Celebrating A Milestone

Celebrating with Ruth Ayres at Discover, Play, Build, and linking with others who share, too. I'm always grateful to Ruth for our weekly celebrations together.

            It's been a great week; granddaughters, bookstore work, indie bookstore shopping, library time, coffee with a former colleague, book group, car repairs that are good, car cleaning, gardening clean up of spent flowers, writing several poems, writing for another project -- all good. 

            This ending and amazing celebration is that this is post number 1500. Like my words yesterday on Poetry Friday, I have lived a good bit of my life writing this blog, met online and personally some wonderful people. I have both needed and been grateful for the company through the years filled with joy and sorrow. You've listened and laughed and supported and through your own posts, you've enriched my life. Thanks for the journey. 

Words of wisdom: WRITE ON!

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        If you are so inclined, you may read my first post. I haven't changed much except I'm no longer writing with students, but I am still using mentor texts for me, and I think I'll probably never stop thinking about the questioning of what "is" the important thing. (FYI-this year I had just moved from the classroom to be the school's literacy coach, working with all teachers.) You might notice if you actually go to the post that Ruth is one of my first commenters! Thanks to Ruth and others, I have carried on!

March 1, 2011 My school just returned from a week's break. Just as I was moving into a good rhythm of work and play at home-no out-of-town trip this time- I have jumped back into work, beginning new goals of teaching, & learning, with our students. I have been welcomed into many classrooms this year, & this time, one colleague & I are beginning a 3 week intensive to write personal essays with her class. As I begin with the group, students are so attentive, laughing when I think they might laugh, thinking about the topics under discussion, & answering some of my questions rather tentatively, but they do try to respond. These upper elementary students are just on the edge of adulthood, & now I am working hard to motivate them to consider choices, to decide some things they believe are important, & then to write to tell others what they think about them. It's easy to write down one's opinion, but crafting personal essays that then broaden one's outlook by doing some further research is the more difficult part. This is the goal, that students begin to gather the beliefs, but then strengthen them by finding out what others' think. The group again asks questions. One of the first of course is 'how long?', & another is 'how about this?'. These first hours together we are all a little nervous, but when I respond to the topics of important things, I am reminded of Margaret Wise Brown's The Important Book, when she starts with "The important thing about ____________ is _______________, & I remind students of these lines, empower them to tell what they believe is important, & why. I share a bit of my own writing; students seem ready to write, & the rest of the time until lunch, we do.

Celebrating All Kinds of Fun

 Celebrating with Ruth Ayres at Discover, Play, Build, and linking with others who share, too. I'm always grateful to Ruth for our weekly celebrations together.

"A Smile is contagious. Be a Carrier!"  anonymous

          Celebrating 'useless afternoons' as Ruth shares sounds wonderful. I imagine working among the flowers, walking with the girls to the park, going to the beach, writing and reading on the front porch or patio. I know that teachers especially yearn for those days when the only thing to do in the early morning might be to water the flower pots on the porch. I have been doing some of these things, plus summer means vacations, so I've also worked some extra shifts this past week at the bookstore for those who are traveling. Our customers are easy, avid readers, sometimes want only to browse for their next good book, and other times ask for a recommendation. I help, I rearrange displays, I pull books for passing on to other places.  It's been a lovely past couple of weeks, and the next two days I'll have Ingrid and Imogene starting tonight till Tuesday evening while their mom's out of town, and their dad needs a break. They both are doing different summer camps this summer and having a good time meeting new kids, learning new things. 
           Celebrating. . .

My next great read - I won the book!

Ingrid's end of music camp group presentation.

Imagination Inspiration

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

 

         I love windows, pictures of windows, sketching windows, doors too. And I love imagining what's going on inside those windows. A recent picture book I read is about a Mama Rabbit carrying her little bunny home. On the way they see lighted windows and the people in them, imagining a little more than what they see. The book is The Way Home In The Night written and illustrated by Akiko Miyakoshi. I'm in the midst of writing a picture book story that involves numerous characters, so when I read the book, I connected especially to those lit windows, imagining my own characters and what I might see if I "peeked" through each child's window. I've begun taking notes about each one, drawing a window, putting the notes "inside" the window of what I create about the particular child. 

         As a writer, I question all the time, and am wondering if that's what you who are reading do, too, when you write? Sometimes that questioning voice is tiring, and I want it to stop, and simply say "Okay, just let those words stay." When I re-read what I've written, I also wonder and wonder, "Is this enough? How much more is needed? What is it I want readers to understand?" See, more questions! 

          That's how my life is slicing lately, lots of writing, lots of questions, with a bit of cleaning in between and some good times with the family. Also, lots of looking in windows!

photo credit: hans pohl Monsaraz via photopin (license)

Nice Celebrating Good Things

    Celebrating with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build.  and linking with others who share their celebrations, too. I am grateful to Ruth for helping us celebrate together!  

     It's been two weeks since I shared, and despite the chaos reigning in our government, I remain hopeful and committed to protest in any way I can. There are good things in my own life, and I'm happy about that.

      I loved meeting with what is now a writing "partner" (our group has dwindled to two) and it felt as if we helped each other focus on some goals, and add to ideas for revision of our projects.

       I've written a poem each day for a while, and now in February am writing each day for a challenge that Laura Shovan offers each February to help celebrate her birthday. You can read about it here on Laura's blog. http://laurashovan.com/2017/02/poetry-friday-10foundwords-2/  I've received rejections for a poem and a picture book story, am planning to look again, and try again.

Celebrating A Special Group

  Celebrating with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build.  and linking with others who share their celebrations, too. I am grateful to Ruth for helping us celebrate together!  

    SPECIAL NOTE: I am serving on the Cybil's Poetry group again this year, this time Round One. I want to remind you that anyone can nominate a favorite book that was published from Oct. 16th, 2015 to Oct. 15th, 2016, when nominations close. Go HERE if you're interested!

         Days fly by, appointments are made and accomplished, grand-girls visit, and now it's a new month and a favorite because of the beauty of fall and my birthday month. 
          I'm going to echo Ruth's words today and fight the good fight in writing. There are times when I find other things that I think I must do instead of writing, but I have found that when I make an appointment with myself, it's easier. On the calendar the words are written, WRITE!

Things That Matter

          Slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community is a pleasure every week.  Thank you Stacey, Tara, Anna, Betsy, Dana, Kathleen, Beth, and Deb.

          When I taught, I did have students write to me before school, about their reading and writing habits and wishes, their dreams for the future (I taught middle school age students), what they'd been doing recently, and on. And I valued the information they gave. In the first days of school we wrote a lot, and one of the pieces that I feel held the most importance of "who" each student was is a writing topic I called "things that matter". I used different books each year. Remember, I always had students for the second year, and often for a third, so couldn't use the same resources each year. I used picture books often as mentor texts, and the following ones are inspiring in different ways. I hope you'll find and read them to discover your own unique ways to use them in order to inspire your writers to write from their hearts, "things that matter".  In my writing, I've written this prompt all through the years, and some words stay the same, but time also makes them change. It might be fun to have students write at the beginning and then at the end of the year to see if they have changed views. 

Poetry Apps for Exploring

Margaret Gibson at Reflections on The Teche invites others to share some of the technology they find that could be useful, in and out of the classroom. This Sunday, I'm sharing some IPad (or IPhone) apps that can be fun for poetry.

It's Digilit Sunday!

Poetry Creator - free, but extra $ for more dictionaries. Has a white board arrangement for placing words. Can share via Facebook, photos or can e-mail.  Fun for exploring.

Poet for IPad - Will keep and organize your poems, offers a rhyming and a synonym dictionary. Can share. 

RhymeNow Free - a rhyming dictionary easy to use.

If - my favorite app for finding wonderful poems, just for reading, but the presentation is wonderful.

Writing Prompts, by Writing.com -lots of ways to start a new idea, words & pictures! If you want to explore, this is a good one!

           I realize there are many others that might be favorites. Sometimes I'll start something on one of these, then move to a writing app with more room.

A Book To Savor

                 Poetry Friday! Today at Violet's  poetry blog, Violet Nesdoly/Poems. Thanks to Violet today for hosting us.
             I just checked out a book from the library titled Tick-Tock: A Book About Time by James Dunbar. and that's what I'm feeling right now, mostly wondering where time goes! It's nearly the end of the school year and I've just had two long after school/evening events. I relish the idea of spending a day reading some wonderful book, perhaps re-reading some favorite passages in the book I'm about to review. 
             Sometimes I read books fast; the action propels me forward to the end in lightning speed. And other books’ pages slow me down. I re-read lines, and often underline them. I star passages, and add notes to some.  For anyone who wishes a book to savor, a passionate affair about writing, life, and created with loving authority too, please find Views from A Window Seat, Thoughts on Writing and Life, by Jeannine Atkins.

Non-Fiction Books for Writing

Non-fiction reading, poetry and a poem

I'm posting at Alyson Beecher's blog, Kid-Lit Frenzy for Non-Fiction Picture Book Wednesday. Thanks to Alyson, we have a group that shares terrific non-fiction!  Tweet at #nfpb2014.   

I Can Write A Book Called "If I could talk to animals..."- written and illustrated by

Bobbie Kalman

           This is a most awesome book for creating any kind of book, taking young students through the process step-by-step from choosing the animal one might wish to write about, all the way to creating all the important pages needed at the process end, like title page, dedication, table of contents, etc. 
  

26 of 31 - What We Wrote In Class!

The March Slice of Life Challenge- Is Nearly Over...
          Thanks to Ruth and Stacey, at Two Writing Teachers for all their work to facilitate this- 26 of 31

      Tweet at #Slice2013

              We’ve all been writing, writing, thinking about writing, then doing more writing!  Stephen King, in On Writing says: If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware off, no shortcut.  

            I have improved my own writing through the years by writing for myself, and by writing with my students.  Audience is important as well as writing for oneself. When I taught my students, I thought it was important for them to write—a lot.  There were formal assignments, but also I did many kinds of things that required writing, some creative and some quick writing that was both practice and a depository for ideas.   Many of my students became more accomplished as writers and I wanted to engage them with varied experiences, many through choice, readying them for their next steps of high school.  Here is a list of things that were written communication that occurred in my class.  This doesn’t even count other writing students did in the other classes they chose to take in what we called a ‘matrix’ choice program. 

Heading Toward Normal - Maybe?

Stacey and Ruth. wonderfully creative women that they are, host the Tuesday Slices of Life where each blogger links up a post to tell people how life is treating them.  Come visit!

     I need to make this brief, but wanted to let everyone know that I’m still celebrating, my move and my (NOW) 401^st post.  I just don’t have time for true reflection, perhaps next week? I found a quote about learning that fits who I am as a teacher. I like to learn, and hope that there is something for each student and person with whom I work that they might take away.  It is: You learn something every day if you pay attention.  ~Ray LeBlond   I think in my blogging that attention has been paid, and I’m proud of that.

National Day on Writing

It's the National Day on Writing!

     Check out the New York Times Article here.

           What I Write

When I write, I make the tunes,

scribble words and create lunes.

To Grandson Carter I send slow mail notes,

For myself, I capture quotes.

To my students, the notes are sticky

Recently I created a wiki

for colleagues with whom I like to share.

We often look for things to care

about - pages sparking conversation

to help us in the demonstration

of the love of learning.  Finally, too

I write only for me, and then for you.

photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography via photopin cc

Gathering Ideas For Writing

 Tuesday Slice of Life is hosted by Stacey and Ruth at Two Writing Teachers.  Come visit to see what everyone is up to, here as a new school year arrives.

A very old cemetery in Missouri where some of my ancestors lie.  My mother's maiden name is Coleman.

       I love talking about different kinds of writing with students, and offering different experiences.  No matter what kind of writing we discuss, we seem to end up ‘telling stories.

        My school is near a beautiful cemetery.  Many visit there for various reasons.  Groups may have a tree tour to learn about and visit the numerous examples of tall, mature trees that grow there.  The place is very old, and they can study history there, visit some of the tombstones of famous people who have lived in this area and marvel at their monuments, their places of rest.  There is a tour dedicated to distinguished Colorado women.  People bike on the numerous paths through the grounds.

Summer Writing - #TeachersWrite

 

        It's a new group, I read on Facebook from Two Writing Teachers, then on to Kate Messner's blog.  I signed up, then went to twitter to find that there is a group there too, #TeacherWrite.  Today, Jen Vincent is talking about her part at Teach Mentor Texts.  When I go to twitter, everyone is talking, talking & the Google Docs document is filling, filling.  Now I'm getting nervous.  But I've already learned something good:  Gae Polisner, author of The Pull of Gravity, offers a Friday Feedback post at her blog That Wee Bit Heap, & she will be joining Jen & Kate as the glue that holds this now quite large group together.  So if you're not aware, check it out to see if you'd like to join & write with us.  I hope to see some of you there!
    So, I thought I'd write a poem in preparation for a beginning, and this is what happened.

I read once that poetry must come to you,
and find that this time it is not true.
I cannot write a decent line,
nor be the glue that holds
the words together
in sensible shape
and worthy form.

I cannot even find that poetry
which often keeps me warm.

I could write lists of things I love,
and things that make me think.
I feel I'm able to perform,
but now,
instead,
I'll blink...

And sigh,
and know that to be or not
is not for me,
this time.

                 Looking forward to more words, more exploration with this fabulous group.

I Had To Tell About This Book - More Ways To Tell Your Story -#24

The March Slice of Life Challenge is hosted by Stacey and Ruth at their blog,

Two Writing Teachers.

Seven Days To Go!

This past Thursday and Friday parent-student-teacher conferences were held at school.  Those of us who are not core teachers had some time to do some planning and meet informally if we wished.  As explained before, students at my school study individual units and are supported in their studies by their core teachers.  An additional component is that we have a group of teachers whose job is to take the students on individual field trips that focus on the unit topic.  My colleague who writes the blog Prose Cents is one of those teachers.  The experiential trips may involve small groups that have similar unit topics, but sometimes only one student can also go on a trip.  These teachers are amazing and creative and energetic, dedicated to their work with students, finding resources all over the city to help students learn about their topics ‘in the field’.  Trips might be interviews with experts, trips to local museums, airports, restaurants, and businesses.  The list of possibilities is endless.

We've Made It To Slice Number Ten - Be Proud!

         The SOLSC Challenge is at the Two Writing Teachers blog hosted by Ruth and Stacey - This is the tenth day and if you've made it this far, you're beginning to create a great habit--writing every day!  


          I have carried around an old Newsweek essay that I've shared both with colleagues and students.  I thought you'd enjoy the thoughts that this writer shares about appreciation.  You can find it here.

           Auggie, from that marvelous new book Wonder, by R.J. Palacio says:  “I think there should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives.”  


           This is my standing ovation for all the slicers in this challenge.  Happy Saturday and Happy Writing!  Thank you for all my support too!

photo credit: Anirudh Koul via photopin cc

Going Out With Students To Write

I'm participating in the twenty-one day comment challenge at Mother Reader.  It's been terrific to meet new people! Check it out here.

        If we want our students to write, it is helpful to teach them some ideas of how to observe when they are in the world, riding home with parents as chauffeurs, riding home on the city bus, walking home with or without friends, riding the bike home.  We can travel with a small group to a park, a small shopping area, down the block from school to give them a chance to write in a different setting.  In class, we talk and talk and list ideas in our writer's notebooks that are good, actually, but nothing holds interest like sitting on a bench in a small town setting and watching people go by.  
        Every few minutes one can put down a word or two, and in between those minutes, one can imagine:  Where is that woman going dressed as if she stepped onto a modeling runway at Saks?  Who is that group of three, two older, one younger--lunch for three from the office, the younger tagging along because she just had a fight with-her husband, her girlfriend, her mother-and needs some advice.  What is that young boy doing on the side with his scooter?  Isn't it school time, shouldn't he be somewhere?  Do you see the trash under the bench?  Did you notice the cupcakes in the window?  Who is the band playing on the loud speakers?  Did you see that woman with the dog in her handbag?  Did you hear...? Did you smell?  

Be Kind To Yourself In The New Year

Slice of Life Tuesday is enjoyed at Stacey and Ruth's Two Writing Teachers blog

       One recent reading experience began my thinking again about my theory that writing is deepening my reading.  I read Journey, by Patricia MacLachlan a while ago.  I love her work, both in picture books and chapter books, and I am excited to see her speak in February when I attend the Colorado Council of the International Reading Association annual conference.  In this book, a young child relies on much of his grandfather’s support, and the grandfather’s words are wise.  At an earlier time, I might have read the  scene below, enjoyed it, and moved on to another part of the book, but this time two things happened.  First, I paid particular attention to the lesson, thinking about its application to teachers who work so hard to do their very best; and, second, I noticed that MacLachlan was very good at sneaking life lessons for the reader into her book, but doing it so subtly within dialogue that it seemed just another talk between grandparent and grandchild in order to move the plot along. 

       While speaking of the grandparent’s comment about a photograph, we first hear Journey, the main character. 

“Well, I said, embarrassed and pleased.  “Well, it’s not perfect.”

”Perfect!”  Grandfather almost spit out the word.  His face softened.  “What is perfect?  Journey, a thing doesn’t have to be perfect to be fine.  That goes for a picture.  That goes for life.”  He paused.  “Things can be good enough.” 

Telling all of our stories on Thanksgiving

Tuesday Slice of Life is at Two Writing Teachers

  

John Two-Hawks is an awarding winning Lakota flute player.  He says:

"I cannot tell you the dreamy Indian story of your imagination simply because I am not imaginary - 
and my story is no dream...."

      Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I am grateful for this community that helps me be a better teacher.  Thank you for your support this year and your kind comments.  I am grateful!

As Thanksgiving is upon us in a couple of days, I am reminded of my time in the classroom and the importance of sharing important truths with my students.  It’s a lovely thing to say thanks for our blessings, and I do.  I feel I have many and am forever grateful.  In my years in the classroom I developed a number of traditions to help students both to celebrate and to learn about the real history of Thanksgiving.  Although we are often proud of those we call pilgrims, in the spirit of the learning all the stories of our American history, I also wanted my students to understand that Native Americans, most especially the Wampanoag, the Native Americans who helped the early colonists through that first hard winter, are still here, still living in the United States, and living their lives as they have for 350 years.  I experienced the story firsthand with my students when we visited the Plimoth Plantation a few years ago.  It’s a wonderful place to experience history as ‘first-hand’ as one can get without the availability of time travel.  There is where we met the Wampanoag, spoke with them about their journey in history, and began to understand that for them, our Thanksgiving is not a day of celebration.

Plimoth woman

There is a new documentary out, which details a recent venture of saving the Wampanoag language.  It is titled “We Still Live Here – Âs Nutayuneânby” and tells the story of Jessie Little Doe Baird, a Wampanoag Indian who began to search for pieces of the language that hadn’t been spoken for 100 years.  You can find an article about it and a brief film clip here.  Her daughter is the first native speaker in seven generations to speak the language!  I share this story, in addition to sharing an article by Susan Bates, called “The Real Story of Thanksgiving” and one by a teacher, Chuck Larsen, titled “Introduction for Teachers”.  Both are here.  It is important to me that students learn the stories that have often been omitted, and to question and explore history instead of accepting every story as the only one.     

Wampanoag exterior

Because my school does acknowledge and celebrate Thanksgiving as part of our heritage, I also held other activities with students.  One year we created special thank you proclamations (art and words), and presented them to the special someone at the Thanksgiving table.  Another time we wrote and shared the exercise of answering this question:  If you could invite five people to your Thanksgiving table, whom would you invite, who would be the guest of honor, and at that dinner, what words would you say to them?  Various people were among the invited, like grandparents who had died before the students had met them, favorite cartoon characters, best friends who had moved away, along with famous people like Helen Keller, Albert Einstein, Neil Armstrong, and on.  After completing the exercise, we shared our writing on the day before the Thanksgiving break.  And beautiful, serious, along with tongue-in-cheek words were written.  Often on that day we have visitors, because many relatives visit at this time, so we share with them and ask them to share one person they might invite.  It is a rich experience to hear the array of people chosen, and even more exciting to hear the words chosen to say to the invitees.

Last, during the days before the holiday, we created a thank you wall, on which we posted notes of thanks to people in the school, and notes of gratitude for both people and things in our lives.  It was good to see the enthusiasm for this in the class and from our viewers. 

I know that we cannot review parts of the past as responsible researchers without some regret, but we can use this lesson that any study of past times is a way to research for truth from all the relevant viewpoints.   We can teach our students to write stories from their research in order to imagine standing in others’ shoes.   Instead of ignoring that wrongs were done in the past, we can look for those things done right, and be thankful for that.  As well, we can continue to give thanks that people all over the world are trying to learn how to live together in peace.

When my students celebrate Thanksgiving with their families, my hope is that they are richer for their knowledge.

wild turkeys

ready for pies?