Slice of Life | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Slice of Life’ Category

Bayou Visitors

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged alligator, Bayou Teche, Korean visitors, waltz on October 21, 2014| 7 Comments »

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Our Korean guests brought us delicious nut bars as a thank you gift.

This weekend was a glorious weekend on the bayou! My neighbors had a wedding. Their son and his bride met in Korea where they were both teaching English. They came home in early September, but my friend has been preparing for this event for a year or more. Our backyards meet at a line of live oaks and is a beautiful setting for a wedding, especially on a clear day in October.

We were asked to house the photographer and his son, both of Korean descent. Soomin, Saeho’s son, visited my first class on Friday. We had a delightful time learning about Korea. Soomin is ten (11 in Korea), so he fit in well with my group of 5th and 6th graders. I was amazed at his knowledge of English. I put a chart on the board and wrote Hello on one side. Soomin drew beautiful Korean characters on the other side. But how does one read that word? We eventually resorted to Google translator. There is a speaker who helped us hear the pronunciation. I gave up after the second word we tried, “Thank you.” And here was Soomin who could read, write, and speak both languages. Amazing!

A view from our yard to the wedding.

Saeho and Soomin spent the weekend with us. On Sunday, my husband took them out on the bayou in a canoe. They even saw a real alligator sunning on a log. We never see alligators. What a treat for our visitors! (I secretly hope the gator works his way farther down the bayou.)

I am enjoying making videos in Imovie. I took two videos, one of a scan of the bayou, and one of the boys in the canoe. If you look hard, you can see Soomin waving. The alligator did not make it into the video. The music is a honeymoon waltz performed by David Greely. Relax and enjoy a few seconds on the Bayou Teche. I wish I could send you the sweet smelling air, too. (It’s sugarcane harvest time.)

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Gumbo, Family, and Fun!

Posted in Gratitude, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged BeauSoliel, Festival Acadiens, Geno Delafose, Michael Doucet, World Championship Gumbo Festival and Cookoff on October 14, 2014| 10 Comments »

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A selfie with my friend Sarah as we eat beignets at Festival Acadiens.

This was a weekend to embrace the culture of South Louisiana, along with the crazy heat. I’m not sure if we set records, but the temperatures were blazing while my husband and I introduced friends from Houston to the music and food of our home town. Two festivals complete with Cajun and Zydeco music, gumbo, beignets, and shrimp po-boys. We danced (and ate) all weekend. Our favorite bands are BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet and Geno Delafose and the French Rockin Boogie. Family was part of the fun, two daughters, a sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and a niece.

I have been going to these festivals for years, but dancing has only been part of them for the last three and a half. Dancing makes all the difference. I feel like I am part of the music, not just a by-stander listener. I am sore and tired, but the kind of sore and tired when you have done something vigorous, life-giving, like hiking or completing a marathon. The music is still playing in my mind.

Maggie, Katherine, and niece Claire pose at the Gumbo Cookoff.

I made a video about dancing this weekend. My husband is the handsome dancer. Be warned: there is one clip where the music comes on suddenly loud.

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Writing is Hard

Posted in Gifted Education, Slice of Life on October 7, 2014| 13 Comments »

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As students become writers, they learn that it can be hard work. In my classes, we have been discussing what makes a good blog post. What are the qualities of good writing? During one of these discussions, Matthew was playing with paperclips, making a paperclip chain. He then started talking about how the chain related to staying on topic in a Slice of Life story. I stopped him and said, “Could I video you saying that?” Here he is:

Kylon has been posting chapters each week of his story, “Something in the Mist.” He posted it over the summer, but since few students were reading, I encouraged him to post once school started. He told me that when he posts new chapters, he revises. He also told me that he printed the whole story out and found that it needed a lot of editing. My response was a laugh because, if you write at all, you know this. I did not prompt Kylon to write about writing, but I am so glad he did. His advice is wise and comes from hard work.

Let me start by saying, “It was pretty hard to write Something in the Mist.” I started writing in March, and finished on one of the last days of school. One of the hardest things about writing it was writing the dates and times. I had to go to the last chapter, calculate about how much time since the beginning of the last chapter, and put it down at the beginning of the new chapter. I also have to think about what would be going on at that time. I wouldn’t be eating lunch at 3:45 PM. I wouldn’t be at home at noon on a weekday. I tried to make the setting as realistic as possible. (SPOILER: When the settings are constantly changing towards the end of the story, it’s really hard to write.)

Another hard thing about writing: making sense. Your character can’t be getting out of bed, and 20 seconds later, he’s running from the police with a weapon and a thousand dollars in his pocket. I know it’s a bit of exaggeration, but it’s true. When I started recording the explosions earlier in the story, my iPod had to be in the car, still recording, after the action.

Next, you don’t want your reader to be falling asleep. You need to keep the action, but not too much action. Example: don’t blow up a building, get hit by a car, run from the police, and steal a car in one chapter. That’s TOO much action.

Also, add extra detail. Don’t say, ‘The car blew up and I covered my head.’ Instead, say, ‘I dived for cover just as the car erupted into a violent fireball. Glass and metal rained down, and I put my hands over my head.’ That’s cool.

One more thing: Writing a long story. Something in the Mist has 6,713 words. That’s a long story!

–Kylon (aka Twinfish)
To read Something in the Mist, click here.

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September Chalkabration

Posted in Chalk-a-bration, Digital Learning, Slice of Life, tagged chalkabration, Laura Purdie Salas, Sugarcane on September 30, 2014| 5 Comments »

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Join the Chalk-a-bration at Betsy Hubbard’s site Teaching Young Writers.

I have been using Laura Purdie Salas’s blog site in my classroom. Last week we joined in her weekly photo challenge “15 Words or Less.” She posts a new photo each Thursday and invites poets to quick-write a poem.

Yesterday, I used Laura’s new series, What’s Inside, to inspire short poems for Chalkabration. I even tried my own What’s Inside poem. I am not usually a rhyme writer. It’s hard. I wanted to rhyme like Laura, so with the help of RhymeZone, I found the word quill to rhyme with still. That made me think more deeply about the way sugarcane looks. Could it be a quill? Yes, in my imagination. Don’t you love it when words work out like that? It was a high-five moment. (Teachers need them, too.)

Following the lead of Betsy Hubbard and Stacey Shubitz, two of the six teachers who write for Two Writing Teachers, I used Emaze to show off some of our poems. I am encouraging my students to try this new format for their upcoming book talks, so I wanted to experiment myself. Click on the link below to watch our chalkabration celebration.

http://app.emaze.com/825079/september-chalkabration?autoplay

What’s inside sugarcane?

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International Dot Day

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged Creativity, International Dot Day, Peter Reynolds, The Dot Day Song on September 16, 2014| 12 Comments »

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Oh, how my students love Dot Day! Do you celebrate? Peter Reynolds is the brilliant creator of this amazing, phenomenal day. This year 1.7 million have registered to participate. That’s a lot of dots!

I wore my Dot Day skirt. We read The Dot (again) and watched The Dot video. This year a new song was released by Emily Dale. What a catchy tune! We sang along and kept singing as we made our dots. There is nothing more fun than painting on a Monday. My students experimented with mixing colors. They tried out new designs. Not one of them said they didn’t know what to draw. I love that about Dot Day. Vashti shows us that even a jab of a pencil is worthy.

You can still celebrate Dot Day. The official day is Sept. 15th but Peter tells us that it is Sept. 15th-ish. I say any day could be Dot Day. Make your mark. Make it matter.

Many resources are available on FableVision.

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Observation

Posted in Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged Natasha Trethewey, poetry analysis, teacher evaluation, TPCASTT on September 9, 2014| 9 Comments »

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I think I may be crazy, but I’ve decided to try a new strategy for my formal observation. This is the observation that is announced. My principal and I met for our pre-observation interview on Friday. I told her that I had never taught this skill before. She said, “Oh, we usually advise that you don’t do that, but I’m sure you can handle it.” What was I thinking?

In pre-AP training this summer, I learned about a strategy for poetry analysis called TP-CASTT. Then when I was perusing the Guidebooks for the state curriculum, I found it was used for advanced fourth grade. I have gifted 5th and 6th graders, so this should be right on target for them. We are going to analyze Natasha Trethewey’s poem, Providence. I can relate to this poem because I was a child living in Jackson, Ms in 1969 when Hurricane Camille struck the Gulf Coast. I think adding in my personal experience as well as my passion for Natasha Trethewey’s poem will come through in this lesson.

I also searched online and found a great graphic organizer on Read, Write, Think. I plan to use this organizer to help us collect our thoughts. I have the poem ready on ActiveInspire to project on the Promethean, barring no computer tech problems.

So, what am I worried about? I got this, right?

I will probably lose some sleep worrying about my evaluation. I will give my students a little lecture about behavior before my principal comes in; however, lively conversation with student interaction is actually a good thing on the rubric. I can be sure my students will be engaged.

So cross your fingers and say a little prayer because I am probably in the midst of this lesson as you read this post. I am preaching to myself, “Evaluation is a good thing. You are a good teacher. Be calm and teach on!”

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Happy Birthday, Charlie!

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged dog party, schnoodle on September 2, 2014| 9 Comments »

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Charlie, a schnoodle, loves his birthday hat. It lasted long enough for a photo after 3 tries.

Charlie turned seven on Monday. In all his seven years, I had never tuned in his birthday. After seeing a friend’s post about her dog’s birthday, I decided we should celebrate. I don’t know how Charlie knew that this trip to the dog park was special. He makes a high pitched yelping sound when he is excited. He started to do this before I even turned into the park. He knew he was going to see his best friends.

Charlie is a black schnoodle, half schnauzer, half poodle. We chose him from the litter because whenever you would pick him up, he would immediately calm down and relax in your arms. He still loves to be held. My husband and I have three daughters, but we had chosen Charles as a possible boy name. It was a natural choice for our empty nest dog, and it fits his personality perfectly.

Charlie loves to play with other dogs. His favorite friend is Petey, my mother-in-law’s dog. He and Petey walk together often. Charlie knows Petey’s name and will respond to it whenever we say it. “Petey’s here!” gets an excited yelpy run to the backdoor. Petey’s mother was hesitant to bring him to the party. She says he is ~~wimpy~~ not social. The dog park birthday party was a success for Petey. At one point he even wandered off with the other dogs.

Some of Charlie’s other guests were dogs from the neighborhood that he has walked with. Mollie and Trixie soon learned that I had Berry Shortbread Cookies. They would sit and smile up at me. They were under my spell which made it easy to take cute pictures of them. Mollie even danced for her cookie.

Charlie and his friend, Mollie.

Breesy, the cocker spaniel, and Lucy, a white standard poodle, also came to the party. I am not sure who had more fun, the dogs or the people, but we all decided one thing, “We should have more birthday parties at the dog park!”

After the party and a bath, Charlie curled up for a nice long nap.

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Hair in My Eyes

Posted in Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged hair style, model for students, Slice of Life on August 26, 2014| 6 Comments »

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Now that school is in full swing, I am writing my Slice of Life story with the purpose of modeling for my students. We talked about what a Slice of Life story is by analyzing my post last week about the snake. The board was full of things they noticed, such as having a climax and resolution (Whoa, high five!) A few of you wrote great comments that I could use to teach about making connections in your comments.

Yesterday I read a comment on my Poetry Friday post from Bridget Magee, “Margaret, this poem and the animation are both amazing! I love the lines:’an ornament hanging on a tree,
a bronze clasp pen for my lapel.’ It reminds me of when my oldest daughter was about 5 or 6 (she’s 17 now) and she used to love to walk the neighborhood collecting cicada exoskeletons until one day she pulled one of the tree and the fella was still in there! SHE just about jumped out of her own skin!” This comment models specific feedback and also making a personal connection. I explained to my students that writers like to know people are connecting to what they write. Thank you all for helping me teach valuable lessons about writing and blogging.

You can read some of my students’ SOL stories on our kidblog site. Feel free to leave comments.

This week’s Slice of Life:

My hair has become a problem. This summer (I can’t even remember exactly why) I grew out my bangs. For years I have had short bangs. As they grew out some, I was drying them off to the side, and my husband said to me, “I like your hair. It makes you look younger.” Exactly what any woman loves to hear, right?

On my next scheduled haircut, I told my stylist, “Jeff likes it, so we need to keep growing it out.”

Then the next visit (I schedule my haircuts six weeks apart), I had had enough of the headbands, so I told her to cut it. Keep the bangs long. In fact, I texted a friend to send a picture of her hair, cut in a cute short pixie style. “That’s what I want.”

“Your hair is not going to be straight unless you use a straight iron,” said Gale. Other than using a blow dryer, I do not own or use any other tools on my hair. Gale cut and styled it with the straight iron, knowing full well I would not do this.

My husband goes to the same hair salon. He walked in the next week and announced that he loved my hair. That was a first for Gale, so she was thrilled.

This weekend my husband and I went out dancing which is one of our favorite things to do together. In August the heat is such that no AC can keep up with it, much less when there are warm bodies dancing. The dance hall had placed huge fans around the dance floor. Every time we danced past one of these fans, Woosh! my hair blew across my face. My husband could tell I was getting really annoyed by this.

When we were riding home, he said, “I like your hair even when it’s flying in your face.” I guess I’m stuck with these annoying bangs for a little while longer.

Selfies: old hair style on the left, new on the right.

For this Slice, I am modeling how you can write a story about anything. Some of my students have a hard time thinking of something to write about. Using my own writing to model, I can share stories of my life and teach them that anything, even your hair style, can become a Slice of Life story.

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Farm Fresh Eggs

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged chickens, farm living, Slice of Life on August 19, 2014| 7 Comments »

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I’ve always thought a little romantically about having chickens in my yard. They are so cute, pecking around. My neighbors had a few, so I went by one day and got the tour. I even interviewed them for research on the sequel to Blessen. (She has a pet chicken in both books.) And what is better than farm fresh eggs?

When my daughter was house sitting last week, I went by for a visit. I posted about the horse on Saturday, celebrating his affection. The owners left a long list of chores. They included feeding the dogs, the cats, the ducks, the horses, the bird, and the chickens. The chickens were to be fed at 9:30 PM. I believe this was a tactic for getting them into the coop for the night.

After dinner before I left, Maggie wanted to show me this chicken feeding routine, so we fed them a little early. She showed me the back hatch for collecting the eggs. When she opened the hatch, we were excited to see about 7 eggs. I would be taking some home for breakfast. I reached in to pick up two eggs. As I moved my hand out, I looked to the right and noticed a long black rope. Only, the rope moved.

I have a pathological fear of snakes. I cannot even touch a page in a book with a snake on it. This fear has no basis in logic. When Maggie was 3 years old, my mother and I took her to the zoo. I refused to go into the snake house. Maggie went along with my mother. When they returned, Maggie announced, “Mom, it’s OK. They’re all in cages!”

This moving black rope was in a chicken coop. The very one I had just stuck my hands into. I am proud that I did not drop the eggs or scream and run. I just walked away briskly saying, “That was a snake!” I have decided that I will leave the raising of chickens to friends and neighbors.

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Green Smoothie

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged green smoothie, healthy eating on August 12, 2014| 9 Comments »

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When I was visiting in Seattle, my sister-in-law would make a green smoothie every morning for herself and her daughter. I got a taste. I decided to give them a try at home. I’ve tried different combinations of fruit and vegetables, but the formula I made today came out especially good. I do believe I feel more energetic, so I may put this into my afternoon routine. When I get home from school (especially the first two weeks), I am exhausted. The green smoothie may be just the thing to give me a boost for the rest of the day. Also, it’s really good for you.

Today’s recipe: half a banana, half an avocado, a handful of baby spinach, half a cup of almond milk, one Greek 100 calorie yogurt with fruit, and a toss of almonds. Yummy!

I’ve discovered that the basic recipe is 1 cup of fruit, 2 cups of leafy vegetable, 1 cup of liquid, and a tablespoon of nuts. All this in the blender that’s been dormant under the counter set on “liquid” for a few seconds, and there you have it. Cheers!