Monday Poetry Stretch - Ordinary Things

I am rereading Valerie Worth's book All the Small Poems and Fourteen More. I'm amazed and inspired by the way Worth was able to capture the essence of the everyday. Here's an example.

cow

The cow
Coming
Across the grass
Moves
Like a mountain
Toward us;
Her hipbones
Jut
Like sharp
Peaks
Of Stone,
Her hoofs
Thump
Like dropped
Rocks:
Almost
Too late
She stops.

I grew up near a dairy farm and spent lots of time in the fields with the cows. Her observation of their hip bones is so spot on. I love it.

Since I'm thinking about everyday things, the challenge this week is to take something familiar and write about the ordinary in an extraordinary way. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Nonfiction Nuggets - An Electrifying Trio

My students are preparing for class this week and are highlighting books on different aspects of physical science. Suffice it to say they are VERY disappointed with the choices available to them. As they're slogging their way through lots of "experimental" and "how-to" books, I thought I would highlight three useful resources for the study of electricity.

Wired written by Anastasia Suen and ilustrated by Paul Carrick - Nicely illustrated with lots of examples and labels, this book uses two levels of text to engage readers and help them understand how electricity is produced and conducted from power plant to home. Simple rhyming text describes the basic action, "humming thrumming, power's coming." This is accompanied by detailed informational text. The book begins by explaining what electricity is. "Electricity starts with something you cannot see: electrons. Electrons are part of an atom, and atoms are inside everything, including you!" The text is well-written and makes the concepts easily understandable for students and teachers alike.

Switch On, Switch Off written by Melvin Berger and illustrated by Carolyn Croll - This book in the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series explores how lights actually work. Readers will learn how electricity is produced and transmitted, and how generators, light bulbs, and electrical plugs work. At the end of the book readers will find directions for producing an electric current using wire, a bar magnet, and a compass.

The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen - Ms. Frizzle's at it again, taking her students to places they can only imagine. In this adventure they not only experience how a power plant makes energy, but they also travel through fires and wires, meet subatomic particles up close, and see home appliances from the inside.
**Note - I know this last one is a nonfiction stretch, as books in this series are cataloged as juvenile literature and generally shelved with picture books. However, there is a tremendous amount of factual information in them that is very helpful.

This post was written for Nonfiction Monday. Head on over to Anastasia Suen’s blog and check out all the great posts highlighting nonfiction this week.

More on the Canon and Teenage Readers

Libby, are you out there?

Libby, my colleague and the author of Lessons from the Tortoise, and I have been having an ongoing conversation about the teaching of English and the importance of what is read.

This week Jay Matthews at the Washington Post discusses these issues with his article Catering to the Teenage Reader. He returns to ideas from the Schnog article We're Teaching Books That Don't Stack Up and asks:

Should we abandon the most strenuous parts of the literary and philosophical canon in order to get more students engaged in their studies, or will that doom the next generation to a watered-down version of reality and make future writers, teachers, researchers and politicians the poorer for it?

I think I know what Libby's response will be. She's all for both, and I think she would heartily agree with Frazier O'Leary, an AP English teacher quoted in the article.

As someone who teaches Beowulf and Chaucer along with [Flannery] O'Connor, [Sandra] Cisneros and Edward P. Jones, I feel that good writing never dies. My students are always interested in how writers like Shakespeare and Morrison are masters and mistresses of their own genres and how their artistry is what makes their works timeless. I don't think it is necessary to slim down or modernize the canon. I do think it is important for 21st-century students to be able to believe that they could one day be a part of a canon which includes people who look like them. We are talking about the ability to read and comprehend works written generally in English, not works written by English people necessarily.

It's hard not to agree with this kind of logic. However, my concern is not for the kids who enroll in A.P. English. It's for all those kids still struggling to read (decode) and comprehend. Unfortunately, many of them exist at the high school level. How do we select books that will help them improve their skills as readers while learning to appreciate the written word? This is where I think all the arguments fall short. What should we do for these kids? I'm all for high expectations for every child, but what do we do for the young adults for whom Chaucer might mean turning off to reading and English class entirely? I suppose I'm really asking the "one-size fits all" question here. Should every kid in high school read the same list, or should teachers try to find works that meet the needs of the students?

Poetry Friday - Some Opposites

It's been a strange week of ups and downs, with happy and sad events and days that have flown by while others crawled toward their close. Reflecting on the week has me thinking of opposites, so here is an appropriate poem.

Some Opposites
by Richard Wilbur

What is the opposite of riot?
It's lots of people keeping quiet.

The opposite of doughnut? Wait
A minute while I meditate.
This isn't easy. Ah, I've found it!
A cookie with a hole around it.

What is the opposite of two?
A lonely me, a lonely you.

The opposite of a cloud could be
A white reflection in the sea,
Or a huge blueness in the air,
Caused by a cloud's not being there.

The opposite of opposite?
That's much too difficult. I quit.

(This poem can be found in The Oxford Book of Children's Verse in America, chosen and edited by Don Hall.)

The round up is being hosted by Elaine at Wild Rose Reader. Do stop by to enjoy all the great poetry being shared this week. Before you go, be sure to check out this week's poetry stretch results.

One More Thing! - Yesterday I wrote about Britain's exam board and their request that schools destroy an anthology with a poem containing a reference to knives. Please read the post and the poem that caused the furor.

Poetry Stretch Results - Ten-Minute Spill

This week's stretch was to write a ten-line poem that included a proverb, adage, or familiar phrase that was changed in some way, as well as five of the following words:

• cliff
• needle
• voice
• whir
• blackberry
• cloud
• mother
• lick

Here are the results.

lirone over at Words That Sing shares a poem entitled Time.

Tiel Aisha Ansari at Knocking From Inside gives us a poem called Panamint.

As for me, we lost a friend to suicide on Monday, so I've had a hard time writing this week. When I come up with something, I'll be sure to post.

It's not too late if you still want to play. Leave me a comment about your poem and I'll add it to the list.

Banning Books Because of Poetry

In today's Guardian is an article about Britain's exam board and their request that schools destroy an anthology with a poem containing a reference to knives. Here is an excerpt.

Britain's biggest exam board has been accused of censorship after it removed a poem containing references to knife crime from the GCSE syllabus.

Officials at the AQA board said their request that schools destroy the anthology containing the Carol Ann Duffy poem Education for Leisure had been triggered by concerns in two schools about references to knives. A spokeswoman confirmed the decision had been made in the context of the current spate of knife-related murders.

But poets yesterday condemned the move, saying such "censorship" fundamentally missed the point of the poem, which they said could help children debate the causes of street violence.

You can read the rest of the story and the poem in question in the article Top Exam Board Asks Schools to Destroy Book Containing Knife Poem. I particularly liked Michael Rosen's response.

Michael Rosen, the children's laureate, said: "By this same logic we would be banning Romeo and Juliet. That's about a group of sexually attractive males strutting round the streets, getting off with girls and stabbing each other.

Go now and read it.

Monday Poetry Stretch is BACK!

August flew by with many hours spent writing for work and few spent writing for myself. Now that the students are back and the semester is moving into week two, I need to get back on track with my writing. I hope you'll join me for the stretches ahead.

This week's stretch comes from The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises From Poets Who Teach. This exercise was contributed by Rita Dove and is called Ten-Minute Spill.

Write a ten-line poem. The poem must include a proverb, adage, or familiar phrase that you have changed in some way, as well as five of the following words:

• cliff
• needle
• voice
• whir
• blackberry
• cloud
• mother
• lick

You can ignore the ten-minute part of the title unless you really want to stretch yourself. So, what kind of poem will you write? Leave me a note when you've finished and I'll post the results here later this week.

For All You Trading Spaces Teachers

Franki and Mary Lee at A Year of Reading hosted a Trading Spaces event where lots of teachers shared their classroom spaces. All you lovely folks who participated, and any other classroom teacher reading this post, might want to check this out.

I've "borrowed" shamelessly from Denise at Joy of Children's Literature. (Thanks, Denise!) Don't know this blog? If you teach, you should. Here's what she writes.

The Stenhouse Blog features articles by Stenhouse authors along with audio, video, and print interviews on a variety of subjects. A recent post titled How Would Debbie Diller Redesign your Classroom is based on author Debbie Diller's new book, Spaces and Places which presents ideas teachers can use to better manage the classroom and support student learning and independence. In the blog post, "Diller has set up an online Flickr gallery where you can upload photos of your classroom, as well as post questions and comments on others’ photos. Diller will select three photos of whole group areas that have been submitted to the gallery and will provide her own advice on how the area could be redesigned to provide a more comfortable or productive space for children." If you are among the first ten to upload a classroom photo, Stenhouse will send you a free copy of any Debbie Diller book.

There you go, people! You've got your photos already, so what are you waiting for?

Creativity Test

Okay, cloudscome made me do it. I'm actually not surprised that our numbers are reversed. Did you see those quilts she made? Have you seen her photos and read her haiku? I only wish I could do that! Here are my results.

Your turn! Go ahead and take the test.

Fabulous Fables - A Trio of Aesop

My son and I have been reading Aesop's fables for a few weeks now. Part of the fun in sharing these has come from reading the same stories in different books. These are the three volumes we have been enjoying.

The Rabbit and the Turtle by Eric Carle - There are 11 fables retold and illustrated by Eric Carle in this book. Each double-page spread contains the fable on the left and a full page illustration of a scene or characters from the fable on the right. The moral of each story is highlighted at the bottom of the text in the same color as the title. We particularly enjoyed The Frog and the Ox, a fable accompanied by an illustration of two animal families dressed up and out for a stroll. We see Mr. Frog all puffed up, trying to be as big as Mr. Ox. He looks as though he's about to float away, but upon reading the tale we learn he puffs himself up so much that he explodes!

Anno's Aesop: A Book of Fables by Aesop and Mr. Fox by Mitsumasa Anno - In this volume, Anno gives readers two stories based on the same illustrations. Readers learn that a book of Aesop's fables has been found by Freddy Fox, who begs his father to read him the tales. However, doesn't know how to read. What we get then is a "book within a book" which is presented with the top portion (2/3) of the pages retelling selected fables from Aesop, while the bottom portion provides Mr. Fox's interpretation of the pictures. This device makes for an interesting read, as Fox's "reading" of the handsome woodcut illustrations doesn't always match the fable.

Aesop's Fables by Jerry Pinkney - This volume illustrated by Pinkney is by far the most comprehensive of the three, containing 61 fables. It also begins with an introduction in which Pinkney writes, "From my earliest years my parents used the powerful themes from the tales to teach my siblings and me about human folly and virtue. At the time, though, I was only interested in the stories' compelling characters and their fast-paced, colorful narratives; I never really wondered about their purpose or origins." What follows are well-known and lesser-known fables, some accompanied by full page illustrations, others by small glimpses of characters in the tales.

If you are looking for other tales, Books for Keeps has an article entitled The History of Aesop's Fables that provides short annotations of many different versions available. Lit2Go has a variety of Aesop's Fables available for download in MP3 and PDF format so that you can listen as you read along. Aesop's Fables Online Collection contains translations of more than 650 fables. Finally, as part of the course Introduction to Computing in the Fine Arts at UMass Amherst, students are given the task of illustrating the traditional Aesop's fables along side their own retelling of the fables in a modern setting. You can view their traditional and modern interpretations of the tales. (Warning: Some of the modern versions are not appropriate for children. Read them first before sharing!)

New Book Feature at Open Wide, Look Inside

My companion blog, Open Wide, Look Inside, is a place where I review nonfiction and highlight the work of my students. Last semester my preservice teachers recorded and shared podcasts on children's books for mathematics instruction.

This semester they will be posting book reviews and teaching suggestions for a wide range of books in science and social studies. The topics they will be reviewing books for include:

• Process Skills
• Physical Science
• Life Science
• Earth Science
• Economics
• Geography
• History
• Civics

That's eight major topics multiplied by 13 students, which means between now and the middle of November there will be more than 100 posts written just for teachers! I do hope you'll stop by and see what they have to share.

One of my amazing students is ahead of the game and has already finished hers. If you want to take a look at the inaugural post, head on over to read Teaching Process Skills with Children’s Literature: Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?.

Poetry Friday - Farewell to Summer

It's over. Truly, it is.

Farewell to Summer
by George Arnold

Summer is fading; the broad leaves that grew
   So freshly green, when June was young, are falling;
And, all the whisper-haunted forest through,
   The restless birds in saddened tones are calling,
From rustling hazel copse and tangled dell,
      “Farewell, sweet Summer,
        Fragrant, fruity Summer,
          Sweet, farewell!”

Upon the windy hills, in many a field,
   The honey-bees hum slow, above the clover,
Gleaning the latest sweets its blooms may yield,
   And, knowing that their harvest-time is over,
Sing, half a lullaby and half a knell,
      “Farewell, sweet Summer,
        Honey-laden Summer,
          Sweet, farewell!”

The little brook that babbles mid the ferns,
   O’er twisted roots and sandy shallows playing,
Seems fain to linger in its eddied turns,
   And with a plaintive, purling voice is saying
(Sadder and sweeter than my song can tell),
      “Farewell, sweet Summer,
        Warm and dreamy Summer,
          Sweet, farewell!”

The fitful breeze sweeps down the winding lane
   With gold and crimson leaves before it flying;
Its gusty laughter has no sound of pain,
   But in the lulls it sinks to gentle sighing,
And mourns the Summer’s early broken spell,—
      “Farewell, sweet Summer,
        Rosy, blooming Summer,
          Sweet, farewell!”

So bird and bee and brook and breeze make moan,
   With melancholy song their loss complaining.
I too must join them, as I walk alone
   Among the sights and sounds of Summer’s waning.…
I too have loved the season passing well.…
      So, farewell, Summer,
        Fair but faded Summer,
          Sweet, farewell

The round up is being hosted by Charlotte over at Charlotte's Library. Do stop by and take in all the great poetry being shared this week. Happy poetry Friday, all!

On Parent-Teacher Communication

I came home from class last night to find one very excited kid. Sadly, it wasn't the arrival of his mother that prompted these feelings. Rather, it was the phone call he'd received a bit earlier from his second grade teacher. William has not met her yet (school doesn't start until next week), so he was thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with her.

Parent-teacher communications are always tough for new teachers. However, there are some simple things teachers can do to lay the foundation for good communication. Here are a few of them.

Learn about the kids and where they come from. I always tell my new teachers that one of the things they should do when they take a job is to drive around the neighborhood that feeds their school. It will tell them a lot about their kids. Amy at My Breakfast Platter does this idea one better. She visits the homes of her kids before the start of school.

Start early. Send your students a postcard or give them a phone call before the first day of school. This lets them and their parents know that you have already taken an interest in them. This type of brief, early communication can start your year on a good note.

Begin communication on a positive note. It's so easy to send a note or pick up the phone when something has gone wrong. Parent's of kids who receive lots of communications of this sort often "tune-out" or just get desensitized to it. The tough conversations are easier to have if you've had positive communications first. This means we have to recognize the good things kids do. Jenny at Elementary, My Dear, or Far From It, shares a story about just how important it is to send home positive praise.

Make parents partners. Parents are not the enemy, though there are some in the teaching profession that view them this way. We need to work harder to make parents our partners in the process of educating kids. One way to do this is to begin those difficult conversations with the words "I need your help." Too often teachers begin by talking about all the things that are going wrong.

Update regularly. Keeping parents informed about what is happening in class is good way to help build strong relations. Newsletters (weekly or monthly) inform families about areas of study and classroom successes. It can also be a place to ask for volunteers and invite parents with expertise in an area to come in and share with the class. These can take the more traditional paper format, or they can be electronic. I like paper because I'm never sure if every family has internet access at home.

Keep good records. When it comes time to meet with parents, data is invaluable. I can't stress enough the importance of keeping good records so that what you have to share with parents is specific. Offering specific examples generally leads to more constructive conversations and solutions.

Remember to say thank you. My mother was right. Never underestimate the importance of a thank you note. Get in the habit of sending your thanks when parents volunteer or send gifts. Most importantly, do it in a timely manner.

Do you have some additional ideas you would like to share? Please do. My new teachers and I would love to hear them.

45 Years Ago Today

Today marks the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s delivery of the "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The associate pastor at my church often talks about being in the crowd for the march and for this event. As a teen, it changed his life. Forty five years later, it's still changing the lives of those who are inspired by it.

Perception Personality Image Test

I'm procrastinating, so sue me! Here are the results of my "Perception Personality Image Test."

NBPS - The Idealist
Nature, Background, Big Picture, and Shape

You perceive the world with particular attention to nature. You focus on the hidden treasures of life (the background) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the shapes around you. Because of the value you place on nature, you tend to find comfort in more subdued settings and find energy in solitude. You like to ponder ideas and imagine the many possibilities of your life without worrying about the details or specifics. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You prefer a structured environment within which to live and you like things to be predictable.

The full results are even more interesting.

This is a fun test that asks you to look at a series of pictures and decide which parts you are most and least drawn towards. Go ahead and give it a try.

How's Your Content Knowledge?

My students arrive in 75 minutes. On the first day of class we begin by with a scavenger hunt as both a means of introduction and a way for me to see how much they "know" about the curriculum they will one day teach. Here are the rules and the questions.

1. Begin by reading the questions and writing in any answers you already know.
2. Walk around the room and find someone to confirm your answers and/or provide answers you do not know. Have that person initial next to the question.
   
3. Remember that one person may not supply more than two answers on your paper.
4. Sit down as soon as your hunt is completed.

FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN . . .

• Define and give you an example of opportunity cost.
• Name the “Father of the Constitution.”
• Name the most highly valued barter item in Colonial Virginia.
• Tell you who Christopher Newport was.
• Name two important figures in the Harlem Renaissance.
• Name the five regions of Virginia.
• Tell you the difference between latitude and longitude.
• Name two things George Washington Carver was famous for.
• Tell you about Werewocomoco.
• Name the five oceans of the world.

• Draw and name the parts of a light wave.
• Name the components of soil.
• Describe the difference between the waxing and waning phases of the moon.
• Tell you the required components and products of photosynthesis.
• Name the eight planets in order from the sun.
• Tell you what a dichotomous key is.
• Explain why it is hotter in the summer than in the winter.
• Name four nonrenewable energy resources.
• Tell you the difference between weathering and erosion.
• Name the five kingdoms of classification.
• Name the six types of simple machines.

How did you do? My students will be moaning and groaning, cheering every so often, and then wondering how they'll ever learn/remember it all. We'll spend the semester thinking about these topics and more, while we explore the best ways to teach them. You can be that books (and I don't mean textbooks) will play some small role here. :)

Nonfiction Nuggets - A Food Chain Trio

While I've been preparing my syllabi for fall, my son and I have been reading sets of books on some of the topics that are covered. Our recent reading has taken us into the realm of food chains and food webs. Here is a trio of books that examines different aspects of the energy transfer in nature.

Trout Are Made of Trees, written by April Pulley Sayre and illustrated by Kate Endle - What happens when leaves fall from a tree and land in a stream? "They ride in a rush above rocks and over rapids. They snag and settle soggily down." From here they become food for bacteria and a home for algae. They are further broken down by little critters, like crane flies, caddisflies, shrimp and stoneflies. These critters are eaten by predators. Guess where those leaves are now? When the predators are eaten by trout, the trout are made of trees. This is a beautifully illustrated book (mixed media collage) that not only introduces a simple food chain, but also the life cycle of trout.

Vulture View, written by April Pulley Sayre and illustrated by Steve Jenkins - Scavengers and decomposers play a very important role in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem. In helping to break down dead organisms, they are responsible for returning basic nutrients to the soil so that they may reenter the chain. In this book, we get a glimpse of the scavenging role that vultures play, along with some poetry and interesting facts about these oft maligned birds. For more information on this book, please read my review.

Wolf Island, written and illustrated by Celia Godkin - What happens when a top predator in well-balanced ecosystem disappears? This story highlights the changes that occur on an island after a family of wolves accidentally leave the island for the mainland. Without predators, there is nothing to keep the deer population in check. When it swells, the deer eat so much grass that rabbits and mice have fewer young. This results in less food for foxes and owls. This is a terrific resource for demonstrating how the balance of an ecosystem can easily be upset. It also does a fine job of explaining why the top predators in a food chain are so important.

There are other books about food chains and food webs, but these are my favorites and the least didactic of the bunch. All make great lesson starters for teaching elementary students about this topic.

This post was written for Nonfiction Monday. Head on over to Anastasia Suen’s blog and check out all the great posts highlighting nonfiction this week.

More on Reading and the Canon

In my post on Boys and the Bard, I asked the following:

Why are we so blessed concerned with the "right" books instead of the process of immersing kids in books that they will love? Shouldn't the goal be developing readers?

Libby responded with the thoughtfully defended response that it should be both (canon and enjoyment), and that not all reading is good.

I continue to think about these issues as I read with my own son. The books I read aloud are generally classics (Charlotte's Web, The Mouse and His Child, etc.) or newer works we have come to love (Clementine, Judy Moody, and lots of nonfiction). Some of the books he selects wouldn't be my choices, but he likes them, so he reads to his heart's delight. Right now he is plowing through--in order--the books in the Geronimo Stilton series.

What happens when this split happens in the classroom--when teachers and kids have vastly different tastes? You can find out in the piece We're Teaching Books That Don't Stack Up. Written by a high school English teacher, this essay goes back to the heart of the debate about canon vs. enjoyment. Here is an excerpt.

Far too often, teachers' canonical choices split from teenagers' tastes, intellectual needs and maturity levels. "Why do we assume that every 15-year-old who passes through sophomore English is an English major in the making?" asks a teacher friend. "It's simply not the case. And the kids go elsewhere, just as fast as they can -- anywhere but another book."

I watched this play out last year when the junior reading list at my school, consisting mainly of major American authors, was fortified with readings in Shakespeare, Ibsen and the British Romantic poets. When I handed my students two weeks of readings by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge after a month-long study of American transcendentalists, it became clear that they had overdosed on verse packed with nature description and emotional reflection. "When will we read something with a plot?" asked one agitated boy, obviously yearning for afternoon lacrosse to begin.

This is an excellent piece with some strong criticisms of what happens in English classrooms. The author begins her summary with these words.

The lesson couldn't be clearer. Until we do a better job of introducing contemporary culture into our reading lists, matching books to readers and getting our students to buy in to the whole process, literature teachers will continue to fuel the reading crisis.

Schnog's essay is excellent. Do take some time to read it. If you feel like dropping by afterward, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Back to School with The Onion

One of these days I'm going to remember to put on a Depends™ BEFORE I begin reading a piece from The Onion. Here's the latest article that had my laughing until ... well, you get the idea.

6-Year-Old Stares Down Bottomless Abyss of Formal Schooling

Here's how it begins.

CARPENTERSVILLE, IL—Local first-grader Connor Bolduc, 6, experienced the first inkling of a coming lifetime of existential dread Monday upon recognizing his cruel destiny to participate in compulsory education for the better part of the next two decades, sources reported.

And ends.

The first of Bolduc's remaining 2,299 days of school will resume at 8 a.m. tomorrow. On the next 624 Sundays, he will also be forced to attend church.

Now go read the really funny stuff in between.

Poetry Friday - Back to School

William doesn't head back until September 2nd, but our students are back, I've met my excited, wide-eyed, nervous new advisees, and classes begin on Monday. To celebrate my return to school, here's one of my favorite back-to-school poems. You can find it in the book I Thought I'd Take My Rat to School: Poems for September to June.

Remembering:
The First Day of School
by Bobbi Katz

"Write a composition,"
said the teacher,
"about something you did
during summer vacation.
Make it two pages long
and neatness counts."

I sat there
remembering the quiet
of the giant redwoods.
Even my little brother
whispered.

"Teacher,
could I write a poem
instead?"

If you are interested in some ideas for back to school poetry, read these posts.

• Elaine at Wild Rose Reader shares Going Back to School ...with Poetry
• Poetry in the Classroom - School Daze

The round up is being hosted over at Read. Imagine. Talk. Do stop by and check out all the great poetry being shared this week. Happy poetry Friday, all!