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Archive for the ‘Slice of Life’ Category

Slice of Life: Small Problems

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching on December 3, 2024| 7 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

How do you deal with small problems? I tried so hard to walk in gratitude this morning, but Albert pulled constantly on the leash and wanted to pee on everything, so I lost my patience. Then once we were home, he got out, off-the-leash, and chased the cats. I was so mad that I screamed the f bomb at him and put him into his kennel…forever!

This is not how I wish to start my day. I want to find peace. I want to drink a hot cup of coffee and read poems.

Thanksgiving break for me was a whirlwind of travel and then family. All great things! Yet yesterday at school, our first day back after the week off, three students were brought to tears. For different reasons, the stress of following directions, the stress of “let’s relate to the character in a deeper way”, and the stress of “I went camping and forget to take my book with me.” It seems to me that kids in general (myself included) do not handle stress as we used to.

What are some ways you handle the little things? I anticipated this time of pre-Christmas frenzy. But it doesn’t help when you are deep into it.

I know that I am okay and normal and my dog is “just a puppy!” Thanks for being here with me on the good days and the bad. As Alexander’s mom wisely said, “Some days are like that. Even in Australia.”

Photo by Bianca Gasparoto on Pexels.com

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Slice of Life: Novel Coffee

Posted in Gratitude, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged , , , on November 26, 2024| 16 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

My husband and I are on vacation in Portland, Maine. On Sunday my dear friend and fellow Inkling (writing group) Molly Hogan and her husband Kurt took us to the most photographed lighthouse.

Portland Head Light

The views were incredible, but the best part was seeing Molly in person and getting to know her husband. We talked for hours.

The highlight of our time here yesterday was the ferry cruise. We happened upon a ride that carries supplies and mail to the islands. There was a young man who did everything, and one of his jobs was to find us and tell us stuff about the islands. I’m guessing in the winter months there are fewer tourists.

Mailboat Ferry

I like some alone time in any given day, so after shopping at Reny’s (Molly was right; we found good deals), Jeff dropped me at the Novel coffee shop where one can read and have coffee. I picked up a copy of a book I didn’t know existed about a poem that few knew existed.

Live Oak, with Moss

Walt Whitman’s Live Oak, with Moss is not the poem you think it is. The papers he wrote the poem on were torn and put back together into other more acceptable poems. Originally Whitman was writing a love poem to a man (or men).

The book drew me right in and I read it on the spot. Brian Selznick took an idea he had discussed with Maurice Sendak to illustrate the long hidden poem. Sendak never had the chance.

Here are some pages:

Live Oak with Moss by Brian Selznick
Walt Whitman pages
Amazing love poem by Walt Whitman

In every vacation there are the things you plan and the happy happenstances. This little treasure was waiting for me, I believe.

Happy Thanksgiving! May you find a small moment to treasure in your heart.

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Slice of Life: Book Character Day

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , on November 12, 2024| 9 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

I teach at two schools, so I have a hard time keeping up with special dress-up days on the calendar. Yesterday, I got a free dress coupon from my second school, so yay! I could wear jeans and a t-shirt. I chose my Peter Reynold’s Dot Day t-shirt and my happy face sweater.

In morning carpool duty, I opened doors to Harry Potters and Belles. I asked my colleague what was going on. He said it was Book Character Day. Ha, serendipity! I was dressed as The Dot!

My classroom bulletin board quote from “The Dot.”

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Slice of Life: Walk for Alzheimer’s

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged , on October 29, 2024| 8 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

My mother, who is 88 years old, is living with Alzheimer’s disease. Currently she is in a memory care facility and in hospice care. She is bedridden and doesn’t eat much. She and my brother live in Mississippi, so I have to travel to visit. I will be going this weekend along with my sister. We are lucky. She’s still a genuinely kind person.

For Pádraig Ó Tuama‘s recent poem prompt “Short Poems”, I wrote:

Visiting My Mother in Memory Care

I lean in for her voice. There is only a smile.

This poem is not entirely true. My brother told me that last weekend, she turned to him and said, “You’re looking good.” Southern pleasantries must be one of the last things to go.

On Saturday, my family gathered in River Ranch in Lafayette, LA to join the Walk for Alzheimer’s. My grandson Leo (5) designed our shirts. We had a fun time walking together, visiting, and honoring my mother, my children’s grandmother, my grandchildren’s great grandmother. She will never know we did this, but my heart was full. We made a difference, and we did it together.

Me in center between my brother, Hunter Gibson, and sister, Beth Saxena.
My family at the Walk for Alzheimer’s.
Aunt “Kacky” with baby June (22 months).

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Slice of Life: Daily Poetry

Posted in Gifted Education, Photography, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 8, 2024| 11 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

This is Just to Say

I have forgotten
the words
to that song
you sang to me

and which
you are probably
humming in your head
while you sleep.

Forgive me:
I will sing
along with you
anyway.

Margaret Simon, after William Carlos Williams

I believe in daily poetry, but I fell off the Stanford Challenge for writing a poem a day. Lately the new book from Sarah Donovan, Mo Daley, and Maureen Young Ingram, 90 Ways of Community is helping. Each day I present one of the prompts to my students and write alongside them. They are responding so well to this daily practice. I hope you don’t mind if I share a few here. First up is a skinny poem by Grayson.

White void endless space just                                                                       
waiting                                                                                                             
wondering                                                                                                         
no                                                                                                                     
thoughts                                                                                                           
waiting,                                                                                                               
I’m                                                                                                                       
tired                                                                                                                   
of                                                                                                                         
waiting                                                                                                             
in this endless void, white space that is just too empty. 

by Grayson, 5th grade

We’ve explored ourselves and written I am From poems.

I am from
crunching leaves
and windy days.

I am from
books, and books,
and even more books.

I am from the Bayou,
and I am from the
trees.
I come from murky waters
and lush green leaves
and sturdy branches.

I am from
the scratching of
a pen,
and the flick of a brush.

I am from
the smell of
cigarette smoke
and an autumn evening.

I am
from a household,
a household holding
four. 
A mother of books,
a father of autumn,
a daughter of both,
and a sister
of all.

by Adelyn, 6th grade

Each week I invite my students to write to a photograph. They are free to choose their own form even as I model a form for them.

Old tree
Stays in the backyard
Is surrounded by water and ferns
Waiting outside on the porch for the sunrise
Lovely morning

by Marifaye, 5th grade

If you would like to write a poem to a photo, please join me on this blog on Wednesdays: This Photo Wants to be a Poem. I wish for you daily poetry.

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Slice of Life: Cooling Down

Posted in Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged , , on September 24, 2024| 4 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

For multiple reasons, I had a rough week last week. On Saturday, I woke up early and went to a local farmer’s market to sell books and make “zines” with kids. It was really great fun, but hot! By the time I finished, I had not eaten or had anything to drink, so I went to my daughter’s house to cool off, literally.

Maggie and I started talking about my week and the day at the market. She suggested I pull a card from her oracle deck, “Mysteries of Love” from alenahennessy.com.

The card I pulled could not have been more perfect, literally and figuratively.

Today on Ethical ELA’s Open Write, the prompt was given by Larin, Thought You Should Know.

I wrote a poem to the Oracle Deck:

To the Oracle Deck (Snap Dragon: Cooling Down)

I want you to know
I’m trying to balance
will & ego,
soothe my inner fire,
but the system pushes
back again and again.

I want you to know
they say we have to move Mom
to skilled nursing. No! I shout
to you. This is not the path
I expected.

I want you to know
I tried to smile at everyone
I met in the halls at school.
I held onto a door handle
and did tree pose
just to test my balance.

I want you to know
how much I want to love
a puppy that chews my shoelaces
as I write this. If I stay cool,
will he stop and look up
with loving eyes?

I want you to know that no matter
what you told me on Saturday,
my will is fading fast
on Tuesday. I should pick
another card.

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Slice of Life: Mississippi Book Festival

Posted in Books, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged , , on September 17, 2024| 4 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

Who among us doesn’t love a good book festival? This weekend my husband, my hero, offered to drive on Friday after work so that we could attend the Mississippi Book Festival in my home town of Jackson, MS. We had plans to visit my mother, but the book festival started at 9 AM, driving late into Friday evening was necessary.

It was so worth it! I was able to see an interview with Kate DiCamillo who is always a delight. With Ellen Hunter Ruffin, who is a hoot in her own right, they bantered and kept the audience laughing. Kate was introduced by none other than Ann Patchet, who later joined her on a panel about friendship and narrative.

When a teacher in the audience asked Kate about themes in her books, she said, “I have no idea what the themes are. Forgiveness and family seem to be my preoccupations. Those things are in there unwittingly. The only way to tell a story well is to let your guard down. Be vulnerable.”

As a teacher, a standard that I hit my head on constantly is “identify the theme.” It is so interesting to me that theme is the last thing an author thinks about when writing, if at all.

Kate is a cheerleader for reading aloud. I’ve started reading her new book Ferris to my students. They can’t wait to read more.

Kate DiCamillo after signing hundreds of books. We could be best friends.

Authors are real people. They struggle, as we do, to make sense of the world and to do their best to mold and shape the lives of children.

I ran into a new children’s book author who I had met at the Fay B. Kaigler book festival in April. She joined me and Irene Latham for dinner one night, and we hit it off immediately. Fate and this festival brought us back together. Her new book is Trunk Goes Thunk: A Woodland Tale of Opposites. She was on a panel of children’s book authors. They talked about who they were and where their ideas came from. Heather was enthralled by a live cam video of a fallen log. She wanted to write a book about all the animals that travel the log bridge which ultimately leads from separate to together. If you collect children’s books, be on the lookout. It’s coming out soon.

Author Heather Morris and me at the Mississippi Book Festival.

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Slice of Life: Student Inquiry

Posted in Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged , , , on September 10, 2024| 4 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

I teach gifted elementary students. I think of my classroom door as a revolving one because students from grades 2-6 come in and go out all day long. Two weeks ago I brought in some Gulf fritillary caterpillars in a butterfly net. I placed them on the table and invited my students to ask questions.

This is Marifaye’s sketchbook neatly written with her 5 questions and the answers. (Not all notebooks looked this neat.)

Students gathered around the table and drew what they saw, asking question after question. They became enthusiastic yet frustrated that I would not give them a straight answer. They practiced using Google to research and answer their questions.

This week the caterpillars eclosed (hatched) and once again we observed and drew pictures then released the butterfly.

Danielle, 2nd grade, wrote a sentence. “This is my drawing of a Gulf fritillary. I drew a vine with a flower.”
James wrote a fib poem about the butterfly. (We talked about using more specific vocabulary than words like nice and cool.)
Gulf
vine
flowers
butterfly
a fritillary
flying through the beautiful sky

I don’t always have nature at my fingertips to lead inquiry with my classes. This was a wonderful way to introduce the idea that asking questions and wondering are all part of the process of learning. And releasing was just pure Joy!

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Words that Mend

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on September 3, 2024| 9 Comments »

Writing in a community of writers has led me to so many wonderful connections with other teacher-writers from all over the world. I discovered the writing community at Ethical ELA in the spring of 2020 when we were all isolated. Being able to find meaningful writing prompts and support from others helped me feel less alone.

Now, four years later, I am honored to be involved in a book project. I have two chapters in a book that gives teachers an understanding of how poetry can be healing in our classrooms and beyond. Words that Mend is here, alongside its sister books 90 Ways of Community and Just YA.

One of my chapters in Words that Mend appears in the section Teacher Healing titled Walking through Grief with Poetry. I wrote about my grief journey after my father’s death and how writing poems helped me process that grief. The comments others left for me on my poems felt authentic and caring. Healing from grief doesn’t happen quickly, if ever, but finding a space for sharing my thoughts in poetry gave me a purpose. And having this book now out in the world gives me purpose.

The second chapter I wrote is titled Write Along with Me, An Invitation Accepted. I wrote about how one of my students used poetry in my class to carry her through grief and how she reached out to me to start a small after school writing group. In that chapter, you can find writing prompts that worked for me as I worked with her. In fact, each chapter includes a section for a prompt for teachers and students.

Penny Kittle wrote this about Words that Mend:

“My time reading Words that Mend was not only worth it, it has multiplied my thinking about teachers as writers in profound ways. These chapters contain the lives and experiences of teachers—written like a colleague who pulls up a chair to sit beside you—and you lean in, listening with intensity and joy. What a gift this book is: it holds so much. Words that Mend is the invitation each of us needs to write in community. In celebration. In support. In discovery of what it means to bring poetry into the lives of all those we know. There is a particular generosity in this book: one of personal experiences, yes, but also the hesitations all writers feel to show their lives in writing. You will find beginnings here (even a notebook page of first thoughts) that will inspire you to write. You will find lesson plans already worn and weathered by use in classrooms. Do not turn from the gift of Words that Mend: you need it more than you might think you do.”

~Penny Kittle, author Write Beside Them, Book Love, and Micro Mentor Texts

Words that Mend is now available for purchase on Amazon (for printing cost only) and a free pdf download on Ethical ELA here.

Sarah Donovan, Oklahoma State University, curator of Ethical ELA tells our story on YouTube:

We will have an online event at 2:00PM CST on September 22nd to celebrate and write together. Stay tuned!

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Slice of Life: Garden Surprise

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , on August 20, 2024| 5 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

School has started so that means back to the butterfly garden. Summer has left it overgrown and in need of attention.

On Friday my student Avalyn and I got to work. Here she is with a mammoth sunflower we planted in the spring.

Avalyn and the giant sunflower.

I started picking up the layers of mown grass around the edge of the planter box. I uncovered a nest of eggs.

Nest of eggs in dead grass

Avalyn and I, along with a few curious teachers, began a quest to find out what these eggs were.

They wouldn’t be bird eggs. Bird eggs are hard and round and usually in trees with an attending mother bird.

What about turtle eggs? Turtles usually dig a hole, and they lay near water.

Lizards? Too big.

We finally landed on the scariest option, snakes.

With my cell phone flashlight, Avalyn (Unlike her teacher, she didn’t mind touching and handling the egg.) candled the egg. Candling is a way to see inside the egg. She showed her classmates. We could see the embryo and veins and a shadow of a swirl.

Avalyn shows her classmates how to look inside an egg.

I know that having a garden is good for the social and emotional needs of gifted students (all students, actually) but I hadn’t prepared myself for the possibility of snakes.

I’m relieved to report that the eggs were hatched or eaten, certainly not viable, come Monday morning.

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