Reflections on the Teche

Slice of Life: New Year, New Journals!

August 14, 2018 by margaretsmn

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

I saw my students for the first time on Monday. The first day of my gifted class is traditionally the day to decorate your journal. (Some people call them notebooks, but I have always called them journals.) I bring in decorative paper, magazines, stamps, stickers, and this year, washi tape. The students have full freedom of choice about how they decorate their journals.

I love this as the first day activity for a few reasons. One is it allows us the time to sit around the table and talk casually. I decorate as well, so we are working together. I also love how this simple activity tells me so much about my students, how they work on a project, what interests them, and how they handle creativity. Perfection can be an issue with gifted kids, so this project helps me see these types of characteristics. And also it’s just fun, so kids are excited to come to gifted class every day.

My journal for 2018-2019. I incorporated cards and stickers from friends to make my space personal.

When a sea turtle is too large for your cover, use it on the back and turn it sideways.

Sticky note leaf shapes become a palm tree for this Queen Writer.

Daniel was not discouraged when a magazine cut out didn’t work. He found this cat that he liked much better. There are no mistakes.

Rainbows and washi tape!

If this first day is any indication, this is going to be a good year!

Posted in Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing | Tagged creative journals, notebooks | 5 Comments »

Slice of Life: School Starts, so How do you Keep Writing?

August 7, 2018 by margaretsmn

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

School starts this week. Monday and Tuesday are inservice/orientation days and the kids come on Wednesday. 2018-2019, here we go!

“How will you keep up your writing?” my writing critique partner, Catherine Flynn, asked me at our online meeting.

I hadn’t really thought about it.

#TeachWrite chat on Monday night asked the same question. “What is your plan to continue writing when life gets crazy as the new school year begins?”

Oh, no. A plan?

So here’s my plan for all the world to see:

1. Keep calm. Keep writing.

2. Open my notebook at least once a day. Write the date at the top of the page. See what comes…

3. Write alongside my students. (I have done this as long as I’ve been teaching writing. It’s one of my guiding principles for teaching.)

4. Don’t feel guilty if a day goes by, and I didn’t write. Some days are like that. Realize that there may be other days when the writing is easy. Let go of ridiculous expectations.

5. Set realistic goals. A poem a day may be too hard, but a poem a week is doable.

6. Be an advocate for my writing life. Make time for it because in the long run, I’m happier when I am writing.

There. That’s wasn’t so hard. It’s not so much a plan as a promise to my writer-self. What will you do to keep writing when life gets crazy-busy?

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged writing plan | 15 Comments »

Poetry Friday: Found Poem of Boston

August 3, 2018 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday round-up is with Mary Lee at A Year of Reading

I spent a long weekend in Boston with my three daughters last weekend. We walked a lot. Boston is a great walking city. We’d stop to shop or have lunch or get coffee. Like my friend, Linda Mitchell, I took some pictures of signs to gather into a found poem.

Take a walk in

Footprints on the Freedom Trail.

Today is the last day of my fun and fabulous Bayou Song Blog Tour. Please check out Dani’s post today.

Friday, June 22:
Michelle Kogan

Tuesday, June 26:
Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core

Friday, June 29:
Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town

Friday, July 6:
Kimberly Hutmacher at Kimberly Hutmacher Writes

Friday, July 13:
Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise

Tuesday, July 17:
Laura Shovan

Tuesday, July 24
Amanda Potts at Persistence and Pedagogy

Friday, July 27:
Carol Varsalona at Beyond LiteracyLink

Monday, July 30
Linda Baie at Teacher Dance

Friday, Aug. 3
Dani Burtsfield at Doing the Work that Matters

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Travel | Tagged Boston Back Bay, Sign poetry | 14 Comments »

Slice of Life: Making Poetry Zines

July 31, 2018 by margaretsmn

Without young kids or grandkids of my own, I’ve been known to borrow them. Last week I was planning to hold a workshop around Bayou Song, but no one registered (end of summer syndrome perhaps), but no worries. My neighbor sent over her almost 8 year old, Jack. We worked together on an I am poem. Rather typical boy in the summer, when I asked Jack what he wanted to write about, he said, “Well I really like soccer.” So soccer it is. We are going to write a poem from the point of view of the soccer ball using I statements. Jack caught on pretty quickly and started spouting lines.

When Jack got to the part where he wanted to write words like cool and awesome, I directed him to more specific language.

How do I know you’re a soccer ball?

I’m a sphere! And I am patterned with black and white!

Write that down!

I am a super stylish soccer ball.
I spin as fast as a jaguar.
I fly like an eagle.
I get kicked around.
I want you to stop kicking me!

I am a super stylish soccer ball.
I am a sphere.
I am patterned with black and white
like a panda.
I roll to the goal.
I like to win.

by Jack

Then we watched a video of Jen Vincent’s son making a zine with a single sheet of paper.

I made a zine with a snake “I am” poem alongside Jack. He helped me with some of the facts, like snakes sleep with their eyes open. We Googled what a ribbon snake eats to find an s-word. I made a video of my zine.

Thanks to Jack for being my guinea pig for this activity. I look forward to sharing it with more students. Working one on one, though, is a great way to try out a workshop.

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing | Tagged I am poem, Making a zine | 9 Comments »

Poetry Friday: Summer Swap

July 27, 2018 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday round-up is with Catherine at Reading to the Core.

The summer is made so much brighter by the exchange of poems arranged by Tabatha Yeatts. Mailboxes share a bit of insight (along with the proverbial wasp or two). I have been pleased to receive two poems so far. The first sent from our friend Ruth Hersey. Ruth sent a postcard of a Georges Seurat painting, one we are all likely familiar with. She also sent this photo that she took of observers of the same painting. Her poem comes from the wisdom of watching these observers.

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte
“Some say they see poetry in my paintings; I see only science.” Georges Seurat

On a summer Sunday afternoon in 2018
We look at a painting of a summer Sunday afternoon in 1884.

All those people with exquisite posture
Whom Georges Seurat saw by the Seine
Have been gone for years,
Bustles and parasols packed away,
The monkey’s chittering long silenced.

And all these slightly scruffier people
Looking at his painting by the Chicago River
Will be gone one day too,
Their baseball hats empty
And their phone screens blank.

The sun through the skylight
Illuminates the Parisians and the Chicagoans,
Shines on those millions of dots of paint that will outlast us all.

Ruth Hersey, (c) 2018

My second poem exchange came this week. It slithered like a snake between bills and advertisements to delight me. Rebecca Herzog wrote a concrete poem (these are so hard to do well) about the Bayou Teche. I am touched that she took time to research the legend of the Bayou Teche. Her research comes together in this fabulous snake.

Thanks to Ruth and Rebecca for taking the sting out of getting the mail!

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday | Tagged Rebecca Herzog, Ruth Hersey, Summer Poetry Swap | 13 Comments »

Slice of Life: Self made writing retreat

July 24, 2018 by margaretsmn

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

Jen loves to have visitors at her B&B farm property in Breaux Bridge, Bonne Terre. Bonne Terre in French means good soil. While I’m sure this is good earth, I can see that Jen dedicates lots of her time to making it good. There are signs of her everywhere, in the mown lawns, the growing vegetables, and the attractive, rustic sculptures. Even in the bathroom, she has selected special aromatic soaps and adorable decorations. I have to admit I’ve had trouble settling down to write. I’ve moved positions at least five times.

I asked Jen how many chickens she has. She had to do the math because she has a variety of breeds, but she came up with 71 (or was it 79?). Nevertheless, chickens are everywhere. They are a humorous, noisy lot that make me feel like I am out in the country at grandmother’s house.

I’ve been meaning to treat myself to a full day of writing all summer long. With only a few weeks left before school starts, I finally did it. I worry that I will fill this day with things other than writing. Jen told me, “It doesn’t matter if you write or not. The point is you gave yourself this space to be present.”

I’ll likely spend the next few hours reading blogs, walking the grounds, and having coffee with Jen, but whatever I do is bon travail on this bonne terre, good work on this good earth. And look at me! For what it’s worth, I got a blog post written.

I think this dragonfly wants to be in a poem!

Please hop over to Amanda’s post on Persistence and Pedagogy. She’s a stop on the Bayou Song blog tour, and I love what she did with her kiddos.

Posted in Photography, Slice of Life, Travel, Writing | Tagged Bonne Terre Louisiana, writing retreat | 12 Comments »

Poetry Friday: Every Month is a New Year

July 20, 2018 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday round-up is with Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe.

Maybe if you’d written over a hundred books for children, you could take a break, but not Marilyn Singer. I first met Marilyn at NCTE a few years ago when she was reading from and presenting about her books of reverso poems. Reverso is a brilliant form that I fail at miserably, but Marilyn has at least three books full of them.

This summer at ALA I was able to grab a new copy of Every Month is a New year. Marilyn signed it, “Happy New Years!” Who knew that every month, someone somewhere in the world is celebrating a new year? The extent of Marilyn’s research alone for this book is impressive. There are 77 sources listed in the back matter of the book!

Illustrator Susan L. Roth uses mixed media for the illustrations. You can imagine touching each piece and feeling the soft paper and fabric collaged together.

The experience of this book is different from other picture books because it opens horizontally like a calendar. Actually, I would love to have it as a calendar I could display in my classroom.

I thought I would share July’s poem since it’s July, but I love, love, love September’s poem and illustration. Ethiopia’s new year is celebrated on September 11th with gifts of daisies. I want to start a movement for us to adopt this practice for our commemoration of the tragedy of Sept. 11th. Random gifts of daisies. From the back matter:

Enkutatash, Ethiopian New Year, on the Ethiopic calendar corresponds to September 11 on the Gregorian calendar. Enkutatash is believed to be the day the Queen of Sheba returned to her homeland after her visit to King Solomon in Jerusalem in 980 BCE. She was welcomed with enku, jewels. Enkutatash, which means “gift of jewels,” has another ancient meaning that commemorates the receding of the great flood during the time of Noah. The day also marks the end of the rainy season and the beginning of sunny days.
Today, on Enkutatash, children in new, white, hand-woven cotton clothes offer yellow Meskel daisies, along with pictures they have painted, as gifts to friends and neighbors.

I think I have found a new tradition to start with my students!

illustration by Susan L. Roth for Every Month is a New Year

By Marilyn Singer, Every Month is a New Year

In her poem about the June New Year, We Tripantu in Chile, Marilyn leads me in with simple sentence structure, “The night is cold./ My family is warm.” I love when the simplest of language can tell so much. She continues this pattern with “The air is quiet. / My family is loud.” As a writing prompt, I want to try using the pattern of opposites for my own poem. It could be about a season or a celebration. Would you like to try one, too? Share in the comments.

My own New Year celebration happens on my birthday, August 11th. The peak of the Perseid meteor showers occur around this day every year. This year I should make a point of going outside to dance.

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged Marilyn Singer, New Years poetry, poetry prompt | 14 Comments »

Slice of Life: Bayou Song Photography

July 17, 2018 by margaretsmn

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

On Sunday, I had a book signing for my new children’s poetry book, Bayou Song. I invited photographer, Henry Cancienne. What a delight to finally meet him face to face! Henry and I have been communicating by email about the photographs he offered for inclusion in Bayou Song.

Meeting Henry, I was not surprised that he is as gentle in spirit in person as he seemed by email. His photographs are a reverence to Louisiana’s amazing natural environment. He told me that his photos are his legacy. We talked about some of his other books and he went out to his car and brought me two of them.

Photo by Henry Cancienne

Henry lives in Lockport, Louisiana, about 90 miles east of New Iberia. He goes out in the swamp and marshes nearly every day. Henry is a US Air Force veteran, retired science teacher, petroleum chemist, volunteer fire fighter, and police officer. His photographs have appeared in multiple books and magazines. He told me the story of this photograph of sun rays through live oaks. He saw the scene, pulled his car over, and took the photo. It’s included in Bayou Song as well as Louisiana Swamps and Marshes and currently is displayed in the governor’s office. He says you never know when you will get that perfect shot. Henry is always prepared with camera in hand.

Henry Cancienne

Today Laura Shovan has a stop on the blog tour with a zeno poem about cypress knees. Please stop by.

If you would like a signed copy of Bayou Song, you can order one from Books Along the Teche at 337-367-7621. If you would like it personalized, you can contact me by email. Thanks!

Posted in Bayou Song, Photography, Slice of Life | Tagged Bayou Song, Henry Cancienne, Louisiana photography | 7 Comments »