Poetry Friday - This Time

          Michelle Barnes hosts Poetry Friday at Today's Little Ditty with "Five for Friday" and a plea for peace! All the special ideas are explained there! Enjoy her post and others with the riches of poetry!

          This is the time when teachers are excited about their new students, the time to start a year of learning, the time to discover students’ passions, about reading and writing.

         This is the time when teachers have writers notebooks ready, empty and waiting to be filled with words: personal words of happy and sad times, future hopes, observations of the world only children know. Teachers wish to know that world through student eyes, too.

          This is the time when stacks of books wait to be opened, stacks teachers have gathered like flowers all the summer for their students, ready to share the stories that have been written to excite, to inform, to settle in hearts. “I know that one. I read it this summer.” “Oh, I want to read that one. It sounds terrific.” “Make a list for this one. Everyone will want to sign up.” “Look at this cover; it’s about refugees.” “And this one; it’s all about reading. And it’s poetry!”

        This is the perfect time for Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s new book: Read! Read! Read!, charmingly illustrated by Ryan O'Rourke. From young to old, readers will connect to the poems as life links to their past, or links to the joy of reading that will be coming to them. 

A Slice of What Used To Be

  Join us on Tuesdays with the Two Writing Teachers and others who post. 

 

   I retired two years ago, and I write less and less of teaching. Mostly I have old memories, old "things I used to do". The best thing is staying in touch with former students! But here at the beginning of the year, I do like to share at least one thing I did that may be helpful. This is a re-write from a post several years ago. 

       On the first day of school, I wanted my class to know that this would be a year filled with reading and writing, and I wanted them to realize that they were the ones that would be driving the year. I taught a mix of 6th, 7th and 8th graders and many of you know that personal choice was a top priority for all of our students, K through 8. One of the things I did on the first day was to share a poem or a poetic quote to help us leap into the year. I gave each student a copy, they taped it into their writers' notebooks, and then responded to it. In that response, I asked them to make one secret and very personal goal for the year.  Although I never knew what those particular goals were, I would re-visit students once in a while to ask how they were doing with it, and if there was something I could provide that would help reach the goal? Obviously, it involved trust. There were other times that students created goals that I did know about, but I felt that trusting that they could work to reach a goal secretly was inspiring and empowering. 

        Yesterday on Facebook, Michelle Haseltine (One Grateful Teacher) asked for ideas of poems for 7th graders for the beginning of the year. Here are two poems I used often and shared with her, both by Eve Merriam: "Metaphor" and "Thumbprint", highlighting the concept of Tabula Rasa, or "clean slate" and the uniqueness of each person. You can find them on the web easily, and I suspect many of you already know them. There are others that might fit you and your class, but these two are favorites of mine. And here is another, some call a poem and others name it a quote, author unknown. It's inspiring to me, too, every time I read it. It calls for courage, venturing into the unknown, just what each student does every year. 

        Don't you agree that they're brave?

As you journey through life,

      choose your destinations well,

      but do not hurry there.

      You will arrive soon enough.

      Wander the back roads and forgotten    

            paths,

      keeping your destination

      like the fixed point of a compass.

      Seek out new voices, strange sights,

      and ideas foreign to your own.

      Such things are

      riches for the soul.

      And if, upon arrival,

      you find that your destination

      is not exactly as you had dreamed,

      do not be disappointed.

      Think of all you would have missed

      but for the journey there.

      and know that the true worth

      of your travels lies not in where

      you come to be at journey’s end,

      but in who you come to be

      along the way.

      

            anonymous

    Best wishes as you all begin your journeys this school year if you are still educators. If not, the wishes go to you as well in your own unique journeys.

Two Weeks-Good Stuff

            Thanks to Ruth Ayres, we also get to share our celebrations with others every Saturday. Check HERE for the links. And tweet at #CelebrateLu

The celebration of beauty is an invitation to ask your soul everyday, 'mind if I join you'

                                                                                                                           anonymous

I didn't post last week because...

I was celebrating:

School started, and so did my granddaughter Ingrid
 in kindergarten at my school.
Her little sister Imogene came along to see her off!

Tuesday Sharing-Slices of Beginnings

   Time for our Tuesday Slice of Life Sharing at the Two Writing Teachers blog. It's a wonderful place to share what's going on in your life, whatever you may be doing.

  Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly you hardly catch it going.
                                       Tennessee Williams

           I love taking pictures, and do try to capture different moments in my life, but sometimes it's nice just to "be" and that's what I'm sharing today, plus only one photo. My son, daughter-in-law and grandson arrived late Friday night. It was wonderful to have them around for a couple of days; the cliché "short, but sweet' fits perfectly. 

Slice of My School Life - Non-Fiction for Older Students

           It's Tuesday, time for a slice of life at the Two Writing Teachers blog. Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Anna, Beth and Betsy, this community thrives. Please come visit for lots of interesting topics!

          Many blog posts and tweets are buzzing with plans for the school year. My mind is swirling, I have piles of work all over my dining table, trying to create a way to organize what I hope to do this year. Maybe I’ll never be done, but I’m beginning!

         There are numerous professional books that help with ideas about getting started in the school year, and blogs are lately filling up with ideas for starting reading workshop, writing workshop, writers’ notebooks (see Two Writing Teachers’ blog series this week! The first one is by Tara Smith, workshop routines).        

              I just enjoyed a NEW twitter chat with Ruth Ayres (@ruth_ayres) and Christy Levine (@rushlevine) on Sunday evening that will happen every first Sunday of the month at 8 eastern time, hashtag #TandCWriters. This time Katherine Sokolowski (@Katsok) was the host and questions were asked about the use of writers’ notebooks. How does one start them, etc.?

About Students - Different Looks

Ruth and Stacey host this Tuesday Slice of Life on their blog, Two Writing Teachers, creating a wonderful writing community.  Hope you can join us, or at least come visit to read.  

       At my school, the core teachers have conferences with parents and students before school begins.  Before that, they’ve written letters to both, and received replies.  Both these things help teachers begin to understand their students, or to re-connect with those they’ve already had the previous year, well ahead of the first day of school.  I did this for years and by the end of Monday (students come Wednesday) my mind was swirling with information.  After all that, there is one more day and then WEDNESDAY.

       Although I already knew so much about my students, after Wednesday, there would be more added, important details filed away for contemplation, at least those that will help me plan for activities, certain social conversations, kinds of challenges, etc.  I realize that first impressions are not always correct, but teachers intuit certain things about their students, they are able to build upon that in order to enhance or to divert from it.

Whistling In The Dark

Slice of Life sharing is hosted by Stacey and Ruth at their blog, Two Writing Teachers.  Please visit, or add your own slice! 

        I am back to work, although the real thing (meaning the students arriving) doesn’t happen for another week.  I have met with some teachers, dusted and moved things around my office. I’ve been browsing files and adding new ideas to them in order to give good support to those I work with.  What do they need:  magic words, lesson ideas, book suggestions for read alouds, mentor texts and possible book for groups.  Some need a big picture and others want to discuss the smaller ones.  All of us are doing what some call “whistling in the dark” because until the students are here for a few weeks, we can only speculate, surmise, imagine, wish, read and talk about general ideas.  By now it is hard to wait.  Teachers are restless during these days before school really starts.  They move desks and tables, make endless lists, cut out cute pictures, rearrange book baskets, hang flags.  They are tired, yet tireless in the talk about the future. 

First Inspiration!

        So that is part of my job, to support, and then help everyone wait, too.  There is only so much I can do these next weeks.  I have a tech tool class to prepare, and I am ready with a few ideas but will wait to see student goals and knowledge before I do more. 

        What do you do in this waiting period?