This is your spot to start a conversation, post a reflection, poem, random thought, or anything you want to write. These are NOT polished pieces; rather they are a chance to play around with writing. Have fun. Also respond to others who post. Your goal is to post three times a week. The picture is one that I took only two weeks ago in Kruger National Park in South Africa.
36 comments:
Whew! I was worried about so many of us on at once during the audio, but I actually had fun. I hope the class continues to surprise us at every turn. Writers are people who are trying to express themselves. We are all writers during this class so free yourself for expression. I hope we can be collaborative, supportive and creative. Now, since it is much later here in Arizona, I am off to bed. (Guess I'll open the window to cool the house off. What a concept!)
I write in my spare time. It was a habit I got into while in the service. Because I had to write reports, I started taking practical writing courses offered through the local field training detachments at the various bases I was stationed at during my enlistments. I graduated to college level courses through the local base education office. Eventually, I left the service and attended the University of Oklahoma, where I gravitated towards journalism and finally graduated from their school of journalism.
I have found my writing skills have developed through various jobs I've been fortunate to have had prior to becoming an educator. When I worked for a defense contractor after leaving the service, I had the opportunity to write a technical manual for a piece of NATO equipment that my company contracted for as part of a depot maintenance effort.
I have started several novels over the years, but like most writer want-to-bes I get distracted by another writing project and it ends up as a file on my thumb drives. (I've graduated from floppy disks, cds and the like.)
I enjoy the creation process. I will sometimes spend days or weeks thinking out a story before I commit it to writing. It is a process I have developed by studying about my favorite authors. Sometimes, I may do this for months and/or years just to get the nuances of how these writers write. But, reading, which to me is an insperateable of teaching writing, is an enjoyable part of the process.
Unlike Robert, I have never really gotten into writing for enjoyment. Before teaching I was in community outreach for an agency here and did lots of writing of grants, workshops, letters, manuals, and anything to do with the business part. It wasn't until I started teaching that I started writing for fun. I still mostly write when I am modeling for my students but now its an everyday happening. Come to think of it I did write a children's book once about my daughter and her grandpa and the special relationship they shared. Even sent it in to a publishing company. Looking back on it, I think that too was a class assignment while I was getting my Bachelors Degree. I think my love will always be the reading end of it though.
Debbie, your statement about your first love being the reading end of the process also fits me to a “T”. My one opportunity to be an at home mom ended in a 7 book a day habit. Every two days I would take my shopping bags and walk to the local library to fill up. I started at the “Z’s” and was working my way backwards through the Library. Robert finally sent me back to work when the book count reached 247 books in one month. That is part of the reason I ended up back in school.
When finishing up my education degree I thought I would be a 5th grade teacher I ended up being hired as a Kindergarten teacher. I taught Kindergarten for four and a half years, and K/first grade along with special ed for the next 5 years before moving totally into special ed. I love teaching writing to the little ones and students who are developmentally delayed, they see such wonder in being able to put their ideas down on paper and to have people be able to read what they have written. I remember one kindergarten student who after a lesson on “descriptive words” wrote the following sentence “a owl sat on a log and fell off and hit its head on a soft rock.” There is more to the story but what a relief to that owl that she described the rock, otherwise he might have hurt himself! I struggle to bring that same joy to my HS students.
I am the facilitator in the Alternative Classroom for the high school at Unalaska and am expected to be able to help the students in every aspect of their educational careers.
While Algebra was my biggest bulwark last year, next year I am expected to assist the one English teacher with her huge numbers by teaching a writing class in concurrence with her Senior English Class. I will be blessed by the more challenging behaviorally, as well as a number of ESL students from a variety of countries around the globe.
The biggest adversity this school faces, besides increasing numbers, is the number of ESL students coming into the district without a working knowledge of English. While the total population of students is much smaller than the Anchorage schools, my guess is that our percentage of ESL students is at least as high as their schools and, probably, higher.
So, my goal with this class is to learn to be comfortable teaching a writing class that will inspire even the most resistant, while increasing the ESL learner’s vocabulary and decreasing the punctuation struggles to make everyone a competent and proficient writer.
Lofty Sondra? I think not.
Today I tried something new that the students loved, as did their teacher, so I am sharing it. Over the past month we have worked on poetry both reading and writing and in social studies studying the regions of Alaska. I wanted to tie them together so the students and I wrote two word poems about the regions. Here's mine
Far North Region
Far north
Brooks Range
Frozen land
flat barren
oil gas
ice melt
polar bears
Far North
I used their poetry to see what they have learned about the first two regions we have studied. It could be used for all sorts of subjects.
Hope someone out there finds it useful. (:
I love to write but it comes in spurts and various genres. I have a lot of fun writing poetry, especially in couplet form. It has saved me many a times when I couldn't find the perfect gift and ended up writing a poem instead. My husband has been the most frequent beneficiary of these. Sometimes they are a couple of pages. Perhaps somewhere down the road they will turn themselves into a children’s book as my favorite ones to write are bouncy and tongue-in-cheek. I kept a journal from 7th grade to my sophomore year of college until one Christmas break when I was home and rifling through memorabilia from my glory days I realized that all the angst and drama scrawled across those pages were things I did not particularly want to remember nor did I want anyone else to read. There is no where less secret than a diary when you have 4 siblings and two “involved” parents .
My true love is reading. I can identify completely with Jan and Debbie. I am a certifiable biblioholic. I will literally read anything that comes my way and if I am without a book to read, I reread favorites or grab a nearby cereal box, solicitation, or bill. Two years ago I lived in Alabama and did something very similar to Jan’s deliberate conquest of the library. Every Saturday I ambled up and down the aisles selecting books at random until I couldn’t carry any more. Sometimes a book looked so delicious I couldn’t even wait to get home, instead, I would find a patch of grass and immediately delve in.
I fell in love with teaching the first time I was able to help a student learn something. During my freshman year of college, I was doing a practicum assignment in 1st Grade. I was helping a child with her journal writing, I can not remember what exactly the assignment was, but the child was struggling. Being the novice that I was at 18 years old, I thought I should just tell the little girl how to spell the word she wanted to write. So I did and it seemed to give her a confidence boost and she completed the rest of her sentence by herself. She was a polite little girl and thanked me! I was so excited I had helped this little girl and when I got back to my dorm room, I told my roommate about it. My roommate was an International Studies major and I did not get the reaction I wanted out of her. Oh well...I guess that did not damper my excitement of teaching.
Our school has instituted an after school program for students who have not passed the Standards Based Assessment given that year. I have been working with a group of JRH girls on writing poetry. We have been reading different types of poems and today was our first try at writing one of our own. I quickly wrote an acrostic poem as an example, working verbally to help my students understand why I discarded some of my choices. After class, I thought about the statement “teacher as writer” and decided to share my efforts online.
Springtime in the air
People having fun everywhere
Romping around with my friends
Ignoring passing peoples stares
Nothing will make us stop
Going on our happy romp
Back in school I’m counting the days
Reading and writing everyway
Each day is one day closer
All in all it’s not that bad
Keep my cool, I’m no ones fool. Just 2 ½ months left of school
The girls did a great job with their first efforts, but one student handed in the poem she had memorized for speech competition, which I coached. I applauded her for her excellent memory, but we had a quick introduction to our next lesson . . . plagiarism.
Jan here again, I noticed that when the poem was posted the first letters in each line seemed to just blend in. An acrostic poem is one where you take your name, word or phrase and use each letter as the first letter in the line.
My students chose "Spring Break" as their choice for a demonstration poem. If you look down the left hand side you will notice that the first letter in each line spells the subject of the poem.
So I thought I'd try Debbie's model:
Trapper Creek Dreams
Susitna River
Cache Creek
Peters Hills
The Mountain
Our Denali
Great One
Icy Glaciers
Deep Snow
Huge moose
Parks Highway
Wide Spot
Don't Blink!
Forever Home
I'm digging the poems guys. I can appreciate poetry, but I a bit too self-conscious to write any of my own. Strange really, I’ve no beef with prose; I’m actually rather at home with it. Yet, the second I attach the label of poem to a piece of writing, I become overly self-critical and feel awkward throughout the process. It’s as if by calling a piece of my writing a “poem”, I create this odd expectation that the outcome has to be extraordinarily artful and deep. Yet, the outcome always seems contrived and pretentious. I think I need a new word. Maybe if I could call that contrived and pretentious drivel I write by another name - a less significant name that would allow me to lower my expectations – then I would find it acceptable.
I like Courtney’s giving poems as gifts. I’ll have to try that with my wife and see if it sticks. Again though, must find another term instead of poem. What is the Latin word for, “feeble attempt to write something really cool sounding using words on a budget”?
Also, I’ve really enjoyed reading about your reading experiences. I too love reading, though as a parent of a 3 year-old daughter and a 3 month-old daughter, I’m finding it increasingly difficult to carve out reading time for any text that does not involve zoo animals or three-dimensional illustrations. Still, all is not lost – I’ve learned many fun things by absorbing myself in the wonderful world of children’s literature. Now I too can sing “Baby Beluga”!
Debbie's two word line idea really appeals to me. I haven't given myself "permission" to take time from my busy life to write in a long time (I know, I know), so the idea of publicly bearing witness to my rustiness has frozen any interesting ideas before I can even get them on paper. Two words... I mean, how can I possibly muck that up? Thanks, Debbie.
South Central Region
Jagged mountains
nudge open
sky's belly.
Arctic blast
etches needles
of snow
into pale
ocean mirror
Responding to Creed, I too have found myself deconstructing children's literature and songs in the most tangible ways. Our oldest is also three and on the way to Anchorage last fall, we all ventured out of the car onto Beluga Point, waiting for pods of beluga to appear, all the while singing that darn Raffi song.
Sorry that my other profile name keeps popping up. Shelly = "walkeralaska".
In response to Jan, way at the top, your comment: "I love teaching writing to the little ones and students who are developmentally delayed, they see such wonder in being able to put their ideas down on paper and to have people be able to read what they have written."
I love that you put this into writing. In college I always wanted to teach upper-elementary and even studied secondary history education for a while. It was a wonderful experience the first time I worked with a younger student and saw the excitement they had about getting their ideas down on paper. Now, teaching second grade, I get to see it daily. There are light-bulbs going off everywhere for the children. I feel very privileged to be a part of their joy in discovery.
In response to dcole: Lofty is good! ESL English/writing follows, as I am sure you know,the same good teaching practices as other classes--One key is time. They need more time to process. We also need to remember to value their native language. I think of Sandra Cisineros and the beauty of her writing and the inclusion of key Spanish words in her prose. With your background in math (the universal language along with music) I am sure your lofty goals will be achievable. Do others have some specific suggestions? This is one of the largest problems in the US today in public schools. I'll pass on some readings that relate to your issue during the class.
We're writing descriptive peices in my writing class. Here's the beginning of one I started with them.
On the porch outside of the school, I sit peacefully in a pile of shoveled snow, hoping the caravan of snowmachines will take us across to the airstrip. The afternoon sun hides its face behind a think blanket of fog, waiting for us to give up and go home. This is not the week to have the district basketball tournament, hopes slowly shatter as the fog lingers. Anticipation bloats the school, pushing at its seams, as the teams ready themselves in faith that the fog will lift.
Alone I sit, enjoying the peace, enveloped in the fog. The warm moisture in the air condenses on my jacket and my face. It gently cleanses away the day’s infirmities and brings lightness to my worries. Here, atop this pile of snow, nothing matters, not even basketball.
I can relate to what Marlie experienced doing a practicum in college. In fact I did a lot of practicums during my teacher prep days at all grade levels in several states. I seem never to do things in half measures - its the full monty or nothing. But I've always loved working with the little guys and gals who enjoyed doing school.
I think that we (as teachers) enjoy watching children develop and grow. Is it any wonder that we get excited when we see one of our students blossom? It was what I enjoyed as a parent watching my own son growing up.
When we see something that works in our classroom and the students dig it, it like discovering fireworks on the 4th of July. It dazzles me. I don't think the students realize how much we secretly enjoy the feeling of having them "get it".
I think what I miss about not teaching a combined 4th and 5th grade class is watching a student who didn't seem to have a clue in 4th grade just blossom and grow in the 5th grade. But I have had the same experience with my High School students.
Three years ago I took over the High School Language Arts instruction at our school in Kong. It was tough going at first just getting the students to write something, anything, down on paper. But when I just let the students write without boundaries, the work appeared! Of course I had to introduce grammar and punctuation as we went along and today most of my students write with little more than a comment from me on how to phrase a sentence or two in order to make it better.
I envy your last response, Robert. To clarify, I'm envious that you reached a point where you need to leave little more than a few comments, and that your students abilities seem to have exploded from such a seemingly simple exercise as having them essentially write what they want to. I've not had such luck. Granted, I have a fair number of students who engage in a free-writing process (e.g. journal writing, broad and open-ended prompts, etc.), but I've also found resistance among my students. Also, I find it difficult to really conference with the students regarding their work as my typical classroom size is 26-30 students. I'm looking for practical input to help me assess and coach my students' writing given the constraints I face. I welcome...scratch that - I BEG you all for suggestions to help me in this matter.
Saturday afternoon
Finally joining
Exploring enjoying
Two-word poems
Interesting challenging
Biblioholics unite
Inkheart Inkspell
Landscape inspires
Southwest Alaska
Windswept tundra
360º view
Tern Mountain
Bering Sea
Ravens fly
"Ca-gook ca-gook"
Blizzards blizzards
Drifting landscape
Snowboard hills
Spring ahead
Seal hunting
Salmon coming
Berry picking
Yupik homeland
Debbie, I am always looking for new writing ideas that connect my high school students to their land. We have to write poetry this spring, so I will with your permission steal your two word poem idea. I love it!
Creed, finding time to coach 30 students individually is a daunting task. Granted, my classes are not so large, but here are some suggestions for you. First, have your students get responses from someone in the class before they conference with you. Next, plan two days a week for instruction and 3 for writing workshop. Students can conference with each other and you on those days. I would create a sign-up sheet for five to 6 students per period. That way you will see most of your students once a week.
As for getting reluctant writers to write, try beginning from their 'place.' Try assigning a descriptive essay on their room, house or neighborhood. For students who perceive they are better at math than writing, tell them writing is like a math problem - there is a formula - begin with an an idea and add to it (details), add some more(details),then take away (extra words). Bubbling works well with math types. Helps them organize their ideas if you go over the bubble with them and number the ideas that go together. Those become the paragraphs. En Joy,
I was reading Debbie's comment about not writing for enjoyment until teaching and I had many thoughts. First, I couldn't imagine life without writing since I was a very shy teenager and writing was an important way for me to build some self esteem. When I couldn't find the words to tell my best friend how sad I was for her loss I wrote her a poem. Debbie, you are obviously a very skilled writer and I'm glad you are having more fun because I plan to use your two word idea!
My daughter wasn't shy at all, but sometimes saying things that were very important to her was difficult and she wrote a lot of letters.
When she was in elementary school we began some of our adventures and she lived away from her best friend during several years. They had known each other since preschool. During holidays, Spring Break and summer vacations they would try to visit. They kept one journal. One would keep it and write in it until the next visit. Sometimes almost a year would pass. The next time they were together it would be passed to the other person and they would have it until the next visit to write in. You can imagine the joy we get from looking back at those! I can't even put into words how valuable those journals are to us.
I've had many hs students that learned to hate writing. One strategy that I've used with all students is not grading papers, at least not in the way that they are used to. What a relief to them to be able to enjoy the writing process without all of that stress. Revising and finding $1.00 words to replace .05 cent words doesn't seem like such a burden.
In response to dcole, I was thinking of a vocabulary building activities I did. I have taught on the Flathead, Nez Perce and Kalispell reservations and enjoyed the many ways that communication occurs through storytelling, dance and body language. However, up north we seemed to struggle more to develop vocabulary with young students. What I found was that I could show them a picture of a fish and I might get a couple of words back. However, if I showed them a picture of a spawned out red from the river we lived on I would get non-stop descriptions and stories. So our curriculum became a big collection of digital photos and it seemed to be easier for them to make connections outside of their environment when using them as an anchor. We would add to that by using colored unicubes to build sentences (hooking one unicube on for each word) and we soon went from 2 or 3 unicube word sentences to 12 words and more. They liked seeing them grow.
In some ways it reminded me of teaching vocabulary to deaf students. While remembering signs relies heavily on rote memory- it was much easier to remember them when you knew where/how the sign originated--it made more sense. For example, female signs such as mom and sister, occur on the chin like the ties from a bonnet and male signs, such as boy and brother, originate on the forehead like the brim of a cap.
I think I've rambled enough. How nice to be required to ramble!
I have kept a journal since receiving my first diary when I was ten years old. Being an only child I did not have to worry about siblings prying into my personal thoughts. In those early years it was just the typical day to day happenings in the life of an adolescent. The volumes that seem most likely to turn into a book include the year spent backpacking across country (Florida to Alaska) via The Appalachian Trail and the early years of life in Alaska. Perhaps the fourteen years as foster parents for thirty-eight children could bring some laughter and tears to readers. Writing all the emotions associated with the loss of two children helped heal my spirit. Keeping a journal for our granddaughter (another Baby Beluga child) since the day she was born, with the hope that when she is old enough to read it she will understand why her life is what it is, is my latest journaling experience. I keep a daily devotional journal as well. It is really awesome to go back and read about the struggles and blessings the Lord has seen me through. The best is yet to come.
EJ, you make a really valid point about the different purposes journals have in one's life. You mentioned keeping journals for travel, healing, spirituality, recording moments with your many many foster children, and now, as a future gift of writing for your grandchild (that is SUCH a great idea!). I have kept journals for creative "seeds" for other writing projects, to keep track of places I've visited while bike touring, and to help me keep my place in my own life during times of personal turmoil and growth. My husband bought us a "marital journal" as a wedding present so we could express ourselves to each other silently and creatively.
Courtney said: "[Writing poetry] has saved me many a times when I couldn't find the perfect gift and ended up writing a poem instead."
I have had that same experience. Only instead of couplets, I write limericks. I know, I know, people say limericks are cheap poetry, not real poetry, etc. but I don't care. I still think the test of "good literature" is a combination of timelessness and pure joy, and my limericks have inspired a few people to feel joy, so they count, at least a little.
And Creed, don't worry about becoming a great poet. Just write. Sure, poetry is daunting because a few people have done it really excellently over the years, but that doesn't mean the rest of us can't have fun with it. Music is the same way, and I still find joy in it even though I'm not Chopin.
I have a rule for myself: I will not ask my kids to write something that I have not first attempted (or will attempt along with them). In one class, we're talking about dialectical differences, and I'm asking them to write a scene with two speakers talking to each other, with each speaker speaking a different dialect. It's a challenge to write in someone else's voice. Most of my writing is non-fiction, in my own voice. I'm teaching Creative Writing this semester, and it's been fun to experiment along with the kids.
I am leaving a comment far later than I had hoped to, which is interesting in itself. When I stop to consider writing very often I find myself thinking about a topic and then looking for what has been written by someone else.
I read a lot of literature, studies, forums, and postings and find that I prefer to have a conversation with a person. So I look for people who are willing to listen, and hear what I have to say.
I don't really have any conclusion to provide here regarding why I don't write more, only that I realize I spend a lot of time decoding other peoples writing and then a lot of time thinking out loud. I spend very little time taking time to write about what I am thinking. But am thinking about what I have read all the time.
Daylight Savings Time
Daylight Savings Time must be confusing to every animal on earth, and including the animals of Anchorage, Alaska.
Twice a year people decide to change the time we migrate, and sometimes we even monkey with that rhythm.
I can only imagine Moose and their babies trying to determine the best time to cross the street. It's hard for them.
Vehicles are crossing in giant herds of a sort in a daily rhythm. But for some unexplained reason to the animals hiding in the bottle brush trees bordering peoples roads, people simply decide to get up an hour early or an hour later after months of routine.
I wonder what goes through a momma moose's mind when she is trying to use perhaps the moon to keep track of when to walk cross Northern Lights or Lake Otis with her calf. When for no reason apparent to the momma moose the whole group of humans she needs to be careful of decide to get up an hour earlier and get moving.
This weekend all the momma moose who had things figured out only a day ago, who had decided to do their walking an hour before we started our morning migrations must have been surprised because we all somehow, for some reason, decided to get going an hour early.
If the momma wasn't confused this morning, I know I was.
I have not done very much blogging, so being involved in this forum is very interesting. I love the chance that we have to share ideas, classroom practices, teaching ideas, etc. Being a newer teacher, I feel that I spend a lot of my time “reinventing the wheel” so to speak. I often find myself wandering down the hall to find someone to bounce a problem or idea off of. I get a lot of help from paraprofessionals that have been working in education for years. Thank you to all for sharing!
After reading how some of you have inspired your students to write I thought I would share something that is fun and encourages creative writing. Not a new idea, just one that I know we never did when I was in school. It is called write and pass. Every student begins writing on any topic they choose for a specific period of time (I used 2 minutes). Then the papers are passed to another student (order determined by the teacher). The second student reads what has been written by the first and then writes for two minutes, using the first as a prompt. Papers are passed again when the time is up, only the first person's writing is covered so the third can not read it. They only have what the person prior to them wrote as a prompt. This continues for however many passes it takes until the papers are back to their original authors. The sudents get a kick out of seeing how the original idea blossomed, transformed, or morphed as it made it's way around. They read the entire piece to the class. Caution, I always collected them and read them first to make sure they were okay for sharing with the class. I did not "grade" them in anyway. It was just a way to have fun with "speed" writing.
So here is a thought that I have found provocative. I have been involved in photography and other art that involves images and video over the years. Leaders in visual arts have shared again and again that an image is worth a thousand words. Thats tired news right?
Recently I found myself in a forum that shared a thought or two about the written word. The members were discussing an idea that was new to me. The forum was discussing the written word and historical primary sources.
They agreed that an image is worth a thousand words but made the point that an image is not somehow a wholesale on the written word.
In their asynchronous discussion they shared that a single word, especially one that connects to a point that many have experienced could hold a thousand images: relationship, war, hunger, youth......
And then I did a little more reading and I think a word, the right word, is worth MORE than a million images. hmmmm, the words Love, Life, Happiness -loss. These words bring images to me but they also provide me sensations
EJ. Write and Pass sounds like fun for my students. I'm going to try it. One question, how did students cover the previous writers so only the last one was visible?
En Joy
I enjoyed reading through all the comments. The concept of journaling has come up many times in the last semester as I have taken several writing courses. I have come to the realization that I don't encourage journaling in class - I probably don't discourage it either it just isn't there. What a fun topic to approach as we move toward the longer days of an Alaskan spring! I think it putting the concept of reflection on the table for my class of second and third graders would be an interesting spring project that, ideally, would inspire more creative writing whether it be formal or not.
Jerrilyn: Blogging is a new concept for me. As a school counselor I write letters of recommendation and edit student's college essays. ASWC Wiring Matters will stretch me and take me way out of my comfort zone.
I encourage my students to journal about their feelings, experiences, concerns, and relationships. Reflecting on high school experiences can be healthy healing, and reveal issues I was not aware of.
I like EJ's ideas about write and pass. I used the concept in elementary school as a counselor and the students loved it. Debbie's two word poems are great! Thanks for sharing.
Frozen Fairbanks
Ice Fog
40 Below
Crunchy Snow
Cotton Candy
Blue Raspberry
Colored Skies
Ice Carvings
Twinking lights
Dog Mushers
Laughing Huskies
Nordic Skiers
Swish Swish
Ice Fishing
Warm Huts
Longer Days
Forward Spring
I feel the need to vent a bit about the unfairness of waking up on my first day of Spring Break to snow and a very sore throat. Of course the snow has stopped and now the sun is shining and it is quite beautiful out but my throat is still sore. At least I don't have to write sub plans...even if it means feeling less than fabulous.
I did take the opportunity to walk my dogs in the mid-morning. Not something I get to do very often. They seemed very surprised to find me still at home when they finally roused themselves this morning.
Sandy just have them fold the paper over to cover what was written prior to their adding info.
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