Sunset Shadorma

After a long, nothingseemedtogoquiteright kind of an afternoon at school today, I was graced by this stunning sunset on my drive home. Tonight I feel grateful that I was able to witness this breathtaking sky today and to have the opportunity to spend a few moments writing about it. As I wrote in my last post, I used the form of a Shadorma poem.  

Stunning Sunset 

“Sunset Shadorma”

Majestic hues

Soften evening’s

Journey home.

Yellow, pink

Orb illuminates skyline -

Nature’s finest hour.

Finding Beauty In Unexpected Places

Last August, I challenged myself to write and publish a post at least once a week. For the most part (except for one or two weeks in October), I accomplished this. Honestly, I often struggle with what to write about. In addition, I worry if my writing is good enough for others to read. I still carry some of the same worries as I wrote about in my first blog post. However, each time I post something I gently need to remind myself that the act of writing and publishing a blog post is usually enough for me, as it helps me slow down and pay attention to what is happening around me and best of all, it helps me to reflect on how I show up as a teacher, writer, and person. For me, that is a precious gift. Each time I work on a blog post, I am reminded of how hard writing is and how vulnerable you must be in order to share your writing (including your ideas within your writing) with others. I think this experience of blogging has helped me appreciate the writing of other bloggers (or anyone who publishes writing) and it gives me a lot more empathy and insight for my students when I ask them to share their writing with each other or with me.

One thing that has surprised me about blogging is the joy of connecting with other bloggers and discovering something new about writing or teaching. For example, a few days ago I read this post from blogger Margaret Simon. She wrote a post based on what another blog post challenged readers/writers to do - write a poem about finding beauty in something not considered beautiful. Margaret Simon shared her gorgeous poem called Graffiti Girl. She also introduced me to a form of poetry that I had never heard of before: Shadorma, a Spanish form of Haiku using a pattern of syllables of 3/5/3/3/7/5 in a non rhyming poem of six lines. I’ve been writing daily Haiku for a while, but I thought that it would be fun to play with Shadorma.  

I live in a relatively small, older home built in the 1940s. We have a small kitchen, sans automatic dishwasher. Due to the loss of cabinet space and a limited budget, our family never installed one. Doing the dishes by hand is often a task I loathe, and it usually makes me cranky when I realize that a stack of dirty dishes awaits me. Yet when I filled up the dirty crock pot ceramic insert with warm water and dish soap this morning, I realized beauty was in my kitchen sink. I had simply not found the time to notice or think about it.

Here is my first attempt at a Shadorma poem, noticing something I don’t usually find to be very beautiful:

“Sud Bubbles”

Suds sparkle

Shimmer against jet

Porcelain.

Light bends as

Bubbles pop and shrink into

Abundant water.

And so, Margaret from Reflections from the Teche, thank you for helping me to recognize beauty in something so mundane I see each day AND for introducing me to a new form of poetry. Shadorma is a form I will definitely play with again in my writing.

Book Love and Conferring

This past summer I joined Book Love Summer Book Love 2017. I listened to phenomenal podcasts produced by Teacher Learning Sessions, read some amazing books (The Crossover, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Revolution, and Disrupting Thinking), and participated in several online discussions through posts in the Book Love Summer Book Club Facebook group. Although I was already a huge proponent of promoting and implementing best practices in literacy, Summer Book Love 2017 helped me think even more deeply about literacy and book access and how I wanted independent reading to be a key component in my high school classroom.

At the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year I implemented a small chunk of independent reading in all of my high school classes as part of the daily routine. At first, my high school seniors especially protested at the scheduled ten to fifteen minutes of daily reading, reminding me that they haven’t been required to read in school every day since middle school (some of them since elementary school). However, I continued to promote the importance of reading, citing studies of the benefits of reading. In addition, I frequently talked about my love of reading and shared quick book talks with my students. In addition, I made time to take students to our school library for book talks and opportunities to check out books. Although it has taken some time to create buy-in with many of my students, I am so glad that I carved out this daily time for reading.  After nearly three months of independent reading, 75% of my students reported in an anonymous Google form I set up that they enjoy this time set aside to read. In fact, one of my students commented that she could not believe that she has read four books already, and she didn’t think that she has read an entire book since eighth grade. Win!

Of course, I have some reluctant readers. You know these students, the ones who are “fake reading” or report that, “reading is just not for me.” I have seen students hide their cell phones in their books (and text or Snapchat while we are reading). I have observed students go through book after book because they cannot find the book that holds their attention yet. Even so, I am still working diligently to find a good match for each student to read. "I'm not giving up on you as a reader" has been my mantra all year.

One of the unexpected benefits from the Book Love Summer Book Club Facebook group is that although the Summer Book Club is over, the online community is still active. I recently posted this question:

“I have a student (9th grade girl) who tells me that she hates reading. She said that she doesn't read. I have introduced her to Crank, John Green books, and a few other edgy books (that other students usually like), but she's still a mystery to me. Outside of school she tells me that she likes to sleep and hang out with friends. She isn't a very strong reader. What books would you recommend for me to introduce to her?"

The online community almost immediately flooded me with great suggestions for my student, including graphic novels. I have graphic novels in my classroom library, but I hadn’t introduced them to her yet. The next afternoon I showed her Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier. To my surprise, she devoured Ghosts in a week and then began Smile by the same author. She’s almost finished Smile.

Last week I realized that two of my high school seniors were reading The Giver and they were in different classes. I asked one of the boys what drew him to this title. He responded that he always wanted to read this book and he and his friend were texting each other one night, trying to figure out what to read next. Apparently, they both decided to read The Giver together so they could talk about it. I was elated to discover that they were talking about books outside of class.

Perhaps one of my favorite parts of independent reading this year is conferring. For the longest time (and especially early in my career), I was terrified of conferring. Maybe it was the fear that I wouldn’t do it correctly or that the class would get off task while I was conferring with one student. To be honest, in the past I have been spotty with conferring, giving up when I was feeling defeated because I wasn’t reaching enough students. Then I listened to Penny Kittle speak in her Book Love Podcasts and other teachers rave about conferring. I reread Book Love and realized that one area I could work on this year was conferring. I also remembered some advice that I heard from Donalyn Miller at a conference a few years ago about conferring: every day, as many students as you can, under whatever conditions (her Golden Gate Bridge Method). I actually have this written on the cover of my teaching planner, so I remember it often.

My conferring reminder

Sometimes I confer with four or five students in a day. Other times I can only get to one or two students because we are having such a great conversation about what he or she is reading or I am helping a student find a book. My biggest section has 32 students, and I confer with them all, even if it is as not as many times as I would like to.

Yes, at times other students are off task (and not always reading) when I am conferring with a student, but I believe that one-on-one time conferring is still worth it.  

I don’t have a fancy system for conferring. I use a plain composition notebook for each class. In each conference I record the date, the student’s name, the book the student is reading and the page that he or she is on. Finally, I often write what I notice about that student as a reader and as a person. My favorite questions to ask students when I confer with them about books include:

• What's worth talking about?
• Catch me up. What's going on?

Kneeling down next to students sitting in desks or sitting next to my students on the floor (yes, next to my high school seniors), has been incredibly rewarding. I believe that it is the conferring that has made the biggest difference in success of independent reading so far this year and in the relationships that I have built with my students. Conferring gives me a better sense of who each student is as a reader and learner. It is also how I have discovered what my students really care about and what is going on in their lives.

I am eager to discover even more about each of my students as a reader and as a person as the year progresses. In addition, I am eager to continue to learn from the Book Love Community so I can continue to serve all of my students better.

#DWHabit: Grin

This morning I felt stuck in my writing. Typically, when I find myself in a writing funk, I read poems or compelling fiction in search of a line I can lift. Yet today I couldn't find anything that struck my fancy, and I found myself on Twitter instead, mindlessly scrolling through Tweets.

Twitter (or any other social media platform) is usually a guarantee that I will not spend my time writing (or doing whatever task worthy of my time). For me, social media typically makes me incredibly unproductive. But today, I lingered on this Tweet from teachwrite.org. I love the premise of growing your writing habit by writing about a word. (And it was a great solution to get out of this morning’s writing funk.) So today I decided to write about the word grin in the form of a double haiku:

A mound of yellow,

Orange, red, brown leaves invites small

Feet plunging with glee.

Mama rakes again:

Swish. Swish. Crunch. Swish. Swish. Crunch. "I

need another plunge!"

My daughter's glee in plunging into leaf piles this afternoon. 

Unexpected Gifts

Last Saturday I was caught off guard. It had been a day that I was not feeling very good about myself (as a person, a parent, a teacher, a writer), and then I saw notifications waiting in my Gmail Inbox. I admit, I am a sheepish in sharing this, but I am amazed when I realize that anyone takes the time to read my writing. Yet, I found myself absolutely floored to realize that several people had left comments in response from the last blog post I published. They took the time to open my blog post, read my writing, and then shared with me what parts of my writing resonated with them. A few of them encouraged me to join them through different writing forums as well. What an amazing gift.

A few days later, as I wrote in my journal about how reading these comments made me feel, I realized that publicly sharing my thoughts through writing has helped me connect with others in a way I didn't expect.

My dear friend and colleague, Lisa, also responds frequently to my blog posts through face-to-face conversations at school or via text messages or emails. After I posted this post, Lisa wrote me a Haiku in response. Another time, after reading this post, Lisa shared how her reading identity was significantly altered after she suffered a severe concussion, helping her better understand how reading was a different experience when it was hard, allowing her to provide more empathy to her students. Listening to her experience helped me realize that I had not yet taken the time to share with my students how I struggled as a reader and how it impacted my mindset as a learner. As a result, I made some changes in how I was instructing my students and decided that I needed to share more of my experience as a struggling reader. Although Lisa might not realize it, her responses have affected me as a teacher, as a person, and as a writer - another unexpected gift.

It is no secret that I am an avid reader. One reason that I devour books and poems and articles and blog posts is for connection. When I can relate to someone else’s experience or can linger over a line, I often feel a deep connection with that author, just through his or her words. It is as if I somehow know the author because of his or her writing.

Truth be told, before I began writing this blog, I never really saw myself as someone who had the ability to create connection through my words.

Connection is a gift, whether it be through writing or face-to-face conversations. I am humbled to realize that I have found connections with others through my writing. 

Why I Write

Since I began the 2017-2018 academic school year, I am happy to report that I haven’t missed one day of writing. As I mentioned in this post, I began writing Morning Pages last summer. Often my Morning Pages are written just before I retire to bed, and they are often a reflection of my day of teaching or thinking about what I want students to make (through writing, thinking, or reading) the following day or in a long term project. I have altered my plans so many times after I have spent some time writing. Therefore, I am convinced that the act of writing has already made me a better teacher, more responsive to my students’ needs. I cannot help but wish that I had made more of an effort to make writing a daily practice years ago. This is just one of the reasons #WhyIWrite.

In honor of tomorrow’s celebration (National Day on Writing), I decided to share a poem I wrote in the summer of 2016, based on my writing beliefs. This poem hangs in my office at school - a daily reminder of what kind of a teacher of writers I aspire to be:

Writing Manifesto

You don’t get better at writing (or anything)

Without starting from a blank sheet.

Be prepared to mess up. Big.

Take risks. Especially when it’s uncomfortable and scary.

We all need that push.

Keep writing.

Keep a notebook nearby-in the car, next to your bed, tucked in your bag.

Record conversations that linger, the thoughts that refuse to leave.

Collect quotes. Make lists. Sketch. Lift lines.

Reread your work. Revise. Repeat.

Fifteen minutes a day can be all it takes -

Will you write one line?

Daily.

Keep writing.

Find out about yourself - where have you been? What’s next?

Create a record of your existence. (Yes, you matter!)

Notice your ordinary, yet

Capture the pivotal moments and

What doesn’t make sense.

Keep writing.

Steal like an artist-

Emulate from your favorite paperback mentors

Since the best mentors are often people you never meet in the flesh

Only through their words.

They can guide you

If you let them.

Study their craft.

Keep writing.

Reread your writing. To yourself. Out loud.

Listen to your own voice.

Revise.

One word. One line.

Revise.

Revise.

Share.  

Keep writing.

#Me Too

I opened Facebook tonight for the first time in several days and was flooded with a stream of posts including this message, personal stories of sexual harassment and assault, and #MeToo. Apparently, many of my friends and acquaintances share the experience of being sexually harassed or assaulted. (Seriously, I had no idea how many. It gives me a sense of how big and serious this problem is, especially when I think that these are all people whom I know in real life.) Although it made me sad to read so many stories and statements about sexual harassment and assault, I was proud of my brave friends who shared, and it compelled me to share a bit of my story.

Below is one part of my #MeToo story, written in a 50 word story format. Many 50 word stories that I’ve written before are fiction. This one is true:

She's seventeen: still trying to match the uneven seams of her childhood into adulthood.

He saunters in-drunk again. He paws her wrist, presses her close and shares explicit sexual desires. Nothing new.

She wilts.

“What an asshole - your boss.”

He’s suspended-two weeks sans pay. Yet, it is she who apologizes.