Reflections on the Teche

You be the Pencil, I’ll be the Poem

September 11, 2015 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday round-up with Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

You be the book, I’ll be the binding
You be the words, I’ll be the rhyming
~That’s What’s Up, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Last week on Poetry Friday, Tabatha posted a music video and a paired writing prompt. I thought her idea might work well with my students. We have a class blog on Kidblog.org. Each week I post what I’m calling a “Snippet of the Sea” for students to respond to. Two weeks ago the quote was from Nelson Mandella. They watched a video from the History Channel and answered hard questions about privilege and education and the word weapon. While this was a worthwhile exercise, this week I borrowed Tabatha’s idea and lightened things up a bit.

Here’s the video from Lennon and Maisy and my students’ responses. While they did not have to think very deeply, they did have to rhyme and think about how things go together. But mostly, it was just plain poetic fun.

You be the front, I’ll be the back
You be the ball, and I’ll be the bat. (Lani)

You be the pencil I’ll be the lead.
You be the blanket I’ll be the bed.
You be the butter I’ll be the bread
You be the blue I’ll be the red. (Tobie)

You be the biscuit, I’ll be the jam
You be bread, I’ll be the ham
You be the green eggs and ham, I’ll be Sam I Am.
You be the beans, I’ll be the spam
You be Mary, I’ll be the little lamb (Kielan)

You be the socks, I’ll be the shoes
You be the trumpet, I’ll be the blues (Emily)

You be the sky, I’ll be the horn fly.
You be the sun, I’ll be the fun.(Andrew)

You be the sun, I’ll be the shine.
You be the tree, I’ll be the pine. (Kaiden)

You be the dog, I’ll be the cat.
I’ll be the hair you be the hat. (Jacob)

You be the needle, I’ll be the thread.
You be the say, I’ll be the said. (Vannisa)

Posted in Poetry Friday | Tagged Lennon & Maisy, Tabatha Yeatts | 13 Comments »

Freedom

September 10, 2015 by margaretsmn

Join the Spiritual Thursday round up at Reading, Teaching, Learning.

I attended a poetry workshop in which the leader asked us to write using concrete images about an abstract idea. Ah, sometimes that is quite a challenge. Today, Holly asks us to reflect on Freedom for our Spiritual Thursday posts. Freedom is an abstract term that comes with all kinds of connotations.

What is the image of freedom?
The soaring eagle,
A couple in a convertible with the top down, wind in their hair,
praying hands,
a breaking wave on the shore of the sea,
a child on a swing, leaning back, legs high in the air,
or is freedom more complicated than that?

We look to our flag to symbolize our country’s freedom.
We look to words “All men are created equal.”
We look to God.
But our questions remain unanswered,
hanging there in the air of inequality,
oppression, discontent.
What is freedom, really?
What is the ultimate price?
When will we see the image of true peace?

Freedom is the laughter of a child,
the scent of jasmine on a summer walk,
a hug between friends.
Freedom is elusive and right in the palm of our hands.
We can embrace the word, hold fast to our convictions,
and fly the flag. But until the whole of humanity
lives in peace, freedom will not be free.

Posted in Spiritual Growth, Writing | Tagged freedom, Spiritual poetry | 6 Comments »

Staying in the Struggle

September 8, 2015 by margaretsmn

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

Why do we do this to ourselves? Put yourself out there and get knocked down? What for?

I am asking myself over and over why I do this writing thing? Sometimes the struggle gets too hard, and I want to quit.

I recently entered a contest. I took the plunge and sent my latest middle-grade novel out into the world. I felt good about it. I felt ready. Now, I feel regret and shame. Stupid.

My writing partner called me yesterday while she was driving home from the beach. She chose to spend time on her vacation to comfort me. “You are a great writer. Don’t let this stop you.”

Then she sent me an email she had gotten in response to her submission. Practically word for the word the same email I had received. How can someone honestly write the exact same feedback on two totally different pieces?

Instead of feeling relieved, I felt more confused. What is the point?

Everyday I guide my students to be better and better readers and writers. I would never consider giving each of them the exact same response. And yet, I ask them to “stay in the struggle.” I need to ask myself to do the same.

I’ll stay in it. For now. With the help of a strong writing community. With the help of friends like Melanie. She writes about this same thing here. Her reflection is different, of course, because we are different writers. We don’t deserve the same response. And neither do our students.

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing | 10 Comments »

Canva Characters

September 6, 2015 by margaretsmn

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

A few weeks ago I wrote about using the app Canva.com to respond to reading. I made a Canva to write about some of the female characters in Lost in the Sun. This week I asked students to give it a try. I offered Canva as a technology option for their reader response. My response rubric requires the students to respond in three different ways, per Aimee Buckner’s Notebook Know How. I also require a TAG-TT (Title, author, genre, theme, and tone.)

I watched my students go through some of the same frustrations I had with the app, manipulating text boxes. And on some computers, the app froze, and we’d have to restart. Canva does save the draft automatically, so not all was lost.

I called the assignment Canva Characters. The students had to choose three characters and write about their interactions with the main character. Not all results are in, but I think these two show that the assignment was a success. Using technology can motivate students to move beyond their usual interpretation of text and create something new.

Link up your digital literacy posts here.

Posted in Writing | 4 Comments »

Reaching

September 5, 2015 by margaretsmn

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

My one little word for 2015 is Reach. I was determined to reach with my writing. Take it to the next level. Well, this week came rejection. I hear from other authors that this is expected, normal, and we must power through, but it sent me into a slump. Because of Ruth’s invitation to celebrate each Saturday, I am climbing back up the tree and reaching out again.

I celebrate dancing! Friday night I’m tired, but I said yes to his invitation to go Cajun dancing. We only danced three songs, but we left smiling.

I celebrate rainbows. This week I’ve seen rainbows on two consecutive mornings on the way to school. One morning I pulled over and took pictures, the rainbow in the west, the glowing sun in the east.

Morning rainbow

Sunrise

I celebrate authors I admire. I received a signed copy of Over in the Wetlands, a beautiful book by Caroline Starr Rose about the place I live. She captured the magic of the wetlands, along with the fearful hurricane and the peace and rebirth that follows. She sent bookmarks and stickers for my students. I celebrate making connections with authors.

Over in the Wetlands by Caroline Starr Rose

In the midst of a rough week of state pretesting, I celebrate Chalkabration. We went outside in the South Louisiana heat and chalked up the sidewalks with poetry inspired by Laura Purdie Salas’s book Catch Your Breath: Writing Poignant Poetry.

Chalking poetry

This invitation to Celebrate each week helps me to see that there is much to rejoice. Rejection is small. Reaching is big. What are you celebrating today?

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Chalk-a-bration, Teaching | Tagged Caroline Star Rose, One Little Word, rainbows, Reach | 9 Comments »

Cynthia’s Garden

September 4, 2015 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday round-up with Linda at Teacher Dance

Rose of Sharon photo by Cynthia Lord

I love being able to connect with authors through Twitter and Facebook. I met Cynthia Lord at NCTE last year, and she has graciously allowed me to be her friend on Facebook. The photos of her home in Maine place me there, much like her middle-grade books do. I was involved with the Summer Poem Swap this summer. I wrote this poem for a poet who lives in Maine. My visit to Maine became a walk through Cynthia’s garden.

Cynthia’s Garden

When the haze sweeps in,
I stop by Cynthia’s garden
to see the pink rose of Sharon
surprise with a bridal white.

Cynthia asks me in for tea,
a warm taste of sweet honey-orange spice.
On the center table,
sweet pea, Queen Anne’s lace, elderberry.

On the mantle, a photograph
of last winter’s snow, thick and unshoveled.
We look and sigh, knowing
this moment of surprise sweetness
is fleeting.

Her kitchen window looks out on the bay.
Colorful sails rise like kites
above crystal blue. We talk
about bunnies and blueberries
and boys who love to sleep
outside under the stars.

When the haze sweeps in,
I tell Cynthia goodbye
and hold her heart
like a poem I want to hear
again.

–Margaret Simon

Posted in Poetry Friday | Tagged authors, Cynthia Lord, Maine | 11 Comments »

Pay Attention

September 3, 2015 by margaretsmn

Join the Spiritual Thursday round up at Reading, Teaching, Learning.

I came home from school the other day with a story. I was helping with car line duty and enjoying two girls who were last to be picked up. I talked to them about their matching green eyes. I teased them that the sugarcane tractor on the highway was coming to pick them up. Then an old car pulled up and inside was an unkempt woman with a scowl on her face. Could this be the mother of these precious children? Her expression never changed as the girls bounded up to the car and greeted her with a cheerful, “Hi, Momma.”

When I told my husband this story, I said, “I judged her.”

He said, “We judge people. We pay attention. And when you are someone who pays attention, you see lots of ugly in the world. If you are paying attention, you also see lots of beauty. The world is both terrible and beautiful.”

I have a wise husband. His words have stayed with me all week.

As I worked with a student who was having trouble writing, I kept making suggestions. “What about this? What about that?” I told him to come to me with his long, sad face,and I simply said, “Can you tell me the truth about why you are not writing?”

He said, “I don’t want to write what you said.”

In my eagerness to “help,” I had actually stifled him.

“I get it. You want to write about your own ideas. Absolutely, that is what you should do.”

I must pay attention. This is my work. This is my vocation. This is my calling.

When I pay attention, I see
The way the setting sun sends a beam down the bayou.
I see colors in the sky (more than just blue),
A shy boy standing near the wall at recess,
Birds on a wire,
The man with a cane wince in pain,
Green-eyed girls,
A teacher’s tired impatience,
Sunflowers in the sunlight,
A driver’s insulting gesture.
I see the good.
I see the bad.
But I don’t stop
paying attention–
this is my endless and proper work.

Posted in Spiritual Growth, Teaching | Tagged pay attention, Spiritual poetry, spiritual reflection | 6 Comments »

First Chalkabration of the Year!

September 1, 2015 by margaretsmn

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

Betsy Hubbard invented Chalkabration! It’s my students’ favorite day of the month (unless it’s their birthday.) We wrote poems on Friday, but didn’t have time to chalk them. Monday morning was a sunny (hot) morning, so we ventured out to chalk up the sidewalk with poetry.

I have never asked permission to do this. The only complaint came from the assistant principal who merely asked us to move the celebration to the side walkways rather than the area where the little ones sit waiting for their cars. Poor things were going home with chalked up uniforms.

No Chalkabration is ever the same. This time one student enlisted the help of the class to make a huge lettered sign. By the end of our time outside, the kids were sweaty, dirty, and happy. I know they look forward to the end of September to do it all again. (Maybe by then the air will be cooler.)

My poem promise to my students this year.

What is a friend by Emily

Fall is coming, a Who am I poem by Erin

Posted in Chalk-a-bration, Slice of Life | Tagged chalk poetry | 8 Comments »

DigiLit Sunday: Theme

August 30, 2015 by margaretsmn

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

I have been having a Voxer conversation with some teachers on the subject of Writing about Reading #WabtR. Last week we discussed theme and the difficulty students have in identifying the theme of a given story. So I wondered, what if we give them the theme up front? Julianne responded with 5 common themes she had gathered from Cornelius Minor at Teachers College Reading and Writing Project #TCRWP this summer.

Lori tweeted out to authors this question.

The responses flowed in, so I retweeted and tagged some of my favorite authors. I just have to comment here on how cool it is to connect with authors in this way.

These seeds were planted, so I decided that students needed to see all of this in an interesting way. I created an Emaze presentation. As the week went on, I got more advice from the group and added slides. Students can see the 5 common themes, the progression from topic to theme involving a character change or a problem and solution. I added in a student reader response sample from a 4th grader along with some of the author tweet responses.

Feel free to use this Emaze in your classroom to teach, review, or reinforce the concept of theme. (Note: On the slide with the video, you have to pause the presentation to be able to watch the video.) I’d love to hear your results. Tweet @MargaretGSimon with the hashtag #WabtR.

Click on the image to go to Emaze.

Join in the DigiLit Sunday conversation with a link to your blog post.

Posted in Digital Learning, Teaching, Writing | Tagged #TCRWP, #WabtR, Emaze, theme, Voxer, writing about reading | 12 Comments »

Celebrating Learning Communities

August 29, 2015 by margaretsmn

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

Last week I celebrated the hard work of planning a new learning community, our 6th grade enrichment project. We call these special Wednesdays, “WOW” as in “Way out Wednesdays,” and this week was WOW! We have an amazing group of students who enthusiastically mingled and became fast friends. One of our teachers had the brilliant idea of grouping them by what they like to do (computer, art, writing a play, building/crafting), and these groups built their own super hero. One group did a Powerpoint, another a play. The art group created a poster, and the craft group built a costume. This was one of those situations a teacher dreams about. All the students on task and completely self-directed. I celebrate this new learning community and have high expectations for the products they will create.

Super Hero costume: Cop Copter!

My classes are becoming places of safety, learning, and fun. Yesterday we celebrated two birthdays. It delights me that the wish that my students have for their birthday celebrations is the apple peeler. I have an old turn style apple peeler. They each get a turn to peel their own apples. Kielan brought in cookies to share. She created a scavenger hunt that included book titles. And she chose a poetry writing activity from Laura Purdie Salas’s book Catch Your Breath. This is what I call a literary birthday celebration.

While every other day of the week is focused on reading and writing, Fridays are fun! In my other classroom (I teach at two schools), we celebrated completing the week’s assignments with game day. Don’t tell my students, but the games are all educational. They don’t know that. They just think it’s fun. As it should be!