Reflections on the Teche

A Case for the Acrostic

January 13, 2017 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday round-up is with Keri at Keri Recommends

On Tuesday, I posted a Canva image that I had created with an acrostic poem about my One Little Word, Cherish. Michelle Haseltine commented, “Such a simple poem and yet, so beautiful and touching. I am not usually a fan of acrostic poems, but you have me rethinking my position, friend.”

So I decided to make a case for the acrostic poem.

noun

a series of lines or verses in which the first, last, or other particular letters when taken in order spell out a word, phrase, etc.

I understand the argument. This form is simplistic and can confine the writer and stifle creativity. However, if we let it, a form can challenge the writer to search for unique language and a stronger meaning.

This week, we worked on our One Little Word projects. I showed my Canva acrostic as a sample. We talked about words and synonyms, making use of the online thesaurus. Type in your word and click on synonyms to find more words. Some of my students took this task seriously and found new and unusual words, like vivacity and whimsical, as their chosen OLW.

Dictionaries were on hand for finding words that started with a given letter. When Jacob came to the letter R in his word, Inspire, he read rainbow, and created the following line.

jacob-rainbow-quote

Some students stuck to the one word for each letter, but some created phrases. Emily decided to make each line have a simile. This pushed her to think not only about her word choice, but also about what each word meant to her One Little Word.

Acrostics are simple, but it can be a good pattern for word play and a deeper search for meaning.

vavicity-olw

whimsical-1

Kaiden oneword.jpg

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged One Little Word, student acrostic poetry | 23 Comments »

Cherish Acrostic

January 10, 2017 by margaretsmn

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

An activity I like to do with my students for One Little Word is an acrostic poem. We use the dictionary and thesaurus to find synonyms. While I worked on my own acrostic, I thought about the different ways I want to Cherish. I used Canva to create an image of my poem.

cherish-acrostic

Posted in Writing | 15 Comments »

DigiLitSunday: A Plan

January 8, 2017 by margaretsmn

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Sometimes you just need a plan. When the calendars come off the wall and you haven’t bought the 2017 calendar yet, where can you find the plan? Digital calendars don’t end. Not only can you go forward indefinitely, you can go back as well. When I scrolled back, I made it to 1770. Crazy!

Recently on the #Good2Great Voxer chat, Kari Yates talked about making a 5-year plan. Most of us cringed and were overwhelmed by this thought. But there is something comforting and practical about having a plan.

So here I am back at DigiLitSunday after a few weeks off, and I have no plan. I know that I want this meme to continue, but I feel like a failure as a leader. Where are we going? What is the purpose? What is the goal?

To alleviate my anxiety about this, I have a tentative topic plan for January:

January 15: Fake vs. Real news: How do we teach our students to be discerning?
January 22: Balancing Goals with Needs
January 29: Digital Design

Please check in on the Google Doc. I’ve cleared the topic area, so add in new topic ideas. If you are not listed, please add your contact. My goal is to Tweet the topic on Thursdays.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I’ve started blogging for Kidblog. My first post was published last week. Check it out here.

With a plan or without, if you wrote a DigiLitSunday post, please link below.

Posted in Digital Learning, Writing | Tagged #DigiLitSunday, digital literacy, plan | 12 Comments »

Cherishing Celebrations!

January 7, 2017 by margaretsmn

Find more celebration posts at Ruth’s blog.

I wasn’t going to write today. I woke up to freezing temperatures and a yard of wilting plants. But then I checked my phone and found love in the Twitter feed.

Your comments inspired this celebration post of @MargaretGSimon. Tweeted earlier, but needed to fix the photo credit https://t.co/LSJiRcjPMR pic.twitter.com/28tjGvEVCG

— Leigh Anne Eck (@Teachr4) January 7, 2017

I melted into tears. I’ve know Leigh Anne virtually for years. We’ve visited each other’s blogs. We’ve exchanged teaching ideas. One summer I did a Google Hang-out with a summer writing class she was teaching. But we’ve never met in person. To think that my words could be so inspiring to someone I’ve never met face to face just boggles my mind.

My friend, Julieanne, wrote today about her cyber-bubble, those people we hang out with virtually through Twitter and Facebook, Voxer and Blogger. In this world, I’ve met some of the most precious people on earth. I have come to call them friends.

In this daily struggle to understand what the hell we are doing here, my online community holds me together, grounds me, helps me to see what is truly important.

My OLW this year is Cherish. Leigh Anne coined the term Cherishment. I cherish all of you who click over to this space and read and comment and otherwise spread the love. Please take a minute to go to Leigh Anne’s blog today. She made a poem from comments on my blog. I plan to print the poem and keep it close.

On Wednesday this week, my body revolted. I had a violent and mean stomach virus. Along with cherishing others this year, I want to cherish my own body. I hated it with a passion on Wednesday, but a miracle shot from my trusted physician made it all better.

Today, I was encouraged by a friend to attend a yoga class. I haven’t done yoga in a while and was worried about how my body would work. The instructor calmed me throughout and by the end of the session, I was weeping. Cherish seems to lead me to tears. I was overwhelmed by the feeling of peace and the comfort. This feeling calls for a healing haiku.

#haikuforhealing #haikuforhope #commonplacemarvels #cherishment

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Gratitude | Tagged #celebratelu, #cherish, #haikuforhealing, Leigh Anne Eck, OLW, yen yoga | 10 Comments »

#MustRead2017

January 7, 2017 by margaretsmn

Carrie hosts the MustRead2017 roundup here.

Here I go again, joining another challenge. I want to thank Carrie Gelson and her charge to read that stack of books, those books that I’ve bought on recommendations of others and let sit on the shelf. And there are books that I haven’t caught up with yet, but I want to.

In 2015, I attended an SCBWI conference in Houston. I didn’t know a soul. On the walk across the street from the parking lot to the conference center, I met a delightful woman. She had a charming Scottish accent. She befriended me for the day. We sat together, talked, shared, and ended up having lunch together. Then within the next year, she got an agent and was on her way to publish the very book she was pitching at the conference, Wait for Me. I can’t wait to get a copy when it comes out on January 31st.

At the same conference, I learned about Nicola Yoon and her debut novel, Everything, Everything. I loved it and look forward to reading her second book, The Sun is Also a Star.

Is it cheating to put a book on my list that I just finished? In truth I didn’t start it until 2017, but Wish by Barbara O’Connor was my companion this week while I was recovering from a nasty stomach bug. This book completely drew me in. The character’s voice was charming, real, and compelling. I’m so glad I finally read it.

There are times in my teaching life that I just can’t seem to find the time to read. I read at bedtime and sometimes only a paragraph before I fall asleep. I am hoping my list of “must reads” inspires me to be more dedicated to my reading life. I feel like a hypocrite when I push my students to read, read, read, and I don’t keep up a strong reading life myself. Maybe you can help by checking in with me every once in a while.

And I hope you will share your reading list with me. I think, in truth, that’s what this challenge is really about, connecting, sharing, and reading.

Posted in Books | Tagged #MustRead2017 | 10 Comments »

Poetry Gives

January 6, 2017 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday is at Linda’s site: Teacher Dance

Sometimes I sign up for things and then forget about them. So I was pleasantly surprised when I got some poetry mail this week. A while back, Jone MacCulloch asked us blogging poets to sign up for a new year postcard exchange. I signed up and ordered my postcards.

I was so pleasantly surprised this week when I received 3 postcards. I hope there are more coming.

My postcards from VistaPrint haven’t arrived yet, so if you’d like to receive one, send me your address (margaretsmn at gmail). I have the list of 10 that Jone sent me, but I’m happy to send more.

Diane Mayr does a new year postcard every year in the tradition of Nengajo, a Japanese tradition of sending a postcard including a haiku. She writes that this year’s card includes the Year of the Rooster, a reference to fire, and the word first. The background is “Yawning Apprentice” by Mihaly Munkacsy (circa 1869). She will be posting the digital version on her blog today. Here is my camera image.

In the same batch of mail, all the way from Hawaii, Joy Acey blessed me with a lovely original painting and poem. She is such a dear person whom I have never met. Some day I will fly to Hawaii to see her in her garden. Even her sweet note is poetic.

Margaret,

I was lying in bed this morning listening to the blasting rain hit the exterior of my bedroom wall and windows–these are the windows that face east so I could watch the cloud covered Sleeping Giant and the sunrise.

I’m thinking about selecting one word for a guide in the new year and I’m thinking about our poetry postcard exchange for the new year and this haiku appeared with your name written all over it.

painting and poem by Joy Acey

The third card of joyful words came from Irene Latham. She tweeted recently that she had her postcards ready, and I was secretly crossing my fingers that I would get one. The card looks like an old postcard from Germany, a gift in itself, but it was accompanied by this beautiful verse:

The Coming of Light

And here is the secret
to everything:
when you let the light it,
a river
you thought dried up
or frozen
will begin to sing.

–Irene Latham

Bruckmanns Bildkarte NR

Posted in Poetry, Writing | Tagged Diane Mayr, Irene Latham, Joy Acey, Poetry Postcard Exchange | 16 Comments »

One Little Word 2017

January 3, 2017 by margaretsmn

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

Out of your whole life give but a moment!

All of your life that has gone before,

All to come after it,—so you ignore,

So you make perfect the present

from Now by Robert Browning.

My friend, Julieanne, sent me the above poem. She said it made her think of me. My One Little Word for 2016 was Present. She knew I didn’t want to leave this word behind. Being present served me well this year, especially when I was laid up by an injury. Present was perfect for a trip to Africa in July and for enjoying every moment of my daughter’s wedding in October. I have loved my daily walks because of presence. And the word turned up again and again in my daily messages from the Enneagram Institute. I needed the word. I needed the feeling. I needed the attitude.

I’ve struggled for days over what my new word should be. I read other friends’ posts and found their words fit them just right. Ruth is being steadfast. Tara wants to believe in herself and in hope. Kimberley is releasing to try to be more open and less controlling. Melanie chose brave. I think she’s already brave, but it helps to choose a word that you want to embrace.

Where was my word hiding?

I wrote a poem in my journal about Peace. Peace is a beautiful word; peace is something I can recognize, but I can’t control it.

Peace–happy ending of a Hallmark movie.

Peace– origami cranes on an evergreen tree.

Peace– wood crackling on an open fire.

Peace– breathing new air.

Peace– making perfect the present.

I made a list of possible words:

Treasure
Create
Intent
Brave
Inspire
Grace
Renew
Goodwill

All good words, but each word made some requirement of me that I was not ready to take on. Can’t I just be present again?

Then I began looking more closely at treasure. The definition included a synonym that felt right, fit right, is right!

Cherish is the fruit of the tree of Presence.

Cherish embraces me in love.

Cherish fills me with hope.

Cherish 2017, here we go!

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged One Little Word, Peace poem | 28 Comments »

The Story of a Christmas Card

December 31, 2016 by margaretsmn

Find more celebration posts at Ruth’s blog.

For the last 13 years my father has created a drawing for my parents’ annual Christmas card. In 2013, I published a small chapbook of his drawings along with poems that I wrote. The book, Illuminate, seems to still be available on Amazon.

Earlier this week I visited my parents and talked to my dad about this year’s card. This summer, my husband Jeff was building a pirogue in our carport. When he was close to finishing, I took a picture and posted it on Facebook.

The artist in my dad saw this image.

He emailed me and asked for the picture. Then he blew it up and printed only the trees from the background. These are crepe myrtle trees that are actually on the front of our house.

The photograph became the inspiration for his abstract drawing. My dad works with pen and ink in pointillism. Each drawing is a miracle. I celebrate this creative gift.

John Gibson, 2016

Haiku #31

Happy New Year’s Eve!
Even trees have a party.
Sparks of light illume.

Thanks to Mary Lee Hahn for the haiku-a-day challenge. I celebrate:

We lightened the world with our words.
We grew as a community of writers.
We made it.

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Photography, Poetry | Tagged #haikuforhealing, haiku-a-day, Illuminate, John Gibson, pointillism | 14 Comments »

Poetry Friday: Stone Mirrors

December 30, 2016 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday is at Donna’s site: Mainly Write

In November at NCTE16, I was privileged to finally meet poet Jeannine Atkins. I got a copy of her upcoming book in verse, Stone Mirrors. I didn’t know what this book was about. I just loved the cover.

The beauty of this book is on the inside and the outside. Jeannine tells the story of Edmonia Lewis, a Objibwe-Haitian-American woman, who in 1862, had the rare chance to attend Oberlin. While there, she became mixed up in a controversy over poisoning. She was acquitted, but forced to leave the school. Her future took her to Boston and Italy where she became a successful sculptor.

The facts, however, are not the important aspects of this story. What I found intriguing was Jeannine’s unique way of writing story in verse. As I read, I was drawn in by the melody of the language as well as the fascinating story. I loved following Edmonia through her growing confidence as an artist and as a woman. I wonder how Jeannine got into the mind of Edmonia. How did she know the feel of the stone she carved? “She hammers out stillness, holding a life in mid-speech or stride, like a deer between danger and trust.”

Intertwined into the story of Edmonia Lewis are lines of wisdom, carved into Jeannine’s poems like the images Edmonia carved in stone.

Broken Colors

Edmonia carves the smokey smell of drawing pencils,
like a burned-down fire, and hardening clay,
with its whiff of a pond bottom. She goes to the art room,
where each mark on paper offers a new chance.
She has nothing left but hunger for beauty,
small as the tip of a paintbrush.

She wishes the stove were lit,
though if smoke rose she might not be alone.
She smashes ice that sheathes
a jar of water to rinse a paintbrush.
She no longer draws goddesses, gods,
or anyone in transformation.
White people think metaphor belongs to them.

She opens a cupboard with boxes
printed with names, none hers.
She reads them as if studying a map
of places no one expects her to see.
The shelves and boxes are divided
like classrooms where walls come between
art, poetry, and myth. In history class,
teachers separate the dead from the living.
All through the school, lines are drawn between
right and wrong, white and colored, rich and poor,
truth and lies, facts and dreams, courage and fear,
what belongs to one person and what doesn’t.
They forget that every time the wind blows,
the world asks everyone to bend.

from Stone Mirrors, Jeannine Atkins, January 2017

On a recent trip through New Orleans, we crossed the Hale Boggs Bridge. My daughter was driving, so I could take this amazing picture. As the time changes over to a new year, I contemplate what may lie ahead.

Towers reach for time Carved into parting clouds Tuning my future Margaret Simon #haikuforhealing

Towers reach for time
Carved into parting clouds
Tuning a future
Margaret Simon
#haikuforhealing

Posted in Books, Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged #haikuforhealing, Edmonia Lewis, Hale Boggs Bridge, Jeannine Atkins, novel in verse, Stone Mirrors | 18 Comments »

Persephone Haiku: Day #29

December 29, 2016 by margaretsmn

Inspiration for today’s haiku came from my weekly email from Poets & Writers:

Poetry Prompt

“In the red room there is a sky which is painted over in red / but is not red and was, once, the sky. / This is how I live. / A red table in a red room filled with air.” Using these lines from Rachel Zucker’s “Letter [Persephone to Demeter]” as inspiration, write a poem where everything in the environment is red, as though the speaker is looking through red glass.