I Poem

Here is a link to my “I”  poem.  I feel like its too wordy and to fact fact fact…let me know your suggestions! 

 i-am-the-northeast.doc

What makes a good poem…

There are several thing that I think make a good poem.  They are as follows:

• it has a distinctive voice
• it uses very descriptive language
• the reader is able to connect to the poem in a certain way
• it evokes some sort of emotion
• it has structure of some sort
• depending on the type of poem, it has some educational value
• it engages the reader so that they want to read more
• they are informational and a good source of vocabulary words

What I like about “I” poems:

• They are so informational
• Children are able to complete research on a topic of study
• the poems allow for children to be creative
• I poems have built in scaffolding
• there are numerous books available for modeling I poems
• It allows children a chance to let their voice be heard by taking on the persona of their topic.
• It is adaptable to any curriculum and is an interesting way to get children involved in writing in poetry

Acrostic Poem-Cafe Du Monde

Coffee and chicory add a certain aroma to the

Atmosphere in which some of Bourbon Street’s

Finest mingle with the Garden District socialites.

Enjoy the sweet fried 

.

Dough of a beignet covered with snowy mountains of powdered sugar.

Under the table, 

.

Mounds of wasted powdered sugar dust the red brick floor.

On the wall above the arched windows, a

New Orleans native has

Donated a painting, capturing the Creole

Essence of a moment spent in America’s oldest French market.

 

I AM A TEACHER

This was given to all of the students in one of my undergrad classes…thought all of you might get a little inspired by it to do great things…

I AM A TEACHER

I am a teacher.  I was born the first moment that a question leaped from the mouth of a child.  I have been many people in many places.  I am Socrates exciting the youth of Athens to discover new ideas through the use of questions.  I am Anne Sullivan tapping out the secrets of the universe into the outstretched hand of Helen Keller.  I am Aesop and Hans Christian Anderson revealing truth through countless stories.  I am Marva Collins fighting for every child’s right to an education.  I am Mary McCloud Bethune building a great college for my people, using orange crates for desks.  And I am Bel Kaufman struggling to go Up the Down Staircase.

The names of those who have practiced my profession rings like a hall of fame for humanity…Booker T. Washington, Buddha, John Dewey, Leo Buscaglia, Moses, and Jesus.

I am also those whose names and faces have long been forgotten but whose lessons and character will always be remembered in the accomplishments of their students.

I have wept for joy at the weddings of former students, laughed with glee at the birth of their children, and stood with head bowed in grief and confusion by graves dug too soon for bodies far too young.

Throughout the cocurse of a day, I have been called upon to be an actor, friend, nurse, doctor, finder of lost articles, coach, money-lender, taxi driver, psychologist, substitute parent, salesman, politician, and keeper of the faith.

Despite the maps, charts, formulas, verbs, stories and books, I have really had nothing to teach, for my students really have only themselves to learn, and I know it takes the whole world to tell you who you are.

I am a paradox.  I speak loudest when I listen the most.  My greatest gifts are in what I am willing to appreciatively receive from my students.

Material wealth is not one of my goals, but I am a full-time treasure seeker in my quest for new opportunities for my students to use their talents, and in my constant search for those talents that sometimes lie buried in self-defeat.

I am the most fortunate of all who labor.

A doctor is allowed to usher life into the world in one magic moment.  I am allowed to see that life is reborn each day with new questions, ideas, and friendships.

An architect knows that if he builds with care, his structure may stand for centuries.  A teacher knows that if he builds with love and truth, what he builds will last forever.

I am a warrior, daily doing battle against peer pressure, negativity, fear, conformity, prejudice, ignorance and apathy.  But I have great allies:  intelligence, curiosity, parental support, individuals, creativity, faith, love, and laughter all rush to my banner with indomitable support.

And who do I have to thank for this wonderful life I am so fortunate to experience, but you the public, the parents.  For you have done me the great honor to entrust me with your greatest contribution to eternity, your children.

And so I have a past that is rich in memories.  I have a present that is challenging, adventurous and fun because I am allowed to spend my days with the future.

I am a teacher…and I thank God for it every day.

Journal Invitation

Here’s an example of my journal invitation…I chose to do the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  Let me know what you think!  I’m open to any suggestions you might have on how to make it better! ☺ 

P.S. I’m definitely not computer savvy enough to make my pictures come right up on my blog…so I hope you don’t mind to open them up in Word again…sorry!

alexander-1.doc

alexander-2.doc

Concrete Poems…

I’m not really sure how well you’ll be able to see these on here, but these are 2 concrete poems I have worked on.  The first one is of a spider and a spider web, and the second one is of a cross.  I’ll bring them to class on Wednesday night.  I’m not really sure if this was the assignment since they aren’t very colorful and they’re handwritten.  Any feedback?

cross-concrete-poem.doc

spider-concrete-poem.doc

 Just click on these links…they’ll open in a word document.

My Favorite Poem…

Smart

by Shel Silverstein from Where the Sidewalk Ends

My dad gave me one dollar bill
‘Cause I’m his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
‘Cause two is more then one!

And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes– I guess he didn’t know
That three is more than two!

Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just ’cause he can’t see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!

And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!

And I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head–
Too proud of me to speak!

Response to Kukan’s Article

So after reading this article, I feel really inspired to incorporate something like this into my classroom, but for some reason, I feel like it would be really hard to do in 2nd grade.  Before reading this article, I was clueless as to what an “I” poem was.  I had never learned about this while I was going through school.  I love that it takes on the first person point of view and makes the writer/reader really get into the head of the character.  I also like that it doesn’t have a set form and that it may or may not rhyme…rhyming is way too hard for me to come up with.  I also liked how this article states that one of the groups that the lessons were taught to were teachers so that they would better know how to incorporate this into their own classrooms.  I feel that we are doing a lot of that in this class and i LOVE it!  I found it very informative and useful for the article to be split into the different sections.  In the before reading section, I thought there were several GREAT ideas.  To begin with, I liked how the teacher gave a literary model to give an example of an end product that she was looking for.  I find this to be very helpful to use with my students in my own classroom.  I also liked how she discussed how setting was so important to a story before discussing the two important settings in Sarah Plain and Tall.  It was a great learning experience for the students to choose a plant or animal from the list and do research on this topic and share it with their classmates.  I feel as if it gave students more information to incorporate into their “I” poems as well as helping them to relate to the feelings of Sarah when she was displaced to the prarie from the coast of Maine because they were very familiar with both settings.  In the after reading section, I like how the “I” poems were used to reflect on what the story was about or what the reader learned or took away from the story.  Right now we are reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe in my classroom, and I think that my students would absolutely love to use the sample “I” poem format to take on the traits of one of the characters in the book.  These books have such rich descriptions in them and the students are so full of questions about what certain words mean, and the different culture, and predicting the outcome of different situations that they could really let their imaginations run loose.  Also for 2nd graders, I think it would be a little more conducive to write an “I” poem after a read aloud so that the students have been able to embark in discussions of the story as well as become more familiar with the characters. After reading this article, I am really wanting to try letting my students choose a character from the Narnia book and see what good ideas they cam come up with to complete the “I” poem format. 

Chapter 6 Response…

I actually found this chapter to be very useful.  As a new teacher, I have struggled all year trying to find my way in implementing writing in my classroom while maintaining student interest.  This chapter hit on some very helpful aspects of the most important part of writing…planning.  I  LOVED the section about how to create a good writing atmosphere to inspire children to write.  It reminded me a lot of the writer’s workshop where planning is such an important part of the writing routine.  I liked how the chapter gave 3 different strategies to teach planning–most importantly strategy instruction.  I agree with the chapter when it states that the planning process/aspect of writing will stay with the writer if they have all of the knowledge of “how-to” plan. I coincidentally just went to a 2nd grade workshop/conference in Durham where i had the opportunity to take a session titled, “The Essentials for the Writer’s Workshop” by Susan Schulgen.  This was an excellent session which heavily referenced and recommended the work of Lucy Calkins.  It closely aligned with the chapter in discussing planning.  This teacher/presenter stated that in her writing workshop, planning was taught through a series of mini-lessons and practiced day after day because of its importance.  She said that in her classroom, the students did nothing but brainstorm topics and plan for 6 weeks straight.  Since reading this chapter and attending this session, I have begun to compile a list of mini-lessons and ways I can begin using the writer’s workshop in my class.  This is the first time I have EVER been excited about writing and I actually think my students are getting excited about it too!

Chapter 10 Response…Writing

I really liked this chapter of the book.  It described a literate community as classrooms in which literacy activities establish and maintain realtionships among individuals.  I find this to be SO true.  Without students making aspects of literacy “stick” they are unable to succeed in various parts of the curriculum.  I agree with the chapter in the fact that teachers need to be involved in students producing good writing.  In my classroom we do a plan, revise, and publish routine.  I have a chart posted in which children can move their pictures to whether they are planning, revising, writing, or if they need to conference with me.  I liked how the chapter pointed out that writing is a challenging task.  I actually did the re-writing of a fairytale in my classroom right before Christmas and I was so thrilled with the results.  I introduced this concept by reading Trollerella, and the Stinky Cheese Man, and the children couldn’t wait to choose one of their own to write.  Since they are only in second grade, I did an activity with them before they started similar to scaffolding.  I had a worksheet on which was 3 different squares.  They had to choose 3 different parts from different fairytales and draw pictures of that part, and then write a silly story about the pictures.  From there, they were able to create their own stories and they were hilarious!  One important thing I gathered from the chapter is how necessary it is to keep the writing interesting for students.  They need to be able to write about things that are important to them and that they can relate to in order to produce meaningful works.  I also think that this helps produce the student’s voice in their writing.  I would love to incorporate something like this into my classroom, but the 4th grade teachers are so strict on how they want writing taught, I feel that everything is so centered around teaching to the 4th grade writing test and i HATE that!  Any suggestions?