and something you have become accustomed to changes? I still swipe when I want to access my iPhone, but some genius thought it would be easier to hit the Home button. Persistence. I keep missing it, and by the time it becomes a habit, something else will change.

Face it, we are stuck with a constantly evolving universe of technology. But thanks to Word Swag, my iPhone, and a beautiful sunrise on the bayou today, I can create this quote from Mary Oliver.

Link your digital literacy posts below. Click to read more posts.

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Celebrating Dots, Dots, Dots!

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Creativity, tagged International Dot Day, The Art of Comprehension, Trevor Bryan on September 17, 2016| 10 Comments »

Find more celebration posts at Ruth’s blog.

The Queen of Dot Day!

Thursday, September 15th was Dot Day. My students love Dot Day. Since I teach them year after year, they look forward to it from the first day of school. International Dot Day was inspired by teacher Terry Shay in 2009. The day is designed around The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. In The Dot, Vashti doesn’t feel like she can do art in art class. She turns away from her paper. But through the gentle guidance of her teacher, she discovers within herself a budding dot artist. In the end, she passes on this confidence to another child who says he can’t draw a straight line with a ruler. The Dot shows students in a very accessible way that they can be creative.

This summer I was privileged to join a Google Hangout with Trevor Bryan. Trevor is writing a book around the Art of Comprehension. He uses The Dot to show how students can access text and images through different lenses. My students responded well to the Art of Comprehension, sharing eagerly about what they saw and read about Vashti’s changing mood. One of my students, a 2nd grader, said Vashti had an aura. She was referring to the changing color of the dot that surrounds Vashti on each page.

After we read and discussed the book, I invited my students to make a dot using this plan I found in Scholastic Teacher Magazine. The art teacher let us use her oil pastels. First we decorated the plate. Then we made 19 evenly spaced slits around the rim of the plate. (I used the bumps on the edges to help the kids know where to make the cuts, every third bump.) Then we threaded yarn around the plate to create a base for weaving. Most of my students had never weaved yarn before. They loved this new activity.

Weaving is a new activity for my students.

I wore my Dot Day skirt made especially for me by my friend Cathy and the official Dot Day t-shirt. One student dubbed me the Queen of Dot Day. And another said, “Mrs. Simon, thank you for giving us Dot Day!”

A joyful celebration of creativity, reading, and just being you!

Dots!

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Ekphrastic Voice

Posted in Creativity, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Dennis Paul Williams, ekphrasis, poetry activity, Sandra Sarr on August 19, 2016| 25 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up is with Dori at Dori Reads

With the threat of flooding gone and a need to connect with others, I attended a writing workshop led by my friend Sandra Sarr.

Sandy moved to Louisiana two years ago and quickly embedded herself in the arts community. From her travels here to research her novel, she met interesting people like Dennis Paul Williams. She once took me on a visit to his studio. In 2013, University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press published a large coffee table book of Dennis’s artwork. I bought the book, but hate to admit that it just sat on the coffee table.

But Sandy’s ekphrastic exercise brought me closer to the images housed in Soul Exchange. She made color copies and handed them out. This is the one I picked.

Before Sandy instructed us to write, I started writing.

Secrets shared
like a kiss
softly touching
a cheek.
Even while
she’s sleeping,
she hears
the sound
of singing,
a lullaby.

Sun glows
through the window.
She traces the line
of her face
in the mirror
only touching
the outline–
That space
where skin
meets sky.

She’s never lonely
within
covers of lace
because she knows
the secrets,
the ones whispered
on the wings
of a prayer.

Even her hair
glows like
rainbow light.

–Margaret Simon

This was just the free write, but I was happy with it. Then Sandy asked us to circle words from our free write that had some power for us. She handed out notecards for us to write our words on, tear them apart and put them back together into a new poem.

Words taken from my free writing.

This was the resulting poem.

Enter dark space
a line draws her face
whispers
secrets

Her protector
sleeps
in covers of lace.

Angels kiss
her prayer.

Opening
the path to grace.

–Margaret Simon

What I love about this activity is the abstract way it gets to the soul where you write with authenticity and abandon all at the same time. I want to try this with my students. I wonder how they will handle the randomness of it. Will they get frustrated or enjoy the freedom? Some days, and especially hard days full of sadness, I find solace in poetry, in the act of creating. It gets me out of my thinking brain for a minute and allows me to relax into flow. Thanks, Sandy, for sharing Dennis’s art and leading me on a path of discovery.

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Poetry Friday: Making Masks, Making Poems

Posted in Creativity, Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Gifted by Nature Day, mask poems on May 13, 2016| 11 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up with Violet. Click here to read more posts.

The end of the school year is coming to a close. One fun day that our gifted students look forward to every year is Gifted by Nature Day. We hold it in City Park and all the elementary gifted students in our parish attend. The day is full of games, art, and writing.

This year middle school gifted students (who fondly remember their own Gifted by Nature Days) led this year’s art activity. They presented a skit about endangered animals. Then our kids were encouraged to freely create their own favorite animal, real or imaginary.

I led a poetry writing activity as a response to the mask activity. And what better poetic form to use than a mask poem? The directions were simple: Write a poem from the point of view of your mask. Use your creature’s name as the title. Use I statements. We read a few mentor poems from Irene Latham”s Dear Wandering Wildebeest and Patricia MacLachlan’s Cat Talk.

The students were primed for creative thinking after making their masks. I am sharing some of the masks and poems here.

This is Erin as a narwhal, of course.

Call me watercat.
I am guard.
I am smart and curious.
I run very quickly through
prickly vines.
I am big.
I am blue.
I am sneaky.
I am fluffy.
I am strong.
I am a watercat.
by Madison, 2nd grade

How adorable is this puppy mask with a bow on its chin!

Dis-Grace
I am a disgrace.
I am a mess of an animal.
I am rainbow.
I have three sets of ears.
My mouth stays open.
My nose is green.
People come around me and say “whoo.”
They must hate me.
Then I hear people say, “That’s cool.”
Maybe I’m not a Dis-Grace after all.
by Emily, 5th grade

Shadow, by Jacob, 2nd grade

I was born in a magic cloud.
Then I flew all day.
I made a lot of friends
and we played in the Milky Way.
Then we found a top hat,
black and a very light gray.
I put it on and then I had the power
to always save the day. Jaci, 5th grade

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Creativity and Vulnerability

Posted in Creativity, Teaching, tagged Big Magic, Creativity, Elizabeth Gilbert, vulnerability on May 5, 2016| 7 Comments »

I thought I might give blogging a rest. But in this wild world of social media, I have made connections. Irene Latham is a poet/blogger and the kind of person I will do almost anything for. She tweeted yesterday.

Hey, SJT peeps @MargaretGSimon @dorireads @cvarsalona @Mhaseltine @b_a_taylor Join me tomorrow in talking about Creativity & Vulnerability?

— Irene Latham (@Irene_Latham) May 4, 2016

Here I am again because this is a subject I live with every day.
Be creative.
Be vulnerable.
These two walk together with me as I wander this writing terrain.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert speaks to me. She writes for 272 pages about “Creative Living Beyond Fear.” The reason this book has taken on such popularity is we are all battling this dualistic problem: creativity and fear. On Goodreads, there are 333 quotes from Big Magic. I could pick any one of them to make my point here. That creativity and fear (or vulnerability) walk hand in hand.

With my students this week, I have been creating an altered book. We have taken books that were discarded from the library for repurposing as a collection of writing from this school year. For the most part, we’ve been making a mess. But in the midst of the mess, creativity is evolving.

A favorite page using gel printed paper, collage, and a poem.

This is the freest I have felt about painting and creating in a long time. I’m just doing it. I don’t expect anyone but me to ever care about this book, so there is no fear. And since I feel absolutely safe creating alongside my students, I am not vulnerable either.

When I write for others to read, the stakes become higher. And yet, in this blog space, I have found a safety net. I have a group of people I belong to. I’ve gotten to know you by reading your blogs. You know me, and you leave encouraging comments. I may not know your face, dear reader, but I trust you.

Vulnerability is lessened by safety, community, and camaraderie.

Creativity breeds creativity. Endeavoring to express yourself artistically whether with a paintbrush, a musical instrument, or a pen exposes you to failure. Yet creating makes us human, and creativity is meant to be shared.

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SOL16: #6, DigiLit Sunday: Technique

Posted in Creativity, Digital Learning, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged art lessons, technique, watercolor on March 6, 2016| 21 Comments »

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

I am taking a watercolor class. Like most art classes I’ve taken, the first few classes are frustrating for me. I feel defeated. I criticize myself over and over. This is very unattractive behavior, and my teacher is patient. He doesn’t praise me, though. He tells me that these techniques build upon each other. I am learning. It’s a process.

On Tuesday, I had my 4th class. It has taken me a while to create something I wanted to share with others. I finally pulled together the techniques into one art piece that I actually liked. My teacher pointed out the things I did well. The thin lines for branches, the shadows, the light. But still he held back. I said I was pleased with it, but he did not give out a great deal of empty praise. In fact, he told me to practice.

Watercolor pine tree by Margaret Simon

Sound familiar? How we try to lead our students through the writing process. We teach techniques. We look at models. We praise when we see a craft move. These lessons build a writer, but the process can be slow. It can be frustrating. Eventually, the writer will feel good about the product.

The motivation has to move away from teacher approval. The writer/artist must own the process to feel success.

My students have started the classroom Slice of Life Challenge. They are practicing. They are trying craft moves. They are noticing techniques in each other’s slices.

The creative process is a curious thing. We need to learn techniques. We need the guidance of teachers. But in the end, it’s just you and the paper. I believe in techniques, but I also believe in magic. Sometimes magic happens when you continue to show up.

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

I invite other teacher-bloggers to participate in this weekly meme, DigiLit Sunday. Link your posts up below.

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How Long a Poem Takes

Posted in Creativity, Gifted Education, Poetry, Writing, tagged anaphora, Naomi Shihab Nye on February 12, 2016| 26 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up with Kimberley at Written Reflections

Inspired by Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem How Long Peace Takes from 19 Varieties of Gazelle, my students and I wrote our own How Long poems. The repeated line “As long as” followed by images works well to inspire poetry. I wrote one about healing. I am slowly recovering from my tailbone injury. The bayou seems to appear often in my poems and as I am recovering, I have watched the bayou every day. Such a peaceful place to heal.

Peak through the old cypress to the brown bayou.

How Long Healing Takes

As long as reflections of tall trees on a winding bayou.

As long as the slow mowing of a field of grass.

As long as the the thread of soft yarn
winds its way into a baby’s blanket.

As long as the body insists
on being separate and human.

As long as instinct is ignored
and we just talk louder to each other.

As long as the cat
finds a box in the closet,
comfort in cardboard.
She hides all day invisible.

As long as the flowers in the vase
smile their peachy-orange smile
and say stay,
rest,
be well.
–Margaret Simon

And now for a few students’s poems.

How Long Patience Takes

As long as you rise at dawn

As long as the sun rises above
to shine upon us

As long as the teapot sings
a steamy song

As long as long as you make a wish
at 11:11

As long as you blow out you candles
on your special day

As long as you have
patience

As long as you leave at dusk

–Emily, 5th grade

How Long Creativity Takes

As long as you’re reading
with a smile on your face
so deep in your book
you can’t hear anything

As long as you’re drawing
letting the pencil control you
light and dark lines
here and there

As long as you’re brainstorming
with ideas flowing out left and right
shouting them out like you don’t care
while you peacefully think of some more

As long as you’re writing
with a pen in your hand
as you think of a story
and poem at the same time

As long as you let your imagination flow
making dreams a reality
and never losing hope
and letting your mind run wild

As long as you never stop believing
believe in the impossible
step out your comfort zone
and live a creative life

–Erin, 4th grade

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DigiLit Sunday: Balance

Posted in Creativity, Digital Learning, Writing, tagged balance, digital literacy, gifted education on January 31, 2016| 14 Comments »

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quotesgram.com

Yesterday I tweeted a call for topic ideas. Julianne suggested balance. And now I’m stuck. I liked that this was a topic that would make people think, but I wasn’t prepared for being stuck.

Balance is so open to interpretation. Are we thinking about the balance of reading to writing, technology to paper, challenging to easy? There are so many ways we can look at balance. In my own life, I need to balance work with play, eating healthy foods, using my time wisely, and on and on.

I look at each one of my students as a small balancing act. I need to give them enough but not too much. This week we were behind. Most of my students had spent their class time on creating digital Wonder presentations, so they hadn’t completed their writing assignments (Slice of Life and Reader response). A few of them were actually in a panic over getting it all done. The title of the day was “Finish it Friday.”

When I announced that I wanted to do a poetry activity, I heard groans. I insisted that we all stop and take 5 minutes to write together. This turned out to be a good decision. Creative juices flowed. My kids turned back to technology not as a chore but as a choice. I posted some of the results on Poetry Friday.

Teaching gifted students is always a balancing act. I want to challenge them to think deeper and work harder, and yet, I cannot forget that they are children. They need creative play as well. The best lessons are ones that balance the two. The funny thing about my kids is even if the assignment is not all that creative, they find a way to interject their own voices. They will be heard.

Kaiden’s presentation on how books are made included his own sense of humor as well as information on how paper became books.

Do you have “Da Knawledge?”

Please add the link to your digital literacy blog post.

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Creativity and Me

Posted in Creativity, Photography, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Big Magic, Creativity, fear, Lake Martin, poetry, tanka on January 12, 2016| 9 Comments »

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

I’m reading a new book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. I’m not sure where I read about this book. I know Leigh Anne is reading it, and so is Catherine. So here’s the thing: If there’s a group of us reading this book who want to chat, we could start a virtual book club. We could chat in Voxer or Google Docs. If you want to join in, email me at margaretsmn at gmail.

Four years ago I jumped into publishing and put out a middle-grade novel, Blessen. At the time, I found an old diary that told me I’ve wanted to be an author all my life. Notice my expectation as a teenager that maybe confidence came from someone else.

“I would love to be a writer if only someone would give me confidence!”

If growing up has taught me anything, it’s that confidence comes from courage that comes from your. own. self. No one else can give it to you.

Elizabeth Gilbert says she lives in fear everyday.

Creativity is a path for the brave, yes, but it is not a path for the fearless, and it’s important to understand the distinction.

Fear will always show up when you are trying to be creative. You can tell it to go away. But it’s always there. I love that this great author is telling me this.

I’ve grown to cherish this blogging space because I feel safe here. Whoever you are, reading and leaving me kind comments, you are my angels. You help me feel like my words are worthwhile and mean something.

Since my OLW is present, I am showing up. I’ll listen for the muse, the magician, whatever his name is and answer with a yeah, ok, let’s do this crazy creative thing together.

Being present this past weekend, my husband and I visited Lake Martin for the sunset on the way to our dinner/ dancing date. It was not the best of all sunsets. I got my boots muddy. But we showed up. With a little magic from the lens and Picmonkey, I created an inspiring image. On Sunday, I wrote a tanka for the image. And I am sharing it here. Kicking fear to the curb! See ya!