Reflections on the Teche

The Fault in our Stars

June 24, 2014 by margaretsmn

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

The theater was practically empty on a Tuesday afternoon during a storm. But Carolyn and I didn’t mind. We both forgot our Kleenex, so she slipped out just when Augustus and Hazel got to Amsterdam knowing full well we would both need napkins. Why do we do this to ourselves? Yet we were both gloriously sobbing. Cleansing or stupid?

I warn my students when they have to read Where the Red Fern Grows in the summer between 5th and 6th grade, “Do not read the end in public. Close yourself into your room and get under the sheets.”

Carolyn and I both read the book. We knew what was coming, but we watched anyway. And loved it. I don’t really understand why, except that humans are like this. We want to love, and we want to watch others fall in love. I was right there with Hazel and Augustus. I don’t even know the actors’ real names.

Literature and good movies move us. They reveal to us the faults, the beauty, and the sadness of life in a way that is safe. We can crawl under the covers and read the book, wipe away the tears, and move on. Move on in a better way, more full, heart attuned to life. The leaves look greener somehow.

I don’t know if you should go see The Fault in our Stars, but if you do, your heart will swell and you will cry, but as Augustus says to Hazel, “Oh, I don’t mind, Hazel Grace. It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.” It is a privilege to have your heart broken by The Fault in our Stars.

Posted in Books, Slice of Life | Tagged crying, John Green, movie themes, The Fault in our Stars | 10 Comments »

It’s Monday: Summer Reading

June 23, 2014 by margaretsmn

It’s Monday, what are you reading? I am joining in a meme at Jen Vincent’s site Teach Mentor Texts. Follow me to her site to see more Monday book reviews.

Some of my colleagues and I have started a book club for reading middle grade books. We’ve had a hard time selecting books to read, so we decided that the hostess for the next meeting would pick the book. Coty picked Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen. I have never read it, and it was published in 2001. I also missed the movie but will soon remedy that. I flipped over Flipped. The story is told from two points of view, Bryce and Julianna. I enjoyed reading their different perspectives on the same events. Once I read Bryce’s story, I had to read Juli’s. This is a romantic novel in the best, most innocent sense. The back and forth of feelings is so real. And the lessons are valuable. I think sixth grade girls would love Flipped. Not sure if the boys would have the same reaction. Girls tend to enjoy relationship drama more than boys. I recommend Flipped for your summer reading. It’s quick and delightful. Makes you want to go climb a tree.

The Year of Lettering by Kelly Cummings

A huge fan of The Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler, I had not read The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place. Another great read! I am a fan of realistic fiction. This book is written in the snarky voice of Margaret Rose Kane. (Can’t help but love her name.) At first I didn’t like that she was having such a rough time at camp, but then along came the Uncles and their eccentricities. For 45 years, Margaret’s uncles had been building three towers in their backyard using glass jars, watch and clock parts, and scrap metal. When neighbors decide the towers must go, Margaret works to save them. I think middle graders will enjoy this book because of its colorful characters and sense of purpose. We all want to know what happens to the towers.

What are you reading?

Posted in Books | Tagged E.L. Konigsburg, IMWAYR, Wendelin Van Draanen | 5 Comments »

DigiLit Sunday: Reflections on Make Cycle #1

June 22, 2014 by margaretsmn

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Please join in this meme designed to share our digital learning and challenges. Just as a teacher of writing needs to be a writer, a teacher of digital literacy needs to be a digital learner. Use this button on your blog post and leave a link with Mr. Linky. Please read and comment on other posts. That’s how connectedness and collaboration begin.

Reflection is another means to apply the Connected Learning principles of being Interest-Powered and Production Centered by considering what you’re making and interests are now, and what your orientation is for the immediate future. –Chris Butts, CLMOOC team

I have jumped right in to the waters of two digital challenges: The Thinglink Teacher Challenge and National Writing Project’s Making Learning Connected, a.k.a. #clmooc.

Yesterday’s email from the CLMOOC team asked us to make a list of three things and to reflect on two questions.

1. What I’ve made so far…

How to pick blueberries: Thinglink
Self avatar: Bitstrip

Digital Self: Thinglink

How to be water: Animoto/YouTube

2. What I’m working on:

Poster about writing in Canva: This is a higher learning curve than other apps I tried this week. I struggled and gave up. But I am determined to try again and conquer this!

3. What I want to work on:

Prezi is a presentation site that I am daunted by. I have seen others do great things with it, and I’m sure my students would love it.

Reflections:

What did you learn from what you’ve already made? I learned to be more confident in my digital self. The Thinglink challenge for this week was to make a digital self. I thought I had to draw something. I started working on my ipad with a new stylus and became quickly annoyed. Then I googled avatar and low and behold, there’s an app for that! I was surprised how easy it was. So many online apps can make you feel stupid, but some, like Bitstrips, made me feel smart.

What do you see as the purpose of making this week? The purpose for me always goes back to my teaching and being able to support my students in their digital learning. However, I also discovered that making was fun, and I was compelled to share (and show off). I want to invite you to take the plunge. Jump in the deep end because there are lots of supportive floatie people out there.

I wanted to make a blog icon for the Connected Learning values, so after writing this post, I tried Canva again. It worked better for this purpose. You should try it.

Posted in Blogging, Digital Learning, Teaching, Writing | Tagged #clmooc, Animoto, Canva, Connected Learning, Innovative Education, National Writing Project, Thinglink | 6 Comments »

Celebrate Connecting and Creativity

June 21, 2014 by margaretsmn

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

This morning I have weeded the flower bed, swept the floor, and made spinach balls for tonight’s poetry reading and book signing. I am sitting down now and enjoying the rest. I wasn’t going to do a Celebration Saturday post, but why not? I’m happy in my home and should celebrate that in itself.

Because it’s summer and because I like to connect with other educators, I signed up for the Making Learning Connected Community or #clmooc.
Of course, I already feel behind. I participated in the Twitter chat on Thursday night. It moved so fast. But I got a little encouragement about my first make: a How To. I also learned about some new tech tools that I am saving for tomorrow’s DigiLit Sunday post. The best part of any PD challenge such as this is the connection you make with other teachers and makers. (Julie Johnson is a blogger who is also doing the #clmooc challenge. Check out her blog post here.)

I believe that in order to teach my students to be brave in the tech world, I must be brave. Just do it, as they say.

I waited for inspiration. It came late yesterday evening after my dinner was cooked and cooling off. I thought “How to be water,” inspired by Laura Purdie Salas’ new book Water Can Be. I downloaded the Animoto app on my phone, made a video of my cat drinking from the faucet as she wants to do almost all the time, and uploaded water images. This was quick and satisfying.

Today I celebrate connecting and creating. Have a wonderful summer solstice day!

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Digital Learning, Teaching | Tagged #clmooc, Animoto, Creativity, Laura Purdie Salas, video, water | 9 Comments »

Real Revision

June 20, 2014 by margaretsmn

Join the Poetry Friday round-up at Jone’s site: Check it Out.

Revision? Ugh! If you are a writer, revision is a necessary evil. Maybe not evil, but definitely necessary. If I am going to urge my students to revise, I must experience it myself.

I have a copy of Kate Messner’s Real Revision in my stack of professional books for the summer. It’s already dog-eared, written in, and sticky-noted. Each chapter ends with a section “Meet Mentor Author…” I decided for this post that I would take one piece of advice and apply it to an old draft of a poem. However, when I got started, I went in a different direction.

I’ve “met” Jeannine Atkins through Poetry Friday. Her exercise in Real Revision begins, “Try It: Jeannine Atkins tries to use concrete nouns- specific, precise words- and verbs that really suggest action.”

I pulled out my poem “Singing the Blues” that I wrote in a wordlab setting. I liked it but felt that it needed work. Jeannine’s exercise helped me attack the challenge, but once I started pinpointing precise words, I also made other changes. This is a good lesson for my work with students. A revision strategy such as this one by Jeannine can be a starting point, but I also should encourage other changes. Jump in with finding precise words, then move on to confirming the theme, changing the order, or adding in senses, metaphor, etc. Revision can be endless. We should teach our students that it can also be fun and satisfying when your writing takes shape and looks like a bird that may fly.

My brother, the performer, Hunter Gibson

Find Hunter’s music on the web here.

Singing the Blues

My mother sang blues in rhythm with her cleaning,
mopped on out to the shade of the oak tree
to cool off and cool down. That Mississippi sun
shone like Jupiter on a summer night.

We played with fire.

The front yard burned.
Smoke rose to the gods,
Chatty Cathy and a set of Lincoln Logs—ashes.
Mom cried when she saw her begonias
seared like sausage on a stick.

I buried my Barbies in the flowerbed, knelt
beside the snake of Eden—I am a sinner.
I Guess that’s Why They Call it the Blues
echoes from the microphone.

Brother now plays the keyboard,
sways his Elton John head
above the noise of a crowded bar.
Does he remember?

We were only children, for God’s sake!
What did we know about heat and rage then?
Our phoenix rose long ago.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing | Tagged Hunter Gibson, Jeannine Atkins, Kate Messner, revision | 16 Comments »

Chicago Celebration

June 14, 2014 by margaretsmn

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

Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago

We are celebrating in Chicago with our three lovely daughters the success of daughter number three. Last night Martha was hooded in Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University of Chicago. She received her masters in social science administration (social work). With about 200 others, Martha walked the sacristy of the chapel to receive her hood. Martha made the decision to attend U of C because of the top level program. She worked hard for two years. She will continue this difficult work with a nonprofit known as Thresholds. She will work with mental health patients in the justice program. I admire her dedication to improving the lives of unfortunate people. Of course, as a mother, I worry. I must let go of this and allow her to move into what she was “meant to do.”

I cannot help but marvel at my daughters. How did I create such a force of three women set out to be the best they can be in a shaky world? These girls are not shaken. They are strong and determined. I celebrate them. My husband and I keep looking at each other with that look, “we did this!”

Jeff and I at Lake Michigan celebrating blue.

Last week Maggie and I rescued a kitten from our neighbor’s car. I heard the loud mew on Thursday and spent some time under the car coaxing and comforting this distraught kitten, but I could not get her to come out. On Friday morning I heard the cries again, from the same neighbor’s car. I enlisted Maggie’s help. She has scars to show for it. She reached in to the car’s hood and grabbed the kitty, hissing and thrashing. Maggie had put on gardening gloves, but parts of the car scraped her arms. Kitten saved! We set her up on a back screened porch away from the other animals.

Over the weekend, I fed her, talked to her, and eventually was able to hold her without her hissing. On Monday I took her to our vet and found out she was a healthy girl maybe 4-5 weeks old. I then set out to find her a home.

I had a lunch date with my friend Carolyn. When she arrived, I said, “I have something to show you.” Sold! Carolyn texted her daughter, and they decided to take her. Here is the happy new mama (or grandma) with the kitten. I celebrate new life, new homes, and happy mamas.

What are you celebrating this week? Blessings abound!

Posted in Celebration Saturday | Tagged kitten rescue, School of Social Science Administration, Thresholds, University of Chicago | 10 Comments »

Poem Movie

June 13, 2014 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday Round-up is with Catherine Johnson.

the coming of lavender

Over at Today’s Little Ditty, Michelle H Barnes is hosting a poem movie challenge issued by her guests Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong of the Poetry Friday Anthology of Science. I love a creative challenge and since I am trying to be OPEN in the year 2014, I need to learn new things. I knew nothing about using iMovie, but I have it on my computer, so I gave it a try. This is a user friendly program. If I can do it, anyone can.

I pulled out a poem I wrote for Laura Shovan’s Pantome poem project and uploaded pictures I had in my files. I must have recorded my reading 5 times or more. That was the hardest part. What is it about doing something like this that makes you feel so smart and accomplished? I will definitely try this with my students next year. Thanks, Michelle, Sylvia, and Janet for the motivation to try something new.

Posted in Creativity, Digital Learning, Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged iMovie, poem movie, Today's Little Ditty | 9 Comments »

Wide Open Summer

June 10, 2014 by margaretsmn

Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

Summer is a wide open blank canvas. I have been painting things onto this summer canvas. So many things. Too many things? One of these things is the Thinglink Teacher Challenge. I wanted to learn more about this new online platform, so I signed up for the challenge. The first week wasn’t too difficult. A How-to assignment. I used an image from blueberry picking last week and added links to my blog post, an article about the farm, and a recipe for blueberry cobbler. I enjoy being able to actively do what I will ask my students to do.

Click here to see the image in Thinglink with embedded links.

Kaylie has been keeping up summer writing. I think it may be time for her to get her own blog. Here is a link to her Slice today. It was a crazy stormy morning here. There were tornado watches and heavy rain. Kaylie captures the scary feeling in her poem,”Slicing through the Storm.”

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life | Tagged Kaylie, storm poem, Thinglink | 7 Comments »

Balance

June 8, 2014 by margaretsmn

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Photo from Mind, Body, Fitness

The balance poses in yoga are a kind of test for me. If the balance pose is tough, and I teeter and fall, I know there is something not quite right. If I can stand tall and balance with focus, I feel complete. When we talk about Digital Literacy both in our own lives and in the lives of our students, I think balance is essential.

Each day I begin my morning checking email, Facebook, and reading blog posts. The more people I connect with in this digital environment, the more time this takes. I could so easily get stuck at the computer, and sometimes I do. I have to remember my nondigital life, the one in which the pets live, and my family, and my face-to-face friends.

In my classroom, the computers are tools. They stand ready for students to publish writing, to research, and to create a presentation. They do not and will not replace the face-to-face discussion of ideas, the pen-to-paper of the journal entry, or the shelves of books. Balance.

How do you balance your digital life with your real life?

I am a follower of Peter Reynolds. He is the creator of Dot, Ish, and most recently Going Places. His artwork as well as his ideas are inspiring. I would love to print out all his posters and decorate my classroom with them. This one shows the 5 Cs of 21st Century Education: Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking with the addition of a very important C, Compassion.

Click on the image to download this poster.

As 21st Century educators, we can so easily get on overload. We can get caught up in the technology, social media, and the continuous flow of online apps. However, we need to remember balance, keep a focal point, and lead our students into the world of the 5Cs with or without technology.

Add your DigiLit Sunday post to Mr. Linky. Next Sunday I will not be posting. (My youngest daughter is graduating from graduate school. Woo Hoo! If you want to take on the round-up next Sunday, let me know in the comments or by email.

Posted in Digital Learning, Writing | Tagged 21st Century Learning, balance, digital literacy, Peter Reynolds, the 5 Cs | 1 Comment »

Blueberry Picking

June 6, 2014 by margaretsmn

Join the Poetry Friday round-up at Carol’s Corner.

Blueberry Picking
with a line from Mark Doty, Verge

Some things wear their becoming,
like this blueberry, for example,
plump and perfectly indigo
surrounded by pinky-red brothers and sisters,
it boasts to be chosen
falls easily into my palm
joyfully plinks the plastic bucket.

On this dewy June morning,
I wander from bush to bush
silent in my reverie
picking, picking, picking.

The berries do not wear a costume.
They linger here in this field
waiting for the juicing of the sun’s rays,
becoming all I need
to take summer in
to hold on to the gift of life.

–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved