Teaching | Reflections on the Teche

Archive for the ‘Teaching’ Category

Reaching for Creativity

Posted in Digital Learning, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged 21st Century Learning, acrostic poetry, Canva, One Little Word on January 6, 2015| 16 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Poetry forms the quality of light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change.
–Audre Lord

PHOSPHORESCENCE. Now there’s a word to lift your hat to… to find that phosphorescence, that light within, that’s the genius behind poetry.
― Emily Dickinson

My poetry light to my OLW:

Rise to the novelty
Eager for the rising
Arms stretched overhead
Calling for strength
Happy to hold the sunlight.

–Margaret Simon

If you missed DigiLit Sunday, I posted an Emaze presentation you can use with your students to make their own One Little Word resolutions. I presented this on Monday, and my students began working on their word webs and Canva designs. I wanted to share a few with you today.

Julie Johnson wrote about the importance of design. She wrote, “I think some would ask if it’s important to teach our students these skills when they are crafting digital compositions? I believe it is. Our students are composing and consuming texts very differently in today’s world. I believe it’s my responsibility as a teacher of writers to help my students be able to produce thoughtful quality products.” Full post here.

Thinking about Julie’s post, I talked to my students about design. “How can you use design of the image, the color, and the font to communicate what your word means to you?” In Kielan’s image above, she was very thoughtful about her design. She chose the word Merry. Many of the other students were thinking about “Merry Christmas,” so instead of changing her word, she used an image to describe what she meant by the word. She wants us to feel the calm, peaceful beauty of the word Merry.

I like the way Emily used synonyms for her word, Unique, to express her word.
Reed used a white board to share his word web around his word Light. I love how the design of the word web looks like a light.

When I was working with a first grader, I showed him how to use Thesaurus.com to make his word web. After we did this together, I realized how much this would help all of my students. So for my afternoon group, I suggested they try it. Put your word into the thesaurus and click. Find another word you like, click it, and so on, until a word web is built around a central word. This led some students to new words they could either select as their OLW or use in a poem. I look forward to seeing more student words. This activity not only gives students an opportunity to set goals and reflect on themselves, it also uses 21st Century Skills, the C’s of Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Communication. Feel free to use the Emaze to work with your own students on OLW.

http://app.emaze.com/@AOFLCWZL/one-little-word

To make your own images with Canva, click here.

Read Full Post »

Finding your One Little Word

Posted in Blogging, Digital Learning, Teaching, tagged acrostic poetry, Emaze, OLW, One Little Word, tagxedo on January 4, 2015| 13 Comments »

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

The Cyberspace Teacher Blogging space is full of Little Words. This is a wonderful tradition that I have been doing for three years. I want to pass this one to my students. I found Tara Smith’s OLW lesson for her 6th graders and put it on an Emaze to use with my students this week. I also used Mary Lee Hahn’s acrostic poem as a model for my students.

http://app.emaze.com/@AOFLCWZL/one-little-word

I plan to use this lesson on Monday and have the students Slice about their words on Tuesday at our blog site. You are welcome to use this presentation as well with your own students. Let me know if you do.

I made a Tagxedo with my word using all the synonyms that came up for me. I chose the tree as a symbol because the oak tree was my inspiration for my word.

I encourage you to try these activities with your students. Please join in the DigiLit round up with your link.

Read Full Post »

Be Amazed

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, Teaching, tagged A Maze Me, acrostic, Eye of the Storm, Kate Messner, Naomi Shihab Nye on December 19, 2014| 9 Comments »

Find more Poetry Friday at Buffy’s Blog.

My students have been working on book talks this week. Some of them wrote poems about their books. Tyler reviewed Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner. He wrote the following poem as an acrostic with the word storm. One student’s response, “I like how you included the theme in your poem.”

Saving lives from disaster
Taking risks
Only to see a surprising face
Revenge is never the answer
More and more problems appearing

–Tyler

Kielan reviewed Naomi Shihab Nye’s poetry book A Maze Me. Kielan said she selected the background and theme of her Animoto because it reflected the dreamy tone of the poem “Necklace.” This is the kind of poem that stays with you. “Can Monday be a porch?”

Read Full Post »

Terza Rima after Robert Frost

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged collaborative poem, Robert Frost on December 12, 2014| 11 Comments »

Find more Poetry Friday with Paul at These 4 Corners

Silence in the Snow by John Gibson

We don’t get snow here, but the colder weather made me think of presenting Robert Frost to my students. I started with the beautiful Susan Jeffers illustrated book, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Then we read together Frost’s poem Acquainted with the Night and talked about rhyme scheme. A terza rima is a difficult form to write even for gifted kids, so we worked together. We started with a line from my own poem, Snow Day from Illuminate. My first group of students incorporated a repetitive pattern that I reminded them is called anaphora.

Collaborating, stealing lines, playing with rhyme, and writing from an image worked together to result in a nice poem.

Lost in the Snow
a terza rima after Robert Frost

I wake to a field of white
where a bunny rabbit hides,
where a night owl takes flight,

where Santa’s sleigh slides
where I stand on the ground
where a snowflake above me glides,

where something is lost, not found,
where sight begins to fail,
where a whisper is the softest sound,

where dreams set sail
and miles to go before I sleep
I am strong, not frail.

Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right.
I wake to a field of white.

–A collaborative poem by Mrs. Simon’s class

Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost

My second group of students was larger, so the collaboration became more cumbersome. Too many different ideas don’t mix well with strong wills and sensitive writers. I don’t think the poem is as strong, either; however, I am struck by the sense of loss and sadness and overcoming that permeates each one. The images of snow covering the page and the words of Robert Frost set a tone for both of these poems.

Winter

Snow fell silently through the night.
These streets I have walked across
into the darkness, out of sight.

The sun I have lost,
Frosting over the glass in this faded frame,
The windows are covered in frost.

Each pattern has its own fame.
Sun rises, suddenly the cold vanished.
Once it is gone, it will never be the same.

Stars above shining bright.
Snow fell silently through the night.

a collaborative poem by Mrs. Simon’s class

Read Full Post »

The Nonreader

Posted in Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged reading, reluctant readers on December 9, 2014| 30 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

I’m sure there must be one in every classroom, right? The nonreader. The one who pretends he has it all together. The one who keeps the same book for weeks traveling to and from home.

I am having a hard time writing about this. I’ve already gotten up twice to make tea, to eat a cookie. My heart wants to talk to you, but my head is not sure how.

I made a student cry last week. I don’t like to make students cry. This one came about unexpectedly. I asked Mitch (name changed), a 6th grader, about his reader response post. He explained that his post about “The Elf on the Shelf” was his reader response. I thought it was his Slice of Life story. I said, “We need to talk about your book selections.” His face turned red. His eyes welled up. We moved out to the hallway.

I want to honor free choice. A few weeks ago, I allowed him to read “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” But even then I said, “OK, but next time you need to pick a book on your level.”

“I’m just not much of a reader,” Mitch told me, “I’d rather play outside.” We talked about ways he could work reading into his nighttime routine. When we returned to the classroom, my other students rallied around him with book choices.

Most of my gifted students are avid readers. I gave up the nightly log last year when it became burdensome for both me and my students. Every day we have discussions around books we are reading. This student, however, has not caught the wild reader fever. Quite the opposite. He is a closet nonreader. Now we all know, and he felt the chastisement. I’m not sure if things will change very quickly. Mitch has to find the right book. He will flourish only when he is understood and accepted. So how do I make him excited about reading, honor his choices, and advance his reading skills? Please give me your advice in the comments.

Read Full Post »

NCTE14 Revisited

Posted in Blogging, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged Animoto, children authors, NCTE, Two Writing Teachers on November 25, 2014| 17 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Georgia Heard and Ralph Fletcher congratulate me!

I am having a hard time coming down from the high of NCTE14 in Washington, DC. To begin the weekend, I was honored at the Elementary Get Together for the Donald H. Graves Award for teaching writing. My acceptance speech is here. I was surrounded by notable writers Lester Laminack, Ralph Fletcher, and Georgia Heard. All three of them were kind and easy to talk to.

Selfie with Lester Laminack and Ralph Fletcher.

On Friday, I presented with my colleagues from the National Writing Project Professional Writing Retreat (2004). This was our 10 year reunion, and we talked about what keeps us writing. We created an acronym, STAMP, for Social Media, Time, Audience, Mentors, and Peers. Here is a link to our Emaze presentation.

Another highlight of my weekend was meeting so many authors. I passed Augusta Scattergood standing alone in the lobby, so I stopped and talked to her. She used to attend these events as a librarian and now she is an author. Her second book, The Way to Stay in Destiny, was available as a galley copy. I stood in line and was the last one to receive one. The guards at Scholastic did not want me to get it signed, but when we started waving to each other like silly school girls, they let me through.

Augusta Scattergood

Meeting fellow bloggers as long lost friends was a joy. We connected immediately and sought each other out at different sessions. We had dinner together with the Two Writing Teachers team on Saturday night and had a difficult time saying good night. We all wanted to continue the time together. Being in the company of kind, thoughtful teachers who think like I think and struggle like I struggle and love their students like I love mine was inspiring and heart warming. I feel like we have begun a long friendship as well as a strong professional connection.

Professional Book Exchange organized by Chris Lehman.

I made an Animoto video of all my pictures. I took along Jack, the lemur, for some of them. Jack is our class pet that Emily snuck into my school cart. He enjoyed NCTE as much as I did.

Read Full Post »

Donald Graves Award Gratitude

Posted in Gratitude, Teaching, Writing, tagged Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Donald Graves Award, gratitude, National Harbor, NCTE, Two Writing Teachers on November 20, 2014| 19 Comments »

Click here to read more #spiritualjourney posts. Thanks Holly for hosting this roundup!

Every week Holly posts a theme on Twitter for our #spiritualjourney posts. Every week it seems to be the most appropriate theme. This week is gratitude. I am posting my acceptance speech for the Donald H. Graves Award. I will give this speech this afternoon at the NCTE Elementary Section Get Together. Reading it aloud makes me cry. I am praying I will be able to get through it without croaking up.

Emily snuck our class lemur, Jack, into my bag. He is helping me write my speech.

Thank you, Detra Price-Dennis, and the Elementary Section Steering Committee for this honor. I am overwhelmed and humbled. Writing drives my work with students and my interactions with the world.

Kate DiCamillo, our National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and one of my favorite children’s authors, says that stories connect us. “When we learn someone else’s story, it shifts the fabric of our being. We are more open. And when we are open, we connect.”

My One Little Word for 2014 is Open, so when I saw the call for submissions to the Donald H. Graves Award, I thought, never in a million years, and why not?

I was encouraged when I saw that Julie Johnson was the 2010 winner. I know her! I read her blog! That is how I have connected to so many wonderful authors and educators. These connections, their stories, have given me courage to be open to new adventures. My fellow blogging teachers have also given me confidence in my own voice through their comments. My small world has grown.

These wider connections have not only enriched my life, but they have affected my students’ lives. Earlier this fall, my 4th grader Emily lost her mother. This should not happen to anyone, let alone to a nine-year-old girl. Of course, I wrote about this profound experience on my blog. Amy Ludwig Vanderwater read it and wrote a poem for Emily. She didn’t say that the poem was for Emily but I knew that she had read my blog.

Amy became that someone for Emily. When Emily wrote a poem about clouds, she made an Animoto video, so I said to her, “Would you like to dedicate this poem to someone?” Her eyes lowered. I know she thought I meant her mother. But when I said, “Amy Vanderwater,” her eyes danced. We tweeted the poem-movie to Amy. For Poetry Friday the next week, Amy posted it on her blog along with some writing tips from my 4th grader. These connections, these stories, strengthen us when we need it most. Emily feels like a real poet. She will always have that gift, and Amy recognized her and honored her.

I began this journey when I attended the summer institute of the National Writing Project of Acadiana. There, Ann Dobie, director at the time and an important mentor ever since, introduced me to the work of Donald Graves. His philosophy that a teacher of writing must be a writer has entered my heart and soul.

I am grateful to the National Writing Project for supporting my desire to be a writer. I am grateful to the works of mentors like Ralph Fletcher and Aimee Buckner. I am grateful to the Two Writing Teachers, all 6 of them, who support the Slice of Life challenge and hold each teacher/writer in their gentle and wise hands. My family and my colleagues back home in New Iberia give me love, confidence, and the freedom to write and teach in way I believe is right and true.

Our stories connect us and make us partners on this journey of life. I encourage you to be Open, open to the lives of your students and to the lives of others. Write your life and, as Amy Vanderwater reminds us, Be the someone.

My view of the National Harbor from my hotel room at NCTE. What a beautiful day!

Read Full Post »

When it comes to technology, balance.

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Teaching, tagged Cambodia, digital literacy, Nanci Atwell, Travel, Vietnam on November 16, 2014| 4 Comments »

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Last week there were posts in response to a well-known and respected educator, Nanci Atwell, about the question of using technology in the lower grades. I have long admired Nanci Atwell as the author of In the Middle. Her theories and ideas have guided my teaching for many years. The comment that garnered so much attention was this:

I do think classrooms in grades four or five and up should have computers, so kids can experience and experiment with word processing, but I have concerns about them in the younger grades. In fact, I think the trend of iPads in the primary classroom is a mistake. –Nancie Atwell

I understand her thinking. When children are young, their brains are still growing and developing. I tell my students often that video games are OK in moderation, but hours can harm their brains. I offer them choices in the classroom for writing and composing. Personally, I do not want to take time from actual writing to teach handwriting, so I would rather their final drafts be typed. I think this is real world application. My students have balance. The right balance is important in many aspects of life, eating, exercise, and technology use.

Cutting a papaya, fruit from Vietnam.

This week, my mother-in-law visited my classes to teach about Vietnam. She recently went on a trip there and brought back many pictures and ideas for teaching my young students. She was worried about what they would and would not understand. I put together an Emaze presentation with some of her pictures. She did not think it included enough. I told her the Emaze was background to her presence. The kids would pay more attention to her. And I was right about that! She brought in fruits and vegetables from the Asian market. She bought them all bamboo hats. They each had a taste of peanut candy. And they touched an actual silk worm cocoon. There is nothing better than the real thing.

Technology, however, allowed some of my students to process her visit even further as they wrote a Slice of Life story. You can read Tyler’s, Vannisa’s , and Kielan’s. As she wrote, I watched Kielan refer back to the Emaze presentation. It helped her remember everything that she saw.

I believe this process is the best for teaching. I will continually advocate for hands on experience through guest speakers and field trips. The technology serves as a means for processing and communicating that is here to stay and is a necessary part of the balance in education.

Children are fascinated by money from other countries.

**Note: Due to NCTE and Thanksgiving holiday, there will be a two week break from DigiLit Sunday posts.

Link up your Digital Literacy posts.

Read Full Post »

Finding Fall

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged Carol Varsalona, fall poetry, zeno poems on November 14, 2014| 14 Comments »

Find more Poetry Friday at Keri Recommends.

A few weeks into fall Carol Varsalona put out a call for submissions to her Finding Fall Gallery. I wanted my students to try some fall poetry writing. I pulled up an image gallery from NBC news. I think images make for richer, image-filled poetry. Many of the images were striking, and we had a hard time choosing just one to write to. So I allowed some students to keep their favorite frozen on the Promethean while others found the gallery on other computers. Kielan captured a list poem from different images and made a poem movie on Animoto. Emily remains the Zeno master with her Fall Zeno.

Sergei Grits / AP

yellow,orange,peach,red,and brown

leaves are falling

this fall

bound

rainy weather

scares the

ground

because it melts

in fear

drowned
–Emily

Read Full Post »

Making a Difference

Posted in Spiritual Growth, Teaching, tagged Kaylie, Mother Theresa, Scholastic Mockingjay Change the World writing contest, teaching on November 13, 2014| 4 Comments »

Click here to read more #spiritualjourney posts. Thanks Holly for hosting this roundup!

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
–Mary Oliver

Can we really make a difference? Can one person plant a seed?
Will it grow? How will we know?

I got a phone call today from a former student. She felt brave enough to enter a writing contest, the Scholastic Mockingjay Change the World Contest. She called to tell me she placed in the top ten and will receive prizes. I was thrilled! Her essay speaks of world hunger as the biggest problem we face today. Her experience volunteering at Solomon House with me and some of her classmates influenced her greatly.

An excerpt from her essay:

Though super powers are the quickest way to saving the hungry, there are still things you and I can do to help. During the Hunger Games, gracious sponsors donate food to dying tributes. This often saves them. Think of Katniss! She wouldn’t be alive if not for the kind-hearted people that gave her a chance. We should be the sponsors of this world…the ones that say, “I made a difference.” We can be those people. Today.
–Kaylie B. Read the entire essay here.

I do what I do in order to make a difference, to mean something to someone. But the tree does not bear fruit quickly, usually after years of growth. Even so, I should do the best I can with each precious life I hold. This is my responsibility. This is my vocation. Congratulations to Kaylie! I am so proud to be a part of her life as a writer and as a person who makes a difference.