Hello all!

Winter is turning into spring, and as a result, it is nice to be outside again. This week in class we focused on finding poetry in small places, or about subjects that don’t usually get written about. We also read about ways to help young writers learn about the tools that help create both the meaning and music of poetry, and how to write as an “outside poet” or an “inner poet”. I know that most of my work is written from my inner poet and deals with emotions, events, memories, etc, but a few of my favorite and best received pieces have been about the natural world as well.

While the reading was informative and interesting (and helped me play around with more interesting line breaks which you will see later) I will focus most on the process of really observing something before writing about it. After sketching the Dandelion and its surroundings, I found the poem came to me very quickly, and I didn’t have to spend a lot of time thinking of what I wanted to say or how to say it. I ended up writing two poems, each focused on a different aspect of the Dandelion from two different points in time.

Here is the dandelion in its environment:

I think that this sketching and referring back to the sketch will definitely help young writers with their poems. It acts very similarly to how we remember something better after writing it down. Our thoughts are made permanent, and those thoughts are further tied to an event which makes it easier to recall. They become grounded in something physical and tangible. For this reason I think young writers will thrive doing this.

Of course, this process requires time to sit and look, really observe, as well as sketching the subject. Some scaffolding will be required to help the writers be successful here. Allowing for breaks during the observation period, or coming back several times to the same object over the day or even the week might allow the students to spend enough time on task observing to get something meaningful out of it without making them overly restless. You could also allow pictures of the object to base the sketches on for those students who may need more time sketching. Of course, reminding them that you’re just trying to get the important, basic details of the subject is good. The point is not to have a photo-realistic drawing in your notebook.

I myself had to take a picture and then sketch from the photo since I was on my way to the bus and really did not want to miss it. The process still worked for me, although I have no doubt that sitting in the environment for the whole process is much more fulfilling.

This process is also very easy to do at most schools. All that is required is some time spent outside as a class in nature observing. The yard, a neighboring forest, or park will work wonderfully.

This is a fairly short entry this week, but I’m going to share my sketches and the pictures, as well as the two poems that I wrote about the dandelion.

Close Up:

And here are my sketches:

Now that I’ve padded the length of the post, here are my poems:

Perseverance

One has to wonder

at the simplistic

beauty

and its

magnitude

on the world surrounding it.

 

Blooming

to the sun in the sky,

the same color as its prized jewel,

surviving.

Nay,

Thriving.

 

Out of Place?

At the foot of a rigid mountain,

among the broken rubble

in the valley

where the sun

shining bright warms its face

lies one small flower,

doing its best.

 

Dormant for a winter

waiting,

preparing

in the ground it found

the land it claimed.

 

Now it attacks

sending green tendrils

eagerly streaking across the cold,

barren, resistant ground.

An invasion of life

and beauty

into the trodden realms.

Two posts in the same week? And so close together?? First of all, thanks for being my reader! I appreciate it! Second, it was a task for class. We had to write our initial feelings, and then after we had completed the readings for the week, we’re supposed to revise our first post. So, let’s see what I changed my mind on. Oh, also, if you haven’t read my earlier post, you may want to to avoid confusion :p

I do think that after reading the first chapter of Awakening the Heart, Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School by Georgia Heard I was able to better understand other forms of poetry. This quote in particular impacted me: “When I introduce this center, I first define what I mean by ‘poetic.’ I tell students to listen for words that make a picture in their mind; are an unusual or surprising way of expressing something; give a strong feeling; or evoke a memory” (page 8). The underlined section is the part that really opened my eyes. While I still highly value the structure and technicality of a poem, I now have a greater appreciation for the more raw or intuitive nature of some of the word combinations used, regardless of the surrounding structure. I hope that makes sense.

I also now have a lot more ideas of how to actually teach poetry in my classrooms. I really like the idea of “cracking open words” to get at the deeper, richer meanings just waiting for the right words to be used. It reminds me of geodes. Regular and boring rock on the outside, but crack them open and they hold dazzling colors contained within crystals. I guess this is what I’m getting at in the above paragraph. If you can take a geode and impress me with the crystals inside, I will be much more ready to label it poetic, instead of just taking your word for it.

Aside from that, I still love poetry. Since I ended the other post with a poem based on current events, I will do the same for this one too. I wrote this poem when the Native Americans protesting the Keystone Pipeline were joined by a lot of war veterans. The combination of the two beaten down and betrayed people coming together was powerful to me. I also took structure inspiration from the song “I am a man of constant sorrow” since I had recently watched the movie “Brother Where Art Thou” on Netflix. I wrote the lines so that they could almost be sung.

Thanks for reading again!

Oh We People of Constant Sorrow

Oh we people of constant sorrow

we stand alone and face it all

and the legions of the rotten

gather forces to make us fall

 

Through dead of night

we lay in bags of ice

and shiver as they try

to make us pay their price

 

The daily assaults

grow ever deadly

and many of us have fallen

to this corrupted medley

 

They marched all this way

to poison the land

our sacred home which

they stole with deceitful hand

 

For weeks we held the line

all alone on the field

ever outnumbered

but yet we refuse to yield

 

And as the dangers grow

evil tries to force us home

all the while forgetting

we stand on lands we used to roam

 

The more they hurt us

the more they lose

and now joined are we

by those who sport a similar bruise

 

Oh we soldiers of sorrow

we stand with you

for better than most

ee know this fight is nothing new

There are probably going to be a few different posts this week, so here’s the first one. We were tasked with writing a response to how we feel about poetry. Probably because we are about to begin our unit on poetry in my class. Basically I have to think about and express how I feel about poetry; reading it, writing it, teaching it, what I consider quality poetry to be, and how I might create a poetic environment in my future classroom.

I enjoy reading poetry for the most part. I don’t enjoy poetry that seems to take pride in how smug or pretentious it can be, or poetry that is written specifically to use language that is hard to understand. To me, it’s like someone bragging about their intelligence because they know big words or the names of some molecules. I also tend to not enjoy poetry that tries too hard to be classified as poetry, or poetry that seems to not try at all to be poetry. Brown Girl Dreaming  is a good example. Of the nearly 300 pages of poetry in the book, there are only maybe 2 dozen that I enjoy and really see as poetry. I still enjoy the content of the rest of the book, I just don’t see it as poetry. The poetry that I do enjoy reading tends to be written to fit some sort of constraint, pattern, or form. I also really enjoy word-smithing and creative use of words.

I tend to write poetry aligned with my reading preferences. Most of my work, and certainly my favorite pieces contain structure, constraints, or rules. Although I have written my fair share of free verse pieces as well. When I sit down to write a poem, I decide what form to use based on how I’m feeling and/or what I’m writing about. I also rarely have long-term plans for a poem, and start writing based on an idea, a line, or a word and I see where it takes me.

I am very much looking forward to teaching poetry. I think that by the time we reach middle school, poetry has been taught to be un-fun, difficult, boring, and hard to understand. My experiences with poetry have been the opposite, and while that’s certainly too limited a proof to base a decision on, the wide popularity of the six word memoir among people from all demographics proves that playing with words is fun, and that’s what poetry is. In order to help students embrace poetry in my classrooms, we will definitely be working with the six word memoir. It’s an easy, simple, quick, and addictive method that works well to initiate students into the world of poetry and playing with language. I will also share my work with my students, so that they don’t think I’m asking them to do something that I won’t.

Overall, yeah I like poetry. It’s more accessible and approachable to me than writing a story to convey what I think or how I feel about an issue. When the Charlottesville Riots happened a few years ago, I wrote a poem, not a story or a tweet. I think it’s a pretty good one, so I’ll share it at the end of this post.

Thanks for reading!

 

The Weeping of our Generation

What does one say

when they are shouting in your face?

What can one do

when they are blind to the truth of it all?

What does one use

To dry the tears without a trace?

How do you respond

when you hear the weeping of a generation?

 

Do you shout back, push and shove,

match blood for blood

and hate for hate?

In the flickering red light

cast by the rage and savagery of those who have it all,

do you stab the monstrosity of fear

through its cold and withered heart,

tearing away its life with the claws of hate?

It would be no more than they deserve,

and their howls claiming unfairness in their treatment

would be all the justification needed.

How can one resist

when the urge to rip and tear,

to utterly and completely destroy them

stares you in the face?

 

But what would that achieve?

We want to kill them for saying that they want to kill others.

Condemn them to the whirlpool,

and you will be the next one falling in.

Well, then, shall we lie down and let them win?

Shall we offer ourselves up as tribute for their twisted and evil lord?

Is it better to remain silent, watching, listening, despairing?

 

What does one say

to quiet the rage seen in their face?

What can one do

to change the ways of us all?

What does one use

to eradicate the darkness without a trace?

How will you respond

when you hear the weeping of our generation?

 

How does one follow you

when this shit happens every day?

This past week has been a difficult one and I am sorry that my blog post has been delayed by a few days. I really don’t know what to write this week, which has been a part of the problem. I will share another lesson plan draft that can be used in the classroom to help engage students in the joys of writing. I will also share my experiences with creating “Six Word Memoirs” which I found very fun and challenging (in a good way). I also finished another draft of a “Where I’m From Poem” so I will probably end the post with that just to add some content.

Here’s the lesson plan:

Selecting the Important Details

Mentor Text: Happy Like Soccer (Maribeth Boelts, Lauren Castillo)

Hook: Read Happy Like Soccer and discuss the main events of the story and how the author moves the reader through time efficiently. This story takes place over a few weeks so there’s no way everything could be written about!

Purpose: “Today we are going to learn a new method to help us focus in on the really juicy parts of our stories. To do this we are going to use transition words and phrases to move our readers through the story’s time”

Brainstorm: As a class, brainstorm a list of transitional language that the students are probably familiar with. Examples could be then, next, after, first, finally, etc. Next, have the students work in small groups  looking through other books that could provide additional ways in which authors move the reader through time. Let them add their findings to the list. Some examples could be that night, the next morning, a year later, the next month, etc.

Model: Hold a brainstorming session in front of your students as you think of ideas you’d like to write about. This is a model so just have the students watch for now.

Ex. Trying to organize the weekly D&D session, the journey to work after it snowed, that time I fell through the ice in Canada

Once you’ve thought of a few, choose one and create a working title. Write down all of the details that you can think of surrounding this event, including details that are not important to your topic.

Breaking Through:

– Went to church in the morning – after church my friend Andy came over – Johnathan went to Caleb’s house – we ate lunch – we decided to go outside into the ravine behind our house – put on our winter gear – rolled under the fence – we went down to the drain pool and started throwing rocks out onto the ice – the big ones went through, most of the small ones didn’t unless they landed near the middle – we talked about walking out onto the ice but decided not to – we were afraid the ice would break – I threw the biggest rock I could out onto the ice – it didn’t break the ice – I walked out to grab it so I could throw it again – the ice cracked and I fell in – Andy pulled me out with a stick – we went back to the house – I went inside while Andy hid – Mom realized what happened and started yelling louder than I have ever heard her yell before – Dad convinced her to let me come inside and take off the soaked clothes and that she could yell at me once I warmed up – I went to take a hot shower while Andy was coaxed out of hiding –

Tell the story orally, including all of the details that you listed. When you’re done, ask the class if the story made sense, was interesting, and if all the included details were necessary. Have the class help you identify which details are important and which can be removed. The result should be a faster and more engaging story. Retell the story, but use the revised list of details, and include some of the words from the transition list.

Guided Writing: Due to the interactive nature of the modeling, many students may not need a guided writing exercise. If you feel that doing a guided writing is necessary or beneficial, you can do a shared writing on a common topic such as the trip to school each morning, or what happens at lunch, or a birthday.

Independent Writing: Have the students return to a writing piece that they have started and revise it to focus in on the important details and remove the unnecessary ones. Remind them to use transition words that help move the reader forward through the story.

Hopefully this lesson will help students get out of the “bed-to-bed” narrative style. Be prepared for some high-quality and engaging writing pieces in the future!

Now on to the six word memoirs. As I mentioned briefly, I really like this idea and had a fun time with it. I only managed to finish a few, but I plan to write many more. Here they are:

Home’s a wandering house taming horizons.

Once more family! Into the breach!

Only one way to find out.

My home is a wandering house. 

That’s so weird. Let’s try it!

If you haven’t tried writing these, I highly recommend it!

Now here is my latest draft of my “Where I’m From” poem, which will also count as my weekly poem (I know, it might seem lazy, but look at what I called this blog) so enjoy!

Where I’m From

I’m from plastic wars waged among the blistering dunes of the sandbox, the lush jungle of the garden, the felt plains of the carpet, and the ragged cardboard metropolis.

From daily 200 foot marathons ran between our backyards, the familiar distance shrinking each year and arguments over whose fort was better.

I’m from a 5 person combat and adventure squad, Isaac and Julia filling out our ranks and watching our backs. Brandishing our staves and swords of stick we cut down the twisting foes of the sentient jungle. Fortified behind wintry ice walls we engaged the freezing enemies of the invading winter forces.

I’m from the small brick neighborhood school midway down a snaking country road, a 15 minute bus ride there, and 45 minutes back home.

From a backyard garden housing corn, sunflowers, pumpkins, cucumbers, and more. Grunting pigs in a pen shaded by Oak, Walnut, and Apple trees greeting Buddy snout to nose each morning, all tails wagging.

I’m from the front door that we rarely used acting as the center of a compass rose, each direction pointing to a different farm animal within sight.

From the creaking of stairs older than some of the trees groaning under our pounding feet, and the gentle, clinking swish of a pile of LEGOs spread out on the floor between us.

I’m from lightning bugs in mason jars caught on an evening where you can just barely see across the yard, everything a faint grayish blue, the perfect end to a day under a summer sun hot enough for a flooded sandbox or water war, but not hot enough to send us inside.

From parents saying “Here am I, send me” and an impossible trip over the bridge.

I’m from a permanent home, but a nomadic house.

From sledding in the backyard and using the frigid morning air and two fingers to smoke fake cigarettes waiting for the car to warm.

I’m from half-flooded, half-frozen school hallways, the Zhwip-Zhwip-Zhwip of running snowpants, and refreshing ice-cold tap water.

From a perfectly wrapped donated coat for Christmas, our parent’s beleagured eyes glistening on the ornaments, only partially masked by the fire’s smoky, flickering reflection.

I’m from learning to skate 6 weeks after moving and 2 weeks before my first Hockey game, and many nights afterwards spent on the frozen surfaces of The Bay or neighborhood backyards.

From the long-awaited Spring Thaw arriving in May, revealing dog turds, little unwanted gifts, and leaving behind blackish-gray mountain ranges of snow in parking lots that cast shadows sometimes into July.

I’m from walking to school with friends, taking the shortcut  across the tracks. The smell of cigarettes and weed indicating the “secret” spot along the path. We ignore the pathetic chainlink fence erected to keep us out, to keep us from dying like so many before us have.

From sleepless nights with Bernie spent in the basement tasting the crispy saltiness of fresh  kettle-popped popcorn, enraptured by Corner Gas. From Dad’s “Front seat sermons” on long car drives, medium car rides, or even just errands across town.

I’m from moving again. Driving back over that bridge, leaving behind everything we worked for in order to pick up a new accent and learn a culture I had forgotten.

From the sweat-stained Rugby pitch marking me State Champion and melting skin under evil, hateful, scorching summer suns.

I’m from the cool mountain rain carried on gusts of wind felt by my ancestors exploring the next horizon. Finding and defining my purpose in life while striding forward towards the peak shrouded in mist.

From dreams, hopes, and prayers for a life of grandeur and meaning.

I’m from my past unchangeable, and the future is mine to write.

This week I’m going to be exploring how to help young students start to discover what they like to write about, and what they feel like they CAN write about. Last week touched on this, but I’m going to go more in-depth here. As part of this exploration, I’m going to share a potential lesson plan that could be used to help children think of topics. The strategy that the lesson focuses on is using a “Memory Chain” to think of and select topics.

Before I start going through the lesson, a memory chain is a list of memories or associations that is written through a stream of consciousness. To quote our textbook: “A memory chain is a collection of ideas that are sometimes related and sometimes unrelated. It is a menu that helps a writer make good choices for a writing piece” (42, Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children’s Literature, K-6, Second Edition).

Hook: Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant and Mary Szilagyi is a great book to help students get familiar with the idea of a collection of different, usually unrelated things that are connected by a common theme or idea. In this book’s case, it’s all the things that you could hear on a country night.

Purpose: Writers, sometimes an event or memory can lead us down a fun and strange path through our memory. Sometimes the thoughts we think as a result don’t seem to be connected to each other. But more often than not, that stream of thought IS connected to a central theme or thought, and we usually think of some pretty cool things along the way. In this book, a lot of the things that we can hear aren’t normally related to each other, but each one can be the inspiration for a really interesting story. What is the owl flying towards? Will he reach it? Why is your neighbor awake? Did he hear something strange in the night that you didn’t?

Today I’m going to show you how you can create a memory chain. It’s a lot like this collection of sounds, and can help you think of something interesting when you feel stuck trying to find something to write about.

Brainstorm: Together as a whole class, brainstorm a list of interesting things. These things can be objects in the room or other familiar environment, ideas the students have, things they saw on the way to school, etc. The purpose of this list is to provide a starting point for the student’s memory chain.

Model: Choose one of the things from the classroom list, and write it on the board. Think out loud and record ideas that are generated. Record the list as a stream of consciousness, and remind the students that it’s ok if they think of something that isn’t directly related to their original topic. If they thought of it as part of the chain, write it down.

An example might look like:

Sports – Physical Contact – Rugby – Mouthguard – Sideline Referees – Tackling – Reset – Fieldgoal – Championship game – Injury – Raleigh Rattlesnakes

This example contains a lot of broad or open single word entries. It is perfectly ok to have longer sentences or more complex entries. The important thing is to make it long so that you have a lot of things to choose from. When you’re done, go back through the list and circle one idea that you want to write about today, and model how to start the story. This can be done orally or written.

Shared/Guided Reading: Ask the students to choose a word from the class list and to try creating a memory chain in their writer’s notebook. You can have the whole class start with the same word, or have each student choose their own word. Have the students share their chain with a partner when they are done with their list. The purpose of this is to give feedback and indicate which story they think they would like to hear. Practice telling the story by sharing it orally with their partner.

Independent Writing: Have the students write a story about the item they chose from their list. This should go in their writer’s notebook as an entry.

Reflection: Ask the students to discuss with their partners, in small groups, and with you about how well the strategy worked for them. When would they use it again? What would they change next time?

Aside from this lesson, their are numerous strategies to help writers, young students and published authors, generate ideas to write about. I like this memory chain idea, as well as keeping a writer’s notebook full of interesting tidbits and thoughts or observations. Here is where I will invite a bit of community participation. What are some of your favorite methods?

Switching topics again, we were invited this week to generate a small moment narrative story in which we write about a small moment from our lives. As part of the style and exercise, we examine that moment as if it were under a microscope. Focus in on the small aspects of what made that moment worth writing about, and add the interesting and tantalizing details that make that small, quick moment expand and worth reading and writing about. Since nothing really interesting has happened this week, at least nothing that is particularly memorable, I chose to write about the last hockey game I played, which happened to be in 8th grade and was the championship game. The winner of the game took 1st place in the league, so the stakes were high. Enjoy!

Not much time left I think as I look back at the scoreboard. 1:41 glares back at me. Need to make something happen now if we’re going to win. My eyes track my teammate retrieving the puck from behind our net as I rotate my hips and lean back. My exhaled breath floats briefly in front of my face as my skates shave a thin layer of ice into powder, bringing me to a stop right inside the blue line. “Right here!” I yell, accentuating my call with the cracking sound of my stick hitting the ice.

The impact of the received puck travels through my arms and frees a drop of sweat. I unwillingly taste it’s saltiness, a reminder of how long I’ve been working for this. I pivot and control the puck all in one smooth practiced motion, just as another stick is thrust from behind into the space where the puck was less than a second ago. Unfazed I quickly direct the puck between his legs as I’m still turning towards his side of the rink. I can feel his surprise and frustration, but I hear nothing. This is it I realize as I brush past him and stride into open ice.

A strange calm cascades over me. I can feel the slight crushing glide of each stride, but I still hear nothing, not even the roaring crowd watching the championship game coming to a close. As I sprint towards the goal, only one opponent stands a chance at stopping me. Above the net rests the scoreboard, displaying the score of 3-2. So tantalizingly close, and each second ticked away is a taunt. 1:37 staring me in the face doesn’t bother me though. I cross their blue line a half second before the defender reaches me. 1:32 dares me to do it with intense crimson eyes.

I can practically taste the net and I am fully confident in what is about to happen as the puck flies through the air. I don’t see the puck’s flight, but I do see the bulge it makes in the back of the net. Like a flicked switch I now hear the crowd’s wall of noise. The defender that almost could lies sprawled out on the ice where I left him, defeated, his teammates standing in mute shock as we all realize the same thing: overtime.

I had a lot of fun writing this, and I was pleasantly surprised about how much I still remember from that event. I definitely think that students would enjoy writing this type of entry as well.

Thanks for reading, and as always I will end the post with a poem. This one I have been working on for a little over a week now. I shared the original draft with my brother, and he urged me to rewrite it so that it follows a more defined rhyme scheme. I recently finished that draft (which took about a week) and I think it has improved a lot. One of my inspirations was the game series Dark Souls, so the poem is a little grim and dark.

The Giants in the sea

 

Above all else, fear the giants in the sea.

From over the horizon they came, striding over the waves,

their shadows muting music, their sneers made of graves.

Crimson tides followed, carrying in warships swatted aside as fleas.

 

Our divine Kings knew not where they came from,

our warriors died by the lightning illuminating our demise,

our castles melted by the fires smoldering in their eyes,

and the dragons’ rage was snuffed out beneath their thumbs.

 

The dark days followed in the wake of their furious conquest;

a whirlpool, a gazing eye of terror desecrating the sky

roiling with dead clouds, tainting our clothes with demonic dye.

Hopeless we perished, falling flat into the footprints of our best.

 

The end arrived when Omegadia’ah’s axe fell towards the world

and echoes of an even darker evil from deep in the black hailed.

The dirt spat out a curse and the lands under our kingdoms failed

as the Bones of the Earth bent, and around his blackened heart curled.

 

As they entered their prison of dark, stone, and water, we ascended,

forming a broken world of rubble, staring fearfully into the night.

Our Age of Heroes was ended, their blood spilled for hateful spite.

Now we know the meaning of war when before we foolishly pretended.

 

From this hungry power we know not a way to flee.

With the best of us slain we feel nought but rage and despair.

We plan for the day we die, avenging memories lost with the air.

Above all else we know and urge you: fear the giants in the sea.

I’m going to be honest with you guys, I don’t know how to approach this blog post. There are a lot of small and specific things that I want to talk about, but they are only loosely related to each other in my head at best. So bear with me and pack both your ladder and parachute for the topic jumps ahead.

Textbook: Amy Krouse Rosenthal by (you guessed it) Amy Krouse has continued to be an interesting and engaging read. My personal copy FINALLY arrived, and one of the first things that I checked was if page 59 was still there. It is, which I was both disappointed and pleased with. I found her entries this week to be a little less fascinating than the entries on serendipity, yet there were two occasions that stand out. The first was page 101 where she talks about catching up with a long lost elementary school friend. She uses the words “someone you haven’t seen in forever” and I kind of chuckled at the actual truth of that statement within my life.

I have moved so often and grown apart from so many people, that it probably will be forever until I see a lot of them again. And that’s ok with me. Honestly there are very few people that I would WANT to catch up with if I did run into them. I did appreciate her wanting to immediately share the craziest thing that has happened to her though. I think that’s a great place to start. If you’re going to bother catching up, skip the boring stuff that happens to everyone and get to the good parts. I’m not sure what my opening line would be however.

The second occurrence was on page 121 where she calls us wanting to matter “inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time” While I understand the core idea behind this, that  whatever we do will always be inconsequential when scaled to the size of the world or universe, I don’t agree with it at all. My gut feeling was one of being insulted and challenged at the same time. Part of what I wrote on the page was “You think I can’t?” I’m not fully sure on what my reaction means, but I do know that I’ve always lived my life under the belief that I will accomplish something worthwhile.

The actual textbook that we read from this week (Mentor Texts: Second Edition by Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Cappelli) talked about helping young writers selecting topics to write about. I think that if not all, then most, writers have at some time felt that they had nothing to say, or nothing to write about. Certainly every writing teacher has heard a student say it. The chapter gave a lot of useful ideas on how to help writers overcome that writer’s block using mentor texts. They ranged from things that I hadn’t really thought about such as writing from the point of view of an object or animal to things that seemed pretty simple like writing “territories”. These territories are essentially subject areas that the writer is very knowledgeable about. It boils down to “write what you know”. I did find the title interesting however,  and I will certainly use it in the future. It means that I have my own territories, and that sounds cool.

Overall however, the chapter does a good job of synthesizing/compiling/examining a bunch of different ways to help writers overcome their “blank” minds. Even those methods that are fairly common are explained and examined in a way that helps inform the reader on their practical functionality in the classroom beyond what the reader already “knows”. In my case, the concept of territories made a lot of intuitive sense, and was very closely related to an idea that I already knew. But it was explored further and I learned how to better help students identify not only broad territories that they can write about, but how to narrow that infinite source down to a core idea.

What else do I want to talk about…

Oh yeah we are also reading Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson and I really like it. I’m not a fan of the way that the story has been broken up into verse, but I got used to it. I don’t necessarily have anything against freestyle poetry (I’ve written a fair share of it) or stories in verse, I just don’t like the style in which this story has been done. I will shortly get to a moment that I thoroughly enjoyed, but first I have to talk about what’s bothering me.

A perfect example of why I don’t particularly enjoy this style can be found on page 50:

“At dusk, just as the fireflies flicker on, my grandfather

makes his way

home.

We see him coming slow down the road,

…”

Did you spot what bothers me? I think the imagery here is great, as it is throughout the book, and is one of the reasons I like the book overall. But I just don’t understand why it’s written this way. Why is ‘home’ on its own line??? It doesn’t add anything as far as I can tell. This section may as well have been written as prose. Most of the book actually. When I write freestyle poetry I break my lines in places where it makes sense to break them. Its a reason that makes sense to me. As far as I can see, the line breaks in this book are just there to make it feel more artsy and so that the book can be classified as poetry. If you know a better reason than PLEASE share it with me, and I apologize if I offended anyone reading this.

… OK …

On to the things that I love about this book!

Like I said above, I love the imagery that Jacqueline puts on display throughout the short snippets of her life that she’s shared. I’ve lived in both the North and the South, and almost everything she talks about I can see, hear, smell, taste (when applicable), and feel. Her use of multiple short snippets doesn’t detract from her story at all, and often enhances it. Plus, very often her word choices are incredible. From this week’s section my favorite part was “Ghosts” on page 92:

“In downtown Greenville,

they painted over the WHITE ONLY signs,

except on the bathroom doors,

they didn’t use a lot of paint

so you can still see the words, right there

like a ghost standing in front

still keeping you out.”

I was blown away by this. This is one of my favorite poems ever. It’s so powerful in its simplicity and also visceral in a way. This could have been a long and complicated poem, but it wouldn’t work nearly as well in my opinion. The message here is short and simple, and so using a short and simple poem to convey the message works. And it works well.

Plus the line breaks make sense.

Ok I think I’m pretty much out of things to talk about this week. So as usual I will end the post with a poem I wrote.

Thanks for reading! 🙂

What I see

They say that a person’s eyes

act as a window into their soul.

I think that’s probably true

but looking past the disguise

is the part that’s important.

 

For a window isn’t always crystal clear;

it can be frosty, foggy, smeared, cracked, or even broken.

It took a lot of time, effort, and love for me

to really start seeing through your window my dear,

and it breaks my heart to see your window pains.

As you may have seen on my “About Me” page, my name is Joshua. This week, our professor encouraged us to examine our names, and dive deep into possible meanings, connections, familial history, etc. So I thought about it, and I think I will write about my name. Over the past few years I have thought about all of these things in regards to my name, a lot of which I will get into below.

Joshua is an old biblical name that has been given to many a young child in Judaeo-Christian cultures (and possibly Islamic? I’m not sure but it’s possible). Joshua was a warrior, leader, and servant of God who led his people to the lands where they now dwell. Whenever people are introduced to my brothers and I, they always ask “Wow. Do your parents just like J’s?” My brothers are named Josiah and Johnathan. This was design, but not ours or our parents. Instead, for each of us, they prayed and asked God what our names should be.

So far, they have been almost perfectly accurate.

I have always had an inclination (one could call it an obsession) towards competition, conflict, and war. I love strategy, physical activity, sports, out thinking opponents, and winning. I learn quickly, adapt easily, and am more than willing to fight for those I love, and those who cannot fight for themselves.

Joshua the Israelite was very good at all of these things (Citation needed on the sports though).

I am also the eldest sibling and so was charged with leading my younger brothers. When I was around 10 we moved to another country. There I managed to accept the new world and it’s changes in stride (mostly). I provided a model for my brothers to follow, and as a result my parents didn’t have to worry too much about consoling us, sheltering us, or convincing us that it was a good thing, even though it was hard. And when it was time for us to leave again, I did it all for a second time.

Joshua the Israelite also inspired and led his people into a foreign land, even though it was hard.

Near the end of my high school career, I began to write poetry. I wrote about all the hypocrisy, corruption, injustice, and evil that I saw in the world and my country of birth, the good ol’ USA. Around this time I was also labelled a prophet by a family friend who had a deep connection to God. During my freshman year at App State I took a class on the Old Testament, where I learned that the Israelites thought very differently about Joshua than we do.

I learned that Joshua the Israelite was not considered primarily a warrior or leader, but as a prophet.

This was around the same time that I had finally begun to get a grasp on the inner wrestling match between my desire to achieve victory and glory on the field of battle and my religious and ideological beliefs that “Evil begets Evil” and that “You can’t build the Kingdom of God with the enemy’s tools”. While I still struggle what seems to be my innate desire of, and fascination with, warfare, I have largely pledged to never participate in war, and to never kill someone for Earthly reasons.

When I was given the name of Joshua, none of this was clear; I was hadn’t even been born yet. And yet now it makes a lot of sense. To me at least. Perhaps this is why the first and only time (so far) that I felt truly spoken to while reading my bible was when I read Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” And so I think, will Joshua the Israelite.

What does all of this have to do with getting children to be better at and enjoy writing? Honestly I’m not sure. However, in our program we have been taught, and are still being taught that children’s writing about things they know and are interested in, are the best. Not only is it often some of their best work, but it also allows them to enjoy writing, and to see writing as more than just a way to tell the teacher how much you know about Columbus’ discovery of the Americas. The fact that I sat down and wrote about the similarities between my life and personality with that of an ancient person’s is fascinating. I enjoyed doing it, and it came easily.

This topic of a person’s name having significance, meaning, or insight into who they are is a wide open door for children. They can write about themselves, what their name means, it’s history, it’s uniqueness, where it comes from. They can speculate about what their great grandchildren will be named, why they’re named, and what they might do with their name. That’s a story right there, and I bet many children who hate writing would love to write about that, and I would love to read it.

And speaking from personal experience, it can be hard to find things to write about. Take this haiku I wrote this morning before my coffee kicked in as “Exhibit A” –

Sometimes writing sucks

nothing yet has seemed to work

my befuddled mind

 

What makes this so funny to me is that in the original draft, the second line read “nothing seems to work” which is only 5 syllables, making each line contain 5 syllables instead of the required 5 – 7 – 5. I debated on keeping it that way to reinforce the message, but decided against it. Maybe that’s a mistake that I will regret. Who knows.

Thanks for reading! 🙂

This semester, I have a feeling that I will be challenged to grow and progress as a writer. I always had a certain affinity and enjoyment for writing, but that usually manifested as writing poetry, and not very regularly or seriously. One of my courses now however is centered around the idea that everyone can be, and is, a writer. While I agree with this sentiment whole heatedly, it means that I can’t just sit back and say “I already am a writer. I’ve been one for a while now so I can just coast.” If everyone around me is going to be throwing themselves into it, then I have to do so as well, and with even more intensity.

And I’m excited.

As part of the course we needed to acquire a writer’s notebook so that we actually start writing. I already had one but now I’ve expanded the selection of writings that I’ve included in it. I decided to expand upon an exercise that we did in class, where we generated a few interesting questions to ask new people we meet, with the intention of learning interesting things and having interesting conversations with them. I have added several new questions as I think of them, and have begun asking new co workers some of the questions, and recording their answers later. SO far each time that I’ve done this, the relationship builds quickly and very naturally, and we talk about some interesting things that makes the time go by.

Doing this fits in really well with the book that we are reading: Textbook, Amy Krouse Rosenthal by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. So far in this book she has been talking about the relationships between people, our environments, and how writing can expand and enrich both of these. It is a very engaging, humorous, and thought/memory provoking read that I thoroughly enjoy. It was also improved by the fact that I had to borrow my friend’s copy, and she had made a lot of annotations reacting to the text, which were also very funny.

Like most of my classmates, I was stricken by the section of the book that dealt with the idea of Serendipity. My personal favorite was her example of sharing a birthday with a randomly selected person from the crowd. It really felt that they were meant to have that experience. At the time of this writing, I can’t recall any moments that are exactly like hers, but I have always had several cases of dreams or visions coming true each year. Nothing extravagant or world breaking, in fact they are often of mundane or menial activities or events. Something will happen, or I’ll hear someone say something, or witness an exact moment in time like a painting, and I will realize that I’ve seen/heard/done this all before, exactly like the way it’s happening now. I’ve never really been sure what to make of it.

I’ve also had a few moments where I will start thinking about someone that I have a deep connection to, like my brother, partner, or best friend, and realize that I will be getting a text from them very soon. I’ll check my phone, and most times, as I have the phone in my hand, I get a notification and a text from the person that I was thinking about. Again, I’m not entirely sure what to make of it, but I think that there is more to our world and ourselves than we can currently observe and measure.

Going back to the idea of improving my abilities as a writer, I’m going to start writing Haiku’s or other short poems each morning while I drink my coffee. I will then share at least one piece of my writing at the end of each of my blogs. I wasn’t able to write this morning, so instead I will share a poem I wrote last night.

Thanks for reading! 🙂

What I See

They say that a person’s eyes

act as a window into their soul.

I think that’s probably true

but looking past the disguise

is the part that’s important

 

For a window isn’t always crystal clear;

it can be frosty, foggy, smeared, cracked, or even broken.

It took a lot of time, effort, and love for me

to really start seeing through your windows my dear,

and it breaks my heart to see your window pains.

1. Association for Library Service to Children: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/childrens-book-awards-other-organizations

This website tracks the books that were nominated for and received different awards each year. Great place to find current exceptional children’s books!

2. The Children’s Book Review: https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/

This site is another great resource for finding good books for a variety of age groups, as well as reviews of them!

3. NY Times Children’s Books Column: https://www.nytimes.com/column/childrens-books

Another great collection of children’s books and reviews

4. Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/

This site has a search function that lets you search for reviews of specific books, which is really handy!

5. Reading Rockets: http://www.readingrockets.org/

Another great database! This site also has information on how to teach reading to students as well!

6. Barnes & Noble’s ‘Top 15 Kid’s Authors List’: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/kids/15-must-read-childrens-authors/

This is a list of good children’s authors with short reviews of the authors. This list focuses on the author’s works as a whole rather than on a specific book.

7. Illustration Web: https://www.illustrationweb.us/styles/children

This is a really cool site that has a catalog of illustrators, a bio about them, and examples of their works and styles.

8. Collaboration Classroom ‘Diversity in Children’s Literature’: https://www.collaborativeclassroom.org/blog/diversity-in-childrens-literature-check-your-blind-spot-part-2/

A great look at the actual gender and racial diversity available in children’s literature.

9. Children’s Book Academy ‘The Importance of Diversity in Children’s Books’: http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/blogonauts/the-importance-of-diversity-in-childrens-books

Another great article about the importance of diversity, as well as how this diversity should be implemented to have the greatest impact.

10. University of Nottingham ‘Using Quality Children’s Literature in the Classroom’: http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/primaryeducationnetwork/2017/03/02/using-quality-childrens-literature-classroom-win-win/

An examination of how to use children’s literature in the classroom, as well as a look at what makes a book “good” children’s literature.

THE NEXT SECTION WILL BE LINKS TO THE WEBSITES OF SOME OF MY FAVORITE AUTHORS AND ILLUSTRATORS FROM THIS PAST SEMESTER

11. Nate Powell, Illustrator ‘March Book One’: http://www.seemybrotherdance.org/

12. Christian Robinson, Illustrator ‘Last Stop on Market Street’: I could not find his personal site, but he is amazing and you can find plenty of information about him and his excellent work on other sites.

13. Duncan Tonatiuh, Author & Illustrator ‘Dear Primo’ & ‘Separate is Never Equal’: http://duncantonatiuh.com/

14. Freya Blackwood, Illustrator ‘My Two Blankets’: http://www.freyablackwood.net/index.html

15. Alex Gino, Author ‘George’: http://www.alexgino.com/

16. Veera Hiranandani, Author ‘The Night Diary’: https://www.veerahiranandani.com/

17. Aisha Saeed, Author ‘Amal Unbound’: http://aishasaeed.com/

18. Varian Johnson, Author ‘The Parker Inheritance’: http://varianjohnson.com/

19. Katherine Applegate, Author ‘Crenshaw’ & ‘Wishtree’: http://katherineapplegate.com/

20. H. M. Bouwman, Author ‘A Crack in the Sea’: https://hmbouwman.com/

21. Charles Santoso, Illustrator ‘Wishtree’ & ‘A Boy Called Bat’: http://www.charlessantoso.com/wp/

During the past week I read three different books for two different classes containing four stories from a place called Pakistan. Before the readings I knew where Pakistan was located, and that it had been formed from India. I also knew that the tensions between the two countries was extremely strained at best, and hostile at worst. What makes this situation terrifying and a potential “hot spot” for international trouble is the fact that both countries have nuclear weapons, and they perform a daily ritual designed to insult the other country as much as possible when closing the border crossing. They have erected stands for civilians on both sides of the border to sit and watch the display, and cheer for the soldiers trying to aggravate their opponents.

What I did not know, and was glad to have learned, was why and exactly when the split occurred. In The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani I traveled with a young girl named Nisha who had to make a perilous journey with her family to leave the new Pakistan and enter India because of religious beliefs and persecution. In this story I learned a great deal about why this was happening (the official and historical reasons anyways) which allowed me to start the other books with a basis of previous knowledge.

The next two books were Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed and Malala a Brave Girl from Pakistan & Iqbal a Brave Boy from Pakistan by Jeanette Winter. This second book is a biographical picture book about two children from Pakistan who advocated and fought for increased rights for children. Malala focused on education, specifically for women, and opposed the Taliban. Iqbal fought against the immoral practices of child slavery and indentured servitude. Both of the children were shot for doing so. Malala miraculously survived, but Iqbal did not. This book, while dealing with some heavy concepts, is a great book for elementary grade children. It exposes them to the idea that they too can have a voice and an impact on the world where things like this happens.

Amal Unbound is a fictional story, but again features a young woman who eventually decides to take action against a local landlord. The landlord and his family were very akin to European Feudal Lords. They ruled over the small collection of villages with an iron fist, and often trapped people in indentured servitude to pay off their debts. Amal’s story is much longer in her book, and it is a good read for it. It does a very good job of bringing foreign readers into her world and culture. Like Malala, Amal is very keen about her education, and is a proficient reader, surprising many of the people that she meets. She is also like Iqbal because she plays an important part in exposing a lot of the crimes that the Landlord family had committed, and the government releases everyone from not only their service, but also forgives all of the debts.

The ending of this book is not as simple of a happy as one would assume however. The releasing of the servants strips many of them of a place to live, a shelter from the environment, and food on their plates. A few of the servants genuinely don’t know where they will be able to go. Amal wrestles with some guilt over what happened to her friends, but I think that that is one of the strengths of the narrative. Almost nothing in life is perfectly, completely, and neatly wrapped up, and that combined with another child activist makes for a compelling book.

These books can intrigue an audience of young readers; they intrigued an audience of graduate students! These books also provide our young people with an opportunity to see outside of what they know and what is familiar. They can experience new things and places, people and cultures. This makes these books extremely suited for helping children change the way they think and how they act. They will also hopefully encourage them to become activists themselves, and show them that what little voice they have now, it makes a difference, and they still have power. The sooner you start to use your voice, the quicker that your voice will grow louder, reach more people, and change our world.