Poetry Stretch Results - Rondel/Roundel

This week we worked on the roundel, a poem with eleven lines in the rhyme scheme abab bab abab. But wait! Lines 4 and 11 must be the same. Here's what the creative people came up with.

Daisybug at Things The Make Me Say... shares a roundel called Stillness.

Andi at a wrung sponge was inspired by a rock she photographed on a walk and wrote a roundel entitled Rough Cut Stone.

Diane Davis reflects on her the naughty housemates who share her home in Empty Nest.

sister AE at Having Writ reflects on a sailor's adage and gives us Blue Roundel.

Laura Purdie Salas captures dreams and nightmares in her roundel.

I spent some time this week reading through really bad high school poetry (mine!) and was inspired to use some of my previous words in this roundel.

Spinning, Spinning

With arms held straight out from my side
and wearing a giddy grin,
to the left I turn, eyes open wide,
and the world begins to spin.

On the Ferris wheel, high above the din,
I want to whisper and secrets confide.
But where on earth to begin?

You stand so close -- I've nowhere to hide,
my heart you're trying to win.
Lost in your gaze our lips collide,
and the world begins to spin.

It's not too late if you still want to play. Try your hand at a roundel and leave me a note. Then I'll add your poem to the list.

Steve Jenkins Talks

If you've spent any time here, you know that I'm a huge fan of Steve Jenkins. He's highlighted at the Cybils today, talking about his work. It's a great interview, so do make some time to check it out.

First Podcast is Up!

Okay, deep breath. My very first podcast is up over at Open Wide, Look Inside. It is surprisingly long (16 minutes!), but covers a good bit of ground. If you're interested in counting books, this one's for you.

Podcast No. 1 - What Makes a Good Counting Book?

Please Note: If you have subscribed to Open Wide, Look Inside in blog reader/aggregator, the link to the audio file does not work from within the reader. You need to go directly to blog entry containing the podcast. Sorry for this. We are still working out technical issues.

Author Visits - From Both Sides

Camillle at Book Moot wrote a wonderful post about authors and school visits. Once you've read it, be sure to read another perspective published in the Guardian today, where Sian Pattenden writes My Favourite Critics.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Rondel/Roundel

A rondel is a variation of the roundeau. In the book A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms, Paul Janeczko calls it a roundel and defines it this way.

A roundel is a three-stanza poem of 11 lines. The stanzas have four, three, and four lines in them and a rhyme scheme of abab bab abab. Ah, but there's more. Line 4 is repeated as line 11 -- not an easy trick!

The roundel in the book, entitled A Silver Trapeze, was written by Alice Schertle, a woman who once said "Writing poetry is difficult, absorbing, frustrating, satisfying, maddening, intriguing – and I love all of it!" I'm with her there.

Here is a roundel about a roundel.

The Roundel
By Algernon Charles Swinburne

A roundel is wrought as a ring or a starbright sphere,
With craft of delight and with cunning of sound unsought,
That the heart of the hearer may smile if to pleasure his ear
A roundel is wrought.

Its jewel of music is carven of all or of aught--
Love, laughter, or mourning--remembrance of rapture or fear--
That fancy may fashion to hang in the ear of thought.

As a bird's quick song runs round, and the hearts in us hear
Pause answer to pause, and again the same strain caught,
So moves the device whence, round as a pearl or tear,
A roundel is wrought.

Will you join us this week in writing a roundel? Leave me a comment about your poem and I will post the results later this week. Happy writing!

Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award

Last week the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, the University Libraries, and the Pennsylvania School Librarians' Association announced the winner of the 2008 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award.

Winner

Birmingham, 1963
by Carole Boston Weatherford

Honor Books

Blue Lipstick: Concrete Poems
by John Grandits

This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness
by Joyce Sidman

All three books were Cybils nominees for poetry. This is Just to Say was named one of the poetry finalists.

Thoughts on Poetry

In the Guardian this morning was an article entitled Finding the Right Words to Define Poetry. Here's how it begins.

Poetry can quite easily be seen as the poor relation of the arts. Collections of poetry sell in remarkably small numbers and almost nobody earns a living from writing the stuff. And yet, if the internet is to be believed, hundreds of thousands of people seem to be writing poetry, and a lot of them are also discussing this most noble of arts in blogs and other online forums. One of the things most often discussed is the fundamental question, "what is poetry anyway?"

And here's how it ends.

Other definitions of poetry have tended to avoid questions of harmony and morality entirely. For instance, William Carlos Williams wrote that a "poem is a small (or large) machine made out of words". Williams points to a distinction between prose and poetry that, by analogy, lies somewhere in the self-sustaining economy of effort and complete lack of sentimentality that characterises machines. Williams's words also, I believe, sit very comfortably with Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous dictum, "I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose - words in their best order; poetry - the best words in their best order."

This last is the definition that most pleases me. Now all we have to do is agree on what we mean by the "best words" and the "best order" and we're laughing.

In the spirit of poetry Friday, this is a worthy entry. Do click on over and read all the stuff in the middle.

Poetry Friday - A Lesson in Latin

While working on my macaronic verse this week, I experimented a bit with Latin. I studied Latin through high school and into college. The appeal for me was in both the etymology and the connection to science. I still love the language, though I don't read it much these days. Since I've been thinking Latin lately, here's a favorite poem that mentions it.

A Lesson in Latin
by Lewis Carroll

Our Latin books, in motley row,
Invite us to our task-
Gay Horace, stately Cicero:
Yet there's one verb, when once we know,
No higher skill we ask:
This ranks all other lore above-
We've learned "'Amare' means 'to love'!" -
So, hour by hour, from flower to flower,
We sip the sweets of Life:
Till, all too soon, the clouds arise,
And flaming cheeks and flashing eyes
Proclaim the dawn of strife:
With half a smile and half a sigh,
"Amare! Bitter One!" we cry. -
Last night we owned, with looks forlorn,
"Too well the scholar knows
There is no rose without a thorn"-
But peace is made! We sing, this morn,
"No thorn without a rose!"
Our Latin lesson is complete:
We've learned that Love is Bitter-Sweet!

The round-up this week is being hosted by Mentor Texts, Read Alouds & More. Before you head over to read all the great posts, be sure to read the results of this week's poetry stretch. Lots of creative folks wrote macaronic verse, or poems in more than one language. It's great fun, so do take a look. Happy poetry Friday, all!

Poetry Stretch Results - Macaronic Verse

This week's challenge was to write macaronic verse, a poetic form that uses more than one language. Folks really seemed to have fun with this one. Here's what we have so far.

Fiona Bayrock wrote a tasty verse entitled Lasagna, But Do You Love Me?

just paisley gives us a meditation on a photo, in English, English and Spanish, and back to English again. Do read the three versions of Sepia and weigh in on your favorite.

The Crafty Green Poet at Over Forty Shades (of green) gives us a verse entitled Untranslateable.

cloudscome at a wrung sponge also wrote from a photo, then replaced all the nouns with words from a made up language. Now if only someone would read it aloud!

Over at Things that make me say..., daisybug gives us Sub Ubi. That's underwear for you non-Latin types.

sister AE at Having Writ gives us a song and lesson in Yiddish with her verse Oy Vey, Tateh!

Sandy at Sensual Senryu has written a senryu in macaronic verse.

While thinking about this challenge I experimented with Latin (5 years in high school and college) and Yiddish (thanks to the very funny Yiddish with Dick and Jane and the head full of words my Jewish friends have taught me). However, I just couldn't get away from the snippets of various languages that are rattling around in my brain. Here's my verse.

The Necessary Linguist
How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.
Shall I un, deux, trois or
uno, dos, tres?

I can raise my glass
and offer a toast,
with sláinte or yasas,
gan bei or prost!

Traveling abroad
I say hello,
with Merhaba, Ni hao,
Shalom and Jambo.

I can please and thank you
in languages ten,
but I must beg forgiveness
again and again.

I'm a necessary linguist,
for I speak only English,
though I hope to know more
one day.

It's not too late if you still want to play. Read the rules and then leave me a comment about your verse. I'll add it to the others here.

It's Called Therapy

My accreditation review is almost over. To keep me going through stressful times, my colleagues sent me this gem this morning. Man, I love them.

To Maintain a Healthy Level of Insanity

1. At lunch time, sit in your parked car with sunglasses on and point a hair dryer at passing cars. See if they slow down.
2. Page yourself over the intercom. Don't disguise your voice.
3. Every time someone asks you to do something, ask if they want fries with that.
4. Put your garbage can on your desk and label it "in."
5. Put decaf in the coffee maker for 3 weeks. Once everyone has gotten over their caffeine addictions, switch to espresso.
6. In the memo field of all your checks, write "for smuggling diamonds". (Keep an eye out for FBI or IRS agents afterwards.)
7. Finish all your sentences with "in accordance with the prophecy."
8. Don t use any punctuation which seems to be an accepted format for people using e-mail on a regular basis and who really don't care how or what people think about their ability to communicate using the English language with the printed word.
9. As often as possible, skip rather than walk.
10. Order a diet water whenever you go out to eat...use a serious face.
11. Specify that your drive-through order is "to go."
12. Sing along at the opera. (Be ready to duck).
13. Go to a poetry recital and ask why the poems don't rhyme.
14. Put mosquito netting around your work area and play tropical sounds all day.
15. Five days in advance, tell your friends you can't attend their party because you're not in the mood.
16. Have your coworkers address you by your wrestling name, Rock Bottom.
17. When the money comes out of the ATM wave it around and scream "I won! I won!" Then watch to see if others line up for your machine.
18. When leaving the zoo, start running towards the parking lot, yelling, "Run for your lives, they're loose!!"
19. Tell your children over dinner that, "Due to the economy, we are going to have to let one of you go."
20. And the final way to keep a healthy level of insanity......send this e-mail to someone to make them smile. It's Called Therapy.

I'm smiling, and I hope you are too. I'll get back to my regularly scheduled program shortly. I promise.

Mathematics Achievement Gaps

Last week the National Science Board (NSB) released the Science and Engineering Indicators 2008, the 18th in a series of biennial science indicators reports. The report provides information on science, engineering, and technology at all levels, including K-12. Since I'm teaching Foundations of Mathematics Instruction this semester, I was most interested in the data regarding mathematics. A number of achievement gaps are noted at the elementary level. Here's what the report says about this.

Changes in achievement gaps are most easily summarized by examining average scale scores, which place students on a continuous ability scale based on their overall performance. Results indicate that all demographic groups gain mathematical skills and knowledge during elementary school but the rate of progress varies.

• Gender Gaps. Boys and girls started kindergarten at the same overall mathematics performance level, but by the end of fifth grade, boys had made larger mathematics gains than girls, resulting in a small but observable gender gap of four points.

• Race/Ethnicity Gaps. Gaps between white and black students and between white and Hispanic students existed when students started kindergarten and they widened over time. In mathematics, from kindergarten to fifth grade, white students posted a gain of 93 points; Hispanics, a gain of 89 points; and blacks, a gain of 80 points. By fifth grade, the gap between white and black students in average mathematics scores was 19 points, and the average score of black fifth grade students was equivalent to the average third grade score of white students.

• Mother’s Education and Family Income Gaps. Students whose mothers had higher levels of education entered kindergarten with higher average mathematics scores than their peers whose mothers attained less formal education and these gaps increased as students progressed through elementary school. By grade 5, the gaps in mathematics scores were substantial, with students whose mothers had dropped out of high school posting a lower average mathematics score than students whose mothers had graduated from college had posted at grade 3. Students living in families with incomes below the poverty threshold also entered school with lower mathematics skills than their peers from higher income families, and those discrepancies in scores grew by fifth grade.

These data are startling and frankly, a bit depressing. Now, I must arm my students with this information and ask them what they intend to do about it. It should be an interesting discussion.

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

I am under the microscope right now, being poked, prodded and examined. Well not me really, but my department. Most of you who read this blog know that I am an education professor, but what you probably don't know is that I chair the department. I've held this unhappy position since 2000. Unhappy? Absolutely. Administration is not my cup of tea. I am a teacher. Just put me in a classroom and let me do my stuff. Because of my administrative responsibilities, I teach less than some of my colleagues. I'd like to teach more.

I've spent the last year and half (longer, perhaps) looking at our program to prepare teachers, and analyzing miles of data in an effort to demonstrate that we prepare teachers who are "competent, caring and qualified." I've correlated, calculated measures of central tendency, run regressions, created scatterplots, analyzed variance (have I lost you yet?) and gone bug-eyed over statistics. What has it told me? Well, I'm not sure. I know it's not enough to say that experience has taught me what a good teacher looks like, and that on paper, the numbers don't always tell the whole story. For example, that 4.0 graduate may be an outstanding student and know his/her content, but will he/she be flexible enough to meet the demands of the classroom? The answer? Not always. How about that 2.9 grad? Some of my most creative and passionate teachers have less than stellar grades.

I had professor in grad school who insisted that gifted statisticians could make the data "say" whatever they wanted. I guess it all depends upon the "lens" through which we choose to look at these things. The numbers can be helpful to an extent, but seeing candidates in action is really the most telling piece of evidence we have. I DO know a good teacher when I see one, and so do you.

What say you, dear readers. What does a good teacher look like? Share your thoughts, because I would love to hear them. And by the way, no statistics needed.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Macaronic Verse

I reviewed the list of poetry stretches to date and am amazed by how much we've tackled. I want to try something else new to me this week, so I've selected macaronic verse. The Handbook of Poetic Forms defines macaronic verse in this fashion.

Macaronic verse is a peculiar, rare and often comic form of poetry that sometimes borders on nonsense. It is a mixture of two (or more) languages in a poem, in which the poet usually subjects one language to the grammatical laws of another to make people laugh.

You can read more at Wikipedia and learn a bit about the history of this form. You can also read something by an academic (c'mon, don't let that stop you). I was interested to note that the Carmina Burana is a fine example of this.

So, that's your challenge for this week, to write a poem that uses more than one language. If you don't know another language, make one up. Pig Latin, anyone? Leave me a comment about your macaronic verse and I'll post the results here later this week.

January Carnival is Up!

Susan over at Wizards Wireless has put together this month's carnival of children's literature, focused on book awards. There is much here to think about, so head on over and check it out.

School Around the Globe

Dear Readers,

Please forgive the cross-posting for a while. I want to make sure people find their way to my other blog. Yesterday I wrote a post entitled School Around the Globe. It is a thematic book list about schools around the world. Please stop by and take a look. If you know of title that I have missed, please let me know about it. I'm looking largely for nonfiction, but if you know of a picture book (fiction) that would fit, please mention it.

Best,
Tricia

Poetry Friday - More Alcott

I'm still thinking and reading about Louisa May Alcott. Since I'm such a fan of Thoreau, I found this poem gave me much to think about.

Thoreau’s Flute
by Louisa May Alcott

We, sighing, said, “Our Pan is dead;
   His pipe hangs mute beside the river;
   Around it wistful sunbeams quiver,
But Music’s airy voice is fled.
Spring mourns as for untimely frost;
   The bluebird chants a requiem;
   The willow-blossom waits for him;
The Genius of the wood is lost.”

Then from the flute, untouched by hands,
   There came a low, harmonious breath:
   “For such as he there is no death;
His life the eternal life commands;
Above man’s aims his nature rose:
   The wisdom of a just content
   Made one small spot a continent,
And turned to poetry Life’s prose.

“Haunting the hills, the stream, the wild,
   Swallow and aster, lake and pine,
   To him grew human or divine,—
Fit mates for this large-hearted child.
Such homage Nature ne’er forgets,
   And yearly on the coverlid
   ’Neath which her darling lieth hid
Will write his name in violets.

“To him no vain regrets belong,
   Whose soul, that finer instrument,
   Gave to the world no poor lament,
But wood-notes ever sweet and strong.
O lonely friend! he still will be
   A potent presence, though unseen,—
   Steadfast, sagacious, and serene:
Seek not for him,—he is with thee.”

The round up today is over at Farm School. Please stop by and check out all the great poetry being shared this week. Before you head on over, do read this week's poetry stretch results. We have some great centos created from titles of favorite books.

Poetry Stretch Results - Modified Cento

Inspired by the spate of book awards and "best of" lists announced recently, I thought it might be fun to write some centos using book titles. Here's what the creative people came up with this week.

cloudscome over at a wrung sponge gives us a cento inspired by the Cybils finalists. It is called Short List.

Laura Purdie Salas has poetry on the brain, so she used titles from poetry books. It's titled Why I'm Crazy.

Elaine at Wild Rose Reader has written two centos using titles of poetry books. The first is a lovely little haiku. The second is a poetry invitation.

Sara Lewis Holmes at Read*Write*Believe is thinking about her pile of books to be read. Her cento, An Alphabetized, Prognosticating Cento of Fortuitous Couplets, is meant to organize this pile. Good luck with that, Sara!

MotherReader also gives us a list of upcoming reads in her cento.

Susan at Wizards Wireless takes us on a walk back through 70 years of the Caldecott medal winners with her cento (story).

I was inspired by some of my favorite books to write a poem entitled Nobody's Fool.

It's not too late if you still want to play. Read the directions here. Then leave a comment and I'll add your cento to the list.

The MRE is a Beauty - What Does Your Blog Look Like?

Over at Weekend Wordsmith, Bonnie has linked to a cool site that graphs your blog. Here's what The Miss Rumphius Effect looks like.

Yes, I'm a math lover, but even if I wasn't I would think this graph was amazingly beautiful. Now, go and find out just how pretty your blog is. In the meantime, I'm going to ponder this and see if it inspires something poetic.

Nobody's Fool - My Book Title Cento

The poetry stretch this week was to write a cento using book titles. Here's what I wrote while perusing some of the titles on my bookshelf.

Nobody's Fool
He waits in the secret garden while his
love is lost to the housekeeping.
He knows the name of the rose,
and all creatures great and small.
He meditates on beauty,
and walks where angels fear to tread.
He is the constant gardener,
tending the family orchard while
the sun also rises.
He lives in a brave new world,
without pride and prejudice,
by a thread of grace.
He dreams of Gilead,
the wide Sargasso Sea and
going to the lighthouse,
but dreams blow away
on the shadow of the wind.
He views the world through
an imperfect lens, and knows it's all
one big damn puzzler, but
he believes that life is a miracle and
that the Lord God made them all.

Here are the books that make up this cento.

1. Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo
2. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
3. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
4. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
5. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
6. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
7. Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster
8. The Constant Gardener by John le Carre
9. The Family Orchard by Nomi Eve
10. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
11. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
12. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
13. A Thread of Grace by Maria Doria Russell
14. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
15. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
16. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
17. Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
18. An Imperfect Lens by Anne Roiphe
19. One Damn Big Puzzler by John Harding
20. Life is a Miracle by Wendell Berry
21. The Lord God Made Them All by James Herriot

It's not too late if you still want to play. Read the directions here. Then leave a comment and I'll post links to all the centos later this week.

ALA Notable Children's Books

The 2008 list of notable children's books is out. (Thanks to Elaine for the notice.) Here is the description of notable from the ALA web site.

"According to the Notables Criteria, "notable" is defined as: Worthy of note or notice, important, distinguished, outstanding. As applied to children's books, notable should be thought to include books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children's interests in exemplary ways."

This is an exceptional list. Many of these titles were nominees for the Cybils or are currently Cybils finalists. Here are the finalists that appear on the list.

Young Readers

Lightship
by Brian Floca
Cybils Category - Nonfiction Picture Book

The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County
by Janice N. Harrington
Cybils Category - Fiction Picture Book

Vulture View
by April Pulley Sayre
Cybils Category - Nonfiction Picture Book

Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity
by Mo Willems
Cybils Category - Fiction Picture Book

Here's a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry
edited by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters
Cybils Category - Poetry

Middle Readers

One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of World War II
by Lita Judge
Cybils Category - Nonfiction Picture Book

Robot Dreams
by Sara Varon
Cybils Category - Elementary/Middle Grade Graphic Novel

Older Readers

Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood
by Ibtisam Barakat
Cybils Category - Middle Grade/YA Nonfiction

Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam and the Science of Ocean Motion
by Loree Griffin Burns
Cybils Category - Middle Grade/YA Nonfiction

Who Was First?: Discovering the Americas
by Russell Freedman
Cybils Category - Middle Grade/YA Nonfiction

Marie Curie: Giants of Science #4
by Kathleen Krull
Cybils Category - Middle Grade/YA Nonfiction

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village
by Laura Amy Schlitz
Cybils Category - Poetry

The Wednesday Wars
by Gary D. Schmidt
Cybils Category - Young Adult Fiction

The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
by Peter Sís
Cybils Category - Middle Grade/YA Nonfiction

The Arrival
by Shaun Tan
Cybils Category - Teen/Young Adult Graphic Novel

The ALA also named the Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens. There are a few Cybils books on this list as well.

Laika by
Nick Abadzis
Cybils Category - Teen/Young Adult Graphic Novel

Both The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain and The Arrival also made this list.