But Who Am I?

The Kinderchat challenge for today...

a photo get to know 140 characters or less per pic!

This is a piece of driftwood that I saved from a recent trip to the beach. See the little granules of sand?

 Today the kids and I set up the house for our painted ladies and I learned the plural word for chrysalis is chrysalises or chrysalides. Aren't you glad I found out?

 This is what my notebook looks like. A blurry view of the poem about driftwood I am loving and hating (first stanza peek).

 I went to the library today.

 I love chalk. I love poetry...the two go together again on July 31st. Chalk-A-Bration...you should do it too!

What's it to you?

 Slice with Ruth Ayres and Stacey Shubitz at Two Writing Teachers and read from a diverse group of slicers!

I have been home, all day. Cleaning a little, putting away a few things, playing with the kids, normal stuff. My life recently has not been this normal flow. We have been on the go! Finally we settled back into our home and all I kept telling myself is..."get on your computer, get your slice done already." Here it is, almost 7:00 p.m. I have had all day and I can't think of anything.

Yet, I know I have thought of many lines and just not felt it:

"What's it like to be behind a mirror?"
"I wonder what it would be like to be a well dweller?"
"Tree people" I can't wait to see that movie Epic due out in 2013. It's like they were in my brain.
"Fruit flies. Who invited them while we were camping and visiting family?"
"New fish." Our fish were fine but they needed new friends. "I wonder what living in a new tank is like?"
I saw a sugar glider at the pet store today. "I had no idea sugar gliders were so ornery, hmmm, I want one!"
"I want a pond."
"I need a little of my own skin time, no one on me...literally." Kids are hanging, bored, pulling, ayaiaiai!
"Bunnies are so cute." My kids saw a "bunny cat" today. It was actually just the neighbors cat, but in the right light, it looked like a bonafied bunny.
"I want a bunny."
"I love frog hunting with my kids." (Fun times at my parents house).
"Frogs are so sticky and it is remarkable that little guys will curl up on you if you let them to feel your heat."
"I love frogs. I want one."

 BACK TO REALITY...NEED TO WRITE SOMETHING

So, I read. I read some poetry from a great book, The Tree That Time Built, selected poems by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston. I read a little Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan. I even read Babymouse: Queen of the World and I still sat here. Perplexed. Bewildered. Hmm....

Then I checked my stats. What are people reading on my blog. I decided to join in and re-read my blog a bit. Then I went back to the start of the school year and read to see where my head was at. Have you re-read your blog? It is eye opening. What's it to you? You should find out.
Then I read my whole "reprogramming" series. So funny to look back at yourself...hmm...kind of like being behind the mirror. I wonder what that would be like?

Lake Michigan

Ah, the month of July. It is upon me and we are exploring the world around us as much as we can. We have been away and I mean AWAY! We went to West Virginia for a family reunion/camping vacation. However, it was not the best time to visit the devastated state. Even without power however, she was a beautiful place. But a little recovery from the experience was in order, so we went to our favorite spot to camp in Michigan…Ludington State Park. This is one of the most wonderful and relaxing places I know. My little family and I visit each year (for three years now) and as soon as I see Lake Michigan I am immediately calmed…it’s like being set free.

I did not realize how much I would miss blogging and not miss blogging all at the same time. I found a little spot of internet access today, parked and posted. This poem, as I wrote it, as I felt it and as I peacefully walked the dune to take the photo below reminded me how much I love my state of Michigan. It is unlike any other place I know and how lucky I am to live here.

For anyone who lives in Michigan, I also thought of the Pure Michigan ads that run on our TV’s and radios chuckling a little. If only I could get Tim Allen to do an audio of my poem!

Stunning and showing off the star she is…the sun.

Lake Michigan

A blinding glare

paints squints and smiles.

The sunlit waves

and sand for miles.

Estates of Dukes and Yorks abound.

Then washed away,

the sun goes down.

Orange and pink

strokes of bliss.

Soothing sprays

of happiness.

Beauty stares into my eyes.

My toes sink in,

my paradise.

I am hoping to chalk this poem somewhere on some pavement while I am here (yes, I brought chalk, of course)! If I do, I will share a photo. 

Remember, the next Chalk-A-Bration is July 31st, I hope you can make it.

Kinderchat Summer Blogging Challenge

Stumbled onto this today and felt like, "why not another challenge?!" Teachers Write,  #kinderchat‘s Summer Blogging Challenge, reading and writing goals, hey, this is all good!

At Kinderchat, every Friday a question or topic is posted to offer a prompt for reflection on the previous school year. 
The question for today is:
What did you learn this past (or, for our southern hemisphere friends, what ARE you learning this current) school year that you couldn’t have learned any other year, from any other students or colleagues or administrators or parents? What lessons did this particular year, this particular setting, these particular children bring into your life?

I can easily say that this year was my best. The most learning I have ever done came from this year because I see myself as a writer and that has been the best professional development (and free at that). I have been pushed to read more because I have wanted to write more and through all of this has come much learning. I have connected to other educators like me who want to write, read and learn. I've been welcomed into their communities through blogging and twitter. I feel more connected to the kind of teacher I have wanted to be.
I have always felt that relationships are the core of good teaching but this year I went further with those relationships. My patience was tested and it paid off. I connected more deeply to this class because I invested more individual time with them through conferencing for both writing and reading. This one on one time made a tremendous difference in my relationships with students. From there, I was able to make whole group teaching more connected for all students, pulling them in as mentors and always having time for sharing what we were reading and writing. They got more of me and I learned more from them. It was the kind of year that makes a great springboard into the next. I feel ready to tackle new things, new challenges and to continue the work that I have started--developing young writers--my biggest challenge and goal.

Things that have helped me along the way:
Best professional book I read this past school year: Talking, Drawing, Writing by Giacobbe and Horn
Best personal reading I did: Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Most supportive blogs that have guided me through: Two Writing Teachers, Teacherdance, A Year of Reading, Teach Mentor Texts, The Poem Farm
Best conference I went to this year: All Write in Warsaw, Indiana
Best bud to cheer me on: R-dog (you can find her here, and her real name is even revealed)!

Listening and Chalk!

Tuesday went right on by and here came Wednesday. I am definitely falling victim to summer days all blending together. So, I will slice on Wednesday instead!

I had to share my enthusiasm for meeting Ruth Ayres last week at the All Write conference. She gave a warm, genuine and inspiring keynote that got everyone ready for two days of learning. 

 When I got home from the conference there was a driveway full of chalk art to greet me! That of course stretched my face into a huge smile.

The next morning I started drawing, no plan really, but it turned into an ear (sort of) and I wrote the word listen. I realized this is something I continue to try to do better, listen to mentors, listen to colleagues, listen to my children, just listen better. 

 

The next day I started a feather in one of the last few spots of clear space. Then I was reminded of how I could tie that into writing. One of the messages I heard the loudest during Ruth's keynote was to write my story, that I have one and that it is a tool to share this with my students and others. 

 

I hope you will come back on June 30th to share your story with a little chalk and link here for Chalk-A-Bration 3. Want to learn more, check for the back story here!

Chalk-A-Bration 4 is July 31st and the last Chalk-A-Bration for the year will be August 31st 

Let's Celebrate TYPEWRITER DAY!

Yes, it is really Typewriter Day!


I have my husband to thank for a recent reconnection to typewriters. We have started, what I like to call, a typewriter museum in our home (they are growing on me)! We started with one, now we have three and are always on the lookout for one that is older, better, or unique in some way. I have to admit, they are pretty amazing and fulfill a lot of sensory stimulation. The loud tapping sound, the slap of the keys under your finger, the vibration of the base when you really get going. To type is to experience writing in a different way, and that is fun, plain and simple.

 

This is the first portable typewriter that the company Royal manufactured. It dates from the late 1920's.

Champion, made by Underwood was also manufactured as a portable typewriter. 

It dates somewhere in the 1930's.

This Underwood SX-100 is kept in our kids craft area. They love typing, and my son has also begun typing poems as a result. This is the best quality typewriter we own thus far. My husband calls this one the Cadillac of typewriters, at least in its time. It does exactly what it is suppose to do, has several features but unlike a Cadillac it is cheap these days. It dates somewhere in the late 1950's.

If you would like to read some lovely poems written on these keys check out my husbands blog, Beyond Innisfree, where he photographs his poetry, hand written or typed. He is as unique as these typewriters, probably more.

Back to Poetry

Poetic goodness can be found with Amy Ludwig Vanderwater at The Poem Farm.

I have been doing a lot of other writing lately, I am happy to come back to some poetry today, it feels good. Everyone should write a poem. My sister insists it makes the world a better place every time someone does. It sort of makes me think of that line in It's a Wonderful Life, "every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings." Maybe every time someone writes a poem, someone else smiles! Wouldn't that be nice?



Awe struck
Listening
Laughing

Wondering
Reflecting
Inspiring
Talking
Eager


The above is a list/acrostic poem of the wonderfully filling experience I had at the All Write conference in Warsaw, Indiana the past two days.

Today, Ralph Fletcher lead us in an exercise of borrowing a few lines from one of his poems and creating our own. He has used this technique, at first with hesitation, with students and noticed that it seemed to work well. He described it like giving you training wheels so you can go farther (something like that, he said it much better). Here is my poem, the first two and last lines are the borrowed parts.

(The Good Old Days)

Sometimes I remember
the good old days

Walking down to the river
skimming tadpoles from the still pools

Watching them
circle in my cup

Looking at you

Looking at me

I still can't imagine
anything better than that.