Reflections on the Teche

DigiLit Sunday: Graphic Intelligence

August 9, 2015 by margaretsmn

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I don’t think Sunday morning is the time to launch into a research project, but when I typed “Graphic Intelligence” into the title line, I wondered, “Is this a real thing?” A quick search in Google turned up a book with the title, “Graphic Intelligence: Possibilities for Assessment and Instruction” by Barrie Bennett. Looks like this is a book all about graphic organizers from the least complex to the most.

My use of the term is not related to graphic organizers. What I am questioning early this morning is the presence of an intelligence for graphics. Not the use of a graphic organizer. In my field of gifted education, I am always trying to think outside the box, away from constraints like graphic organizers and more toward creativity. Creative problem solving leads students to deeper thinking at a higher intelligence level. The revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy puts Creativity on the top rung. Create means to put elements together to form a coherent whole; reorganize into a new pattern or structure.

As I continue to explore writing about reading with an online group of teachers, I decided to try out using Canva to express my thoughts. Canva is a poster-making app. The site provides numurous images (many of which cost $1 to use). You can also upload your own image. I decided to use simple images and arrows. I don’t think my canva is a particulary brilliant construction, but I noted during the process that I had to synthesize my thoughts about the characters.

I could have used the well-used and time-tested Venn Diagram to compare the female characters. But if I give my students this tool, they don’t have to think beyond the comparison aspects. If I ask them to define characters in a new way using a graphic of their own making, I have now added the element of creativity to the assignment.

When I start working with my students in the next few weeks, I will show them the graphics I have made for response to reading. I hope to encourage and motivate them to try creative graphics to represent their thoughts about reading.

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Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Teaching | Tagged Bloom's taxonomy, Creativity, graphic intelligence, writing about reading | 6 Comments »

Celebrating August

August 8, 2015 by margaretsmn

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

August oppresses me. I know I shouldn’t let it. But the heat and heaviness of the air gets to me. Yesterday was my anniversary. I’ve been married an amazing 33 years to the best guy in the whole world, but I was in no mood to celebrate. I was hot and tired. But then this came: a package and a poem.

Heidi Mordhorst sent me a poem. We are exchanging in the Summer Poem Swap designed by Tabatha Yeatts. Heidi visited Greece this summer. We had a connection because I went on a trip there 4 years ago. The image captures the amazing blue of the Aegean Sea. And her poem captures the magic. Thanks, Heidi, for lifting my soul.

Laura Purdie Salas is one of my favorite poets and teachers. She has a great website and has published a number of teacher aids for writing poetry with students. I can’t wait to share this newest publication with my students. Catch Your Breath: Writing Poignant Poetry.

School started this week. I haven’t started pulling my students yet, but I saw them and hugged them in the hallway. I love having this kind of connection with my kids. I teach them year after year, so our relationship strengthens each year.

At one of my schools, the year theme is reading and books. We all wore Dr. Seuss t-shirts on the first day. I love the quote on the back. Reading is magic. I strive again this year to open this magic door for my students.

What are you celebrating this week?

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Poetry | Tagged Dr. Seuss, Heidi Mordhorst, Laura Purdie Salas, summer poem swap | 12 Comments »

A Poem a Minute

August 7, 2015 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday round up with Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference.

I received another poem swap gift. Poets are incredibly creative people, so it’s always exciting to see what arrives. Joy Acey sent me a hawk feather, along with an artistic background and original poem. Her poem is a minute poem, 60 syllables. This was a new form for me, so I decided to capture a moment with a student today in my own minute poem, a sort of call and response with Joy’s poem.

Hawk Feather

The hawk soars in sky-high circles
floating on air
around the sun
riding jet streams.

Its rust and black feathers flutter
lifting to glide.
A feather drops.
Grab the treasure.

Pull the feather across your skin;
caress softness.
It feels so smooth.
Hear the hawk’s dreams.

–Joy Acey, 2015, all rights reserved

Joy Comes Back to You

Such joy returned
when I saw your face
upturned to me
from a warm embrace.

Summer sun kisses
on your pink cheeks
reflecting light
from your blonde hair streaks.

Like a new butterfly
on a wisp of wind,
you lift my spirit
once again,
my student,
my friend.

–Margaret Simon

Posted in Poetry Friday | Tagged Joy Acey, minute poem, summer poem swap | 12 Comments »

Wise Words of Malala

August 4, 2015 by margaretsmn

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

Today is my first day back to school. The kids come on Friday. Ready or not?

This year our gifted team plans to focus on heroes. For one of our Summer Poem Swaps, Tabatha Yeatts sent a prompt to write a poem from the words of someone. I chose to look at Malala Yousafzai’s words with the theme of heroes in mind. I found this image and quote.

One child
can step by step
walk across stones
wobble, fall, rise
to hope.

One teacher
can line her shelves
with books, voices
pointing the way
to climb.

One book
can open young eyes
to injustice, prejudice, pain
so they can build a road
to peace.

One pen
can move a single hand
to create new lines, new words
new art, making a change
to the world.

–Margaret Simon

Who is your hero? Can you write a poem off his/her words?

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching | Tagged Malala Yousafzai, summer poem swap, Tabatha Yeatts | 11 Comments »

Using Piktochart for Reader Response

August 2, 2015 by margaretsmn

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Once again I am playing around with apps to use with my students. For my reader response this week with my virtual book club, I tried using Piktochart. I have mixed feelings about the results.

Piktochart is designed for business presentations that include data. Data is not my thing. Reading and writing is. So how could I re-use this program to fit in with digital literacy?

I chose a report template from the few free ones provided. Adding in a text box was cumbersome. We have gotten so accustomed to apps reading our minds. The text box never appeared where I wanted it to go, so I struggled to move it and arrange it. I don’t think students would have as much difficulty. They tend to be more savy with a mouse.

The part I did like about this process was the motivation to graphically design the ideas. Design is becoming a big part of digital media. If we tap into design with our students, I believe we add another element to their learning and processing. Making a product to represent their response to reading is a way to authentically create digital media. I may be wrong, but I think it would take some of the chore out of reader response. I still believe strongly in choice, so Piktochart will go on my list of choices for responding to reading.

Link up your digital literacy posts:

Posted in Digital Learning, Teaching | Tagged Lost in the Sun, Piktochart, reader response | 4 Comments »

Celebrating Acts of Kindness

August 1, 2015 by margaretsmn

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

Swinging for Addyson

1. When I heard the news that one of our students had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, I pulled out my crochet needle and created a prayer blanket for her. Saturday I gave her the blanket at a ragball fundraising event for her medical bills. Her smile says it all. Keep Addy and her family in your prayers as they continue to fight this battle.

Make yourself a park ranger.

2. Celebrating #clmooc and collaborative learning: This week marked the sixth and final make cycle of #clmooc. NWP joined the National Parks Service to encourage getting outside and exploring your national, state, and heritage parks. Kevin Hodgson invited me to join in the Google hang out on Tuesday evening. I love collaborating and learning from others. The archive of the hang out is here.

I had every intention of visiting a state park but the heat and the fact that my daughter was home kept me from participating further in this project.

Cheers to my daughter Martha.

3. Martha is home! My youngest flew in from Chicago for my last week of summer break. I’ve enjoyed spending time with her and just knowing she’s home.

4. My classrooms (I teach at two schools) are clean, organized, and decorated, ready for students to arrive all too soon.

photo by Jan Risher

5. Jan Risher, a writer for The Advertiser, the Lafayette regional newspaper, put out a call on Facebook for people to make paper cranes to honor the two victims of last week’s Grand 16 shooting. She gathered enough cranes to make two senbazuru. I made a few cranes and just doing this small gesture comforted me and helped me to feel a part of this community. I am very proud of the way the Acadiana community has responded with an outpouring of support and love. To me, it’s the only way to respond to violence…complete and utter kindness.

6. Speaking of responding with kindness and love, I celebrate James Taylor. In 1979 after our home had been totally flooded, the first album we purchased was James Taylor’s Flag. I listened to Up on the Roof so many times I memorized all the words. His music is still lifting up spirits and sharing love. Here is a recent performance in which the Charleston Low Country Voices joined him on stage. JT makes everything all right.

Posted in Celebration Saturday, clmooc, Gratitude, Writing | Tagged #clmooc, Grand 16 Theater, James Taylor, kindness, Lafayette Strong, Prayer Shawl Ministry | 9 Comments »

Kitchen Window

July 31, 2015 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday round up at Keri’s farm.

Poetry Friday is here. I always feel a sense of excitement and anxiety working on a post for PF. Today’s poem has been through a morphing of sorts. I started it in my notebook writing with my young writers camp. We stopped into our local independent bookstore, Books Along the Teche. My prompt was to steal a line from a favorite book to write from.

Ava Leavell Haymon is(was) the Louisiana poet laureate. Her latest poetry book, Eldest Daugther, was sitting near the front of our bookstore watching me and my students. I opened her up and found a line. “I am the light, standing in the kitchen window.”

I love to watch the light change from my kitchen window. This morning it illuminated a blue bottle on my outdoor bottle tree. Using PicMonkey, I altered the image and typed in my poem.

Posted in Digital Learning, Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged Ava Leavell Haymon, PicMonkey, steal a line | 7 Comments »

A Slice of Culture

July 28, 2015 by margaretsmn

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

Photo by Cajun Byrd on flickr.

The heat is on. Temperatures are reaching well into the 90’s with heat indexes of 100+. Humidity thickens the air. And yet, the party still goes on.

Last weekend my husband and I drove an hour north through fields of sugarcane and soybeans, past ancient live oaks along the ridge of the Bayou Teche. We were driving to see one of our favorite Cajun fiddlers, Michael Doucet, who was playing with 3 other musicians at Bayou Teche Brewery in Arnaudville.

I’ve known Michael since I taught his son, Ezra, in third grade. (If my calculations are right, it’s been 17 years.) Michael has always been charming and welcoming, even though he’s gotten quite famous. This day was no different.

There was a slight breeze. When it blew, we raised our arms like cormorants. We danced a two-step and a waltz and drank a beer fresh from the brewery.

I was transported back in time…
when the coolest place was on the porch
where musicians played in the late afternoon,
and the cicadas joined the fiddle tune,
when family was mother, father, brother, sister, cousin, Parran, Nanny, and the neighbors next door.

Michael and his friends captured that front-porch-family feeling with their music.

Posted in Slice of Life | Tagged Arnaudville, Cajun music, fiddle, LA 31, Michael Doucet | 14 Comments »

DigiLit Sunday: Virtual Book Club

July 26, 2015 by margaretsmn

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A few weeks ago I wrote about a virtual book club I joined led by Julianne Harmatz. We read A Handful of Stars and wrote using Google docs. The model worked well, so subgroups have broken off to read other books. My group is reading Lost in the Sun by Lisa Graff. Resources are popping up for teaching reading that I have not tuned in before. Something about doing what you ask students to do makes the teaching more authentic. If I write a page full of sketch notes about a book and show my students, they see that this is a practice of a reader, not an assignment by a teacher. Julianne started a padlet, and we are still adding to it. This padlet will be a go-to for me this year. I hope others will continue to add to it and build more and more resources for writing about reading. Using Google docs for teaching is new to me. It’s so easy and natural, like writing a note to a friend. In the document, we notice and note things about our reading. Everyone responds differently, and that is the beauty of it. Because I teach individual students in gifted, the accessability of a Google doc will allow them to communicate about reading beyond the walls of our classroom and our school. Using the #WabtR, we can continue the conversation and perhaps match up students book by book. The possibilities are exciting. If you are interesting in joining in on this virtual book club fun, let me know. Link up your digital literacy posts:

Posted in Books, Digital Learning, Teaching | Tagged Lost in the Sun, reading strategies, virtual book club | 3 Comments »

Celebrate in the Midst of Tragedy

July 25, 2015 by margaretsmn

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

“The sisters” My daughters and me.

The hardest time to celebrate is during tragedy. But it is probably the most important time to do just that. Count your blessings. Hug the ones you love. Live more fully.

There is a tragic disease running through our country, random gun violence. Violence has invaded my community. Lafayette is a mere 25 miles down Highway 90 from New Iberia. We go there often for dinner, for shopping, and to go to the movies. In fact on Thursday night, my daughter Maggie and I drove to Lafayette to visit one of her friends who has a new baby. We did a little shopping. We drove by the theater around 7:15 PM, but we didn’t know then that tragedy was happening there.

When my daughter wants to go out with me, I jump at the chance. She’s 30 and has her own life. Spending time with her is precious. Today I celebrate that we got our toes done, a matching peachy orange. I celebrate that we oohed and ahhhed over baby Camille. I celebrate that we loved and laughed and had a girls’ night out.

Two local teachers were out for a girls’ night out. Theirs turned evil and bloody. They were heroes. They saved lives. Here is the story.

Jillian Johnson was not so lucky. She did not survive. She is remembered for her contribution to our community. In an article by Christiaan Mader, a close friend of Maggie, he described who Jillian was.

She was a commanding presence as a performer and a human being, smoke-voiced as a singer and sarcastic in her swollen drawl that gave conversation with her an air of sharp gentility. She was prone to pronouncement, ably confident, audacious with a ukulele, provocative, unafraid, kind in measures of deserving and fearless in calling your bullshit. She spun yarns and made friends as easily as she sloganeered. She was a turn-of-the-century Louisiana politician reincarnated. She could have kept a chicken in every pot if she set her mind to it. A wry grin contains genius within its limits, and Jillian’s grin was the wryest. (Read the whole article here.)

Shortly after the news broke, I received a text from my friend Jen. A simple message of love. Jen has suffered the tragic loss of both a husband and a son. This was her message: “I know too well how life can change in an instant. Always wanting to tell everyone I love how very much I love them & appreciate their presence in my life. I hope you know how much you (and Jeff) are loved and valued! Have a beautiful day! We each are only guarenteed this very moment.”

Take this moment and receive the joy of Jillian playing with her band “The Figs.” And then take the next moment to tell someone you love them.