Last weekend when I was dancing after some hard stuff, I had no idea that Chris had chosen “Shall we Dance?” for our Spiritual Thursday theme this week. There’s a group of bloggers who have been dedicated to Spiritual Thursday and take turns hosting the links on our blogs. We typically post on the first Thursday of the month, but life has been happening at full speed and I had not slowed down enough to notice this is it.
However coincidentally or maybe God, the universe, were speaking to me last Saturday at Festival Internationale. My husband Jeff and I met up with our girls and their families late afternoon at the free music festival. There was one band Jeff and I wanted to see, so we broke away from our family and joined the Cajun music tent. The weather turned cold after a morning front had moved through. The wind picked up to gusts that sent my dress flying. We danced and danced and danced…to every song Bonsoir, Catin played.
We find such joy in the mix of people in the tent. The band is an all girl band who have been playing together in some mixture of women Cajun artists for 20 years. They chose their name from a traditionally Cajun term that means something close to “Good evening, baby doll.” They have taken it to mean Cajun Girl Power. While Jeff and I were dancing, I wrote a poem in my head. It was a little while before I could get to paper, so this is a rough draft, but this is how I felt Saturday night.
Festival Dancing
In the Bonsoir Catin tent,
Festival feet are two-steppin’
All the girls are playin’
fiddle
bass
accordion
acoustic and electric guitar.The parking lot is full.
We bump backs,
step on toes,
twirl and lose a hat.Cares tossed to the wind
that blows in a hurricane swirl
lifting my dress.He tells me “You are light tonight.”
Margaret Simon, draft
as we dance, dance, dance.
Reflections on the Teche 
Celebrating Comments
Posted in Celebration Saturday, Gratitude, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged comments, dancing, poets, Slice of Life, teachers, writing on March 8, 2014| 7 Comments »
Slice of Life Day 8. Join the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.
Celebration Saturday is hosted each week by Ruth Ayres at Discover. Play. Build. I love this idea of taking time each Saturday morning to reflect on the week. Today I celebrate family, health, dancing, Poetry Friday and my students.
I have been writing a post every day for the Two Writing Teachers (really 6 writing teachers) Slice of Life Challenge. I have challenged my students to do the same. We were out of school for the first 5 days of March, so I was pleasantly surprised when some of my students posted every day. And one of my former students has joined us as well! See their blog Slice of Life Challenge.
Yesterday, I gave my students a comment challenge. At first, I told them they should give as many comments as they get. Then I grabbed a bag of Starburst candy and said, “How many comments can you do in an hour?” One student put a tally chart on the board, and they were off. Two of my girls went to the library for more computer access and quiet. The average was 10 comments per student. By the end of the day, my eight ELA students had written more than 120 comments! And I checked them. Most of them were making a thoughtful connection. It remains to be seen whether they will keep up the pace next week without the candy incentive.
I want to celebrate health. I was down for two days this week with a nasty cold. Luckily, we had a break from school. I was able to pamper myself with lots of tea and rest, so on Thursday morning when I had to go back to school, I was well. Energy returned on Friday. My husband and I went Zydeco dancing Friday night to Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band.
If you didn’t stop by for the Poetry Friday round up yesterday, please take a look. So much richness in this Kidlit blog-a-sphere. I celebrate all of the wonderful teachers and poets who linked up and left comments. I feel the love!
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