In honor of the Irish (I was blessed with an Irish mother), you might consider a toast, joke, limerick or other such "blarney" for ramblings this week. If you wish, you may limit rambling posts to only one since you are also responding to our readings and beginning to create the virtual tour of your classroom.
Last week's posts would have given even the likes of Yeats, O'Casey, or Joyce a wee pause. Well done, lads and lassies!
28 comments:
OK here goes my efforts in writing a limerick.
There once was a reading from Goldberg
That offered some of the greatest ideas ever heard
To write over time
Is joy sublime
Though one must admit sometimes absurd
My favorite site on how to write poetry is www.gigglepoetry.com
if you ever forget google ["how to write a" poem]and it will bring up the link. The directions are very kid and teacher friendly.
www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryclass/limerickcontesthelp.html
for help with limericks.
I'm back and it was wonderful, lush green, sunny, and warm!!! I'll get caught up on this week's readings and start postings.
H awaii is tropical
A lways an adventure around the corner
W eather constantly changing
A nd soooo many tropical fruits to try
I t's only 7 hours from here
I can't wait to go back again!
My ill gotten Irish Ancestors
By Robert Gable
I’m about to relate a most curious tale,
About my Irish ancestors who’s taste ran to the King’s Ale.
Tis’ a strange saga in and of itself,
How these poor souls found themselves in the land of the Celtic elf
It seems they ran afoul of another Anglican King,
Who gave them the boot from their native wing
Telling them in Eire they all could rot
Because he didn’t like the Scot!
Now, after a century or two,
The tale is strange enough to make you turn blue,
They sided with a noble knight
Who baldly led them to defeat their Celtic cousins in a fight.
It wasn’t bad enough of them to be seen
Wearing the colors other than Emerald Green.
Swearing to a German, one King William, their allegi’ance
Eventually left them in a very peculiar circumst’ance.
But to those who lived long on that stretch of blarney,
Thought my ancestors being a little carney.
So with hostilities making them feel bland
They hopped the first ship for a new land.
The journey was long and the past left behind
Soon found souls of their own kind.
Moving south throughout this new land they did it hand-in-hand
Until they settled down in a place called Dixieland.
So to this day you’ll find no one in my clan
Who will wear the Emerald Green from the old homeland
Instead to that noble king of orange who’s herald they sang
Will defend his color against any who want to harangue.
Jan, I love your limerick:-) I think I 'll have some fun tomorrow with a giggle.
An Old Irish Blessing
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
A New Writer’s Blessing
May you always have pen and paper
May the writing flow across the page
May colorful adjectives paint pictures
And strong verbs add sparkle
And until we write again
May writer’s block never come your way
A Wish for a Friend
Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!
A wish for a Writer
Wishing you a word processor
For keyboarding ideas and notes
Fast writes that reach to the bones
True ideas that blossom and bloom
Blogs to share your thoughts
For reflection and a laugh or two
And a host of writing friends
To write with your whole life through
St. Patrick's Day inspires me to wear green, green makes me think of spring, together these two things have joined this moring in the form of my St. Patrick's day limerick.
There once was an impatient young lady
Who wanted only to sing a sweet melody
“Let the sun shine bright
And the butterflies take flight “
Of spring she must take custody
Tried something out while sitting in the sand that I am taking back to the classroom. While sitting on the beach last week I was watching two 5 and 6 year olds writing with drift wood and shells into the sand - not always words but pictures and great verbal details. I asked them if they would share their story with me and they had a detailed story that went with their pictures of sea turtles etc. When I shared with them that I was from Alaska they wanted me to share a story as well - I told them about the Eskimo knife stories and how they were used to share people's experiences and life and came up with my own. Later that week, these two kiddos and their mom came up to me and shared what they had done when they went back to the place they were staying - they had taken their stories from the sand and put them to words on paper. I was tickled that they shared this with me and could see my fourth graders getting into this as well. I know traditional knife stories aren't written down but what a great way to get a story going - so I'm thinking my fourth graders could make basal wood knives (we made a template at the house and it works great) they could create their stories verbally in sand or dirt) then put it into written words and share. I know, it's not an Irish poem or limerick but if it's any consolation - I have corn beef and cabbage boiling cooking on the stove for dinner tonight! (:
I am inspired by the Irish Blessing, Sandy.
A Writing Teacher's Blessing
May your students' ideas flow smoothly
May their tales be fascinating
May the opinions be supported
And all the sentences complete
And may you never find yourself buried
Under stacks of essays (no matter how good) at semester's end.
Sandy- Thanks for posting the Old Irish Blessing. That was one of the readings at our wedding. Ahhh...the memories. Nobody was hurt, nothing was broken, and most everyone got out of that week happy. There was only one spat between my sister and my future sister-in-law...my sister won.
The Tale of Mr. Rabbit
There once was a five year old kid,
he thought it funny when he hid,
the teacher's coffee,
and her toffee,
And so he was sent to the “Cid”
As I started to think of a topic to focus my limerick, the face that filled my mind was that of my students. He is giving me a run for my money this year, hence “cid” = The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. I really do not think he needs to go to military school, I am just frustrated with his behavior this week. =)
P.S. The title of my limerick probably does not make sense to anyone other than myself, but gives me quite a chuckle. I guess I am not so good at writing for an audience, but I amuse myself.
Ode to Spring Break
There once was a teacher on vacation
Who in her writing felt much frustration.
Instead of plunging ahead
Played her X-Box instead
Annihilating alien mutations.
(Note: Of course the subject of the poem is NOT the poet, but rather a phantasmagorical avatar-like creation).
Here's my attempt at a limerick.
There once was a teacher in Fairbanks.
Who worked hard and always gave thanks.
To the students and staff she worked with each year
And to her family that she loves and holds dear.
Here is my feeble attempt at a limmerick
Spring Break
At last spring break is here
I'd like to have fun, oh dear
there's much on my list to be done
but we finally have some sun
at weeks end fun will have won, I fear
As I read the text this week one comment seemed to resonate in my mind. It validated my feelilngs from high school where we were taught that in order to be a good writer we had to do it the way the teacher was telling us to do it. I have always been one to think about what I want to write (basically having my paper written in draft form) before ever taking a pencil to paper.
The statement I am refering to is "..there is no one writing process...writers need to discover what works best for them in a variety of writing tasks."
Then there is this class telling me to free write and not worry about the conventions of writing, just let the thoughts flow through the pen to paper. This has been a struggle for me when I think about others reading what I have written. My journals are personal and are filled with "free" writing.
Just some random thoughts I have carried with me this week and thought I would share. At least only part of this entry was preplanned in my mind.
I agree with the text and EJ "..there is no one writing process...writers need to discover what works best for them in a variety of writing tasks." I am sharing with you a range of ideas and ways to inspire students. One idea does not fit all or we would resort to only using that method. We often teach the way we were taught because "it worked for us" but we soon come to realize that it doesn't work for everyone. If only it did....
Again, I tried to write a ten minute response to several of your postings only to have it disappear on posting. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong but I haven't figured it out yet so... here goes it again. Jan your limerick is cute. I like the reference to "joy sublime" and I added your giggle poetry site to my list of cool place to take my kiddos. We started a poetry unit last week and I promised them I'd let them model one or two this week and I'm hoping to get them to the library and on desk tops to look at the site and try their hands at a few. I'll let you know how that goes. That's all I'm saying on this post for fear of losing it. JJ
Okay, you all seem to have tried your hands at a limerick or two and early on I wrote Sondra a cute little ditty, a haiku. So, here goes my little writing to make a point to EJ and Sondra's postings on how to teach writing and how there isn't just one right way. It goes something like this:
Happy little pen,
Racing to fill the blank page,
Telling its grand tale.
I truly believe the more "fun" we find in reading and writing the "grander" we feel. As a teen, I wrote to hundreds of penpals (right through my college years)and I still feel happy when I have something to read and/or write. I think these postings are great; they remind me of those bygone days of letter writing, writing and responding to friends. JJ
Okay, now that I was able to get two postings out I'm going to try to send a rewrite of my earlier one this week that disappeared into the great computer in the sky. I was telling you all about my ninth graders and the poetry unit we had started on Monday. There was this Emily Dickinson poem to introduce the collection in the text and a great canvas of two raven-like birds facing each other. The birds had manly heads with great hats on their heads. I love to play with these intro's and I think we learn a little from our observations. Anyway, the birdie-mans were supposedly poets discussing things and the Dickinson poem read,
"A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day."
Pretty cool, huh?!?!
We got going with our discussion talking about what it meant, if we agreed, and why or why not. Tim asked how he was suppose it read it and why did she write it like that. That comment opened up a discussion that lead to other poets like Shakespeare, e. e. cummings, and others and even music lyrics. Like how to read the pause needed with a comma, period or no puncuation at the end of a line, and what all. Mai answers Tim first and others joined in. I attempted to guide it and let it go and I was surprised at how much they had to say. Someone finally asked if they were going to write any poems themselves and I promised we'd try to model one or two if nothing else. It was really neat hearing them talk about the importance of words and how they live forever. One young man said his dad tells them stories about the war and he plans to remember them as best he can to retell them to his children. I almost cried then and there but we got off on how famous speech like the Gettysburg Address have lived forever because someone wrote them down. How they live over and over again because people use them to make their points in their speeches every day. I have to admit I was impressed and I might not have let this back and forth discussion go as long as it did because "we do have lots of 'stuff' to cover before the FINAL." That's only part of what I tried to share Tuesday but... JJ
I'm not Irish, so I don't really celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but I do love a good limerick. So here's my contribution:
I welcome the last day of spring break
I've had all the rest I can take
When I go back tomorrow
I won't feel any sorrow
I'll feel joy I couldn't easily fake!
Ok, am I a cheesy new teacher or what? No, really, I am just a person who needs some kind of structure in my life to function, and I find myself goofing off when I'm not working. I'm not sure what to think about summer, how I'll fill all those long, empty days. I worked last summer because I had just finished my student teaching, and I had all those student loans clamoring to be repaid. But this summer, I'm on a 12-month salary, so I plan not to work. I'm just not sure how I will make sure that I make good use of my time instead of squandering it.
I suppose I could write...
A toast:
To the old ways of the rough-and-tumble Irish. To those who will always be there, showering blessings and offering a pint. May you celebrate with good friends, drinking in the joy of the moment - today, and always.
For my Irish roots:
C areful
A mbitious
F aith
F ocused
A lways give your all
L eave the past behind
L ove all you have
Just a few things my Irish father tells me often. Not the best work, but it's sentimental at least.
My writing lesson for St. Patrick's day was not on limericks although it would have been fun. Instead I did a melding of my Social and Emotional lesson with St. Patty's and it worked pretty well. We explored the 4 petals of the SEL and turned them into shamrock leaves. Then we wrote about the I am, I can, I care, I will on each of the leaves. It was fun and I got my SEL lesson in and slipped in a bit 'o arts and crafts with the shamrock making.
I was surprised to hear, and then read, that St. Patrick was not Irish but Italian. The information I read was a little confusing though, since it described St. Patrick as living in Britain - except at the time he lived in Britain it was ruled by the Romans. Finally to confuse things just a little more, turns out St. Patrick was born in Scotland.
okay I am going to try a limerick about my dog
There once was a scraggly Pom named Jack
Who would swipe and mark things if you turned your back
His barking non-stop
His coat a mop
While I was writing he ate my Big Mac
(wince)
A Wish for a Friend
Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!
My limerick honors Hutchison High School, 3A Champions:
Hutch Hawks set a goal to be champs
They traveled the state playing camps
March madness arrived
The Hawks they did thrive
Hutch Hawks, the Nanooks they did stamp
Thanks Jan for the great website gigglepoetry.com.
Jan - Thanks for sharing the poetry site. I have to admit digging for things on the internet is not one of my favorite activities at the moment and I'm always thankful to teachers who will share great places to get materials/ideas.
Here goes the limerick...
There once was a boy named Jake
All he wanted for a pet was a snake
So he begged and he pleaded
Told his mom it was what he needed
And so she finally conceded!
Finally - this was a bit of a daunting task. It always makes me realize how patient I need to be in class with my students who just don't "get it" very quickly! I've learned to share my successes and struggles with writing. I think it helps them hang in there when it isn't so easy or when it is hard to start.
This is for my Irish Grandmother. May she rest in peace.-dc
M Matronly
A Aromatic
R Rosy
Y Yokel
M Motherly
C Cozy
D Defender
O Optimistic
N Nepotistic
A Affectionate
L Lioness
D Deceased
Writing a limerick is not as easy as I thought it would be! Well, this is my try at a limerick about my cat...
There once was a little cat
Who wondered where he was at
He jumped off the bed
And hit his head
So he slept on the mat instead. dc
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