Reflections on the Teche

Ode to the Cicada

August 22, 2014 by margaretsmn

Join the Poetry Friday Round-up at Life on the Deckle Edge with Robyn Hood Black.

Due to Robyn’s shoulder injury (Get well quick, Robyn.), Irene Latham has taken on the roundup today at Live your Poem.

“Cicada molting animated-2” by T. Nathan Mundhenk – Edited version of File:Cicada molting animated.gif. Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

Taken by T. Nathan Mundhenk, in Centerville, Ohio USA July 30 2007. Each frame taken at 1 minute intervals. 30 minute gap in middle while cicada rested. The Cicada takes about 2 hours to complete the process.

This week was my first week back with my students. We read about bioluminescence of fireflies on Wonderopolis. This got me thinking about another insect, one that is loud at this time of year, the cicada. We read together two poems from The Poetry Friday Anthology of Science, Cicada Magic by Heidi Mordhorst and Cicada by Guadalupe Garcia McCall. We discussed the literary elements of imagery, rhyme, and personification. Then we wrote our own Cicada poems. Mine came out as an ode. One student’s response, “You’ve gotta love an ode!”

Ode to the Cicada

Your buzzy song rises
with the temperature.
Heat fans your wings
that saw the air
with sound.
You shed your exoskeleton
like a chrysalis
emerging larger and uglier
leaving behind a prize,
an ornament hanging on a tree,
a bronze clasp pen for my lapel.
Oh, cicada,
the memory of happy summer days
waiting, wondering,
whispering in wind’s ear
your creaky violin.
–Margaret Simon, all rigths reserved

This video is a quick look at the clouds outside with cicadas singing.

Posted in Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged cicadas, clouds, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Heidi Mordhorst, insects, nature poetry, Wonderopolis | 24 Comments »

God is not prejudiced

August 21, 2014 by margaretsmn

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

My dance instructor, Lou, dances with legendary Zydeco Joe.

I have been maddened, saddened, and frustrated by the happenings in Ferguson, Missouri. Could this happen in my own home town?

I asked this question to the line of people at Solomon House on Tuesday morning. Solomon House is an outreach mission that distributes groceries once a week to the poor in our community. I go every Tuesday morning around 7 AM and greet the clients. This Tuesday our Executive Director was out of town. She usually gives the devotional. I was asked to do it in her absence.

Clients wait for Brown Bag give out at Solomon House.

I was a bit emotional and nervous to address this mixed crowd. As I looked at the group, I saw white men and women as well as black men and women, young and old. Poverty does not know race. Neither does God.

I continued with my talk.

My husband and I love to Zydeco dance. We are two white people who didn’t know how to dance until we started taking lessons three or so years ago. Now we enjoy going out to dance. Zydeco dancers come in all colors. There are black men dancing with white women, old dancing with young, and women dancing with women. God wants us to be like Zydeco dancers. He wants us all to dance together no matter how old we are or what color we are.

I am also a teacher. I teach young elementary students. In the cafeteria yesterday, as the kindergarten students are getting accustomed to school, I asked an older student to take a kindergarten student to class. They held hands without hesitation, a black child and a white child. Children do not know prejudice.

Let us be like Zydeco dancers and like children. Let us hold hands and dance together.

Posted in Spiritual Growth, Writing | Tagged prejudice, spiritual journey, Zydeco | 7 Comments »

Farm Fresh Eggs

August 19, 2014 by margaretsmn

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Creative Commons

I’ve always thought a little romantically about having chickens in my yard. They are so cute, pecking around. My neighbors had a few, so I went by one day and got the tour. I even interviewed them for research on the sequel to Blessen. (She has a pet chicken in both books.) And what is better than farm fresh eggs?

When my daughter was house sitting last week, I went by for a visit. I posted about the horse on Saturday, celebrating his affection. The owners left a long list of chores. They included feeding the dogs, the cats, the ducks, the horses, the bird, and the chickens. The chickens were to be fed at 9:30 PM. I believe this was a tactic for getting them into the coop for the night.

After dinner before I left, Maggie wanted to show me this chicken feeding routine, so we fed them a little early. She showed me the back hatch for collecting the eggs. When she opened the hatch, we were excited to see about 7 eggs. I would be taking some home for breakfast. I reached in to pick up two eggs. As I moved my hand out, I looked to the right and noticed a long black rope. Only, the rope moved.

I have a pathological fear of snakes. I cannot even touch a page in a book with a snake on it. This fear has no basis in logic. When Maggie was 3 years old, my mother and I took her to the zoo. I refused to go into the snake house. Maggie went along with my mother. When they returned, Maggie announced, “Mom, it’s OK. They’re all in cages!”

This moving black rope was in a chicken coop. The very one I had just stuck my hands into. I am proud that I did not drop the eggs or scream and run. I just walked away briskly saying, “That was a snake!” I have decided that I will leave the raising of chickens to friends and neighbors.

Posted in Slice of Life | Tagged chickens, farm living, Slice of Life | 7 Comments »

Technology Trouble

August 17, 2014 by margaretsmn

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Welcome to DigiLit Sunday. I hope you will write a post about how digital literacy is working (or not working) in your classroom and link up with Mr. Linky at the end of this post.

I had a frustrating week with technology. I do not like to be negative, but when technology doesn’t work, it is maddening. I have been setting up my classrooms (yes, I have 2) this week. Since I have decided to use the website Wonderopolis for a weekly language lesson, it is imperative that my connections to the Promethean work. Wonderopolis is interactive, so you have to be able to use your pens on the board.

My school system gave every certified teacher a laptop about 4 years ago. This has been very good for me as I switch from one school to another. I just take the laptop with me, and everything I need is there. I have had trouble off and on for the last few years with my laptop connecting to the Promethean. Lots has been done to it to try to resolve the problem. This week, however, the technician who came pronounced that it was a hardware problem, and the laptop was out of warranty, so I was out of options.

In order to be able to use one of the two desktops for the Promethean, I had to reconfigure my classroom. That meant moving furniture by myself. But by Friday, I had it all rearranged. Then another technician came by. She tried everything, determined to make the laptop connect. Yet again, there was no solution. Now I have to order a splitter thing to be able to see the desktop monitor as well as the Promethean board. Office Depot didn’t carry it. It is now ordered.

Now I am learning to save everything to Dropbox so that I can use it at both schools. Dropbox is a great tool. I have two accounts, one with my school email address and one with my personal account. I use Dropbox to share documents with my writing group and with my gifted team.

I hope next Sunday I will have some good news about technology. I am trying to take this all in stride and hope it is not an indication of the kind of school year I will have.

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education | Tagged technology in the classroom | 5 Comments »

Celebrating a New Year

August 16, 2014 by margaretsmn

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

Happy Birthday to me!

I had a birthday this week. It was also my first school day. The secretary sang “Happy Birthday” to me over the intercom. My gifted teacher-colleagues made cupcakes for our meeting and gave me a new journal. I had a ton of Facebook messages. I love that FB tells people it’s my birthday. I even got messages from two of my favorite authors, Peter Reynolds and Sharon Creech. My friend and colleague, Sally, knows how much I love Peter Reynolds. In 2006, she won a sketch at a technology conference. She gave me this sketch. What a special gift! If you do not know Peter Reynolds’ work, you must. His books make a difference. I am planning once again to participate in International Dot Day that celebrates the publication anniversary of The Dot.

This week my daughter was house sitting for a friend’s family. She sent me this picture to invite me out to enjoy the peacefulness and all the animals.

I met her out at the barn. The largest horse, Jackson, is so sweet. I was petting him, then turned to walk away. He came out of his stall and nudged my back for more petting. I am not accustom to horses, so I wasn’t sure how to react. He didn’t care. He continued to be affectionate. Maggie took this picture of us.

Thanks for celebrating the week with me.

Posted in Celebration Saturday | Tagged birthday, Dot Day, farm, Peter Reynolds | 10 Comments »

Joy Finds Me

August 14, 2014 by margaretsmn

Holly Mueller invites us to reflect on our spiritual journey every Thursday. Today’s theme is Joy. Please visit her site to link up and read more posts about Joy.

Sometimes when I’m not looking, and even on those days when frustrations abound.

Joy finds me.

In the morning, the sun shines a beam on the bayou.

Joy finds me.

A child’s eyes light up and smile.

Joy finds me.

A favorite song comes on; I sing along.

Joy finds me.

A cloud looks like Tilly, the wonder dog.

Joy finds me.

A friend sends a text, “You’re a gift.”

Joy finds me.

A cup of coffee when the bones wear thin.

Joy finds me.

A wagging tail and a slobbery lick.

Joy finds me.

The setting sun shines orange, purple, red.

Joy finds me.

The moon rises full; Pleiades sends showers.

Joy finds me.

Where does Joy find you?

Bayou morning photo by Margaret Simon

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry, Spiritual Growth | Tagged joy, spiritual journey | 6 Comments »

Green Smoothie

August 12, 2014 by margaretsmn

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

When I was visiting in Seattle, my sister-in-law would make a green smoothie every morning for herself and her daughter. I got a taste. I decided to give them a try at home. I’ve tried different combinations of fruit and vegetables, but the formula I made today came out especially good. I do believe I feel more energetic, so I may put this into my afternoon routine. When I get home from school (especially the first two weeks), I am exhausted. The green smoothie may be just the thing to give me a boost for the rest of the day. Also, it’s really good for you.

Today’s recipe: half a banana, half an avocado, a handful of baby spinach, half a cup of almond milk, one Greek 100 calorie yogurt with fruit, and a toss of almonds. Yummy!

I’ve discovered that the basic recipe is 1 cup of fruit, 2 cups of leafy vegetable, 1 cup of liquid, and a tablespoon of nuts. All this in the blender that’s been dormant under the counter set on “liquid” for a few seconds, and there you have it. Cheers!

This is a quick Slice of Life post, but I am so energized I think I’ll go to yoga class!

Posted in Slice of Life | Tagged green smoothie, healthy eating | 9 Comments »

Wonder Thinglink

August 10, 2014 by margaretsmn

Welcome to DigiLit Sunday. Please consider joining in the roundup by posting a Digital Literacy post and linking up with Mr. Linky.

I am working on framing my daily language lessons for my gifted students in grades 5 and 6 using WONDER. Here is a form for creating your own Wonder lesson. Wonder template for ELA (2) This framework will lead my students to explore Wonderopolis, an amazing educational site, as well as help them respond to real-world content. These frames are aligned to the Common Core Standards and use pre-AP skills.

I worked on the Thinglink Teacher Challenge this summer. I wanted to put my Wonder framework into a Thinglink image. I used Starling Murmurations as the Wonder for this experiment. I also tried PollDaddy to embed two polls, one for a definition and one for a question. I put in links with each of the Wonder activities. These activities include

W- Exploring the wonder
O- What is your opinion?
N- Notes, find words of awe and wonder
D- Define phenomenon
E- On Tapestry, rewrite phrases to create a logical sentence.
R- Response to reading: Summarize and article.

Here is the link to Thinglink:

Have you ever wondered about Starling Murmurations?

I wonder if Thinglink will make the work of Wonder more motivating or more time-consuming. Will Thinglink be a useful tool in my classroom or not worth the time it takes me to create one? All this remains to be seen as I begin working with my students this year. All in all, trying new applications is challenging and fun, so I hope my excitement translates to the children.

What new technology will you try this year? Don’t forget to link up.

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education | Tagged Innovative Education, language arts, starling murmurations, Thinglink, Wonderopolis | 12 Comments »

Celebrating Thirty-two Years

August 9, 2014 by margaretsmn

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

August 7, 1982

On August 7, 1982, I was not even 21 yet. But I made a very wise and wonderful decision to marry my best friend. We celebrated 32 years by dancing to our favorite Zydeco band, Geno Delafose and the French Rockin Boogie. They were playing in New Orleans at the Rock N Bowl. Yes, you read that right, Rock and Bowl. Only in New Orleans can you bowl and dance to Zydeco. Read about the interesting history of the place here.

I thought the band started at 7 PM. I don’t know why I thought that and having not verified it, we showed up at the Rock n Bowl at five minutes to 7. With our hands stamped, we were told that the music started at 8:30. Jeff and I walked next door to another longtime New Orleans establishment, Ye Ole College Inn. I’ve never had a bad meal there. We had a delicious meal and a drink (or two), so we were ready for dancing the night away. Geno has more stamina than we do, so we rarely see the tip of his hat and his farewell. But we made it until 11:30, dancing our last dance to “Make the Dust Fly.”

We took our time getting up on Friday morning. We had a nice lunch and visit with my cousin and his wife. They are renovating an old four-plex in Uptown making it into a single family home. My cousin is an architect. I am fascinated by his choices. The door to the back porch is an automatic garage door. He has salvaged tin from an old shed to make a tin wall. He is also using an old gurney to make a rolling island in the kitchen. Regretfully, I didn’t take any pictures. I just listened to him talk passionately about keeping the integrity of the materials he is using. I celebrate his endeavor.

One of our favorite bars is The Napoleon House, known for its Pim’s Cup, a delicious refreshing gin-based drink. When we were dating long ago at LSU, we would drive to NOLA after a game and hang out at The Napoleon House, a unique bar/restaurant with crumbling concrete walls, cheerful male waiters most of whom have a handle-bar mustache, and loud classical music.

Our celebration continues today.