Words with Wings {3}

  

It is April, and I am joining many others in celebrating National Poetry Month by reading, writing, sharing, and celebrating poetry each day this month. I have chosen to combine my love of reading with my love of writing. I will be writing poems using all things bookish--from titles to quotes to characters. So, come turn the page and write a little poetry with me.

I read the book Words with Wings, by Nikki Grimes, several years ago. It is a favorite of many of my students, especially those who like to daydream. It is a favorite of mine because I strive to be the kind of teacher who helps students realize that finding your words can lead to finding your wings.

I wrote a skinny poem for this book title. The Skinny Poem is short poem form that consists of eleven lines. The first and eleventh lines can be any length (although shorter lines are favored). The eleventh and last line must be repeated using the same words from the first and opening line (however, they can be rearranged). The second, sixth, and tenth lines must be identical. The Skinny was created by Truth Thomas in the Tony Medina Poetry Workshop at Howard University in 2005.

words with wings

on 

blank

pages

landing 

on 

open

hearts

daydreaming

on

words with wings.

Check out the Kidlit Progressive Poem, which is being organized by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. A different poet adds a line each day for the month of April. You can find the poem's trail below.

April 1 Mary Lee Hahn, Another Year of Reading
April 2 Heidi Mordhorst, My Juicy Little Universe
April 3 Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference
April 4 Buffy Silverman
April 5 Rose Cappelli, Imagine the Possibilities
April 6 Donna Smith, Mainely Write
April 7 Margaret Simon, Reflections on the Teche
April 8 Leigh Anne, A Day in the Life
April 9 Linda Mitchell, A Word Edgewise
April 10 Denise Krebs, Dare to Care
April 11 Emma Roller, Penguins and Poems
April 12 Dave Roller, Leap Of Dave 
April 13 Irene Latham Live You Poem 
April 14 Janice Scully, Salt City Verse
April 15 Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 16 Linda Baie TeacherDance
April 17 Carol Varsalona, Beyond Literacy Link
April 18 Marcie Atkins
April 19 Carol Labuzzetta at The Apples in My Orchard 
April 20 Cathy Hutter, Poeturescapes
April 21 Sarah Grace Tuttle at Sarah Grace Tuttle’s Blog, 
April 22 Marilyn Garcia
April 23 Catherine at Reading to the Core
April 24 Janet Fagal, hosted by Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference
April 25 Ruth, There is no Such Thing as a God-Forsaken Town
April 26 Patricia J. Franz, Reverie
April 27 Theresa Gaughan, Theresa’s Teaching Tidbits
April 28 Karin Fisher-Golton, Still in Awe Blog
April 29 Karen Eastlund, Karen’s Got a Blog
April 30 Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, and Writing

Between the Lines {2}

 

It is April, and I am joining many others in celebrating National Poetry Month by reading, writing, sharing, and celebrating poetry each day this month. I have chosen to combine my love of reading with my love of writing. I will be writing poems using all things bookish--from titles to quotes to characters. So, come turn the page and write a little poetry with me.

Gogyohka is a five-line poem with one phrase per line created by Enta Kusakabe. He created the poem to "find freedom from the restraints of Haiku and Tanka poetry" (Writer's Digest).

I took the title of Nikki Grimes' book, Between the Lines, and wrote a Gogyohka poem about my mother and her struggle with dementia.

A memory lies

tucked between the lines

of the past and present

blurred and obscure

just out of her reach.

Check out the Kidlit Progressive Poem, which is being organized by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. A different poet adds a line each day for the month of April. You can find the poem's trail below.

April 1 Mary Lee Hahn, Another Year of Reading
April 2 Heidi Mordhorst, My Juicy Little Universe
April 3 Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference
April 4 Buffy Silverman
April 5 Rose Cappelli, Imagine the Possibilities
April 6 Donna Smith, Mainely Write
April 7 Margaret Simon, Reflections on the Teche
April 8 Leigh Anne, A Day in the Life
April 9 Linda Mitchell, A Word Edgewise
April 10 Denise Krebs, Dare to Care
April 11 Emma Roller, Penguins and Poems
April 12 Dave Roller, Leap Of Dave 
April 13 Irene Latham Live You Poem 
April 14 Janice Scully, Salt City Verse
April 15 Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 16 Linda Baie TeacherDance
April 17 Carol Varsalona, Beyond Literacy Link
April 18 Marcie Atkins
April 19 Carol Labuzzetta at The Apples in My Orchard 
April 20 Cathy Hutter, Poeturescapes
April 21 Sarah Grace Tuttle at Sarah Grace Tuttle’s Blog, 
April 22 Marilyn Garcia
April 23 Catherine at Reading to the Core
April 24 Janet Fagal, hosted by Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference
April 25 Ruth, There is no Such Thing as a God-Forsaken Town
April 26 Patricia J. Franz, Reverie
April 27 Theresa Gaughan, Theresa’s Teaching Tidbits
April 28 Karin Fisher-Golton, Still in Awe Blog
April 29 Karen Eastlund, Karen’s Got a Blog
April 30 Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, and Writing

Solace & Connection {1}

 

Welcome to our first nature-inspired invitation to write and connect. I am thrilled you are here. Each week, I will post a round-up. You just need to write your blog post and link up at the bottom of my post. I will leave a little inspiration each week, but you are free to write about nature in any way you would like, prose, poetry, images, or anything else you would like to share. Please read and respond to other posts to help build the connections between us. 

This week's inspiration:  "Begin Where You Are"

Take a moment to go out, count to five, and watch what the world of nature is doing around you. List six or seven nature observations you see, hear, or feel. Note the time of day, month, date, season, and your location. Need an example of what this might look like? Take a look at Trina's example from the March Slice of Life Challenge.

Remember, you do not have to write about this prompt; you're just invited to write.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

out like a lion

Mother Nature roared

leaving behind death and devastation

as the new day dawns

birds sing a song of sadness

but glasses stand at attention 

like soldiers

untouched

Tornadoes ravaged through the state of Indiana last night, leaving behind mass destruction in several cities and towns. One hit about 25 miles north of me. This is a screen shot from a WTWO news video. The reporter walked blocks and blocks showing scene after scene like this one. One thing she noticed through this window was how the glasses remained on the shelf, untouched.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Lines of Courage {1}

 

It is April, and I am joining many others in celebrating National Poetry Month by reading, writing, sharing, and celebrating poetry each day this month. I have chosen to combine my love of reading with my love of writing. I will be writing poems using all things bookish--from titles to quotes to characters. So, come turn the page and write a little poetry with me.

Lines of Courage

Anger

a fire within

fuel it with your courage

grow into your bravery--just

survive

Lines of Courage is a historical fiction middle grade book written by Jennifer Nielsen. It tells the story of five children living through WWI and how their lives become interconnected. This poem uses words from a passage in the story and is in the form of a cinquain, which is a five-lined poem with a 2/4/6/8/2 syllable count.

“There is a fire within each of us. If you fuel that fire with anger, it will burn all your happiness. But if you fuel it with courage, then the fire will give you strength to do difficult things.” (p. 45-46).

April 1 Mary Lee Hahn, Another Year of Reading
April 2 Heidi Mordhorst, My Juicy Little Universe
April 3 Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference
April 4 Buffy Silverman
April 5 Rose Cappelli, Imagine the Possibilities
April 6 Donna Smith, Mainely Write
April 7 Margaret Simon, Reflections on the Teche
April 8 Leigh Anne, A Day in the Life
April 9 Linda Mitchell, A Word Edgewise
April 10 Denise Krebs, Dare to Care
April 11 Emma Roller, Penguins and Poems
April 12 Dave Roller, Leap Of Dave 
April 13 Irene Latham Live You Poem 
April 14 Janice Scully, Salt City Verse
April 15 Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 16 Linda Baie TeacherDance
April 17 Carol Varsalona, Beyond Literacy Link
April 18 Marcie Atkins
April 19 Carol Labuzzetta at The Apples in My Orchard 
April 20 Cathy Hutter, Poeturescapes
April 21 Sarah Grace Tuttle at Sarah Grace Tuttle’s Blog, 
April 22 Marilyn Garcia
April 23 Catherine at Reading to the Core
April 24 Janet Fagal, hosted by Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference
April 25 Ruth, There is no Such Thing as a God-Forsaken Town
April 26 Patricia J. Franz, Reverie
April 27 Theresa Gaughan, Theresa’s Teaching Tidbits
April 28 Karin Fisher-Golton, Still in Awe Blog
April 29 Karen Eastlund, Karen’s Got a Blog
April 30 Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, and Writing

Year Ten Complete! #SOL23

Ten years. It is hard to believe that I have completed this challenge for ten consecutive years. Each year I say it's my last, but yet I keep coming back. I often ask myself why, so with today's slice, I try to answer this question.

1. Connection--I have met so many wonderful people throughout these ten years, some only in online spaces and others in person. People are wired for connection, and when we connect through the simple act of sharing of words...well, that's just something special.
2. Reflection--So much of my writing is reflecting. I learn more about myself when I dig deeper for the meaning of those ordinary moments.
3. Practice--Writing, like any skill, takes practice to see growth and improvement. Writing for 31 straight days establishes a habit that helps me become a better writer.
4. Slowing Down--The older I get, the slower I move and the longer it takes me to accomplish tasks. But writing every day, makes me intentionally slow down to notice the world around me and to capture the small moments. It slows me down to think about the right word or different ways to stack my words, as Ruth Ayres always says. It slows me down to savor the things that mean the most.
5. Being a role model--I believe with all my heart when writing teachers write themselves, they become better teachers of writing. When my students see me struggling with a topic or trying to find the right word or pushing publish when I think it's crappy writing, they know I am walking the walk. And that's important to me.
6. Preserving my story--Dementia runs in my family, and getting this horrible disease is a huge fear for me. I don't want to forget memories. I want to keep my stories alive, and keeping this blog makes them permanent.

Thank you, Stacey and crew, for creating this safe place for us to meet, to share, and to grow as writers. Thank you to my Teach Write community for supporting me, celebrating with me, and holding me accountable every week during check-in. Thank you to the slicing community for reading my words and letting me know that they somehow touched you or inspired you in some small way. 

So, until next year, may we all continue to find and share the words from our lives and in our hearts.

Join Two Writing Teachers and other teacher-writers as we 
share a slice of life during the month of March. 

Pivot #SOL23

Pivot. 

Does this word take you back to 2020? Bring back memories? Make you shudder? 

This was the buzz word during the pandemic because it seems like every time we began to figure something out, we had to change what we were doing. Every time we became adept at juggling multiple balls in the air, we dropped one.

That was pivoting.

On Wednesday, that word came rushing to the forefront. 

We began our argumentative writing unit, and students were to begin researching. I was gone today and Friday, so I introduced the writing assignment on Wednesday, and my plans were made.

And then the Internet went out after two periods of the day. Teachers who were working online were scrambling trying to find ways to pivot.

My sub plans looked like a plate of scrambled eggs with two periods doing Wednesday's plans, four periods doing Friday's plans today, and then flipping that for tomorrow. 

All because of a slight disruption that made me pivot once again!

 

Join Two Writing Teachers and other teacher-writers as we 
share a slice of life during the month of March. 

Popcorn Night #SOL23

A bowl. 

A snack. 

A memory.

Popcorn was a favorite family snack when we were growing up. It may have been because money was tight, and this snack was inexpensive and stretched a long way. It may have been because it was my mother's favorite.

Mom always popped the corn on the stove top and placed it in glass bowls, served with hot, melted butter and a dash of salt, tapping the bowl with her hand to distribute it. I still remember sitting beside her on the couch and the sound of her wedding ring hitting the side of the bowl.

My little sister was born when I was nine years old. As she became a toddler and when it would be popcorn night, mom would nibble off the end pieces, leaving the soft, round pieces for Crissy. Mom would hold them cupped in her hand on her lap and give her a few pieces at a time. 

I still eat my popcorn this same way.

A bowl.

A snack.

A memory--I wonder if this is one Mom remembers.

 

Join Two Writing Teachers and other teacher-writers as we 
share a slice of life during the month of March. 

Four Corners of My Classroom #SOL23

I'm sitting in my classroom with 15 minutes left in my prep period. I typically have my slice ready the night before. Not today.

I look around my classroom, a place that brings me great joy, and I realize I have a slice sitting right in front of me. I know several slicers have written about 4 corners or 4 items in front of them. Here are my four corners in four minutes.

Books take up my entire back wall of my classroom. Here is one corner where the book shelves sit between my "corner windows." 

This is the other side of that back wall where I have storage space. And guess what is in there? Yes, more books. But these are my student book club books and are not on the shelves.

I like to call this corner, the business center with the posted objectives, the pencil sharpener with pencils for students, my mailboxes for each period to turn in papers, the safety manual and procedures, and all monitored by our mascot, Little A (which stands for Alices--yes, a one-of-a-kind mascot!).

The last corner is my "teacher space" where I keep my pen and pencil obsession.

Just in time! Time for lunch and time to post my now-written slice!

 

Join Two Writing Teachers and other teacher-writers as we 
share a slice of life during the month of March. 

Remembrance For My Grandmother #SOL23

In my classroom, I use Linda Rief's book, The Quickwrite Handbook, to spark writing for my students. And sometimes I use them for myself. For today's slice, I use this quickwrite and share my grandmother with you.

Remembrance For My Grandmother

I remember...I was with you the first time I ate a fresh peach,

Sitting in a swing at the cabin on the river

Juice running down my chin.

And I was with you when Janis and I

spent the night at your house

so mom could surprise us

with our new bedroom furniture.

And I was with you when you taught me 

how to make homemade noodles

and apple pie and cocoa fudge

but they were never as good as yours.

And I was with you when you held 

Megan in your arms

the start of the 4th generation.

And I was with you when I made you a quilt

for Christmas

with pictures of all 18 of your grandchildren

hand-stitched with love.

And I was with you when you smiled at me

when I came to the nursing home

not knowing my name

but knowing I belonged to you.

I wish I was still with you today.

 

Join Two Writing Teachers and other teacher-writers as we 
share a slice of life during the month of March. 

Spring Break Recap #SOL23

It's Saturday night as I write this, and I am staring at a blank screen with no ideas and no slices written ahead of time, which I tend to do.

I am a little sad because it is my last night of spring break. The weather this week was pretty crappy, and I realized about mid-week that I had the wrong date for our state testing on our planning calendar and had to cut five days of instruction. Not exactly how I wanted my week to go.

To try and turn disappointment into something positive, I decided to name the 10 best things from this week.

1. staying up late--I'm a night owl and can't do this during the school week.
2. not setting my alarm.
3. making bookmarks and sending some out to friends far away.
4. trying a new technique splattering ink on my collages and liking it.
5. having a clean house.
6. shopping with my daughter Megan--and actually finding something!
7. watching basketball games.
8. the sun warming things up enough to grill today.
9. playing online Euchre with my sister and nephew who live in Tennessee.
10. starting a new writing community called Solace & Connection that is centered around nature! (You are welcome to check it out and join us!)

Looking at this list, I realize that although the weather was anything but spring-like this week, I do feel rested and rejuvenated and ready to greet my students on Monday!

 

Join Two Writing Teachers and other teacher-writers as we 
share a slice of life during the month of March. 

Solace and Connection

 

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside...I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles. ~ Anne Frank, The Diary of Anne Frank

I recently read the book, The Curious Nature Guide:  Explore the Natual Wonders All Around You by Clare Walker Leslie, which was recommended by a couple of my writing friends. 

After closing the last page, I realized that nature plays a big part in my life and my well-being and also creates opportunities to connect me with other writers. 

Nature brings us peace and calms us whether we are reading or writing about it, looking at images, or just being out in it. Sharing writing with others builds connections, and I hope this space will do both of those. 

Here's How It Works:

You write a blog post centered around nature. It can be a poem, an image, or any piece of writing about nature you want to capture and share. I will provide a prompt from the book or other sources if you need inspiration.  Feel free to grab the image to use on your post and social media to help others find our community.

Link your blog post with the link up at the bottom of my round up post that will (hopefully) go live on Sunday mornings--a great day to find solace. The first post will be next Saturday, April 1st. And that is no April's Fool's joke!

Read and respond to other posts to help build a writing community. Knowing someone has read our words and they have felt a connection inspires us and helps us to continue writing. I believe the more we write, the better writer we become. So let us take some time to deepen our connection with nature and with each other. 

Welcome to Solace and Connection! I am so glad you are here.

Soft Landing - A Book Spine Poem #SOL23

Anyone who participates in the Slice of Life Challenge learns very quickly just how important writing communities are to their growth and confidence as a writer. Knowing that someone has read our words motivates us to continue. With that, I try very hard to comment on different blogs each day as well as supporting those bloggers I already know. Keeping up with this can be very difficult as it takes a lot of time.

I belong to another writing community called Teach Write, and each month we have a challenge where we write together on Zoom and then share that writing. Last night was our writing party where the theme was "Spring into Micro Writing." 

Because many of us are already participating in the slice of the life challenge, we decided to keep it simple. We could choose any type of small writing from 6-word memoirs to two-sentence stories or to poetry. Check out Cathy Hutter's 6-word movie plots! They are amazing!

I decided to open up two boxes of books that I have at home and write a book spine poem. This isn't as easy as it may appear because I always need a word or two to make it say what I want. But I kept to the rules and "wrote" this poem.

Parachutes

everlost

under the broken sky

divided we fall

ten thousand tries

unbroken

a soft place to land.

This is also a fun writing activity to do with students of all ages. If you don't want them to "rearrange" your classroom library, here are two alternatives to try.

1. Type out a list of titles and let them write from the list. You can even make several different lists so students to have some variety in which to choose titles. 
2. Type out a list but cut the titles apart so they can rearrange them in different orders to create their poems.

However you decide to organize it, students will enjoy this fun creative way of "writing" poems.

 

Join Two Writing Teachers and other teacher-writers as we 
share a slice of life during the month of March. 

From Movies to Memories #SOL23

Do you have certain foods or smells or songs that take you back in time and hold a special place in your heart? What about movies? When I think about movies, I have three that take me back to a distinct moment in time and are deeply connected to a memory.

Hoosiers:  Being from Indiana, it is no wonder that this movie holds a special place in my heart. When I was a junior in high school, our boys basketball team won a state championship title. This was before class basketball in Indiana, and we were the underdogs, much like the Hickory Cornhuskers. 

Part of this movie, the state finals scene, was filmed at Butler University's Hinkle Fieldhouse. They filmed this when I was attending school there. One of my biggest regrets was not taking advantage of the opportunity to be an extra in the crowd in this movie. It was a huge time commitment with many specific requirements. I had a night class, so it just didn't work out for me.

It was also the movie my husband and I went to see on our second date. And our last movie with just the two of us. We don't like the same kind of movies, and kids came along, so we began going as a family.

Top Gun:  I have seen this movie more than any other movie I have ever watched. It came out when I graduated from college, young and ready to conquer the world, and when I had a major crush on Tom Cruise. That beach volleyball scene! 

After this movie, I watched every movie he played in. I still have Top Gun on a VHS tape, which was done illegally by rigging up two VCR players to watch and record! 

Although my obsession over Tom Cruise is gone, he is still eye candy! And I thoroughly enjoyed Top Gun:  Maverick and being able to pick out details included in or alluded to from the first movie. And did you see that beach football scene?!?

Grease:  This movie came out in June of 1978, the summer after my 8th-grade year. It was that time when we were still kids but yearned to be young adults. The perfect love story for our age.

I went with a group of friends who eventually became my EJDs. We have been friends for over 45 years! I bought the soundtrack on a cassette tape and knew every word to each song by heart. I wanted so badly to sing like Olivia Newton John.

Thank you, Glenda Funk at Swirl and Swing for the inspiration for this post.

 

Join Two Writing Teachers and other teacher-writers as we 
share a slice of life during the month of March. 

What's that smell? #SOL23

Plants have always been a part of my classroom. They add a homey feeling, and I think it is important for kids to see growth in more ways than learning. One plant I have that sits on the corner of my desk has been with me since my first year of teaching in 2007.

I have two peace lilies that I received when my dad and my father-in-law passed within a month of each other in 2008. One of the plants began to look a little sickly, so I decided to bring it home and put it in a bucket of water to try and reestablish its root system. I filled the bucket and placed it in my son's bedroom, which is now my office. It had been up there since Christmas break, and I had to add more water once when it was low.

A few weeks ago, I pulled up what was left of the leaves to look at the roots, and up came an odor that about knocked me over. It was like a cloud of toxic fumes or an atomic bomb had gone off in this room. After gagging and pulling my shirt up over my nose and mouth, I grabbed the bucket and ran it downstairs and straight out the backdoor. My husband and daughter were sitting on the couch and my daughter yelled out, "What is that smell? Did you fart?"

"No," I said. "This is worse than a fart."

Have you ever had fresh flowers in a vase for a week or so? Have you ever smelled the foul odor of the water? Well, take this amount of smelly water times a five-gallon bucket that has been sitting stagnant for three months, and you MIGHT get an idea of what this smelled like.

I was really in a dilemma:  I wanted to keep the plant because of its sentimental value plus the fact that it was 15 years old, but I could not keep it while it smelled like that. 

I ended up dumping the water, spraying the roots, and putting it back into clean water because I still needed dirt and a new pot. 

But again, it sat there for weeks. Until today.

I decided to try and salvage it by cutting off all of what was left of the leaves and keeping three small chunks of the roots. I completely buried them in a new pot and brought it back upstairs to my office. Hopefully, in few weeks I will begin to see leaves unfurling up through the dirt.

Until then, I will just have to look at this pot of dirt...but at least I don't have to smell it!

 

Join Two Writing Teachers and other teacher-writers as we 
share a slice of life during the month of March. 

Collaging: A New Hobby #SOL23

Several years ago, I became a member of the #100DaysofNotebooking Facebook group, which was created by a friend of mine, Michelle Haseltine. It was a challenge to notebook for 100 days. They didn't have to be consecutive; they just had to be written.

I suffered from notebook envy. I loved the colorful artwork, doodles, and creativity writers added to their pages. I knew I could never do that. 

Or so I thought.

At some point, I came across journal pages that used collage--literally ripping up and gluing together torn pieces of paper. I could do that.

It wasn't as easy at it looked. And when I look at my early notebook pages, I realize just how bad I was. But I was determined to get better at this. I began to follow more people on Instagram and watched their videos on YouTube. It got a little easier.

I began buying supplies from craft stores (buying paper became an addiction!) and looking for ephemera like old books, music, magazines, and letters from thrift shops and antique stores. It has been almost two years since I started, and it has become my favorite hobby and personal therapy session.

Now, I am making collage bookmarks. People have told me that I should find places to sell them. But for now, I will just enjoy making them and giving them away to my reading friends.

 

Join Two Writing Teachers and other teacher-writers as we 
share a slice of life during the month of March.