Reflections on the Teche

Be the Boss of your Words

April 10, 2015 by margaretsmn

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

I had a wonderful mentor years ago who said that good writers are the ones who give themselves the most permissions. In her recent e-newsletter Salas Snippets, Laura Purdie Salas says this about student writers, “When kids write, they are the boss. Whether they’re writing a free verse poem or a five-paragraph essay, they have the power.” I want to show my students that they have the power over their words. I want to show them that they have permission to be who they truly are when they write.

During National Poetry Month, I make poetry an integral part of my classroom. My students become immersed in words in verse with rhythm and expression. I have a huge collection of poetry books. For their April poetry project, I have asked my students to select three books to read. They are finding themselves in these poems. They are being inspired by poets.

I had a discussion with Erin about the book Water Rolls, Water Rises by Pat Mora. She waved over the pages and repeated the words with awe and wonder in her voice. She told me she loved so many of the words, like golden, glimmering, shining. She was falling in love with the language. This is what poetry offers, every time.

I gave Jacob some ideas for writing a poem. He didn’t take any of them. When I walked over to see what he had typed, I read this first line, “Isn’t it sad when your memories are happy and you want to do it again?” Whoa! His words stopped me in my tracks. I sat next to him and asked him to tell me some of the memories he wanted to keep. He went back to last week, then to his first birthday party, then to being in the womb. Jacob needed to be the boss of his words because his words are amazing. He has the wisdom and spirit of a poet at age seven. What a privilege to watch!

Isn’t it sad when your memories are happy,
and you want to do it again?

I want to catch Easter eggs again with my cousin.
I want to stick my face in the cake again.
I want to go back in my mommy’s tummy again
because I want to get close to her all the time.
I love my memories!

Another activity that has my students singing poems is Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s poetry month project. Each of my two student groups have tried to guess a song/poem match. Both guesses were wrong, but we had a great time working on them. We counted syllables, sang the song choices, consulted YouTube for tunes, and sang Amy’s poems through multiple times before recording and sending our SoundClouds to her. Please go over to her site, The Poem Farm, to hear her sing and our guesses. I wrote to Amy that I admired her braveness in recording her voice singing acapella. She responded that being brave helps others be brave. With that, I encourage you and your students to be brave and send a SoundCloud guess to Amy.

Join the roundup with Laura Purdie Salas!

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing | Tagged Laura Purdie Salas, poetry, student writing | 14 Comments »

Seeking Joy

April 9, 2015 by margaretsmn

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

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

“Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.” Eleanor Roosevelt

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Luke 24:5

We pursue joy,
chase her like butterflies
through the fields–
a futile search.
Like the rainbow over the horizon,
Joy recedes
farther and farther
from our grasp.

When we seek felicity for others,
joy slowly tiptoes in.
She comes in with the wind,
hardly noticeable, always there.

–Margaret Simon

Original image by Beth Saxena. Altered using PicMonkey.

Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Writing | Tagged #DigiPoetry, Easter, Spiritual poetry | 7 Comments »

A Handful of Stars

April 6, 2015 by margaretsmn

Join the IMWAYR meme.

Today I am joining the roundup of kidlit books at Teach Mentor Texts. Click on over for more reviews.

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

I am the guest writer on Laura Shovan’s blog today, Author Amok. I wrote about Ellen Bass’s poem The Orange-and-White High-Heeled Shoes.

When Cynthia Lord offered an ARC of her latest novel A Handful of Stars on Facebook, I commented and was added to the list. A copy came this week, just in time for Spring Break reading.

I was immediately drawn in to this story when Lily chases her blind dog into a blueberry field. Lucky is stopped by a migrant girl, Salma Santiago, who becomes a new friend to Lily. Salma is artistic and wants to help Lily raise money for an operation for Lucky. She joins Lily in painting mason bee boxes. The two become fast friends.

Lily is a complex character. She lives with her French Canadian grandparents who own a general store. You get the sense that the family is still grieving the death of Lily’s mom even though Lily does not remember her. The dog Lucky is her connection to her mother. Lily is also dealing with the change in a childhood friendship. Salma brings hope to Lily. Salma opens up Lily’s mind about art, migrant workers, and friendship.

Cynthia Lord creates a story that not only touches; it also teaches. I learned a lot about blueberry harvesting in Maine (which is different from blueberries in Louisiana.) Through Pépère, Lily learns life lessons. I’ve been wanting to experiment with black-out poetry and Zentangle. I made a copy of a page in which Pépère speaks to Lily about how Lucky (dogs) can teach us. I highlighted words to create a poem and drew Zentangle designs to black out the words. Zentangle can be meditative. Kind of like doodling.

Lucky
wants to see.
He seems happy to me.
We learn from dogs.
They don’t ask ‘why me?’
They find a new way to be happy.

Setting something free
takes faith.

Posted in Books, Poetry | Tagged #DigiPoetry, A Handful of Stars, black-out poetry, Cynthia Lord, Zentangle | 8 Comments »

Celebrate Religions and Traditions

April 4, 2015 by margaretsmn

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

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Since this is Easter weekend, and I will be celebrating with my family, I am combining my weekend posts into one. Continuing my April commitment to digital poetry, a weekly celebration link up, and DigiLit Sunday all in one.

I think I am getting the hang of Nutshell now. You have to take the pictures on the spot because that’s how the app knows to take video. You have to keep in mind that after you take the picture, the phone is still capturing video.

I did not go on an exotic trip to Laos, but very close to my own town, there is a Laotian village complete with a Buddhist temple, Wat Thammarattanaram. This weekend they celebrate Songkran, the Laotian New Year. Yesterday we attended the opening prayer service.

For us in the Christian tradition, it is Holy Week. I began the week with Palm Sunday and a procession led by bagpipes to celebrate Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem. This video I took while participating in the procession of the palms at my parents’ church, St. James Episcopal Church in Jackson, MS. I uploaded it into iMovie and wrote a simple haiku using the title slides in iMovie.

There is stark contrast here in these two traditions. We felt uncomfortable seated on the floor in the Buddhist Temple; however, Bea, a Laotian woman with good English, welcomed us to sit with her and turned to tell us the story of what was happening throughout the service. This kindness made us feel more comfortable.

Today I celebrate the many religions of the world.
I celebrate that traditions are passed on generation to generation.
I celebrate resurrection and renewal.
I celebrate celebrations.

Link up your Digital Literacy posts. Happy Easter!

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Digital Learning, Poetry | Tagged #DigiPoetry, haiku, Laotian New Year, Palm Sunday, Travel, video poem | 6 Comments »

Honey Bee #DigiPoetry

April 3, 2015 by margaretsmn

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

Join the roundup with Amy at The Poem Farm.

An invitation: Many bloggers in the kidlitosphere are celebrating National Poetry Month with all sorts of special projects. Jama has a roundup of them here. I invite you to post on Twitter with #digipoetry. What is digipoetry? Well, anything poetry. If you write your poems on a blog, that’s digital. If you use an app, digital. If you post on FB, digital. So anyone is welcome to join. The hashtag came about because of a tweet from Leigh Anne (@Teachr4) who simply asked me and a few other Slice of Life bloggers, “What are your plans for April?” We didn’t want to be any more specific with this invitation. No challenge involved. You don’t even have to write a poem every day. You can post student work, your work, or somebody’s inspiration. All passionate poets welcome.

Thistle bee

I have been playing around with taking video and writing a poem. Yesterday I posted a serious poem. Today, it’s lighter with a little bee dance.

Pollinate
Propagate
Cultivate
Bees buzz in
Carry dust into the wind
So Life goes on…

-Margaret Simon

Posted in Digital Learning, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged #DigiPoetry, Bees, iMovie, nature poetry, poem movie | 16 Comments »

Maundy Footwashing

April 2, 2015 by margaretsmn

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

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

The maundy in Maundy Thursday means foot washing. Our choir works on anthems that speak of Jesus’ death. It is a somber service. The attendance is low. I think many are uncomfortable with the idea of baring your feet for the priest to wash. Many are uncomfortable with the thought of death, death by torture. I am uncomfortable.

My daughter had a pedicure this week in preparation for a wedding she will be in this weekend. The small Asian woman gently removed embedded nails, shaved off calloused skin, and massaged her legs and feet. The woman was low. We were sitting high. She was performing a service. She looked up again and again checking Maggie’s pain level and asking with her eyes for reassurance that she was doing the right thing, offering peace and comfort through her service. I imagined the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her hair. Humbled and low, looking up to Jesus for approval.

I understand the theory behind foot washing as a way to humble ourselves by washing each other’s feet. Years ago when I was teaching in an Episcopal school, my headmaster asked me to do the foot washing. I thought he meant that I would be the example, the one having my feet washed. But no, I was doing the washing. Students lined up with their feet bared. As I washed child by child, I began to feel an extreme weariness. Afterward, I was physically exhausted. I cried. The experience was profound.

For Digital Poetry, I offer a video from a recent walk in the park. A small poem accompanies the video. The only sound is the running of water.

Posted in Digital Learning, Poetry, Spiritual Growth | Tagged #DigiPoetry, Episcopal, foot washing, Maundy Thursday | 8 Comments »

Dig Deep for Poetry

April 1, 2015 by margaretsmn

My friend who doesn’t write sent me the joke poem above. My response was “You understand me. I dig deep.” I have committed myself to write everyday this month about poetry. I am not promising an original poem each day (but who knows?). To share our poetry activities this month, we are using #digipoetry. Leigh Anne (@teachr4) made this button for our blog posts. Feel free to use it, too.

Wednesday is a good day to wonder. I wandered over to Wonderopolis and found a wonderful article about dolphins and echo-location. To think about writing a poem, I collected words and phrases from the article. After many false starts (rough drafts), I read about Nikki Grimes’ tanka contest. Nikki Grimes’ contest for kids in grades 3-6: Tanka writing

Sometimes when writing doesn’t come easily, a form gives you the structure you need to create. A tanka is similar to a haiku. There is no rhyme and a syllable count of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7. Nikki Grimes has a book coming out in May, Poems in the Attic, which includes tanka. (Click the link for more information.)

I used PicMonkey to create this image poem.

Posted in Digital Learning, Poetry, Writing | Tagged #DigiPoetry, animal poems, dolphins, National Poetry Month, Nikki Grimes, tanka, Wonderopolis | 10 Comments »

Let’s Keep Writing!

March 31, 2015 by margaretsmn

SOL #31

Here I am on the last day of March! I wrote 31 slices of life and joined a community of teacher writers at Two Writing Teachers. What a wonderful month of writing!

My students wrote daily, too. Together we learned:

Writing daily connects you to your life. You see things differently.
Writing daily can be fun!
Writing daily can be hard!
Writing daily leads to new understandings.
Writing daily means taking a deep breath and diving into the deep water.
Writing daily is a practice that will last your lifetime.
Writing daily gives life new meaning.
Writing daily makes a difference.

Some of us in the TWT community are not ready to stop writing daily. We are committing (but not promising) to contribute in some way to National Poetry Month through digital poetry, personal poems, student poems, writing activities, reflections on poetry, etc. We will use the hashtag #DigiPoetry on Twitter. Please join us for more fun and fabulous poetry.

I will be posting on Laura Shovan’s site, Author Amok, on April 6th for her series “What are you Wearing?” I will also add a line to Irene Latham’s Progressive Poem on April 12th. Lots going on in the Kidlitosphere in April.