My Song

Before our trip to Louisville, Beth put together a cd for us and included a song with each of our names. I told her she could use the song Angie by The Rolling Stones because I didn’t know of any Angela songs. You should have heard us singing along. Every time Mick crooned “A-angie” we added “la”.

Try to imagine it. There are three of us in Molly’s pick up truck singing along. Mick sings “A-angie” and we add “ la ” Mick- “Aa-angie” us-” la ” Mick- “ain’t it time we said goodbye?” (Fun times let me tell ya) I can’t hear the song now without remembering the three of us singing along as we exited the interstate in Louisville and made our way to the hotel.

Imagine my surprise a few nights ago when Bill handed me his iPod earplugs and I put them in my ears to hear the sound of Motley Crue singing:

Now when the winds cry Angela
Angela, Ill be there for you
And when the storms scream Angela
Angela, Ill be there

I guess I should have listened to a little more Motley Crue in high school. I’ll have to let Beth know that there is an Angela song she can use when she makes the soundtrack for our trip to New York.

The Heart of Language Arts

I tell my students that language arts is a subject they should all love because the heart of it is making sense of the world and our place in the world. That’s why we read and write: to make sense of the world we live in and to figure out our place in that world. If we can understand this and get our kids to understand it, we have done what we need to do in our language arts classrooms.

I worry that in too many language arts classrooms we have removed the heart. This was never more evident than yesterday when my daughter showed me an essay that she had written. I was hoping to push her away from a formula inspired introduction toward a more meaningful one when I asked her what the purpose of her essay was. She replied, “to get an A.” After some prodding, she said, “to tell people about me.” She refused to see that any revision was necessary and commented, “it doesn’t matter what it says as long as it looks good.” She glued it neatly on a piece of scrapbook paper and meticulously weaved matching ribbons around the edges. It did look quite nice, but sadly when I read it I knew that her classmates wouldn’t really be learning much about her.

When we are more concerned about the mechanics of writing and the overall appearance, we tend to forget that there is more to it. We tend to forget about the heart. What good is a body without a heart?

My alternative to Daily Oral Language

I am always amazed when I look at my blog stats and find that people are still looking at my daily oral language post from last August.  When I used Daily Oral Language with my 5th graders, I used the Great Source book.  The students grew bored with it quickly and it didn’t seem to matter what tricks I tried to keep them interested, they were bored.  I’ll admit, this could have been because I was bored with it myself.  I felt like I was betraying my own beliefs about writing.  I believe that if we want students to improve their grammar and writing skills they should be given opportunities to use grammar and practice writing.  This daily activity just seemed like a waste of valuable writing time.   I admit, it was nice to have a daily activity that they could get started on when they walked in the door.  It was great “busy work” that gave me time to take attendance. I felt guilty for relying on “busy work” though so I had to find an alternative. What is my alternative you ask?  In my classroom we call it ‘first thoughts’.  It started out as “journal time” but became ‘first thoughts’ when I explained to students that I just wanted them to write their thoughts, the first things that cam to mind. I said, “just write your first thoughts” and it stuck. When I first started this, students were welcomed everyday with a note from me on the board.  They would read my note and write a response in their journal.  This was working pretty well, but soon they became a little bored with my notes.  They weren’t always interested in the things I was interested in.  One day I had a student groan, “Why do we have to answer your questions? Why can’t we ask our own questions?” Desperate for something that would get my students interested in writing, I decided to give it a try. While they responded to the question I had written on the board, I went to my computer and typed up a form students could use to let me know what questions they wanted to ask their classmates. I printed a few and students began filling them out. The next day, and every day after, when my students came into the room, they were greeted with questions from their classmates. They come into the room, read the board and begin writing their first thoughts. The first ten minutes of class are spent reading, writing, and thinking. What more can a teacher ask for?

Keeping it Positive

I decided this morning that I want to be a positive force in the schools that I work in. One way I have decided to do this is by listening to positive music. I have been listening to WayFM for about 6 or 7 years now, and believe strongly that it is a positive force in my life. I have to admit, lately I have found myself turning from it though because the morning show DJs aren’t always the positive force that I enjoyed with the previous morning show hostess. This morning, I discovered that I can listen to DJs from all over the country! You can too, just go to wayfm.comand click on “listen online” over on the right side of the screen. Thanks wayfm for making this available so that we can all find the DJs that are right for us. Keep listening, you just might be amazed at the difference it makes in your life.

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Poetry Friday

As you all know from my Quote to Ponder post a few days ago, I have been reading Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer. When I read this passage on page 31 I was inspired to find out more about the poet Rumi.

There are at least two ways to understand the link betwen selfhood and service. One is offered by the poet Rumi in his piercing observations: “If you are here unfaithfully with us, you’re causing terrible damage.” If we are unfaithful to true self, we will extract a price from others. We will make promises we cannot keep, build houses from flimsy stuff, conjure dreams that devolve into nightmares, and other people will suffer– if we are unfaithful to true self.

My search led me to today’s poem.

Be Lost in the Call
Rumi
Lord, said David, since you do not need us,
why did you create these two worlds?

Reality replied: O prisoner of time,
I was a secret treasure of kindness and generosity,
and I wished this treasure to be known,
so I created a mirror: its shining face, the heart;
its darkened back, the world;
The back would please you if you’ve never seen the face.

Has anyone ever produced a mirror out of mud and straw?
Yet clean away the mud and straw,
and a mirror might be revealed.

Until the juice ferments a while in the cask,
it isn’t wine. If you wish your heart to be bright,
you must do a little work.

My King addressed the soul of my flesh:
You return just as you left.
Where are the traces of my gifts?

We know that alchemy transforms copper into gold.
This Sun doesn’t want a crown or robe from God’s grace.
He is a hat to a hundred bald men,
a covering for ten who were naked.

Jesus sat humbly on the back of an ass, my child!
How could a zephyr ride an ass?
Spirit, find your way, in seeking lowness like a stream.
Reason, tread the path of selflessness into eternity.

Remember God so much that you are forgotten.
Let the caller and the called disappear;
be lost in the Call.

I have read it several times and still don’t fully understand it, but I love these lines.

The back would please you if you’ve never seen the face.
If you wish your heart to be bright, you must do a little work.
Remember God so much that you are forgotten.
Let the caller and the called disappear; be lost in the Call.

I don’t want to teach in Colorado.

The other day I wrote I want to teach at this school, and included an article about a school in Colorado whose students were having book discussions on the playground. In the shower this morning, I realized that I was wrong. I don’t want to teach at that school. You couldn’t get me to move to Colorado for anything. What I do want is for the students in Humphreys County to have book discussions on the playgrounds. I want them to be excited about reading, and I want it to be in the paper for the world to read. I want the students in Humphreys County to talk about books around the dinner table with their parents and carry books with them just in case they have a few minutes to read. I am thankful for schools like Soaring Hawk Elementary that are role models for the rest of us, but I don’t want to go teach there. The last two days have been exciting for me in my new job. I have been meeting with teachers and administrators. There are some amazing educators in Humphreys County. I can’t think of any place I would rather be working.

Good News just in…… The DMS Literary Club is still alive!

A Quote to Ponder

It is time for bed. Bill has already tucked himself into the bed beside me. I just wanted to share this quote from today’s reading. I am reading Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocationby Parker J. Palmer. This sentence spoke to me today. Maybe it will speak to you also.

We must withdraw the negative projections we make on people and situations — projections that serve mainly to mask our fears about ourselves — and acknowledge and embrace our own inabilities and limits.

Goodnight.

I want to teach at this school

I was reading Lois Lowry’s blog this morning which is something I believe everyone should do. She is a genius, and her blog allows us the chance to witness her genius on a real level. She had this posted on her blog today.

news story – and photo – from Castle Rock, Colorado:

Soaring Hawk Elementary kicked off the new year with a school-wide reading of Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry. Gooney Bird has the gift of storytelling and she mesmerizes her classmates from the moment she walks into class from China wearing pajamas and cowboy boots. Her elaborate tales, although they are absolutely true stories open up a new world to her second grade peers. Suddenly, everyone has a colorful tale to spin.

Students are now having book discussions on the playground and at the dinner table with their siblings and parents. They are focused on their writing assignments and trying to include words and phrases that will capture and keep the readers interest. Diamond earrings, a consumed cat, and a flying carpet certainly kept the Soaring Hawk kids entertained.

The last day of school for C-Track, Danna Finks 4th grade class all dressed as Gooney Bird Greene. Polka dot leggings with flip flops, fancy scarves and head bands, one big dangly earring and lots of boots made for an awesome track off day.It also epitomized the spirit of Soaring Hawk as a learning community.

This school sounds like fun. Kids having book discussions on the playground and around the dinner table!? What more could you ask for? I would love to have a conversation with Danna Finks.

I have a Writer’s Notebook!

My friend Andi has been talking about writer’s notebooks lately, which got me thinking about my teaching journal. I have been keeping a journal since I participated in my first WTWP Summer Institute. It started out as a teaching journal. I wrote about my classroom, my students and all the things that I was learning about both. Eventually, it turned into my life journal. In it, I wrote about my family, my faith and myself too. Over the years, it became a habit for me to carry my journal everywhere just in case I felt the need to write my thoughts down. The thoughts that I collected in this journal though were only meant for me. I’ve always thought of my journal as a private place. So, Andi’s thoughts about writer’s notebooks have gotten me thinking about how different it would be if I started referring to my journal as my writer’s notebook. If I began to think of it as a place to grow thoughts and ideas that I want to share with the world instead of a place to hide them. I wonder if I am ready for that. I think that I am. I think that I am ready to think of myself as a writer, not just a journaler. I think I have spent enough time sharing my thoughts with myself that I am ready to start sharing them with the world. I think I will start today. I can’t wait to go to work tomorrow with my writer’s notebook.