Reflections on the Teche

Celebration Saturday: Walking for a Cause

November 23, 2013 by margaretsmn

Join in the fun of celebrating on Saturday, a blog round-up at Discover. Play. Build.

Beginning with Monday, this was a great week for poetry writing success. Using the field trip notes from last Friday, Monday’s quest was to complete and revise our poems and post them on the class kidblog. One of my newest students had success with this poem:

My dangling trumpet flower

is like a golden trumpet,

big yellow bell,

and a fluffy bridal gown.

My dangling trumpet flower

is a hummingbird’s favorite snack

with the most delicious flavor

of a big slice of cake.

And the student comment, “I like this poem very much. I like that you made it very specific and beautiful. I also like that you put similes and metaphors in your poem.” Both students are fourth graders who are just stretching out their writers’ wings.

On Wednesday, I used a new lesson I adapted from a conversation I had with Ava Haymon, Louisiana poet laureate. The structure of repetition worked well. I posted a few on my blog for Poetry Friday and got this email from their teacher, “I shared your blog with the sixth graders today. Jack and Ethan were beaming when they saw their poems. THANK YOU so much for giving them that feeling. The vice principal wants them to read the poems during the announcements next week.” Celebration, indeed!

Mayor Hilda Curry talks with our 6th grade students about their service project.

On Friday, three of my students and I led the school in a Walk for St. Jude. A teacher’s child lost her life to cancer last month, and the response to do something to honor Kamryn was amazing! Students could purchase a t-shirt, a button, and a color page of a star along with the donation for the walk. I’m not sure how much we raised in dollars yet, but we raised awareness and felt pride in giving back to St. Jude. Before the walk, the skies were dark and cloudy; however, just in time, our angel Kamryn swept the clouds away to show us the sun.

Kamryn’s best friend Amanda was interviewed by the newspaper.

The button and Kamryn’s picture on my t-shirt.

The official St. Jude Give Thanks Walk is today. You can still donate to support my walk on my page.

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Gratitude, Teaching, Writing | Tagged gifted education, poetry, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, student writing activity | 5 Comments »

Repetition: A Bridge to Details

November 22, 2013 by margaretsmn

See more Poetry Friday with Katya at Write. Sketch. Repeat.

How do you write a poem? Where do you begin? I learned long ago from working with children writers that they are full of ideas. I wrote an article for the National Writing Project journal The Quarterly in 2005 when it was still in print titled “Writing with William.” (I was pleased to find it on a Google search.) In the article, I described a tutoring experience that led me to understand young writers need tools, not ideas, structures, not prompts. When I was talking with Ava Haymon, our state poet laureate, last weekend about writing ideas for students, she said a technique that she likes to use is repetition.

Using Ava’s poems as models, I introduced this structure to 6th graders at our monthly enrichment day we call WOW (Way out Wednesday.) “The Child Born” begins each line with the same three words, “The child who.” I asked the students to listen for the details. Following the reading, we did a memory test. “What did you remember?” While they didn’t quite understand the poem, they did remember almost every line, especially “The child who bites cuticles instead of fingernails,” and “The child who sucks her hair at night.” Details are memorable. Another model I used was Betsy Franco’s “Fourths of Me” from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School.

Then I gave them the assignment: Write about whatever you want to, but begin each line or each stanza in the same way. Examples: Before, Everybody, As long as, The child who, Anyone, Who, Why, I am. The students also added beginnings to the list.

This was a successful lesson because everyone wrote a poem. Even the kid who said he hates writing poems. Even the one who said she has never written a poem before. After writing, we shared and did a memory test for each other’s poems. They realized the importance of using specificity and original ideas to draw a reader’s attention.

What Do You See?

When you see the stars, you see the sky
But when I see the stars, I see the days passing by.
When you see the beach, you see grains of sand.
But when I see the beach, I see a place untouched of man.
When you see the ocean, you see fish and pearls.
But when I see the ocean, I see an underwater world.
When you see a child, you see a small man.
But when I see a child, I see a gift from God’s hands.

–Kaley

Before and After

After the sun sets at night,
After the bud blooms,
After the plane takes off in flight,
I’ll go home to my room.

Before the sun rises at dawn,
Before dew forms on the flower,
Before the bird lands in its nest,
The king will give up his power.

This time I will not stay silent,
This time I will speak.
This time I will not be shy,
This time I’ll be bold.

–Ethan

My Dream

I am the frail one.
I am the fragile one.
I am the annoying one.
I am the one in the back of the classroom.
I am the new student.
I am the one no one wants around.
I am the dumb one.
I am the one nobody talks to.
I am the runt of the litter.
I am the timid one
Only in my dreams.

–Jack

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing | Tagged Ava Leavell Haymon, gifted education, National Writing Project, repetition, The Quarterly | 12 Comments »

Entertaining Angels: All Poets Welcome

November 19, 2013 by margaretsmn

Join the Tuesday Slice of Life!

Ava enjoys paella at the Spanish Festival.

I am having a hard time putting into words this feeling. This good, fulfilled feeling after a successful Fall Poetry Night. I think magic happens when a poem is read aloud, the words shared become everyone’s words. Your life becomes theirs, and theirs yours. We become a community.

On Saturday, I hosted our state poet laureate, Ava Leavell Haymon. (See a previous post here featuring her poetry.) She came into town in time to have paella downtown at the second annual Spanish Festival. Ava laughs at her new title. She said it has a certain amount of celebrity to it, but in the same way a rare boa constrictor might; Everyone comes to see what it is.

I don’t think that was the case for our audience Saturday night. I had been getting messages on Facebook from a variety of people who wanted to read. I wouldn’t dare say no to anyone who has the courage to read his own poetry aloud. So we had 4 featured authors and 5 readers in open mic. Good thing the food truck man was coming, and a number of friends had brought treats.

Ava took notes as each poet read, and she made a point of speaking to each one with specific comments about their writing. What a gift! When she read her own poetry, she instructed us as well on the forms of her poems. The teacher in her is natural. All weekend we shared stories of teaching poetry. I look forward to trying some of her ideas with my students. (And sharing them here.)

Ava reading at A&E Gallery.

I entertained an angel this weekend, an angel who taught me about opening my ears and my heart to all poets. Ava was still smiling Sunday morning. She told me after all of the traveling and many activities of her new position, the energy of Saturday night had rejuvenated her. I felt she did the same for me and for all who attended and participated in the Fall Poetry Night.

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged Ava Leavell Haymon, Louisiana poet laureate, Poetry Reading | 4 Comments »

Private Eyes on Jefferson Island

November 16, 2013 by margaretsmn

Ruth Ayres is gathering Saturday Celebration posts on her blog. Click the image above to visit.

Early in October, I had an author visit my gifted classroom. Chere’ Coen wrote the book Haunted Lafayette. When she was talking to the students about ghost stories, she mentioned Jefferson Island, and the students did not know anything about a location just down the road. Rip Van Winkle Gardens located on Jefferson Island is a land of beauty while also a place of historical and geological significance. I decided to remedy their lack of knowledge by planning a field trip.

The weather in November can be iffy. On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, we had a cold front and temperatures dipped while the wind blew hard. All that went away Friday, and the sky opened to the sun. Temperatures rose to a comfortable 75 degrees. The heavens were shining on our day.

I invited some other teachers along, so we gathered 32 area gifted kids from second through sixth grade. They watched a video and learned about the actor Joseph Jefferson for whom the island was named. They learned about the salt dome disaster of 1980 when an oil drill punctured the salt dome causing a whirlpool that closed the salt mine and caused damage to acres of land. The owner’s home fell into the lake leaving only the chimney visible today.

A huge gong hangs from an old oak tree.

Lake Peigneur with chimney

We toured the historical mansion, and took a nature walk along the trails through the lush and beautiful gardens. Even before I told them they could, the students started collecting items from nature. They couldn’t help themselves. They picked up peacock feathers, moss, flowers, bamboo sticks, pinecones, etc. I gave them ziplock bags to hold their collection.

After collecting, I gave the students a Private Eye loupe magnifying glass. The exercise went like this: Look at your chosen object through the loupe and ask the question, “What does it look like? What else? What else?” In this manner, students were able to build a metaphor poem. This exercise worked well for my youngest writers. Here are a few.

A little lagniappe (South Louisiana for something extra) occurred when the owner saw me and asked how the day was going. I introduced myself and explained how the students did not know the stories of Jefferson Island. He brought me into the gift shop and handed me a DVD and a book. When I introduced him to two of our students, he told them some of the ghost stories. What a thrill for these kids and for me! Today I celebrate the success of our field trip, the learning, observing, writing, and friendships!

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Poetry, Writing | Tagged field trip, ghost stories, gifted education, Jefferson Island, Joseph Jefferson, Private eye, Rip Van WInkle Gardens | 4 Comments »

Slippery Slide

November 15, 2013 by margaretsmn

See more Poetry Friday at Jama’s Alphabet Soup.

Most students in the middle grades know the name Lemony Snicket, so when I introduced his article from Poetry magazine, they were primed to listen. In this article, Lemony Snicket introduced adult poetry to children. He says, “Poetry is like a curvy slide in a playground — an odd object, available to the public — and, as I keep explaining to my local police force, everyone should be able to use it, not just those of a certain age.”

We read aloud the whole article. My instructions for writing were simple, “Steal a line that you like and write from there.”

The poem I wrote is a Cento, in which I took a line from each of the poems in the article.

An open door says, “Come in.”
The room I entered was a dream of this room.
I’m in the house.
I’m still here?
There is no need for you to come and visit me.
You are food. You are here for me to eat.
There will never be enough.
Nothing anyone could do to stop it coming.
The next obvious question:
“Does anyone want to be my sack of potatoes?”
Think of a big pink horse.
There are monsters everywhere.
What is it the sign of?
It is what it is.
That’s Poetry to me.
Thank you, I have enjoyed imagining all this.

Some student samples:

If I would be walking
down the road that
you told me to imagine,
would it be full of gumdrops,
and rainbows covered
in sprinkles and chocolate
fudge on a marshmallow
cloud that tastes like
strawberry icing or maybe
chocolate ice cream on the
hottest day of the year,
or would the road be
full of dark nights, but no stars
and gravestones, with lost kids,
and a grey, lonely path with
cracks in the middle
that can swallow
me up in one bite, with
eyes looking at me in
every direction?

If I would be walking
down the road you told
me to imagine,
which road would I be walking?
If I would be walking
the road you told me
to imagine, would my road
include you?

–Brooklyn

Electric green and red tears
reflected like rainbows over water in the daylight
right before rain
a warning of good fortune
telling us it’s okay
–Kendall

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing | Tagged cento, gifted classroom, Lemony Snicket, Poetry Magazine, steal a line | 11 Comments »

Stir Up and Notice

November 12, 2013 by margaretsmn

Join the Tuesday Slice of Life!

Stir Up
Notice
These are the first words I wrote in my journal in the Festival of Words poetry workshop with Naomi Shihab Nye on Saturday. I was star-struck… for about 5 minutes. Because Naomi is probably one of the warmest, most welcoming, poetry presenters I have ever seen. She makes everyone feel like they belong there. Even the man who had to step out to take a phone call. She spoke to him with concern and said, “Step out any time you need to. I understand.” And the woman who attended without registering. She pulled up a chair right next to her. “You are no intruder. You are a poet.”

The most wonderful welcome was for my former student, Kaylie. I got special permission from Naomi to bring Kaylie to the workshop. Everyone else there was my age or older, but that did not intimidate Kaylie. She shared like the confident poet that she is. She even read her award winning poem from the LA Writes anthology. Our hearts were full. Can you tell from our picture?

Kaylie and me with Naomi. Love her!

Inscription to Kaylie from Naomi Shihab Nye

Here are a few quotes from the wisdom of Naomi Shihab Nye:

I’ve kicked the word busy out of my vocabulary. I am embracing the word befriend.

When was the last time you really listened to your heart?

What old story are you telling yourself that keeps you from being free?

An artist is doing the art.

Each thing gives us something else.

What have you lost? What have you found?

You are an amazing poet.

with gratitude for your voice.

Kaylie wrote this poem in response to the first writing prompt, “What old story are you telling yourself that keeps you from being free?”

Free:
I am free.
I have never been bound by the chains of life,
Never been shackled or held in one place.
My pen is allowed to scribble across the page,
And I never restrain it.
I don’t take the time to think about my past,
I only think about bettering the future.
Held aloft on shimmering wings of gossamer,
My head floating through the clouds,
My heart thumps in a song.
As long as I write, my spirit will live eternally.
I will hide my innocence and curiosity inside of bubbles that float behind me,
Keeping this freedom inside of me flowing forever.
–Kaylie B., all rights reserved

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged Festival of Words, Naomi Shihab Nye, student writing | 15 Comments »

Cooler Air is easier to Breathe: Celebration Saturday

November 9, 2013 by margaretsmn

Celebration Saturday is here! I am happy Ruth Ayres started this tradition. It makes me stop every Saturday and think about the week in a positive way. Yesterday Ruth wrote:

I think too busy means I’m missing real life. Too busy means I’m swept up by the current panic or the flashy trend.

Too busy means I’m surviving.

Life should be more than survival.

Because when we are trapped in survival, it is too easy to believe we can’t do anything powerful or meaningful or worthy. It is too easy for the day to wrap around us and to feel like the only choice is to react

Life should be more than reaction.

I’m wondering if the way to step over (or maybe to step on) too busy, is to find the celebration.

Her words spoke to me because I feel I went into the panic mode last week and began the crazy mantra that I’m too busy. Her words made me stop. OK, breathe and look around you for things to celebrate.
Last night I made Tortilla Soup. That is something to celebrate, time to cook and time for soup!

The air has gotten cooler. The flowers in my front flower bed opened up to this cool air. They remind me every morning to open up to the air and see the light.

Brooklyn celebrated her 12th birthday yesterday. I brought sprinkle donuts and satsumas. She brought homemade chocolate chip cookies. We took a break from all our writing to celebrate Brooklyn. I gave her a journal. She waved it at me and said, “You gave me the gift of writing!”

Before we took the break, V. was writing at the computer. She saw the google doodle and played with the changing ink blots. She announced, “I see a cat with wings.”
I said, “You should write a poem about the cat with wings.”
She got up and threw herself on the pillows in the reading center exclaiming, “I can’t take all this writing!” Hilarious. I had to take her picture.

What are you celebrating this week? Take a moment to stop, breathe in the cooler air, and celebrate your life.

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Teaching, Writing | Tagged celebration, flowers, students writing, weather | 8 Comments »

Poet Laureate in our Midst

November 7, 2013 by margaretsmn

See more Poetry Friday with Diane Mayr at Random Noodling

Ava Leavell Haymon, Louisiana Poet Laureate

“Somewhere, out beyond ideas
of wrongdoing and right-doing,
there is a field.

I will meet you there.” –Rumi

Thus is the epigraph that opens Ava Leavell Haymon’s latest work of poetry, Eldest Daughter. Ava is the most recently appointed Louisiana Poet Laureate, and she is coming to New Iberia next weekend to a Fall Poetry Night. (Fist-arm pump) Yes! If you met Ava, the thing you would remember about her is her laugh, and she laughs often.

Ava’s poetry is masterly crafted, yet easily accessible. Lemony Snicket selected one of Ava’s poems, The Witch has Told You a Story, to feature in his article, All Good Slides Are Slippery for Poetry Magazine. Mr. Snicket says that “poetry is like a curvy slide in a playground — an odd object, available to the public — and, as I keep explaining to my local police force, everyone should be able to use it, not just those of a certain age.” I shared this article with my students this week. We wrote our own poems by stealing a line from one or more of the poems in the article. This was a great activity and produced some funny poems. Stay tuned.

Ava has given me permission to share two of her poems with you. This first is from the collection Why the House is Made of Gingerbread. I love this collection. Who would have thought that the classic Hansel and Gretel would have yielded such moving and thoughtful poetry?

THE WITCH HAS TOLD YOU A STORY

You are food, she said.
You are here for me to eat.
Fatten up, and I will
like you better. Your brother will
be first. You must wait your turn.
You must feed him yourself.
You must learn to do it. Take him
eggs with yellow sauce, and muffins,
butter leaking out the crooked break
in the sides. Fried meats
later in the morning and sweets
in a heady parade from the oven.

His vigilance, an ice pick of hunger
pricking his sides, will melt
in the unctuous cream fillings.
He will forget. He will thank you
for it. His little finger stuck every day
through the cracks in the bars
will grow sleek and round,
his hollow face swell
like the moon. He will stop dreaming
the fear in the woods without food.
He will lean toward the mouth
of the oven, the door
that yawns wide every afternoon
to better and better smells.
–Ava Leavell Haymon, all rights reserved

The second poem comes from Ava’s latest work Eldest Daughter. I haven’t read them all yet, but the ones I have are so full! Full of childhood fears, sensibilities, and humor. LSU Press says “she combines the sensory and the spiritual in wild verbal fireworks.” And to hear her read them, you see the fireworks glow in her eyes. She is a delight, and I can’t wait to introduce her to my town.

THE CHILD BORN

with a caul
the child who eats the skin that forms on scalded milk
the child who bites cuticles instead of fingernails
the child who sucks her hair at night
the child who sings in her sleep
the child who does not mind the squeak of blackboard chalk
the child who swallowed a blue bead
the child who will not throw up
the child who refuses to listen
the child with the gristle knob at the arch of her ribs
the child who knows where the matches are
the child who looks too long at her father
the child who likes to spit
the child who looks in the eyes of the dog
the child who sits for hours
the child who sometimes laughs when she’s by herself
the child whose cold hands
the child who eats clay
the child who can look cross-eyed
the child who starts fires
the child who hides in a chinaberry tree
the child who listens
the child who grows quieter and quieter
the child who can be trusted with knives and scissors
the child who never reaches under her bed
the child who goes where no one is
the child who cuts things out
the child who hums little songs no one can recognize

Ava Leavell Haymon, all rights reserved

Fall Poetry Night will be Saturday, November 16th at 6:00 PM at A&E Gallery. Other poets reading will be Mickey Delcambre, Suzi Thornton, Diane Moore, and Margaret Gibson Simon.

Ava reading from Eldest Daughter on YouTube (This one is for adults only despite what Lemony Snicket may say.):

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing | Tagged A&E Gallery, Ava Leavell Haymon, Lemony Snicket, Poetry Foundation, Poetry Reading | 13 Comments »

Wonder

November 5, 2013 by margaretsmn

Join the Tuesday Slice of Life!

I am reading Wonder by R. J. Palacio to my morning ELA class. We are moving through it slowly. I set aside time at the beginning of school. Then we got busy. But recently, as we are getting deeper into the story, the students remind me and keep me committed to daily reading aloud.

Last week we got to the second section written in the voice of Via. Via starts, “August is the sun, and we are the planets revolving around him.” This was a tough chapter to get through. I had to take a few deep breaths. The only place Via has ever felt the center of the universe is with her grandmother, and her grandmother dies suddenly.

Palacio’s book is real. The kids get it. They know what it feels like to be in a school like August’s school. But most children do not know what it is like to grow up with a disfigured face or to have someone in your own family draw attention when out in the world. Via describes this feeling. At home with August, she feels normal. She loves him like the little brother he is. She doesn’t understand how people stare, how they don’t see beyond his face. That is, until she does understand.

I read to my students books that move me, that will hopefully move them. What I wasn’t thinking about when I decided to read Wonder was Brooklyn. I have written about Brooklyn before. Back in 2012 when she joined my gifted class. I was impressed then about how she handled herself with such gentle poise and strength of character.

Brooklyn, like Via, is in the universe revolving around the sun, her brother. (See this post: Dare to be Different.) Bryce is a senior in high school and has accomplished amazing feats in sports. He is an international gold medal athlete in weightlifting and javelin. Bryce competes in para-athletics because he has cerebral palsy and walks with crutches. Bryce does not go unnoticed. People stare. Brooklyn says the little kids don’t bother her so much , but when she sees an adult stare, she wants to punch them. She knows that they stare in ignorance and curiosity, but it still makes her mad.

This day, when we finished reading, Brooklyn came to me for a hug. Her eyes were teary. She said, “I get it. I know how Via feels.” And then it hit me. Of course she does. This is Brooklyn’s life.

R. J. Palacio has created a powerful book that not only will help students learn to practice kindness, but Wonder also comforts those children who can relate to the experience of being different and wanting nothing more than to be normal.

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching | Tagged cerebral palsy, Choose Kind, reading, Wonder | 13 Comments »

Louisiana Book Festival and More

November 2, 2013 by margaretsmn

Saturday Celebration is happening weekly at Ruth Ayres site: Discover. Play. Build.

This week was full of celebrations.
1. Chalkabration Day: Read our spooky chalketry here. We loved having Kaylie visit on this special day.

2. A winner: My 6th grader, Brooklyn, placed FIRST in the Jr. High Division of the Festival of Words Contest with her poem, “I’m Home.”

3. I received an awesome evaluation from a school board observer. Here’s a quote from her report, “You have a strong rapport with these students. There is a bond of mutual respect between you and them. The classroom climate is joyful; the students are encouraged to learn the way that works for them.” Her words brought tears to my eyes. This is who I want to be as a teacher and to have an outside observer see that in me is very rewarding.

4. The Louisiana Book Festival: As you are reading this, I am awarding 65 students for their excellence in writing. I coordinate a state writing contest, Louisiana Writes! The fruition of many hours happens in the State Museum at the opening of the Book Festival. Many proud students, teachers, and parents will be listening to readings and taking pictures of young authors holding shiny medals, an anthology, and a certificate from the governor. A wonderful celebration!

It’s time to be thankful, a month of Thanks. Today I am grateful for beautiful weather and for my friends who have helped me lead the LA Writes contest for 10 years, Connie, Sara, Joan, and Ann.