Join the Spiritual Thursday round up at Reading, Teaching, Learning.
A year ago, one of my young friends was in a terrible car accident. This week we celebrated her life. Her 24th birthday, and she is walking and talking and trying to build her future. But recovery is long. Her balance is not totally back, so she walks with a cane. Many days she is depressed because she isn’t sure what the future will hold. What is there to do now?
When I don’t know what to do, I think about the ministry of presence. Sometimes that’s all we have. Prayer is presence, the willingness to sacrifice–to give of ourselves to service. Humble our own egos and respond to God’s call to love. That’s it. Love. Sounds easy.
The doorway to true joy is not the need to be loved, but the need to love.
Open the door, welcome the one who has made us all, and free your soul to love without judgement, without ego, without expectation.
A picture of Glenae holding the prayer shawl I made for her when she was in the hospital.
Read more Wild posts in Irene Latham’s Blogiversary Round up.
Irene Latham is one of my very favorite Poetry Friday bloggers. She’s also an awesome author and sweet writing friend. She is having a “blogiversary” celebration rounding up blog posts for her 10 year blog anniversary on the theme of WILD! How wild is that?!
When you get a wild hair about something, you go off into new territory. Live outside the box, so to speak. The urban dictionary defines a wild hair as a decision to do something unexpected.
Wild Hair
Give me wild hair today,
the kind that waves at everyone,
happy to be alive
and free.
Give me wild hair today,
remind me to reach for the sky,
grateful for the curls,
ready to be me.
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My students are wild with wonder. They don’t really know it, but when I see their eyes light up and their attention focus, I know it’s there. Inspired by Tara Smith of Two Writing Teachers, this year I instituted a new tradition, Wonder Wednesdays. The process is really very simple.
Write a paragraph including at least 5 new facts and 2-3 wonder words.
Burning question: What more do you want to know?
I give my students the option to turn a Wonder into a Wonder Presentation. For me, this option works well because I don’t end up with every student in the class having to do a presentation. Since we blog, presentations can be posted for others to see as well. This week I had 3 students choose this option, so we had a presentation day. Presentation requirements vary somewhat from the Wonder response.
Having Wonder Wednesday as a regular occurrence each week inspires my students to question and wonder all the time. On Two Writing Teachers today, Tara writes, “I am a true Wonderopolis believer, and I know that our Wednesdays lead my kids to think deeply about science, geography, and the way things work.” Encouraging students to wonder every week makes inquiry a natural ingredient in the ELA classroom.
One of my new students jumped right in to wondering and blogging. He wondered about cells in the human body. As Noah (4th grade) and Vannisa (6th grade) walked back to class on Wednesday, they discussed cells. Really? The wonder spills out of the classroom all the way down the hall.
If you are wondering and writing about Digital Literacy, please link up.
Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.
On this gloomy Saturday morning, I was drinking my coffee and reading blog posts. Each one added wisdom to my thinking. And I still wasn’t sure what to write today. One blog post suggested that I just open up the page and begin. Another suggested using the month of November to think about gratitude. So here I am, opening the window of a post and writing what I am grateful for this week.
New students: I was apprehensive, as always, to receive new students. This happens in my class around this time of year because the evaluators have finished testing young referrals. This week, I welcomed 4 new gifted students. These new kiddos are so excited to be in the gifted class that they are eager and ready. They love that we blog. They each wrote their first post. “And what? We can read whatever we want!” One new guy read 4 Seymour Simon books this week!
My other students have embraced the new ones, and, so far, so good, we are becoming a new community of learners.
Authors: I love authors, and meeting them face to face is such a thrill. Last weekend I attended the Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge. Right before the tornado warning closed down the festival, I met Kimberley Griffiths Little. We had a great conversation. She signed a card for one of my students who loves her books. We talked about connections and writing and hugged as friends.
Student authors: Also at the Book Festival, I had the privilege of leading an awards ceremony for the winners of the Louisiana Letters about Literature and our state writing contest LA Writes! Seeing wide-eyed proud writers dressed in their best, listening to their little voices read their winning pieces, and sharing in the love of reading and writing filled me with joy and gratitude.
Jacob with his award
Two of my students placed first in their divisions, Vannisa and Jacob. Neither of them could attend the ceremony because of the weather, so I gave them their packets at school.
Art Lessons and Reaching: My One Little Word for this year is Reach. I’ve dabbled in art for years. When my mother gave me a nice check for my birthday, I decided to reach and commit to a series of art lessons. We meet once a week for an hour. (I always wish for more time.) At first I was very frustrated. I was not feeling successful. This was a huge learning curve as well as a good lesson for me as a teacher. Finally, after eight lessons, I received some wonderful feedback from my instructor. He said he sees a unique style emerging. Wow! That’s so cool! I celebrate Reaching and becoming the artist I want to be. As in writing, I am discovering you must practice, practice, practice to improve. There is No. Other. Way.
Poetry Prompt
This week, listen to a poem new to you–by a contemporary poet or a bygone poet–and jot down the words, phrases, and images that are most striking or memorable to you. Then write your own poem inspired by this list of words. How do you transform someone else’s poetic intuition and choices into a work that demonstrates your personal idiosyncrasies and specific aesthetic sense?
The word Listen caught my attention in this prompt. How does listening change your perspective? Reading and collecting words is easy. Would listening work as well?
One of my favorite poets is Naomi Shihab Nye. I’ve had the privilege of seeing her live and meeting her in a workshop setting. But this is a new school year, and I hadn’t brought her voice into the room yet. I selected a video from the Dodge Poetry Festival, one I had actually attended, so I could tell the kids, “I was there!” If you haven’t heard this poem, it is hilarious and much more so from the actual voice of Naomi Shihab Nye. She wrote things her 2-3 year-old-son actually said.
I instructed my students to collect words while they listened. Some lists were long. Others had nothing. So I asked the ones who wrote to share their words. “If you don’t have any words, you can steal these.”
I love this kind of writing prompt because you never know where the words will take you. A few of the students wrote their own random poems, a list of nonsensical sentences. This was OK with me because the intent of the experience was to hear poetry and play with language. We don’t play enough with words. Poetry is playing. You can read all of the poems on this padlet.
I want to share a few here also. My poem is written for that student who constantly sings aloud in the classroom. You know the ones who have a beat to their step.
Music leaps into her ears
down to her toes.
Tap, tap!
Her feet gallop across the floor.
Bit-a-bit-bit!
Notes fill the cup,
spill over her lips
like dictionaries for songs.
I would miss her singing.
I would miss her jumping feet.
I would miss loving her.
–Margaret Simon
Erin is only in 4th grade. When I read her poem, which she wrote covering two white boards, I told her she had the wisdom of a 65 year old. I also told her that she created a question/ answer form in her poem.
What is love?
Love is when you want a person to be your Valentine
so bad you want to gallop away with them.
What is love like?
Love is like a swing.
It can bring you up
or take you down.
Is love hard?
Love is like a peanut,
hard on the outside
but sweet on the inside.
What can love do to you?
Love can make you talk gibberish.
Love can make you dance the night away to soulful music.
What can love feel like?
Love can feel hard like a pecan cookie
or be soft like an ooey, gooey chocolate chip cookie.
What can love make you feel like?
Love can make you feel
like you are close by your
Valentine when you are truly
one thousand miles apart.
Love can be the best
or worst thing in the world.
–Erin, 4th grade
Emily is also one who is wise beyond her years. She picked up on Naomi’s opening when she said that we are all born poets, just some of us keep it up.
Life
It is hard being a person
But, living is a gift that is given,
and all metal was liquid first,
and all people have to find their way to be.
Everyone is born with poetry,
but not all people stick with it.
You know when you find your thing
when you have music in your legs
and jazz in your toes.
Join the Spiritual Thursday round up at Reading, Teaching, Learning.
Holly invites us to reflect on our spiritual journey every Thursday. This week I’ve been thinking about healing.
Music is such a healing medicine. One of my favorite bands in our area is Stop the Clock Cowboy Jazz. The group includes 10, sometimes more, musicians. Ever since the Lafayette shooting, Kelly sings “Smile.” No matter what, this song stirs something in me. I could replace the word smile with hope. Hope though your heart is aching. God’s love offers hope, no matter what.
Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it’s breaking.
When there are clouds in the sky
you’ll get by.
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You’ll see the sun come shining through
For you.
Light up your face with gladness,
Hide every trace of sadness.
Although a tear may be ever so near
That’s the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what’s the use of crying.
You’ll find that life is still worthwhile-
If you just smile.
Read more: Charlie Chaplin – Smile Lyrics | MetroLyrics
I saw this video posted on Facebook. The song was written by Jo-El Sonnier, a Cajun musician, and performed by a number of local musicians. The Healin’ Song was originally written in 2001 after 9/11, but was not recorded until after the shooting at the Grand Theater in Lafayette. Whenever musicians get together and share their love of music and culture and place, healing can happen. The Acadiana community has bonded and become a stronghold for us.
Turning to music in times of grief is nothing new. The Psalms are just that, songs written for healing.
Sacred words,
words in verse,
words in song
carry a rhythm into your heart,
a beat that can bring life back
to the darkest places
and let light shine through
to warm,
to soothe,
to heal
and make new.
My daughter Katherine is planning to get married next fall. She has put me in charge of music. She wanted her father and me to choose a band that we would enjoy dancing to. This is very thoughtful of her because she appreciates that we are Zydeco/ Cajun band snobs experts.
I, too, love classical music and especially the violin. My grandmother for whom I was named was a violinist. Even though I never met her or heard her play, I feel a chill on my spine when I hear a violin solo.
In both the Cajun and Zydeco traditions, the violin, called the fiddle, is a prominent instrument. One of my favorite Cajun musicians is Michael Doucet of Beau Soliel. He is also one of my favorite people ever since I taught his son 18 or so years ago.
borrowed from Facebook
Michael Doucet is fairly famous in the music world. He’s won a few grammies. He’s recorded umpteen albums. He performs at local festivals, but also on stages all over the world. Garrison Keillor has dubbed Beau Soliel “the best Cajun band in the world.”
I decided on a whim to send Michael Doucet a Facebook message expressing my sincere wish that he would be available to play for the ceremony. Even though I feel he is a friend, I was nervous about asking such a famous musician to play for our little wedding.
A day or so later, I got a response, “Well you have certainly given me enough notice.” Hmm, I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He hadn’t said yes or no. I just didn’t respond.
The other night on the way home from the movie, I checked my Facebook messenger on my phone. Still feeling weird about his response, I decided to look at it again. It was then that I realized I had messaged Michael Dardant, not Michael Doucet.
You know how FB predicts who you are writing a message to? I’m sure that’s what happened. I typed in Michael D and clicked on the first name that came up. Duh! (head thump!)
Michael Dardant may be planning what he will do for Katherine’s wedding. Apparently he has done a wedding before. I have written about him here on this blog. He’s Magic Mike, the world famous MAGICIAN!
I sent Katherine a text, “How would you feel about having a magician at your wedding?”
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Participating in the Global Read Aloud has changed the tone in my classroom. As I’ve mentioned before, we are reading Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. The story is realistic and takes place in a 6th grade classroom where there are all types of kids, the cut-up, the bully, the follower, the smart one, and Ally who believes she is dumb. My students are getting a good long look at these characters. They talk about them as if they know them. We are starting to even use them as labels, “Don’t be a Shay.” (Shay is the smart-aleck bully.)
This week was Global Read Aloud Random Acts of Kindness week. We watched a video from Amy Krouse Rosenthall, an author whose book is also part of Global Read Aloud. In her video, she does kindness pranks by leaving a box of Ding Dongs at random houses, ringing the doorbell, and running away. My kids loved this idea. They wanted to do it to the teachers, Teacher Pranks.
One student brought in two containers of rocks from Walmart. Her idea came from Cynthia Lord, to write a word message on each rock. They wrote words like love, brave, kindness, etc. on each rock. I brought in brown lunch bags, and with the help of the art teacher, they decorated them. We also had candy and made a batch of lavender bath salts using Epsom Salt. Would you like to get a gift bag like this? My kids made their Halloween party into a Kindness party. They even managed to be sneaky without being crazy.
Bath salts: Epsom salt, food coloring, and lavender scent.
Kindness rocks
Last week we wrote Fib poems. I posted about them here. I invite any class reading Fish in a Tree to write Fib poems about the characters and add it to our padlet.
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Poetry Friday round-up with Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
Do you know about the famous Fibonacci Sequence? The ages old sequence that creates a spiral, a shape found in nature? The mathematical sequence is 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8…Do you see the pattern? More information (including algebraic equations) can be found at Math is Fun.
I had forgotten about using the sequence in poetry until a colleague introduced it to our 6th grade enrichment group. We are working on Unsung Hero projects. Our previous meeting had been a field trip to see and hear about heroes in our own town. She asked the students to recall the field trip by writing a Fib poem. I wrote about the Buddhist Temple in our local Laotian community.
Wat Thammarattanaram, New Iberia, LA
Stands
tall
above
Buddhist monks
humbly giving self,
Temple of golden ornaments,
Temple of sacrifice,
meditate on lasting love.
–Margaret Simon
A Fib poem follows the syllable count as in the mathematical sequence, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8. And if you are feeling wordy, you can tack on a line of 13 and 21.
A few years ago I had used this form with my students when we were sharing The 14 Fibs of Gregory K by Greg Pincus.
I tried out the form on my other students. I asked them to write about our field trip to New Orleans, the Aquarium and Insectarium, last week. The exercise was quite a challenge. I, too, struggled. But that’s what writing is all about, right? We made a padlet.
Each afternoon, I read aloud another chapter of Fish in a Tree. We usually write notices and wonders to add to the Voxer chat with other classes, but yesterday, I asked Jacob to write a Fib poem with me about Ally, the main character. We started over 3 times. Jacob was being very patient. Each time he’d write the syllable count down the margin of his journal page. Finally we liked what was coming, but we couldn’t quite get that last line. Then Jacob just blurted it out. Some days my young students blow my mind. We recorded it on the Voxer chat.
Why?
Why?
Ally
thinks she’s dumb,
so afraid to tell,
hates being locked up in her brain.
–Jacob
Using strict forms can be frustrating, but when it works, when we discover a winning line, we can say “Boom, Gotcha” to that Fib!
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When my student Vannisa wanted to write a fall poem, she looked to the skies. She wrote this poem including the science of meteor showers that occur in fall.
As We Fall
As we fall into winter,
the weather chills
and the leaves come down.
They fill the ground with
a fiery red
and blazing orange.
As we fall into winter,
we can no longer watch fireworks
like 4th of July,
but we can watch
the shooting stars of
Orionids and Leonids
and watch the days get shorter
until Spring comes back again.
–Vannisa
She had a blog comment on her poem asking her more about the Orionids. When she was looking for something to research for her Wonder of the Week, I suggested the meteor shower. Each week I have my students use Wonderopolis to read nonfiction and respond by writing about what they learned. They then have the option to create a class presentation using technology.
Vannisa had to expand her research beyond Wonderopolis and this was my intent all along, that some little spark would send my students into real, authentic research.
Click the image to view the Emaze.
Know: Orionids is a meteor shower that occurs in late October. A shooting star is a meteor and not an actual star. The name for the shower is Orionids because most of the comets will be toward the constellation Orion.
Wonder: What Causes a Shooting Star?, Where Is the Big Dipper?, How Many Stars Are In The Sky?
Learned: A meteor is formed from rock that burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, causing it to look like a streak of light in the sky. A piece of a meteor is called a meteorite. The Big Dipper is mostly referred to as a constellation, but it’s actually an asterism. Our galaxy has about 200 billion to 400 billion star. Scientist predict that there are 100 billion to 200 billion galaxies in the universe. Based on the latest estimates, astronomers guess that there are 300 sextillion stars in the universe which is 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That is 1 billion times 1 billion times 3!
Days when learning and creativity come together I realize the true joy of discovery. I strive to give my students the open door that will lead them on their own journey of learning, not down a path I have designed, but one they have chosen. It doesn’t happen every day. But with Vannisa and her spark of interest in meteor showers, these two paths converged and made meaningful learning. Through blogging, she was able to share it with others. Win. Win.
Margaret Simon lives on the Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana. She is a retired elementary gifted teacher who writes poetry and children's books. Welcome to a space of peace, poetry, and personal reflection. Walk in kindness.
Reflections on the Teche 