Reflections on the Teche

Famous Again

November 8, 2014 by margaretsmn

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

In our household, if you make it into our local paper, you are famous. I made it into a local free magazine, Acadiana Lifestyle. The writer Anne Minvielle called me about 6 weeks ago asking me about my hero. She was doing a feature on local heroes’ heroes. I didn’t have to think long. My hero is my mother-in-law, Anne Simon. I’ve written about her a few times on this blog.

When I married at the young age of 21, I moved with my husband to his home town, away from my family in Mississippi. So his parents became very important to me. Following his father’s death (ten years ago on Nov. 14th), his mother Anne and I got closer and closer. We affectionately call her Minga. That’s the grandma name my oldest daughter gave her. It was a baby’s version of grandma. We loved it and kept it. What a coincidence that the greeting in Burma is “Minga La Bal.” Yes, a few years ago, Minga traveled to Burma and came to my classes dressed in traditional Burmese clothes, bowing her head and saying, “Minga La Bal.” I wrote about it here.

Acadiana Lifestyle, November 2014

From the article: “Margaret speaks of her mother-in-law as if she were truly a hero. ‘She is like a mother to me, but more than that, she is a best friend, a writing partner, and a confidante. I can talk to her about anything and trust that she will love me no matter what,’ she says. What a blessing!”

While I write this celebration post, my wonderful husband is making a roux for a gumbo. That is the smell of cool weather and of home. However, the scent gets into all your clothes and your pores. We will carry that southern home smell with us all day.

Teaching Authors posted a challenge yesterday on Poetry Friday. Three Weeks of Gratitude. Writing thanksgiving haikus, otherwise known as Thankus. I did this activity with my students a few years ago and here is one from a student. I keep it pinned to the bulletin board in my kitchen.

The seed of a rose
You sprout your knowledge like roots
We share our petals.
by Kylon

Keep your hand moving: Roux in the pot.

Thanku to Roux

Heat tempered with love
Strong scent of flour and oil
Come home for gumbo.
–Margaret Simon

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Gratitude, Writing | Tagged Acadiana Lifestyle, celebration, Gumbo, roux, Teaching Authors, thanku | 6 Comments »

Free Write leads to Poetry

November 7, 2014 by margaretsmn

Find more Poetry Friday at Random Noodling with Diane.

Even purple lemurs named Violet can write.

My students make really good guinea pigs when it comes to trying out new writing activities. This week I showed them a free writing activity I did with our state poet laureate, Ava Leavell Haymon, at the Book Festival Wordshop last Friday. I was not sure how this rather random exercise would work for producing a poem.

We started with a clean piece of drawing paper. Each edge of the paper, we filled with sense words (colors, sounds, tastes, smells, and physical feelings.) Then I asked them to draw a large circle in the middle of the paper. When Ava gave us this exercise to do, she talked about the negative voice that often invades our minds when we are trying to write, saying terrible things like, “You are stupid,” and “Why do you think you have anything to say?” Each student selected a bad color to use to make a shape around their negative voices. Some students had no shapes and others had multiple ones filled with ugly words. I think this helped those who feel intimidated by writing.

Inside the circle, I told my students to free write for 7 minutes. Free writing is anything that comes into your mind. Just keep the hand moving. I even gave them ink pens to use, a treat.

Select six concrete words from your writing. Then write a six-lined poem. The poems were as varied as the students themselves. I enjoyed hearing how the free writing influenced the final poem. I think they were richer somehow. We then created a folded book from the art paper and wrote the six lines on the six pages of the book.

Fall weather warmth

A caramel taste
an amber color
chilly nights
candle lights
a honeysuckle scent–
Fall weather warmth.

by Vannisa

I remember

I remember
sucking on an orange butterscotch,
being embarrassed about something I said
(what a thing to feel).
I remember it all happened
on Thanksgiving.

by Matthew

Night Warrior

Be a warrior.
Ride on your unicorn.
To battle the bullies,
be a sweet, kind hero.
Climb into the sunset.
You become a pink image.

by Erin

Folded book poem

NCTE is around the corner. I am getting nervous and excited. If you plan to be there, please try to attend the Elementary Get Together to support me as I receive the 2014 Donald H. Graves Award. I am also presenting with colleagues from the National Writing Project on Friday.

Link to my presentation at NCTE: Friday, Nov. 21st at 12:30 PM.

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged Ava Leavell Haymon, free writing, NCTE, poetry exercise | 15 Comments »

My Stronghold

November 6, 2014 by margaretsmn

Click here to read more #spiritualjourney posts. Thanks Holly for hosting this roundup!

The light is changing, days are shorter, night comes early. I watch as the season changes, trees lose leaves, air cools, satsumas ripen.

Change happens. God is there.

Through centering prayer, I learned that God is not without. God’s abiding spirit is within, in my very core, a bright sparkle of light, saying, “You are enough.”

God is as near as breath.

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.” (Psalm 28:7)

My heart sings for joy.

My hands are strong that hold God’s love in prayer.

On Facebook, I watch videos of people doing amazing things; a four year old plays master piano, a baby is born, a boy receives a heart.

Even when I do something small and inconsequential, God is there.

God’s strength holds every day, every moment, from hope in a hopeless world to love for a hurting heart. I can depend on God when the day turns dark, when the leaves fall, when the earth turns.

Photo by John Gibson. Haiku by Margaret Simon, all rights reserved.

Posted in Gratitude, Spiritual Growth | Tagged spiritual reflection, strength | 5 Comments »

Write. Draw. Poetry

November 4, 2014 by margaretsmn

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

View of the state capitol from the top floor of the state library.

The weekend was absolutely beautiful for a trip to the capital city of Baton Rouge for the annual Louisiana Book Festival. The sky was clear, the air was cool, and the sun was bright. A great time to celebrate literary works.

I treated myself to a day off and attended a poetry workshop with our state poet laureate, Ava Leavell Haymon. Ava is brilliant and funny and an out-of-the-box thinker. She gave us each a large sheet of drawing paper and had us begin on each edge by writing different sensory words, i.e. sounds, smells, colors. Then we drew a large circle with a gold marker. In this circle, we were asked to free write. She said something about drawing other shapes to put your over-the-shoulder-negative voice into, but I didn’t do this part. After free-writing, we circled concrete words from our writing to use in a poem. Then to complete the task, we folded the large paper so that it made a book. (I found online instructions for the book form here.) After all this, I ended up with this poem.

Rose-colored Glasses

In-box flashes
“Teacher evaluations”
Her plate spills.
All she wants is to be
invited outside
to the trampoline.
–Margaret Simon

Completed poem book

As crazy as this whole exercise seemed, I like the idea of using a free write to compress ideas into a small poem. I want to try this with my students. I have not done free writing yet this year. I usually have a theme or prompt for writing. I wonder if students will be able to work with the randomness. Or maybe that’s the idea, random writing leads to poetry.

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing | Tagged Ava Leavell Haymon, Louisiana Book Festival, poetry exercise | 11 Comments »

PowToon has Power

November 2, 2014 by margaretsmn

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Last week I read Holly Mueller’s Digital Literacy post about her students’ social justice PSA’s. Some of her students used an app called PowToon. I introduced it to my students on Monday while discussing presentation options. I wanted them to further research an area of interest sparked by our field trip to a science museum. After they watched the short PowToon introduction video, I could hear an echo in the classroom, “I’m using PowToon!”

My students are familiar with PowerPoint. PowToon uses a similar interface with an add slide button and graphics that are easily added with a drag and drop motion. My students were able to use this app independently. I watched over their heads as they created fun animated slides. Tyler ran into trouble when he tried to add music. He lost the whole presentation he had created, so we started the mantra of “Hit Save” after every added slide. Tyler was able to quickly recreate what he had done and even enjoyed trying new things, so it was not a huge loss.

After I viewed Tyler’s PowToon, I discussed ways he could raise money for lemurs. We found the World Wildlife Fund that has a lemur adoption kit. The cost is $55. I told him if he presents his PowToon to all the 5th and 6th grade classes and asks them to donate $1 for the cause, he is likely to raise the money. He agreed. I’m excited to watch this 6th grader move from an interest sparked to a social action.

Add your digital literacy posts in Mr. Linky. Follow on Twitter with #k6digilit.

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Teaching | Tagged lemurs, PowToon, World Wildlife Fund | 5 Comments »

Chill-a-bration

October 31, 2014 by margaretsmn

Find more Poetry Friday at Teacher Dance with Linda.

Join the Chalk-a-bration at Betsy Hubbard’s site Teaching Young Writers.

It’s Chill-a-bration Time! That’s Halloween language for Chalk-a-bration. Halloween language for Poetry Friday is “Poetry Freakday!” I hope you enjoy our Freaky chalk poems. My students chalked up the sidewalks and chilled up an Emaze presentation. It was a sunny day, so we added some spooky shadows to our chalk poems.

http://app.emaze.com/1012993/chill-a-bration

A chilling chalk zeno by Emily

Candy chalk choka by Nigel and Tobie.

Shadow poem by Reed.

Posted in Chalk-a-bration, Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged chalk poetry, choka, Emaze, Halloween poems, zeno poems | 11 Comments »

Prayer Shawl Ministry

October 30, 2014 by margaretsmn

Click here to read more #spiritualjourney posts. Thanks Holly for hosting this roundup!

One of my close choir friends has been bringing her crochet projects to the loft for a while now. We all love to touch the yarn and watch her quick hands craft beautiful shawls. She decided to begin a prayer shawl ministry at our church. I had not crocheted or knitted in years, but I was interested in the idea, so I joined.

Baby Vivian is one month old and weighs 2 pounds. Please pray for her.

Before our first meeting, a friend in my Berry Queen community, Holly, had a pre-mature baby. Vivian weighed 1.7 lbs, but she has proven to be a fighter. She is growing and developing. I keep up with her through Facebook. I decided I would make a prayer blanket for the baby. I bought some pink and white thread, a crochet hook, and an instruction book. As I crocheted, I said her name. My mantra became “Vivian Victory.”

Completed baby prayer blanket

We took a field trip last Friday. My student Emily sat next to me on the long bus ride. She watched me work on the prayer blanket. Today, she presented me with a pillow she had sewn for me. She wrote about it for her Slice of Life story on our kidblog. You can read her post here. She wrote, “And, if Mrs. Simon is making a blanket for a premature baby that is only two pounds, she must love it. So, I made this pillow. I made this pillow for someone I love.”

Faith pillow made by Emily.

Emily’s heart has been broken with her mother’s untimely death six weeks ago. The power of grace from God has placed her heart in my hands. And what a gracious heart it is!

I am truly blessed to be a part of many faithful communities, the concentric circles of love from church, friends, family, students, and this blogging community.

Posted in Gratitude, Spiritual Growth, Teaching | Tagged faith, grace, gratitude, prayer ministry | 11 Comments »

Llama in a Black Pot

October 28, 2014 by margaretsmn

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Maggie and her sauce picante.

My daughter Maggie is adventurous, and she loves a good challenge. When she cooked for her friend’s birthday recently, the friend’s mother challenged Maggie to make a sauce piquant for the upcoming Black Pot Festival using some llama necks she had in her freezer. What? Llama neck sauce piquant? Why not?

My husband and I love local music, so we didn’t need much urging to attend the Black Pot Festival. Music, dancing, beer, food, a wonderful combination! If you have followed my blog for the last month, you know we aren’t lacking in the festival department, but we had never attended the Black Pot Festival. As usual for South Louisiana, the crowd was mixed, but we noticed quite a few hippies in this crowd, kids in their 20s sporting long beards and tattoos. Someone commented that they were nouveau hippies.

While in line for a taste, (That was the name of the game: Go where the line is longest to get a taste of whatever was cooking.) I overheard 4 bearded ~~dudes~~ ~~nouveau hippies~~ guys talking about my daughter’s sauce piquant.

Dude 1: Llama is the best, dude.

Dude 2: You got a neck, man! That’s vertebrae, like bone marrow is good for you.

Dude 3: Straight up neck! You should make a necklace out of it.

Maggie and her team did not win the competition in the gravy category, but I would guess that it was the most talked about dish at the festival.

Acadian Village, a preserved historic site, was the setting for the Black Pot Festival.

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged Acadian Village, Black Pot Festival, Llama sauce picante | 4 Comments »

Sci-Port Field Trip

October 26, 2014 by margaretsmn

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

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

There is a tiredness that comes when you know you have done something good, even if it made you terribly tired. That’s what my Friday and Saturday were like. So I am making a combination post for Celebration Saturday and DigiLit Sunday.

On Friday, my colleagues and I woke up really early to board a chartered bus at 5:30 AM with about 40 young gifted students to drive four hours north to Shreveport, LA. We visited Sci-Port. This field trip is a long tradition in our gifted program and happens every two years. I honestly don’t look forward to the long ride. But after it is all said and done, I feel good. It is worth it. The kids not only have a blast, but they also participate in 21st Century skills of Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking. You just can’t do this much in a classroom or with digital learning. I am a believer in field trips. My students may find a way to express their learning this week digitally, through blogging and perhaps a presentation of ideas. I’ll let them decide how they want to process their experience.

Today I celebrate a successful field trip.

We lucked into Chemistry week. Our students learned about the chemistry of candy through hands-on experiments.

Marble mania is a challenge for small groups to create and collaborate.

Add your Digital Literacy posts with Mr. Linky.

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Creativity, Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Teaching, Writing | Tagged #celebratelu, 21st Century Learning, candy chemistry, Sci-Port | 3 Comments »

What’s Inside?

October 24, 2014 by margaretsmn

Find more Poetry Friday at Merely Day by Day with Cathy.

One of my Poetry Friday poet heroes is Laura Purdie Salas. She is the author of Bookspeak and Water Can Be, both of which I recommend for any classroom. She recently published an e-book What’s Inside: Poems to Explore the Park It’s a great resource for teaching young poets.

There was a solar eclipse happening on Thursday. I decided to combine teaching about this phenomenon with a new poem form, “What’s Inside?” We read a few model Laura Purdie Salas poems and discussed the elements in her poems, rhyme, rhythm, along with factual information. I am posting some student poems and my own. To make comments to the students, click on their name.

What’s inside a solar eclipse?
A moon hatching out of its cocoon
“Now is my time to rule the day”
The sun is secret
Hidden away
Coming back soon
“Once again I will rule over moon”
–-Kielan

Above the cosmos,
The moon still glows.
Blocking the light,
It’s a time of fright.
In the position of the sun,
It’s no fun.
When it goes away,
No more for today.
Like a Clash of Clans war,
It’s done for.
–Nigel

Tobie wrote his poem in three voices: the solar eclipse, the sun, and the moon. (I love how he marked each one.)

The sun will be covered by the moon. <———————Solar Eclipse
I just wish it would come again soon.

What's inside this ball of fire? <————————Sun
It's like life, ton of desire.

What's inside this big rock? <—————-Moon
Too bad, there's only one in stock.
–Tobie</blockquote>

Mrs. Simon tries rhyme once again. I was pleased by the unexpected rhyme of sun and phenomenon.

What’s Inside a Solar Eclipse?
Make a pinprick hole in a paper plate.
Sunset horizon, stop and wait.
A new moon crosses the path of the sun,
eclipsing our vision,
a sky-born phenomenon.
–Margaret Simon