What Was That?

Hmmmm, this was more fun than I thought. A bit of a step outside of what I normally do (which for me, doing this whole camp thing, is totally the point). I didn't think I had a character, and then quickly I did. I didn't think I had a story and then suddenly I was expanding on an idea I began in an unexpected poem from Tuesday's quick write. Not sure it will go anywhere, but this was a fun exercise. 




With my stomach in knots of anticipation I walked through the sturdy oak doorway that would lead to the answer. It must be in here. I walked to the non-fiction section and scanned for a book on pine trees. I still can't believe what I saw, could it have been my imagination?
It was something flickering in the shadow of the pine last night as I sat on the steps of the school waiting for dad to pick me up. It's a tall pine that was dedicated years ago to some kid named Willee. He must have been special because there's a plaque with some dog engraving, his name, a small rock garden and that tree. That tree that Mrs. Vinney guards everyday at dismissal time with fear in her eyes that someone might deface a pine cone. She is over the top freaky and must have known him. He died like ten years ago and some kids say the tree is haunted. This really gets Mrs. Vinney going if she's ever in ear shot of comments like this, almost makes you wonder. Maybe it is? I swear that little flickering thing I saw had arms and legs but it was so fast and small. It seemed like it crawled right inside and Mrs. Vinney won't ever let anyone near the tree so how am I suppose to look? My plan is to research the tree itself, see if there is any kind of creature that inhabits it normally because I am the kind of kid who needs things explained. And that little armed and legged glimmer needs some explaining.
Aha! Conifers. I know what conifers are because in the second grade Mr. Judas taught us all about them. The guy is like obsessed with trees and showed us a slide show once of him hugging some tree during a "demonstration." He thinks that we all need to save the trees and plant the trees and blah blah blah. Mr. Judas is crazy too, but in a different sort of way from Mrs. Vinney. Mr. Judas runs marathons, eats granola and sits on some rug every morning before the kids come into the classroom humming. Mrs. Vinney just always looks scared, she watches kids over her glasses and has this strange tone in her voice that makes it sound like someone is constantly changing her volume. "class I want EVERYONE to get their EYES on PAGE 44." She is so dramatic.
I begin to pull the book off the shelf, it's one of those tall Discovery Kids books that is full of pictures and words. My favorite. I begin flipping through the book but I don't see anything about conifers being a habitat for flickering probably imaginary creatures. Fail! Suddenly Mrs. Vinney comes around the corner, "ERICA, what ARE YOU doing in the LIBrary during LUNCH hour?"
Dropping the book, I push my glasses back up my nose and tell her, "oh, nothing special, just putting this book back on the shelf, it must have fallen."
As I reach down to pick up the book I notice a decorative card on the back cover page that reads:

In Memory of William Lee Pine
May you always be in our memory
and always in our hearts.

 I gasp and then quickly try to cover it up with a sneeze, "AAA, achoo! Well, I guess I better be going. See you in fourth hour Mrs. Vinney." I say quickly as I rush past her.

"WELL aren't you EVEN going to put the BOOK BACK?" says Mrs. Vinney annoyed.
I keep going, puzzled, but now, even more intrigued. What is it about that tree that is so special and what was it about William Lee AKA Willee that is so secret?

Poetry Party!

I am so excited, honored and thrilled to celebrate poetry today at The Poem Farm, a blog by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. My students and I will be having a popcorn poetry party and reading/watching her blog today.  Go check it out along with many other amazing classroom peeks, audio poems and so many great resources for teachers. Amy is a gift to be shared.

My Chair

My current chair, in my writing spot, is actually a rocking chair. It is wooden, sort of comfortable, but not the best chair for working. I had mentioned earlier on my writing goals post that I wanted to write about old things. I was thinking today, how one day, this chair will be old. I wonder how many homes and families it will rock. I wonder if babies will be swaddled and snugged by a daddy in this chair. If a grandmother will afghan herself and sleep in this chair. I wonder if it will get worn, dented, age...will it begin to squeak or make a floor creak? One day it will be old, I will be gone, but it might live on. Maybe it is the right chair to sit in and create. Maybe it is a chair for making memories.

A Day of Thanks and Pine Trees

Slice of Life is hosted by Two Writing Teachers, Stacey and Ruth. I have to say that I owe these two ladies much gratitude for continuing to support and encourage me and so many like me to write. I could not have stumbled onto Slice of Life and their blog three years ago at a better time. Thank you (one of many).

Then came Jen Vincent from Teach Mentor Texts who this year inspired me to read more. I have found more good books and resources this year than ever from people who have linked (like you Linda Baie) as well as Jen and Kellee on their blog. And now Jen has teamed up with Kate Messner and Gay Polisner. A new mix of inspiration as I started Teachers Write camp yesterday. My plan is big, too big, but I don't care. I am thinking big and have big plans, (that was for you Mary Lee)! 

Day Two of Camp:

Pick a place, write for two minutes, then visit and notice.
I chose the pine tree on the side of my house. There are a lot of places I could write about, but lately I obsess over places and settings that are not necessarily conventional meeting spots. Instead I imagine a place a bird might go, a place for a chipmunk to scurry, a place for a feather to fall. So, I didn't pick a typical setting, but a place I would like to visit if I were smaller and could venture there for a moment.

Two Minutes:
The branches of this pine tree blanket me and drape. There are pine cones in my way, dangling like ornaments. I sit balanced like a bird on trapeze, sticky sap seeping between my fingers. I dance, tiptoe. I see speckled bits of skylight overhead. Below me a mess of brown decay with beetles creeping without pause. Worms likely to follow below the spread of warm needles and leaves. The pine needles whispering wind songs through their green hairlike finger tips. They glide past each other combing the air and batting at bugs. Green and strong, tall and long. So poised, stoic. I wonder how long it has been here, how long will it stay? Could I crawl up inside further, to the top?


Outdoor observations and sensory details:

pine cones, not ready to let go
clear crisp scent
rough gray bark
stunted branches
green, so green
dark, shadowy
the branches look like they have knuckles
each seam where a limb departs is glistening with drips of sap
hiding spots
a crypt hollow space
many limbs climb to the top
it almost sweeps the sky
the top like a peak

                      

 (Above: My Pine Tree)          

Rewrite comes below, which I began in paragraph form and then thought it sounded like a poem.

 A Visit In the Green

A dark shadowy green, these branches blanket me and drape.
I balance like a bird on trapeze on the knuckle of a branch.
My tiny fingers grabbing the gray, the bark chips and I flail,
one hand stuck on a young pine cone, not ready to let go.
My eyes fly back and I am speckled with skylight.
the whispering pines sing their song to me.
In haste I look down to the sea of decay and awaiting beetles.
Poised, I exhale.
The needles glide under me and comb the crisp air guiding me toward the sticky seams. 
To safety, my hollow crypt of space.

Growing, Growing, Gone!

I am in reflection mode. And I mean deep!
Writing this reflection is one of my many plans for summer writing.
I thought one way to do this would be to go through a few of my students and document their progress and growth here. It is always intriguing to see where student have come from and how different they all become (and how different they still are from one another). This will also help me to create a timeline or map of what happened this year, a year of growth I could not have imagined. My blog will be a resource for me on this task as I relive the year and summarize.

The "making time" aspect...I have my space, my time will hopefully come in the morning hours before anyone else is up.

I hope that this summer I can begin to do some of the following to get my writing chops really warmed up!

• Write an article
• Write and describe characters, just a bunch of people with different characteristics and describe them. We'll see where it goes!
• Write poetry....lots and lots of poetry.
• Get outside as much as a possible and write about it (camping trips, visits to the lake, and hikes in the woods should help with this).
• My husband and I recently realized we like "old things," antiques and such. I think this could be good and bad! However, I thought it might be neat to find something old and write a story surrounded by that object, an old chair's story, an old hutch, the list goes on and words flurry when I imagine antique shops and all the stories that are locked up inside those once priceless items. 

For the school year, "making time." A few motivating prospects are quite possibly going to really get me knee deep in my process for teaching writing to students. I have a feeling I am going to be examining a lot and pushing myself further. I think that next year is going to prove to be a challenge as I have met a couple of future students and I cannot wait to see what happens (after a little break from school of course)! 

Reading and Writing and Reading and Writing...

And it goes on and on and on!

 

Last week I finished Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. I really enjoyed the book and was glad it made it in my bag rather by accident. I wrote a slice about this one last week.

With it being the last week of school I am feeling pressured to make sure I don't leave a good book unopened. I hope to get through these this week along with the basket full I let them choose for our last week of read-alouds. 

I must admit this one is as much for me as it is for them! This one is great for showing a small moment and I hope will inspire some summer stories from my kiddos before they leave my nest this week! I can't wait to get my toes in some sand.

I also picked up a book I heard about on twitter from Penny Kittle, Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. The cover immediately intrigued me and then I read an excerpt and knew I needed to read this book. I hope to dive in soon, but it is sure to be a busy week ahead. I also recently got my hands on The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak and hope to get it started early next week as the end of the year take down pack up begins!

Picked up the audio version of Same Sun Here. I look forward to listening in on these characters talk to each other. 

Here it goes as I stare into a busy and emotional week of saying goodbye, writing reports, reading and participating in the Teachers Write virtual camp with Kate Messner and other great writers, bloggers and authors!

Gifts

I read a pretty incredible book over the weekend, Out of My Mind, by Sharon M. Draper. I came upon it accidentally while looking for the book See You at Harry's (which I can't seem to get a copy of yet, probably need to order it)! Anyway, so here I am, long weekend, start reading and in a day and a half I have digested some text that is close to as eye opening as Wonder. A girl with cerebral palsy who happens to also have a photographic memory. A brilliantly frustrating novel that shows a character's wordless struggle to be heard. I tried to imagine what it would be like to have so much knowledge and every moment be underestimated by others. To be so gifted and not have a way to share my gifts.
Today I had a meeting with a mentor and something she said is going to stay with me forever. It was something she learned from her pastor. It went something like this: We all have gifts, it is my job as a pastor to bring the congregation together to share those gifts. Then she said that it was very similar for her when she was a principal, she needed to "mobilize the gifts." Find what is special in each person that is a part of the community in her school and utilize each gift that they bring to the group. She was telling me this in reference to the gifts my students bring each day to the classroom.
She said it better than I can here, but it reminded me at a great time that everyone has a talent, a gift, something to share. We just don't all do it the same way.
"Mobilize the gifts."


Chalk-A-Bration, here on May 31st!