Thursday, February 9, 2023

Poetry Friday - A Teaching Memory

              Poetry Friday is with Carol Varsalona HERE at Beyond Literacy Link.  She's sharing the fabulous winter-warming postcards she's received in our postcard exchange started by Jone McCulloch. Thanks, Carol, for hosting! 

            Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! ❤️

           I am participating in another tradition, too. It's February, Laura Shovan's birthday month celebration where a group of poets share prompts every day and write to them. It's the 11th year and I've written with everyone every year. It's a challenge, to find new ideas, to take time to read as many poems as one can during the day, and offer at least a brief comment. But it is always a surprise to see what thoughts emerge, and what poems I write. And, it's always a joy to read others' poems, too. The theme this year is "story", and one of the days since February first, the prompt centered on textiles telling stories. Here's what I wrote:

         I taught middle-school gifted children in an independent school & every class traveled overnight in the fall & the spring, day trips, too. One of my last classes spent time in New Mexico with Pueblo Indians, one of the days weaving all day with a small group of weavers. When we returned home, we started a class weaving, working on it for weeks, each one adding something that recorded an event or something special just to that one student. I can't remember what they all mean but know that we loved when someone added to it & then, during the last week of school, we tied it off!

Weaving Our Class

 

The warp shapes our year

While the weft comes slowly

Piece by learning piece

each child adds a part

sometimes from the brain

often from the heart

Mix the colors

Add the trinkets

A story mixture,

Re-mixing us

Into a whole.

 

Linda Baie ©


           Wishing you all a time for gathering pieces of your days to weave together in your own lives. 


26 comments:

  1. Linda: I love this story and weaving, the warps and wefts of your poem. What a lovely memento! Enjoy your writing days...

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  2. Enjoyed hearing your weaving story. You did so many wonderful things with your students. Lovely poem and beautiful piece! ~ Jama

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    1. Thanks, Jama, doing the projects and things together made every day a joy.

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  3. Linda, I am glad you shared this community project with the PF community. It rings of a true collaborative effort. Your poem is a tribute to each member's contribution. Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you at Laura's FB project.

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    1. I knew some of you would have seen this, Carol. Thanks for the comment and the wishes, and back at you!

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  4. This really is a fabulous piece your class created. I has to be displayed. Love the colors an the trinkets that are such a surprise.

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  5. So beautiful and meaningful, Linda - yes, you had some lucky students for sure! And the world gets to benefit from your talent and love in many other ways now, too. I'll be pondering those warps and wefts today.... Valentine hugs!!

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  6. Linda, I am envious of your work with gifted students. It was always a population that I worked with as well. Thank you for enriching them with trips and experiences from different cultures. I love how your poem speaks to the learning process. I am so glad you sharing the finished piece.

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  7. Don't know who 'anon' is, but thanks, & more to Robyn & Carol. As I wrote, it is one of the lovely memories of teaching.

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  8. I just love the objects and treasures woven into the fabric, Linda.

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  9. I liked your poem on FB and am enjoying it again here, really like the ending,
    "A story mixture,
    Re-mixing us
    Into a whole."
    Not an easy task, but so worth while, and such a fun and intriguing weaving too, thanks Linda!

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  10. What a gift to have the opportunity to learn weaving with Pueblo weavers and your students. I love the piece your class created. And thanks for wishing us time to gather pieces of our days to weave together. It's what we do when we gather for Poetry Friday.

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  11. I see that I wasn't able to properly appreciate this on Facebook, Linda--so glad you reshared here! Wow, what a wonderful project; what a patient interweaving of the personalities and visions of your class--and you got to keep it! Your poem shuttles the beauty of the art back and forth beautifully.

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  12. Wonderful project, Linda! I am curious about the meaning behind the little light switch someone attached. A poetic add-on for sure.

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  13. Thanks, everyone. I wish I could remember what each addition meant, but I cannot. Each student wrote when they added something but those papers are long gone, too.

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  14. What a fantastic project for your students, Linda, and a special memory for you. The title of your poem is perfect and tells me that this project "wove" the class together in a special way. Thanks for sharing.

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  15. What an experience! What an artifact! And...what a poem to capture it all!!

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  16. That's really beautiful, Linda. I love the weaving, too, and the concept of "re-mixing us/into a whole."

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  17. Linda, this brought tears to my eyes. What a meaningful project--what lucky students!

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  18. That is such a cool project you had with your students. I'm glad I got to read your poem again.

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  19. Every piece tells a story; every year a new piece! What a beautiful collection of textiles you must have collected! Thank you for capturing it in a poem.

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  20. I *love* this. What an amazing project and memory. I love the opening lines and the way the metaphor works for life. Beautiful, Linda!

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  21. Thanks so much to everyone. Maybe if you get the chance, you can do something like this with a group?

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  22. I missed this on FB, Linda, and am so glad you shared this here. What a wonderful poem memorializing an amazing project! So wonderful!

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