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Blogging with Links

Posted in Digital Learning, Writing, tagged blog links, student blogging on February 15, 2015| 3 Comments »

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

When writing a blog post, links can be used to enrich the text. When I taught my students some time ago about linking, I was considering how they could use links in nonfiction to show further research. But bloggers find many ways to use links in a blog post. Here are a few:

To send a reader to a similar post: Yesterday when I was reading Julianne’s blog, I noticed that she linked three different blogs she had read and enjoyed. This made it easy for me to bounce on over to these sites, too.
To connect your reader to an image or text that you do not have permission to post: For a poetry writing exercise, I led my students to write about a National Geographic image. On Poetry Friday, I didn’t post the image with the poems. I posted a link to it.
To connect your reader to similar posts: My student, Vannisa, has two young sisters. She writes about her sisters often. So on her Slice of Life post this week, she wrote this clever sentence complete with links to her other posts. “My sister is a little monster now. She is a Youtube Genius. Obviously different from my other sisters. And her day all begins with her morning with her baby sister.”
To refer your reader to another website: On Saturday, I wrote about a magician who visited my class. I linked to his website.
To direct your readers to a shopping site: When I do book reviews, I link the thumbnail of the book to a bookseller.

On my WordPress site, I am able to create the link to open in a new window, so my reader does not lose our connection. I am also able to easily link to my previous blog posts.

What are some ways you use links in your blog posts? Which ones are most important for student bloggers? Don’t forget to link back to this round up. You can use the image above as a link button.

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Magical Celebrations

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Gifted Education, Writing, tagged magic, magician, mentors, Michael Dardant on February 14, 2015| 5 Comments »

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

This was a week for magic and illusions in my classroom. On Monday, Michael Dardant, otherwise known as Magic Mike (the original), visited my class. Visit his amazing website here.

One of my students has been dedicated to magic for almost 3 years. He did his first magic show for his class in third grade. He is now in 5th grade, and he performed his first public magic show last weekend. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a passionate interest in any of my students.

I got in touch with Michael more than a year ago trying to get him to visit. Finally his schedule allowed for it, and I feel the timing was just right. As I expected, the two magicians shared tricks and chatter, also known as patter in magic shows. Michael has been doing magic since he was thirteen. He performed at children’s birthday parties when my daughters were growing up. He complimented Matthew and his advanced trickery at such a young age. It was a joy to watch these two together. Here is a quick video clip of Michael showing the sponge ball trick to Matthew. Permission has been granted from both Matthew’s mother and from Michael to post this video clip.

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Reach

Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged Author Amok, Laura Shovan, OLW, Reach on February 5, 2015| 3 Comments »

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

Since the new year, Holly has gathered our spiritual journey posts about each person’s one little word. Today my word Reach is the featured theme.

I haven’t really settled in with my OLW yet. Reaching takes active work. It’s not a passive word. I can’t just sit back on it and wait. I have to go out there and do something about it. I want to embrace this word Reach, but on these cold wet winter days, I’d rather be lazy, curl up with my dog and rest. Exercise another day.

I stretch my sore, tired muscles.
I look at the amaryllis, now wilting.
I notice new growth, a new stem creeping up alongside the blossom.
Where did that come from?
Sometimes without us even noticing, God plants new growth.
We can bloom again.

I chose Reach for completely selfish reasons. I have a few writing projects that I am working on and others I am thinking about. I set a goal to move forward with writing, to Reach for publication. Maybe I should have chosen a braver word, like Courage.

This month a Poetry Friday blogging friend, Laura Shovan, has started a poetry project to celebrate her birthday. I have been writing a poem each day to a posted sound. This project is stretching my writing muscles and giving me a creative place to go each day. Am I Reaching? I can think about this writing as stretching, exercising, and moving my writing muscles. All a part of Reaching. Follow this link to read poems about a thunder storm sound.

Perhaps when I read all the Spiritual Journey posts about my OLW I will embrace it, feel it, want to, own it. Today, I will Reach for Reach.

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Sound Poetry Project

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Christine Balfa, Haiku Deck, Laura Shovan, Sound poetry on February 2, 2015| 5 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Laura Shovan creates a writing challenge every year for her birthday month of February. Last year she posted different Pantone colors as prompts. This year she is posting sounds. On Feb. 1st, she featured my poem along with some of my favorite Poetry Friday friends’. Click here. I am enjoying the path of discovery this writing challenge is taking me on.

The sound for today is angel chimes. You can listen to them here.

I went to Haiku Deck to write a haiku about Spanish moss. The tinkling of the chimes made me think of the rhythm of the moss blowing. I recently took pictures of the moss, not knowing that it would lead to this poem.

When I wrote the line, “Spanish moss two-step,” I liked it so much that I wanted to re-write the other lines to make them fit. So I Googled Cajun triangle. What came up was a 2012 NPR story about Christine Balfa. In the feature, she is heard playing solo triangle which sounds a lot like the Swedish angel chimes. So Christine made it into the poem.

Christine has recently been nominated for a grammy with a group of women musicians called Bonsoir, Catin which means “Goodnight, Darling.” . I am excited that my quest for a line of poetry led me to her music and memories of two-stepping to Bonsoir, Catin.

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Winter Chalkabration

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Chalk-a-bration, Writing, tagged chalkabration, gifted writers, winter poems on January 31, 2015| 6 Comments »

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

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

My students love Chalkabration, the genius child of Betsy Hubbard of The Two Writing Teachers. She invites us to celebrate poetry at the end of the month by chalking poems. Because of Thanksgiving and Christmas break, we have not chalked poems for 3 months. The excitement got us in a little trouble.

I used a poetry lesson I had made a few years ago that I happened upon in my Dropbox folder. The poems were quite sophisticated for my little ones, but my instructions were to find words of light and words of dark. I don’t want Chalkabration to turn into fluffy writing. With this work reading high-level poems, their poems were more thoughtful. I especially like that Erin, a third grader, decided to use the haiku form. Our springlike weather allowed us to go outside and chalk up the sidewalk.

By Reed, 6th grade

A haiku by Erin, 3rd grade

By Margaret Simon

It doesn’t snow here, but even so, my students drew snowflakes to symbolize winter.

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Celebrate Blooming

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Writing, tagged amaryllis, Berry Queens, New Iberia Chamber of Commerce on January 24, 2015| 9 Comments »

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

The winter can be such a dreary time. I am celebrating today how blooming continues even when the days are gloomy. An amaryllis bulb, a Christmas gift from a friend, is blooming in my kitchen. I have documented it with images and put them into a quick video. Enjoy blooming!

This week the Chamber of Commerce held its annual banquet honoring the Citizen of the Year. Our own boss queen of the Berry Queens, Jerre Borland, was selected. In typical Berry Queen fashion, many of us wore our ball gowns and enhanced hair along with tiaras and glitter to honor Jerre. Her speech touched us all. I wanted to celebrate and share a snippet with you today. I am sure you will be inspired by her words as well.

Several years ago, a little saying popped up that became popular—YOLO: You only live once—a kind of distant blacksheep cousin to Carpe Diem—not just Seize the day: Live like it is your last, but above all and everyone else—live for yourself. Somehow I can’t get behind this sentiment, though we in Berry Queens can Carpe the heck out of the Diem—no problem. Life may be short–but I do not believe it is meant to be spent selfishly doing whatever you want, whenever you want. The richest moments of our lives are spent with others, doing for others—moments of selflessness in which we exhibit the give and take of loving others. You see—Love does. If you love something, someone: your community, your mother, your son, your husband, your friend—you do for them. In this act comes the feeling and the intent of what it means to really love. Love is a verb. It is constant. Love shows up—Love acts—Love does for others before self. That is what it truly means to love.
–Jerre Borland, Her Royal Highness Head Boss Queen of the Berry.

The 2015 Chamber of Commerce Banquet with Cathy M and Farrah T

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Sometimes on the Bayou in January

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Teachers Write, Writing, tagged 59 Reasons to Write, Kate Messner, Teachers Write on January 23, 2015| 28 Comments »

My favorite writing teacher, Tara is rounding up today at A Teaching Life.

Last Saturday I celebrated that my Teachers Write reflection was published in Kate Messner’s new book for writers, 59 Reasons to Write. On Tuesday, I showed the book with my name in the index to my students. Matthew exclaimed, “Mrs. Simon, you are in the index of a book that is written about your passion! I can only dream about being in the index of a book about magic.”

After I glowed in their attention and admiration, we thumbed through to find an activity to do. We tried Kate’s Three-Column Brainstorming activity. I was amazed that all of us, myself included, got good ideas for new fiction stories.

So here it is the eve of Poetry Friday, and I need an idea to write about. Kate to the rescue once again. She suggests using a poem she wrote, Sometimes on a Mountain in April, as a mentor text. So here is my attempt.

Sometimes on the bayou in January,
rain falls all day
soaking the dry leaves,
softening the hard earth
while softly whispering promises
of resurrection.

Sometimes on the bayou in January,
temperatures drop twenty degrees
reminding the cats’ coat to thicken,
the cardinals to find nests,
and mothers to pull on fleece.

Sometimes on the bayou in January,
bare cypress trees scarcely sway
reminding me to slow down,
take shelter,
drink warm tea.

Sometimes on the bayou in January
light hides behind grey,
the owl hoots before sunset,
shadows disappear
and I watch
for a poem hiding there.

–Margaret Simon

Through the screen door

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Fly

Posted in Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged Canva, fly, OLW, Reach, spiritual journey, thesaurus on January 22, 2015| 4 Comments »

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

Holly invites us to reflect on our spiritual journey. For the next several weeks, we will be writing about different little words. Today is Michelle’s word, FLY. I made a Tagxedo image with my thesaurus. com search. My own little word, Reach, came up a number of times. I hadn’t made the connection before. When I selected Reach, I was thinking more about goals I want to strive for. But isn’t that like learning to fly, trying to pick up the tail winds and soar?

Discovering synonyms is a good way to ruminate on a word. I watch the birds when they fly. The hawk that glides across the highway in search of hidden prey. I am not like the hawk, a hungry hunter.

The hummingbird comes to the feeder, fluttering wildly to sip sweet nectar. I am not as desperate as a hummingbird who is so quick and finicky.

The seagull came up in my search a few times. Am I a seagull, like Jonathan Livingston, tired of materialism and conformity, looking for meaning in perfecting his flight?

With a wing for understanding and a wing for influence, my flight will be balanced. I will rise to awareness. I will strive toward space, a place to be me. A place to know I am loved.

With God as my compass.

Created on Canva.com

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Blue Birds Interview with Caroline Starr Rose

Posted in Blogging, Books, Digital Learning, Writing, tagged author interview, Blue Birds, Caroline Star Rose, verse novel on January 18, 2015| 12 Comments »

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Boudreaux is Caroline’s furry friend.

One of the greatest gifts of Social Media is the connection my students and I can make to authors. Caroline Starr Rose blogs regularly about writing. Last year, I won a 30 minute Skype interview. My students asked her for a galley proof of her next novel. We received it in August. Vannisa, already a fan having read May B, read it immediately. I read it over the holiday break. What a wonderful story! Both Vannisa and I loved the characters of Alis and Kimi. We are amazed by Caroline’s way of making history come to life in her characters. After Colby Sharp of Nerdy Book Club and SharpRead, Vannisa wrote a 5,4,3,2,1 interview.

Can you tell me a little bit about the story of Blue Birds?

Alis and her family have left London to help establish a colony on the island of Roanoke. She is the only girl and lonely for a friend. Kimi watches the newcomers warily. The English killed her father and sister, but she’s curious about the girl. Alis and Kimi form a forbidden friendship that threatens to change both their worlds.

How did you manage to find all the information for the book?

I read a whole lot. I also asked experts to look over my work to see if I’d gotten things right.

What is your advice to authors writing a historical fiction book as accurate as yours?

Read, read, read. Be true to the times. But beyond the facts, think about emotions and feelings. Through the ages, these are the things that unite us.

Are you currently thinking about writing a new book?

I’m working on one now about the Klondike gold rush.

What is your advice to student writers like myself?

You have something unique to say. Your work can only improve if you keep at it! Don’t be in a hurry to be finished or move on to something new.

http://www.carolinestarrrose.com

This post is part of a week-long celebration in honor of the book Blue Birds.

Get this free quote with pre-order of Blue Birds

Author Caroline Starr Rose is giving away a downloadable PDF of this beautiful Blue Birds quote (created by Annie Barnett of Be Small Studios) for anyone who pre-orders the book from January 12-19. Simply click through to order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, IndieBound, or Powell’s, then email a copy of your receipt to caroline@carolinestarrrose.com by Monday, January 19. PDFs will be sent out January 20.

Add your Digital Literacy posts:

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Listen

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged Carol Varsalona, Holly Mueller, OLW, spiritual reflection on January 15, 2015| 8 Comments »

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

Holly invites us to reflect on our spiritual journey. For the next several weeks, we will be writing about different little words. Carol’s word is Listen. I chose to write a poem today.

Turn off the sound machine.
Listen.
Hear the refrain of a hymn in your mind.
Find strength in the silence.

Open the window.
Listen.
Hear the sound of the rain on the roof.
Find solace in the rhythm.

Take a walk with a friend.
Listen.
Hear her story.
Find company in connection.

Enter the world.
Listen.
Hear echoes of chanting.
Find peace in shared sympathy.

–Margaret Simon

“The deepest source of real power lies in consciousness and the ability to be present in all circumstances.” (Understanding the Enneagram, 331)

My Enneagram number is two. I am the giver, the helper, the one who does for others before doing for herself. I can get wrapped up in helping and giving for selfish reasons, to gain approval or love. Julie Johnson introduced me the Ennegram Institute and the “Thought of the Day.” Today I could see the wisdom. Be in the moment.
Listen. Wake up.