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DigiLit Sunday: Curves

Posted in Digital Learning, Teaching, Writing, tagged #nwpianthology, curves, Kim Douillard, photo essay on May 8, 2016| 6 Comments »

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I follow Kim Douillard’s blog, Thinking Through my Lens, and she posts a weekly photo challenge. Yesterday the challenge word was Curves. She wrote, “When your week throws you curves…take photos of them!” And I thought, if your week throws you curves, write about it. So I am going to combine the two, DigiLit and Photo Challenge.

May is a stressful time for me as I’m sure it is for most teachers. As I thought about this month and the many stresses, I realized I needed a new perspective.

There is a large old oak in my front yard. I look at it every day. Yet this image shows a new perspective, looking between the branches.

If I turn my perspective to the curve between the branches, I can see a new design. The branch that was trimmed has new growth. Some curves may be tough to take, but later allow for new growth.

On a walk with my dog, we came upon this snail in the grass. Small and slow, the snail curved his slick body, stretching out as far as he could go, lugging along his shell. When we stopped to look, Charlie didn’t see it, so he stepped on it. The snail retreated back into his shell.

When I complain about May, my wise husband says, “May is followed by June.” So I can make it. I can stretch out and lug along because I am heading toward a safe harbor, a time of renewal, “the big weekend!”

The curves of a single rose fascinate me. These are my Mother’s Day flowers. They remind me that I am in this with others. I am not alone. I can turn to colleagues and friends. They will listen to my rants and my complaints and tell me that all will be well. And it will be.

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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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DigiLit Sunday: Function

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Teaching, tagged function, standardized testing on May 1, 2016| 6 Comments »

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Last week for DigiLit Sunday, I wrote about form. I was pretty deep into teaching and writing poetry, grappling with form or no form. Julianne suggested that we follow form with function this week. When I googled function, the images suggested one right answer. That answer leads to points on a graph. Points on a graph remind me of testing.

Testing is the necessary evil, in my book. I teach gifted kids, and for the most part, the reason they are in my class is they can take tests well. They’ve figured out the function, so to speak.

So my question is how do I further my students learning beyond what the standardized test is going to require? My students are outside-of-the-box thinkers. I have to find ways to keep them thinking this way while, at the same time, capable of going back into the box come test time.

There is much grumbling in my class about testing. I have had students enjoy this time because it is quiet, and they get to read for long stretches. But one student complained that her teacher-proctor punished her for recess because she finished the session in 20 minutes. I’m sure the logic was “There is no way you can get all the answers right in 20 minutes.” That very well may be true, but my thinking tells me this teacher did not know this child.

The function of a teacher is to know her students. If you were to ask me about any of my students, I could tell you their favorite books, what genre they prefer to write, and their favorite activity to do outside of school.

The only thing about my kids that I could plot on a graph would be their reading levels. Yet their reading levels say nothing about their interest levels. And interest is everything when it comes to reading.

I take my function seriously, but I will never function to produce a right answer or a point on a graph. I strive to make my classroom one of discovery and development, creativity and caring.

How do you interpret function as it pertains to literacy? Be sure to leave a link to your own blog post today.

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NPM16 #29: Words

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged #imagepoems, Mary Oliver, nature poem, Rumi, steal like an artist, word groups on April 29, 2016| 11 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up at Buffy’s Blog.

Where do you find words? I am always in search of the right words, whether I am writing a poem or a blog post or a Facebook message. The right words in the right order.

As I sat next to Vannisa while she revised a poem to enter into a 4-H poetry contest, she and I stared at the screen. She was looking for the last stanza, the inner thinking, that punch of an ending. Where were the words she need?

I pulled out a precious Mary Oliver book from the shelf, A Thousand Mornings. Vanissa swept her hand over the cover. She knows it feels soft, like silk. I read aloud the last lines of some of Mary Oliver’s poems. I was teaching Vannisa how to “steal like an artist.”

This is the list we made:

earth-praise
temple
my heart
angels singing

I can’t share her final draft because we’ve sent it in. Maybe she will win. But we both won when we sat together with the master Mary Oliver and celebrated the right words.

As I continue to write a poem a day (Just one more day, folks!), I decided to use these stolen words in a poem of my own.

Melody

The male cardinal
wakes us every morning
with his earth-praise–
monotone,
happy tone
morning music making.

I nudge the cat
to move off my foot
stretch out of bed
while you stay, softly snoring.

Coffee brews.
The day wakes.
My body is still tired.

But this cardinal
is determined in his glory-making.
He persists
until I turn and see
angels

singing along
in his tree-temple
making melody
of the morning.

–Margaret Simon

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NPM16: #19 The Trouble with Poetry

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged teaching poetry on April 19, 2016| 8 Comments »

During this monthlong survey of poetry, there is trouble.

So many decisions to make.

What should I teach today?
Line breaks,
literary elements,
limericks?

I want to say stop to
sing-song rhymes
and simple forms.

Then one turns to another and says,
“Let’s write a rap abecedarian.”

Like the messiness of art class,
the instructor must allow
for paint splatters and stains,
for stalled-out cinquains
and skip-to-my-loos.

Poetry is hard.
Poetry is easy.
There are rules in poetry.
There are no rules:
Let the poem find its way.
This is the trouble with poetry.
This is the joy of poetry.

–Margaret Simon

Follow the Progressive Poem to Charles Waters.

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DigiLit Sunday: Revision

Posted in Digital Learning, Teaching, Writing, tagged digital literacy, Ralph Fletcher, revision on April 17, 2016| 9 Comments »

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

In my world of teaching and writing, revision is a constant companion. I look at my teaching and revise. Rarely am I following the lesson plan I wrote. I revise based on the direction my students need to take. And last week revision was something we needed to talk about.

I believe that revision is a mature behavior. Revision is having the confidence in a piece of writing to take the risk of changing it. Without even realizing it, I write in constant revision. As I write this post, I backspace. I save and read. Go back. Rephrase.

My students do this, too, as they type their pieces into the blog. Many of them are resistant to the two steps of rough draft in their notebooks, then typing into a final draft. But as I watch them, I see that revision becomes organic to this process.

Sometimes, revision comes from talk. We read the piece together. Discuss what we like. And look at where the words can be stronger.

I sat down with Kaiden to revise his abecedarian about wonder posted here. For the most part, this was an excellent piece of writing. The repeated word, wonder, was intentional and served a purpose. Yet there were a few words that weren’t quite working. So we looked at a list of Shakespeare words. This elevated Kaiden’s poem. There we found kindle. What a great word for K and for wonder! Engaging in this work with him was fun for both of us.

Ralph Fletcher tweeted:

Let’s relax about revision. If a piece of writing is a stepping stone to another piece, let it be. Use revision strategies on those gems, the ones you want to embrace and hug a little longer.

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NPM16 #16 Celebrating Reverso Poetry

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Photography, Poetry, Teaching, tagged Marilyn Singer, Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Reverso poem, Today's Little Ditty on April 16, 2016| 13 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

Marilyn Singer is a master poet. At NCTE in the fall, I had the pleasure of meeting her. I was also a lucky participant who won a copy of Follow, Follow. Marilyn invented the reverso poem and has published 3 books of them, two based on fairy tales and her latest Echo, Echo based on mythology.

On Today’s Little Ditty, Michelle Heindenrich Barnes interviewed Marilyn Singer and offered a ditty challenge to use the word echo in relation to a poem. I was determined to try the reverso form.

With my students as cheerleaders, I worked hard and produced something worthy of being called a reverso poem. The process began when we watched this video together.

I asked my students to select an insect to be in a mask (or persona) poem. I selected this image to inspire my writing.

screenshot from the film Microcosmos by Jacque Perrin.

Then I did some caterpillar research. I wrote “zig zag stitch” and then discovered that caterpillars excrete a silk line as they crawl in addition to using the silk to create a chrysalis.

Creepy crawly caterpillar
munch munch
munching milkweed
at tremendous speed.

Life changes
slowly
creeping, crawling
leaf to leaf.

Sunlight glimmers
on fuzzy bristles.
I zig-zag stitch
a silkthread path
leaf to leaf.

Leaf to leaf
a silkthread path
I zig-zag stitch
on fuzzy bristles.

Sunlight glimmers
leaf to leaf.
Creeping crawling
slowly.

Life changes
at tremendous speed.
Munching milkweed
Munch, munch
creepy, crawly caterpillar.

This is a tough form to get just right. I don’t think mine successfully creates a different meaning in reverse. But my students liked it, so I am celebrating it none the less.

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NPM16 #15 Poetry Friday

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged abecedarian, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater on April 15, 2016| 12 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up with Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty

This month as I go through poetry every day with my students, inevitably favorite forms emerge. From her blog, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater introduced my students (and me) to the abecedarian form. One by one my students are trying this out. I have said it’s a very challenging form. Some rise to a challenge.

Kaiden has risen to this challenge not only using the form, but also repeating the word wonder. When he got stuck on a letter, he searched a list of Shakespeare words.

All the time wondering
Batty in the night for wonder
Can’t get any sleep from wondering
Dying to quench my thirst for wonder
Enclosing myself in books of wonder
Fascinated by wonder
Going insane from wonder
How did it become this way
I have no idea
Judged because of my wild hair from wondering too much
Kindling the fire of wonder
Loving every drop of wonder
Mourning without wonder
Not having any time for doing work because of wonder
Oblivious of all my dirty and messy ways
Prowling the library for wonder
Quivering without wonder
Rest is impossible with all this wonder
Sleep I can’t
Tearing up books
Unfortunately, I am addicted to wonder
Vigorously turning pages
Withering with out wonder
Xhaling because my wonder is filled
Zzz’s I can finally catch

–Kaiden, 5th grade

Earlier in the week we danced with paintbrushes, making watercolor abstract paintings while listening to music. One selection led some of us artist/poets to think of water (rain). It’s been raining every morning for the last few days. I wrote a more playful poem while my 5th grader, Tobie, is thinking deeply and writing serious poems.

Tobie’s painting of water

As I sit intently
listening to the music that played
I thought of how there were many others
much more
than you could even imagine

Before you think
of planets in space
imagine drops of water in a sea
grains of sand on a beach
every blade of grass in a lawn
every second before dawn

–Tobie, 5th grade

Rainy Day

Rainy Day by Margaret Simon

Popping in puddles
painting balloons.
Sprinkles bubble.
Wet air
Wet hair.
I don’t care.
Let’s play anyway.

–Margaret Simon

Follow the Progressive Poem to Matt Forrest’s Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

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NPM16 #12 Dancing with a Paintbrush

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged #imagepoems, music poems, NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month, Poem a Day on April 12, 2016| 6 Comments »

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

We brought out the paintbrushes and watercolor paints. Each table had a stack of white paper. I turned on the music. Painting flowed in time with the beat.

This is dancing with a paintbrush. When the music stops, we title the piece of art and list three words that come to mind. This continues for three rounds. The songs are all instrumental, one sounds oriental, another symphonic, and another Irish.

Following this painting activity, we write.

Freedom of expression, playing with words, making associations with music and poetry, the resulting poems went in all kinds of directions. (My students share their poems on Kidblog.)

In reading Tara Smith’s book review of Writing with Mentors, I pulled out this piece of advice: “Mentors Show Students How to Play: In order to grow as writers, students need safe places to play with writing – places that aren’t assessed or evaluated or given a grade. They need places where their work can be messy, where thinking outside the box and being wild with ideas is encouraged.”

When I was struggling to write a poem with my painting, I turned to a favorite author, Mary Oliver. From A Thousand Mornings, “Poem of the One World” begins “This morning/ the beautiful white heron/ was floating along above the water.”

Writing beside this master poet helped me to follow the rhythm that my own words wanted to take.

This longing
the beautiful white egret
wanders from known to unknown waters

And then
onto the shore of this
one stream we all swim in

where everyone
is part of the blue vein
where we can throw a stone in

which thought made me feel
for a small moment
welcomed home.

–Margaret Simon, after Mary Oliver

The abstract painting that led to my poem.

Follow the Progressive Poem to Today’s Little Ditty

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NPM 16 #6 Go inside a Stone

Posted in Poetry, Teaching, tagged Charles Simic, stone on April 6, 2016| 6 Comments »

Day 5 is with Carol at Beyond Literacy Link

Charles Simic in his poem “Stone” invites us to “go inside a stone.” So I invited my students to explore rocks. I found a collection in the closet. Some child of mine collected them. I thought I remembered them being there.

I tried to write with my kids. I listed 5 steps for finding a poem: 1. describe it, 2. analyze it, 3. compare it, 4. associate it, 5. apply it. Source for this activity is found here in the River of Words teacher’s guide.

But I was stuck. Oh, I wrote some lines like these:

The stepping stone
for my foot
grips and holds
me in wonder.

Another try:

On this smooth stone,
time stands still.

Some days I can start and stop like this all day, but eventually something emerges. Today, nothing. I was taking myself way too seriously.

Until Jacob said, “Inside a rock is a rock and a rock and another rock, a never ending chain of rocks.”

I wrote his words down in my notebook. Took them straight out of the air and a poem started rolling out right there.

Jacob wasn’t as successful. He was disappointed. No, not disappointed exactly. He was mad. I took his words and made a poem with them. This is my disclaimer. With complete credit of the original lines to Jacob.

Jacob’s Rock

Inside a rock
is a rock
and a rock
and another rock.

A never ending chain of rocks.

Inside a shell
is a shell
and another shell
and a crab,
a crab?

A creepy, crawling crab in a never ending shell.

Inside my heart
is a beat
and a beat
and another beat

Beating hard as a rock for you.

–Margaret Simon (with help from Jacob.)