Slice of Life | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Slice of Life’ Category

Learning to Play with Words with Jane Yolen

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Jane Yolen, poetry on November 15, 2016| 10 Comments »

Note: Header image art by my sister, Beth Gibson Saxena.

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Jane Yolen

Poets love words. Poets play with words. Poets want you to love language as much as they do.

In my classroom, we read poems together, searching for sounds, images, and meaning. Jane Yolen is a master. I’ve admired her poetry for years. But only a year ago, maybe less, I signed up for her daily poem email. She believes in writing a poem a day. She practices what she preaches and sends out her daily drafts trusting that we receivers will honor and respect her words.

I shared one of these gems with my students, “Seven Ways of Kneeling on the Ground.” My first intent in sharing this poem was to show students how to use a pattern of 7 stanzas with 3 lines each, but in further examination, the poem offered so much more. We found imagery bouncing off the page. Her poem exemplified the magical sounds of words without using end rhyme: “Kneeling in the high bracken/ the brown crackle of it.”

There is JOY in reading a poem together, marking it up in colorful markers, and discovering how language (the sounds of words, double meanings, metaphor) leads us to a deeper understanding of our world.

jane-yolen-quote

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Slice of a Swing

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged cypress swing, family on November 8, 2016| 8 Comments »

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My three daughters lined up on the swing with Isabel, our weenie dog, and Sammy, the three-legged cat, on the first day of school. My husband built the swing of heavy cypress, and it hung in the breezeway between the house and the carport. The picture was taken in 1997 and took some time for me to find. (I got lost in the trip down memory lane through albums of photos.) I remembered that we took the first day of school picture every year on this cypress swing outside our back door. Digging through the photos, I only found two. The second one was taken in 1998, and Maggie had outgrown first-day-of-school photos, so it was only the younger two. (And Izzy and Sammy, of course)

Fast forward almost 20 years. The swing has been sitting in our carport ever since we moved to this house 12 years ago. We’ve just never found the right spot for it. Our cats have enjoyed finding a dry spot to hang out, and we’ve used it to hold various things that tend to land in a carport. It gathered dirt and leaves while the paint peeled.

A few weeks ago, our oldest daughter bought a house with her boyfriend. They are engaged to be married this spring. Their new house has a nice front porch just begging for a cypress swing. So Jeff spent a few weekends cleaning, sanding, and painting the infamous swing.

On Sunday, we loaded it into his truck to deliver to its new home.

To me, this is a right of passage, of sorts. The next generation is making their way into this world. The swing has many more years left in it. Solid, strong, and safe… like our family.

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Familiarity

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #familiar, #nwpianthology, Kim Douillard on November 1, 2016| 14 Comments »

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Kim Douillard is a fine photographer. She blogs here at Thinking through my Lens. She posts a weekly photo challenge with a single word. I don’t often take the challenge, but this time the word familiar interested me. I started thinking about the root of this word. I was surprised to find an odd connection to Halloween:

familiar
A low-ranking demon given to a witch by the Devil for the purpose of strengthening the witch’s power. In medieval times familiars were commonly thought to be animals such as cats, dogs, rabbits and toads. In shamanism, a familiar is a spirit who protects a shaman from illness and unfriendly forces and is also known as a totemic animal, guardian spirit, power animal, or tutelary spirit.

Bill, our male outside cat, often whines at the back door. And what he wants isn’t food. He wants Charlie, my dog and his familiar, to come outside. Bill rubs and rubs on Charlie. Charlie, in turn, humps Bill. These are signs of animal affection. Bill is our familiar, our guardian cat, ready to fight the evil spirits of birds and squirrels and raccoons who wander into the protective area.

The first definition in the online dictionary for familiar is “1. Often encountered or seen: a familiar landmark. See Synonyms at common.”

This gas pump was a familiar site of my youth. Gulf was the well-known service station. My mother would pull up in our Oldsmobile station wagon with the fake wood on the sides and wait. The attendant would pump the gas, wash her windows, check the tires, and give us a piece of candy. Those were the days…

These days the presidential election campaign is heating up (or gone off the deep end, rather), but in our small town of New Iberia, politics happens on Main Street. My husband will not discuss national politics, but he can talk all day with his friend Dan who is running for Mayor Pro-Tem. Here they are at a political rally complete with signs, beer, jambalaya, and a brass band.

Thanks, Kim, for giving me a word to focus on for this Slice. What does familiar mean to you? Join the conversation with #familiar and @nwpianthology.

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October on the Bayou

Posted in Gratitude, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Bayou Teche, canoeing, cypress trees, October on October 25, 2016| 10 Comments »

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Living on the bayou is a gift I don’t always remember to appreciate, but on Saturday, I announced to my husband, “It’s a gorgeous day. We have to go canoeing.”

For the first Saturday this month we had little to do. I sat outside on my deck, clean and inviting from the wedding we had a few short weeks ago, and watched my neighbors prepare for their daughter’s wedding reception. Tents and lights and tables and chairs were going up, and all I needed to do was watch. The lack of responsibility felt freeing.

Peeking through the grandmother oak to the wedding prep next door.

Jeff quickly grabbed the paddles, life jackets, and a lunchbox of two beers, and launched the canoe. This canoe has a long history, close to 50 years. The Grumman. He and his brother bought it together when they were Boy Scouts competing in canoe races.

Jeff paddles the stern, the steering part.

The bayou was slow and still, offering endless reflections. The air was a perfect 70+ degrees. I know that happiness is fleeting, but on this day in October, we grabbed hold of it, and spent some time savoring and celebrating the goodness.

Cypress tree reflection

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The Three of Me

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Elizabeth Gilbert, Oprah Magazine on October 18, 2016| 12 Comments »

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The Oprah Magazine for November arrived. And in it, an article by one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth Gilbert. The tag line “How to be the real you? Teach your various sides to live harmoniously.” She identifies her three selves, Lizzy, Elizabeth, and Ms. Gilbert. I started thinking about my selves. Do I have three different people living inside of me?

There’s Margarita: fun-loving, outgoing dancer. She laughs and talks freely. She really doesn’t care what others think of her. She’s confident and carefree.

There’s Margaret: practical, hard-working, dedicated wife and mother. She will do anything that needs doing to help someone she loves. She feels less than if she is not doing her best.

There’s Mrs. Simon: serious, disciplined teacher. She respects her students and wants only the best for them. She doesn’t like slackers or disrespectful comments about anyone. She has high expectations and infallible values.

I know all three of these Margarets live inside of me. I love and nurture them all, but sometimes their goals conflict. Sometimes Margarita’s fun makes Mrs. Simon’s Mondays tired and tough, and leaves piles of dirty clothes for Margaret to wash. But I think I’ll keep her because she makes me happy.

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A New Genre of Literature

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged fantasy, genre, lucid dreams, Warrior Cats on October 11, 2016| 8 Comments »

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The air is turning cooler, and the leaves are changing color. Satsumas are ripening on our satsuma tree. They are so heavy the branches are dragging on the ground. And when I take Charlie out at six in the morning, it’s dark, very dark, and the sun doesn’t rise until we are almost home. All these signs should have made me realize that the first nine weeks of school is ending.

Each grading period, I ask my students to revisit all the books they have read and select one to present to their classmates. This is a fun activity for them. I also want to make it a learning activity, so we talk about elements to include: title, author, genre, tone, characters, setting, plot…

Madison was excited about her book trailer. Animoto was her choice and she carefully selected pictures, music, and background. When I looked at her finished product, I noticed that she had identified the genre of the Warrior Cat series as realistic fiction. This gave me pause. Maybe she just didn’t have a clear understanding of genres.

I started a private discussion with Madison that I’m afraid made her cry. I was confused about her tears. She just kept repeating, “It’s the point of view of the cats.”

I finally realized that to her the story was very real. By then a few other classmates had joined into the conversation. Jacob recalled that they had learned about lucid dreams. He said, “It’s like that lucid dream when you feel like you are really doing all those things.”

Ding! The Aha bell rang. I told Madison that it was OK that she feels like the story is real. The author writes as if everything is real, like a lucid dream.

The next thing I knew, Madison had created a new genre, the lucid book. At this point she excitedly went back to her video and changed the genre to lucid. I did not correct her this time. Some things are best left to the imagination of children.

To see Madison’s Animoto book trailer, click here.

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Mother of the Bride Advice

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged advice, mother-of-the-bride, wedding on October 4, 2016| 13 Comments »

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As many of you know, my middle daughter was married this weekend. This was one of the happiest days of my life. Today, I can barely see through my blurry eyes. I am recalling all the advice I received as a mother-of-the-bride. Most of it was unsolicited and tended to make me feel like a total failure. However, this weekend, my daughter told me something entirely different. A snippet of her note to me:

Without you, I wouldn’t be the woman I am. Without you, I wouldn’t know what a real, true, and loving marriage is…

I have compiled my own Top Ten list of advice:

When you don’t know what to say, say thanks.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. So much of it is small stuff.
Love much!
Pee when you can.
Family is who shows up.
Invite the talent of those in your circle.
Hydrate (see #4)
Everything around you is an expression of love.
Let people be nice to you.
Love much! (That one bears repeating)

The day after, left overs, flowers, and snapshots.

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Presence

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Digital photography, fall, wedding on September 27, 2016| 14 Comments »

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There is no better time for me to revisit my One Little Word than this week, the week my daughter Katherine is getting married. It’s here! We’ve worked for months to be ready for this day, cleaning, painting, planting… And here it is.

I want to be present for this event. I want to lose the list that has been running my life, and just BE!

My Enneagram Thought for the Day for Sunday was this: “How can you fully experience your Presence here and now? Allow yourself to be touched by impressions of life around you.”

Photography helps me experience Presence. I stop and pay attention.

A heron happened by.

Bayou Teche blue heron, photo by Margaret Simon

Light made shadows on the side of our house.

And fresh acorns match the color of Bill’s eyes.

A close friend advised me that when the wedding day comes, the details are done, and all that’s left is joy. I am ready to be Present for the Joy.

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I Spy a Septercet

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Jane Yolen, science poems, septercet on September 20, 2016| 12 Comments »

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If you follow my blog, you know I am a little obsessed with poetry. In the world of words, syllables, and sounds, I find puzzles in making them all fit together into something meaningful. Jane Yolen was recently featured on Michelle Barnes’ Today’s Little Ditty with a challenge to write septercets. This is a form Jane Yolen created with the pattern of seven syllables in three line stanzas.

I challenged my students to write septercets. And I played along.

I Spy

Looking for spinning spiders
hiding between limbs of trees
miraculous thread designs

Studying patterns of light
refraction reflecting bows
miraculous sky designs

Skipping stones from uncle’s pier
a ripple breaks the surface
miraculous water designs

–Margaret Simon

Can you write a septercet about the harvest moon above? Share in the comments and on Ditty of the Month padlet.

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DigiLitSunday: Learning from Each Other

Posted in Blogging, Digital Learning, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged Slice of Life, student blogging on September 18, 2016| 5 Comments »

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Lani watches a video about solar storms on Wonderopolis.

Yesterday I made the biggest mistake of my life. I went outside in a big, fat LIGHTNING STORM! I almost got struck by lightning too! (Kids, just don’t make my life choices.) It all started in Breaux Bridge…

I went to Dixie RV ”Super Store” to shop for a vacation RV. Out of the crystal blue sky fell a raindrop. It started drizzling. (I don’t know How it was possible, when all the clouds were pearly white.)

In a matter of SECONDS it started raining in like the flood was back. The ditches were filling up in 0.2 seconds. Then, the lightning started acting like stupid Angry Birds and I was the little Piggie with a phone as an egg. To make matters worse, Dixie RV has to be rich and have golf carts to ride around in the windy rain. While the rain was blowing in my face I noticed a tragedy. My phone was getting wet! I screamed in my mind so loud that I am sure everyone heard me.

I got out of the golf cart and a lighting strike was about 2 inches from meeting my face! I screamed to the gods and cried of scaredness. Hey! You would cry too! Guarantee!!! That experience has taught me a very important lesson: NEVER GO OUT IN A LIGHTNING STORM! BAD IDEA!!!!

Slice of Life by Lani (5th grade)

Every week my students write a Slice of Life on our class kidblog site, Mrs. Simon’s Sea. With digital tools such as grammarly, edit, copy, paste, etc., they can successfully post a small piece of their lives. Some of my students, like Lani, write these with ease. Lani sees the drama in everyday life.

I used the above slice as a mentor text this week. I wanted my students to notice how a small moment can be big. I wanted them to identify craft moves to emulate. So I asked them, “What do you notice?” We made a list.

All caps used to show emphasis.
exaggeration (hyperbole) that creates interest.
paragraph structure
ellipses…
parenthetical statement (adds voice)
imagery “crystal blue sky” and “pearly white clouds”
simile (metaphor)

Madison tried it out.

Two NIGHTS ago there was a LITERAL LIGHTNING STORM!!!! It all started on my way to Olive Garden…..

We were just on the highway out of my cousins trailer park and when I was looking out of the window and then there was huge flash of lightning and another and they scared me, but, atleast they stayed in the clouds!

After a few minutes, when I was looking out of the front window, there was a HUGE flash of lightning and I practically jumped out of my seat, and since the sky was so black that you couldn’t see the clouds, I was really scared!(It was scary since you couldn’t see where the lightning was going to come from.)

Slice of Life by Madison (3rd grade)

Drafting and revising a weekly slice gives my students practice in writing long about a small moment, a chance to try out craft moves, and a platform for their own voice. For me, when my students compose digitally, I am able to easily grab mentor texts for lessons. I can hold up my students as examples. I can shine a light on good writing.

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