Gratitude | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Gratitude’ Category

A Slice of Nothing Much

Posted in Blogging, Gratitude, Slice of Life, tagged A More Beautiful Question, Holly Mueller, Julie Johnson on July 1, 2014| 9 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

I almost didn’t write a slice this morning. See, there’s just not much happening here. As I sit in front of my computer with Charlie on my lap and listen to the cicadas buzzing their summer heat tune, I have very little on my brain. But this is good, right?

Mom’s mandevilla reworked in painteresque.

Julie Johnson at Raising Readers and Writers wrote her post today about weeding her garden, but it’s not really about weeding her garden. It’s really about finding your joy inspired by a book A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger. I don’t have the book yet, but I was struck by this section on Julie’s blog.

In A More Beautiful Question, Berger pushes his reader when he asks, “Why are you climbing the mountain?” He describes those “who are trying to do everything – attend every conference, take every call, answer every message, read every tweet, seize every opportunity – not so much because we want to, but because we feel we must, just to keep up.” (Had he been peeking into my life too?)

He prods his reader further by asking:

What is waiting for me at the top?

What am I going to do once I get there?

Am I enjoying the climb itself? Should I slow down, speed up?

What am I leaving behind, down below?

Yes, Julie, he is peeking into my life, too. Are we all like this? Overscheduling and overdoing? Keeping busy every minute of every day?

Last week I traveled home to my parents’. I traveled alone, no children or husband, just me. I did this last summer, too, and loved my week with Mom and Dad. I now believe that this time is a beautiful thing. I didn’t do much. I read, walked, blogged, painted, took pictures, and I talked with my parents. Nothing memorable happened. I relaxed and did exactly what brings me joy. I didn’t climb a mountain or make any grand decision.

We all need to remind ourselves that it is OK not to climb the mountain every day. And to choose our mountains carefully.

Follow this link to read more spiritual journey posts.

I’d like to invite those of you who ponder these big questions and write about your spiritual journey to join Holly Mueller’s new roundup on Thursdays. We are writing and connecting in many ways.

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Blueberry Picking

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry Friday, tagged blueberry picking, farm, St. Martinville on June 6, 2014| 16 Comments »

Join the Poetry Friday round-up at Carol’s Corner.

Blueberry Picking
with a line from Mark Doty, Verge

Some things wear their becoming,
like this blueberry, for example,
plump and perfectly indigo
surrounded by pinky-red brothers and sisters,
it boasts to be chosen
falls easily into my palm
joyfully plinks the plastic bucket.

On this dewy June morning,
I wander from bush to bush
silent in my reverie
picking, picking, picking.

The berries do not wear a costume.
They linger here in this field
waiting for the juicing of the sun’s rays,
becoming all I need
to take summer in
to hold on to the gift of life.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

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Chalkabration Celebration

Posted in Books, Celebration Saturday, Chalk-a-bration, Gratitude, Writing, tagged chalk poetry, Donalyn Miller, summer on May 31, 2014| 5 Comments »

I’m not sure if this is fair or not, today I am combining posts for Chalk-a-bration and Celebration. (I can’t help but love the alliteration!) I let my students (the three who attended) chalk the sidewalks on the last day of school a week ago and saved the pictures to post today. Betsy Hubbard leads this fun blogtivity at the end of each month. We wrote lunes, a short poetry form that uses a 5, 3, 5 syllable count. And the theme, of course, was summer.

Matthew writes about his passion for magic:
Magic is my life
life is magic
do impossible

Go play on the beach
Come with us
We want you with us.
by Tyler

Vannisa’s poem did not turn out well in the photograph.

In the sun we play
until night
takes the place of day.
–Vannisa

slow lazy days
summer sun
too hot to think
–Margaret Simon

This week has been a week of slow days. I’ve committed myself to three things this summer, exercise daily (I have the sore muscles to prove it!), writing (Thursday I spent hours writing this sestina for Maya Angelou), and reading (I’ve read or listened to 6 books for Donalyn Miller’s #bookaday challenge). I’m glad there wasn’t much else going on this week, so I could establish this routine. Happy Summer!

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Flow

Posted in Gratitude, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged altered books, Creativity, flow on May 27, 2014| 10 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

“May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back.” (Rainer Maria Rilke)

For the last two years, I have made an altered book using poems I have written beside my students. An altered book is a hardback book that has outlived its time, been discarded from the library, or left behind at Goodwill. I usually try to find ones with fairly large pages that are sewn, not glued, to the binding. I take out some of the pages and glue a few together to thicken each page and create space. Then I use Gesso and paint to cover the pages. My students have the option to make an altered book for their poetry project.

Here are a few of my favorite pages from my book this year. Vannisa found the sign, “Keep Calm and Write Poetry” that became my front cover. The marbleized paper was made using a technique with chalk and water. I covered some of my pages with gelli-printed papers. When I work on my altered book, I enter Flow, a term Csikszentmihalyi used to describe that zone of creativity one enters when something is at the right level of challenge. Flow is energizing and motivating.

Altered book cover

Page one begins with A for anaphora

Making a collage of printed paper makes an interesting background.

Images fuel my writing.

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Celebrate Seeing Good

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Creativity, Gifted Education, Gratitude, Writing, tagged Easter Lily, Lagniappe Yoga, New Iberia City Council, The Shadows, yoga on May 24, 2014| 9 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us to celebrate each week. I have the opportunity to not only share my joys with you, but to reflect on them for myself, a good exercise in itself.

1. Easter Lilies are blooming in abundance this year. Perhaps they liked the extra cold winter and are letting us know all is new.

2. Summer Reading #Bookaday: Donalyn Miller challenges us to read a book a day in the summer. I am a slow reader, so I am hoping to read a book a week. Here is only part of the stack I brought home from my classroom to read.

3. My husband had cataract surgery this week. He gave me his ring to hold because he couldn’t wear any jewelry. I only had to wear it for an hour. The surgery was a success. His eye bruised, so in his best Cajun accent, he likes to say, “It looks baad, but it sees good.”

4. Our students presented a big check for $3,711.00 to the West End Park Revitalization Project at the City Council meeting this week. We are so proud of their dedication.

5. My friend and yoga instructor, Rachel, led a yoga class at our local plantation home, The Shadows. It was invigorating to stretch outside on the sculptured lawn, looking up into the oaks. If only there were no ants.

6. I forgot to take pictures of this, but three of my gifted students spent their last day with me. I pulled out a box of science kids, and they made hover crafts with balloons and CDs, and a catapult out of a staple remover and plastic spoon. They were focused, cooperative, and had fun.

It was a wonderful week and now on to the BIG WEEKEND! Happy Summer, y’all!

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Celebrating Happy Endings

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Gifted Education, Gratitude, Teaching, tagged altered books, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, magnolia, Margarita Engle, watercolor on May 17, 2014| 9 Comments »

This was my last week with my students for this school year. I always get reflective at this time of year, wondering if I’ve done enough for my students. So yesterday, our last day together, I asked them to write me a letter. I asked 1. What do you remember about our school year? 2. What was your favorite activity? and 3. What was your greatest lesson? For the most part, I was touched by their letters. I just want to share a few quotes and celebrate them.

This year we got to meet Caroline Starr Rose and Greg Pincus! We went to Mississippi! We saw a haunted house! But most of all, we bonded like a family. That was my favorite activity. My greatest lesson is that you don’t have to be famous, or super smart, or handsome, or even popular to be loved. Matthew

My greatest lesson I’ve learned from being here is to not be afraid to make mistakes as a writer and in life. Mistakes will help you to become a better person. No one is perfect and sometimes all of us forget that. Brooklyn

My students finished their poetry projects. They made altered books out of discarded books. They illustrated and glued in their own poems and some favorite poems by other authors. Vannisa put in a collection of some her favorites from the school year, a bookmark from Margarita Engle, A bookmark from Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, an Eleanor Roosevelt quote, and “Keep Calm and Write Poetry.”

Brooklyn’s poetry book cover. Gotta Love Poetry!

Today, I am also celebrating magnolias. They are in full bloom, our state flower, and I went to a watercolor workshop this morning and painted one. I am posting a picture of a real one from my neighbor’s yard and the one I painted. Wish I could also post the scent.

Watercolor magnolia by Margaret Simon.

Magnolia, the Louisiana state flower.

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A Gift and a Pantoum

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged One Thousand Gifts, pantoum, poetry, spirituality on April 25, 2014| 11 Comments »

Poetry Friday Round-up is with Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference

Poetry can take you to unexpected places. This was my experience with writing a Pantoum. The form seems simple, yet it complicates things. The form is made up of 4-line stanzas. The second and fourth lines of the first quatrain become the first and third lines of the second, and this pattern continues. Often the last line repeats the first; although, mine did not. Poetry forms can both confine the writer and free her. In my experience, the rhymes confined me, yet the message I thought I was making changed with the writing.

A writing group friend gave me a book this week, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. It drew me in immediately. Her writing style is fresh. She writes with intelligence and honesty. I took a line from her second chapter, “How I wrestle with last night’s dream,” and then looked at notes from my meditation journal. I thought I would write about God as a loving center. The poem, however, seems more about my love, my husband, and his ever present trust in my life. You never know where a poem may lead. Sometimes we just have to follow.

How I wrestle with last night’s dream.
The words have all been said before,
nothing new, what can they mean,
written on the stone of this cold floor?

The words have all been said before.
I reach for your open hand so near
writing my love on the stone cold floor
words to erase my fear.

I reach for your open hand so near
like a child reaches for her mother.
Words will erase my fear
with trust in honesty and one another.

Like a child reaching for her mother,
I recognize that look on your face
with trust in honesty and one another,
open to your willing embrace.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved.

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Ten Things Right Now

Posted in Books, Gratitude, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged flowers, spring, ten things on March 11, 2014| 15 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 11. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Faced with another Slice, I turned to the Two Writing Teachers blog for inspiration. Never fails. On March 8th, they featured an idea used by blogger Mandy Robek “10 Things Right Now.”

1. My friend, James Edmunds (Poor Clio) posted on Facebook “loved today’s March watercolor sunshine.”

2. Reading poetry by Barbara Crooker.

each day, we climb
a few more inches
up the ladder of light,
and grackles and redwings
return, bringing postcards
of tropical sun.

3. Started A Snicker of Magic: Felicity Juniper Pickle collects words:

Popsicle
Paper star
Poppy-seed muffin

4. Tulips on the kitchen table.

5. Remembering my Uncle Stu. His funeral was yesterday in Georgia. I wasn’t there. My mother wasn’t there. I thought of my cousins all day long. My uncle always hated to say goodbye.

6. My husband has been cancer free for 8 years! Here’s a picture of his new running shoes. Aren’t they cool? St. Patrick’s Day green!

Jeff’s new running shoes

7. Meditating for two weeks. Here is a sample from my journal:

Meditation on the words from Emily Dickinson, “Love is the furniture.”
The chair holds me, all my thoughts I brush away with a word.
I sit again and again
in silence, waiting for angel’s wings,
symbols of love.
No words, no thought.
Just light
twisted, jeweled light
wrapping me up in love.

–Margaret Simon

8. The return of my former student to Slice with us. I have missed her voice. This is a small sample of a poem she wrote about Mother Nature. Our class blog is here.

Her feelings come and go
As quickly as leaves fall
In the brisk autumn months.
Her heart will always be with the earth.
If you are quiet, you can hear her heart thumping, thumping,
Dancing to the beat of the cicada song,

9. Cooking with my daughter: The menu is shrimp tacos with mango salsa.

10. Supportive principals: School #1, I got permission to take my 5 gifted students to a local fast food restaurant to solicit donations for an upcoming community service project. School #2, One of my third graders wants to raise funds and food for the local Humane Society. She wrote out notes of her plan and presented it to the principal at recess. She got the go ahead.

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Celebrating Comments

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Gratitude, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged comments, dancing, poets, Slice of Life, teachers, writing on March 8, 2014| 7 Comments »

Slice of Life Day 8. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Celebration Saturday is hosted each week by Ruth Ayres at Discover. Play. Build. I love this idea of taking time each Saturday morning to reflect on the week. Today I celebrate family, health, dancing, Poetry Friday and my students.

I have been writing a post every day for the Two Writing Teachers (really 6 writing teachers) Slice of Life Challenge. I have challenged my students to do the same. We were out of school for the first 5 days of March, so I was pleasantly surprised when some of my students posted every day. And one of my former students has joined us as well! See their blog Slice of Life Challenge.

Yesterday, I gave my students a comment challenge. At first, I told them they should give as many comments as they get. Then I grabbed a bag of Starburst candy and said, “How many comments can you do in an hour?” One student put a tally chart on the board, and they were off. Two of my girls went to the library for more computer access and quiet. The average was 10 comments per student. By the end of the day, my eight ELA students had written more than 120 comments! And I checked them. Most of them were making a thoughtful connection. It remains to be seen whether they will keep up the pace next week without the candy incentive.

I want to celebrate health. I was down for two days this week with a nasty cold. Luckily, we had a break from school. I was able to pamper myself with lots of tea and rest, so on Thursday morning when I had to go back to school, I was well. Energy returned on Friday. My husband and I went Zydeco dancing Friday night to Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band.

If you didn’t stop by for the Poetry Friday round up yesterday, please take a look. So much richness in this Kidlit blog-a-sphere. I celebrate all of the wonderful teachers and poets who linked up and left comments. I feel the love!

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Celebration Saturday is Here!

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Gifted Education, Gratitude, Poetry, tagged Author Amok, Azalea Estates, Laura Shovan, New Iberia on February 22, 2014| 4 Comments »

Each week I join in with other teacher-bloggers in celebrating our week. The celebration is hosted by Ruth Ayres at Discover. Play. Build. I hope I can stop sneezing long enough to write. Spring is coming and trees are blooming. My allergies tell me so. Today is a gorgeous day in South Louisiana. The sun is shining. The birds are singing. The air is crispy cool at 57 degrees. I celebrate starting my day with a walk. Minga is back to health, so we took our dogs Petey and Charlie to the park. Celebration was prevalent as old friends greeted her, happy to see her out and looking great.

I want to celebrate our 6th grade gifted students. We took them on a field trip this week as part of our WOW (Way out Wednesdays) enrichment program. First stop was Azalea Estates assisted living facility. There the students played games with and interviewed the residents. The room was full of energy. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

Brooklyn interviews Montez about her life for a Legacy project.

Next we went to downtown New Iberia to meet with various entities about our community service project plan. The students were met with respect by the head of the Chamber of Commerce as well as the mayor and city department heads. They did a wonderful job presenting their plans. I overheard one student say to another, “I like feeling special.” I celebrate their specialness and the opportunity to work with a great group of teachers and students.

I also want to take a moment to celebrate a fellow poet and cyber-friend, Laura Shovan. Laura is doing a birthday project at her site Author Amok. She is asking other poets to join in by writing to color prompts. This week I hit a hard spot. I wanted to write to the color Dubarry. I struggled after researching Madame duBarry. I tried a number of times to write something and the results were ~~crap~~, let’s say less than desirable. I told Laura of my trouble and she sent me a prompt through email. “Wear it: Imagine you are putting on an article of clothing in this color. What happens when you walk out your front door?” I was getting ready for bed when a poem with the color Orange Pepper came to me. I wrote it on a sticky note in the bathroom, then sent it to her immediately. She posted it the next day. My confidence is back. Thanks, Laura, for making me feel special.

I bought a tangerine purse–
orange pepper for my shoulder.
My daughter said I looked like I was carrying a satsuma.
The mailman asked if I had anything toxic or potentially hazardous.
But you said,
“Hey, I see sunshine on your shoulder.
Let’s walk together.”

by Margaret Simon

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