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Christmas Day Haiku

Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged #haikuforhealing, Christmas, haiku-a-day on December 25, 2016| 8 Comments »

Once we know the manger
we recognize everyone
as someone to love.
Margaret Simon
#haikuforhealing

Today’s haiku is inspired by Bishop Jake Owensby’s post, Imagining Jesus, in which he writes: “The challenge for us, now that we have been to the manger, is to live the truth we’ve found there. Everyone we meet is the person God loves. In all their breathtaking otherness and bewildering uniqueness.”

My wish for you and for this nation on this Christmas Day is to remember every day that everyone you meet is a child of God who deserves respect and dignity and love. Last night as I sang in the loft above the crowded sanctuary, I prayed that my voice would be blessed. “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always with you, my Lord and My God.” Place the gift of Christmas in your heart. Find love. Express love. Be love. Every day. To every one.

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Poetry Friday: More Haiku

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #haikuforhealing, haiku-a-day on December 23, 2016| 8 Comments »

Poetry Friday is with Buffy at Buffy’s Blog.

I am an early riser. So most of my haiku writing happens early in the morning. Yesterday I wrote on Laura Purdie Salas’s Thursday 15 Words or Less post in response to an image of a gorilla statue.

#22
I could be a bear
dreaming of spring’s abundance
safely hiding now.

Charlie sits in my lap while I write. Do you know that a sleeping dog has a certain scent?

Today I read Jane Yolen’s poem for the day. I stole her line, “I know you by what you hold.” This one is for my husband of 34+ years.

#23

Peanut, the dog’s ball–
I know you by what you hold–
Lightbulb, fruit, my heart.

–Margaret Simon

The haiku-a-day challenge started by Mary Lee Hahn connects a community of writers:

Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
Mary Lee Hahn at Poetrepository
Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
Buffy Silverman at Buffy’s Blog
Jone Rush MacCulloch at DeoWriter
Diane Mayr, posted on Thursdays at Random Noodling
Julie Johnson at Raising Readers and Writers
Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
Carol Varsalona at Beyond LiteracyLink
Carol Wilcox at Carol’s Corner
Julianne Harmatz tweeting @jarhartz
Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
Michelle Heidenrich Barnes at Today’s Little Ditty

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Haiku-a-day #19

Posted in Writing on December 20, 2016| 1 Comment »

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Haiku-a-day #18

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged #haikuforhealing, Enneagram, haiku-a-day on December 18, 2016| 1 Comment »

Through your example
kindness echoes through the trees
on wings of love

–Margaret Simon

#haikuforhealing

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Poetry Friday:Haiku-a-day #16

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #haikuforhealing, haiku-a-day on December 16, 2016| 13 Comments »

Poetry Friday is with Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

Early morning dark
I, in silence with a pen,
catch haiku harmony.

–Margaret Simon

#haikuforhealing

Other December daily haiku writers:

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DigiLitSunday: Craft

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Writing, tagged craft moves, Emaze, Kate Messner, PowerPoint on December 11, 2016| 5 Comments »

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When I think of crafting in digital literacy, I think of those literary elements that make writing sing as well as design elements that give a project more meaning and audience appeal. This week we worked on both aspects.

I read aloud two of Kate Messner’s picture books, Over and Under the Snow and Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt. Both of these books lead students on a journey of discovery about plants and animals. We learned about the subnivean layer in the snow and which animals hibernate and which ones remain active in tunnels below.

Following the reading, we read the facts about the animals in the back of the book. We also looked back at Kate’s craft moves. On a few pages the words are spread out and down the page to show action in the words themselves. She also used alliteration and imagery and figurative language. The craft moves of a real author are ours to take and play with.

My students turned to old favorite PowerPoint, while a few tried out Emaze. Madison found an Emaze background with an ocean, the ecosystem she had chosen to write about. Jacob and Noah used the drawing tools in PowerPoint to illustrate their pages. I showed them how to group the pieces together and move them with animation. So cool to watch a fish that you made out of the shape tool actually move in the water.

Emaze has a variety of backgrounds for different ecosystems.

Lynzee chose the bayou for her ecosystem to study. She didn’t know about the nutria, so we talked about them and looked up information. When I turned back to see what she had written, I was pleased to see such clever craft moves.

Nutrias scrabble, skitter, scratch away the dirt as they search for the root of a forgotten summer plant to feast on when they are rare.

Andrew’s slide features the wildebeests of the African savanna with a connection to the ancient boabab trees.

Andrew decided to research the African savanna. As he was researching, he found out about the plight of elephants from poaching. He decided he wanted to do something about it. This week he will present his findings to his classmates and try to raise funds to adopt an orphaned elephant. I suggested we make a poster out of the baby elephant picture I took this summer in Africa. He loved the idea. He will sell the poster at a profit. (Much discussion about how profit works.)

As a teacher of language arts, I feel drawn to the craft moves authors make. They become mentor texts for my students, but then my students amaze me with their own use of craft. They become authors (and difference makers) themselves in this digital world.

Join in the conversation with your link below:

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Haiku-a-day #7

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged #haikuforhealing, haiku-a-day on December 7, 2016| 6 Comments »

The inspiration for today’s poem came in a blog post on Smack Dab in the Middle.

Writing advice that basically says Just.Do.It. That is my mantra for this daily challenge. I’m doing it. But in the process, I am discovering a voice. One that wants to be heard. Poetry does that to me. It’s like there is this other me hiding deep inside. She’s not sure how to express herself until she writes one word, then another, then a few more. That’s how it works. Sounds simple. Try it.

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Hallmark Holiday: Haiku #6

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #haikuforhealing, haiku-a-day on December 6, 2016| 15 Comments »

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

The news channels have been turned to the Hallmark channel. The living room smells of Douglas fir and burning wood. The front door welcomes visitors with poinsettias and a wreath.

It’s looking like Christmas. The days are short and darken early. This journey to winter solstice seems slow and cold. I want to make soup. I want to curl up with a warm blanket and drink hot tea. But this season also begs for things to get done. Shopping. Decorating. Writing Christmas cards. Wrapping… the list goes on…

Once a day I slow down. I open my notebook and pen a haiku or two. Poetry makes me stop and pay attention. Haiku-a-day for December. #haikuforhealing

Join me in taking a small moment to stop and listen. Join me in making Advent what it’s truly meant to be…a time of waiting.

The tree is waiting,
like me, in time we will know
secrets hidden here

–Margaret Simon

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Haiku-a-Day December

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged #haikuforhealing, December, haiku-a-day, Mary Lee Hahn on December 1, 2016| 9 Comments »

light the lanterns
darkness is trying to win
solstice seeks solace

–Margaret Simon

Mary Lee Hahn calls us poet/bloggers to write a haiku-a-day in December. #haikuforhealing

For my first haiku, I stole Mary Lee’s last line. Would someone like to steal my last line and make a new haiku?

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Transformative Risky Essay

Posted in Teaching, Writing, tagged Jonathan Franzen, Katherine Bomer, NCTE16, real essay on November 29, 2016| 15 Comments »

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

The writer has to be like the firefighter, whose job, while everyone else is fleeing the flames, is to run straight into them. — Jonathan Franzen in The Best American Essays 2016

After reading Katherine Bomer’s book The Journey is Everything, meeting her virtually by hosting a Twitter chat, and meeting her face to face at NCTE16, I have a new understanding of the power of essay. Katherine’s passion for the resurgence of the real essay came through in the panel she hosted at NCTE with Corinne Arens, Allyson Smith, and Matthew Harper. These teachers experienced the transformative power of essay in a writing institute, and transferred that understanding to their classrooms.

Unpacking my notes, I rediscovered this way of thinking and writing. In real essay, we explore Hot Spots, Buried Truths, and Freedom. We write to think, leaving space for unknowing. Like a conversation with your best friend, real essay uses words like maybe and perhaps while circling around an idea, unwinding your thinking.

Essay is literature. Essay includes ideas, voice, and risk. It is the risk that stood out to me. Isn’t all writing risky? Yes, but adding the element of risk to essay has been funneled out by the Common Core testing. And when we remove risk, we remove what makes us human. Jonathan Franzen agrees as he writes in the introduction to the 2016 collection of The Best American Essays, “A true essay is ‘something hazarded, not definitive, not authoritative; something ventured on the basis of the author’s personal experience and subjectivity.'”

Writers are not born, they are made. In order to discover what we think, what we know, what we are passionate about, we need to be real in our essays, in our blog posts, with our students. When we trust this process of discovery, we allow our students an opportunity to express themselves beyond 5 paragraph essay structure.

The writer holds the paintbrush. Rather than painting an image with authority, paint with abandon to the rules. The image will be creative, expressive, and all yours.