One Little Word -- Inspired by Our Classroom Routine

We change desks every two weeks in Room 226. Students' morning work on moving day is to move all their belongings out of their desk (or box) to a stack on their chair (or stool or nearby their spot at a standing table). Then we clean and disinfect (hooray for Clorox and Lysol wipes!) our old abode so the new tenant will have a fresh start. (Embedded life skill: clean the apartment so you get your deposit back!) With all of the students seated in the meeting area, I pull sticks to "assign" seats. First stick pulled chooses a spot at the first table, next stick sits at the stool table, then the clock table, the red chairs table, and the blue chairs table, and back around again until all the sticks are pulled and everyone has a new spot. (Pairs of students volunteer for the two standing tables.) So, every two weeks, students get a new table group and a new view in the classroom. I am not in charge of creating a seating chart and therefore, I am not in charge of behavior--they are. In reality, the spot they are assigned is mostly just a predictable place to put their belongings. Seating is flexible during most every work time--they are also in charge of their learning zone.

We've added a new spin to this bi-weekly routine. I wrote about it a few weeks ago, and it was #12 in last year's 31 Teaching Truths. We choose a new word to BE for the next two weeks. The person who chooses the word gets to determine the style of the lettering and decorate the poster. So far this year, we've been positive, fierce, focused, persevering, love (not be loving, but actually be love), courageous, flexible, and confident.

In 2019, instead of choosing One Little Word for the year, I am going to spend more time with each of the words we choose for our gallery of what we will BE.

A few weeks ago in a conversation about our words (not during the actual choosing ceremony), I tossed out the word WIERD in honor of our ongoing celebration of diversity, but was gently redirected by one of my students. He suggested that UNIQUE would be a more positive expression, one without the negative connotations. (So...maybe our quick little practice of lining up shades of meaning in synonyms is starting to stick?) Let the record stand, though, the words that are chosen are theirs, not mine. And yes, kids are starting to hoard words, hoping to be the next one chosen.

Lo and behold, the word that was chosen for this round was, indeed, UNIQUE. Perfect word, actually. It was the theme of the talk they heard on Monday from author Jason Tharp! So for the next two weeks, we'll celebrate all that makes us one-of-a-kind.

Poetry Friday -- #optimism

I dwell in Possibility – (466)

by Emily Dickinson

I dwell in Possibility –
A fairer House than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –

Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of eye –
And for an everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky –

Of Visitors – the fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise –

This year, I covered all my bases. I chose One Little Word: CREATIVITY. I wrote a 6 word story for the new year: More of this, less of that. My hashtag for the year is #optimism (thus the poem by Emily Dickinson, and while we're on the subject, may I just say how very much I miss the view from the window of my former classroom...you see it in every season in that set of photos...sigh...). Finally, my learn-something-new goal is to create an app. (Insert #optimism here, because I have exactly NO idea how to go about creating an app. However, today I'm beginning work with a group of students who are learning to code at code.org, so I feel like I'll be on the right path to figure it out.)

Catherine has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Reading to the Core.

Poetry Friday -- Looking for OLW

Looking
by W.D. Snodgrass

What was I looking for today?
All that poking under the rugs,
Peering under the lamps and chairs,
Or going from room to room that way,
Forever up and down the stairs
Like someone stupid with sleep or drugs.

Everywhere I was, was wrong.
I started turning the drawers out, then
I was staring in at the icebox door
Wondering if I’d been there long
Wondering what I was looking for.
Later on, I think I went back again.

Where did the rest of the time go?
Was I down cellar? I can’t recall
Finding the light switch, or the last
Place I’ve had it, or how I’d know
I didn’t look at it and go past.
Or whether it’s what I want, at all.


That's exactly what it felt like to look for my One Little Word for 2017. Last year's word was a dud -- BEND. It had a great image, but it didn't inform my life at all in 2016. 2015's word was NOTICE, which was not bad, but severely underutilized. 2014's word, BREATHE, has carried me through many days for the past three years. It's my go-to word when I'm feeling stressed...which feels like most of the time these days.

I restarted my morning exercise routine this week, and received a stern warning from the universe that I am of an age where I simply cannot take a couple of months off without severe repercussions. Oh, man, am I sore! How could I lose so much ground in such a short period of time?

As I work to regain my physical strength, I am also striving to be stronger in my beliefs and actions. And so, my word has found me through these two efforts: this year, I vow to be STRONG.



Linda has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at TeacherDance.

One Little Word 2016

image from Unsplash

I couldn't put it off any longer. My students chose their One Little Words yesterday, and I was still procrastinating.

I almost settled on BALANCE, but this word is one I am constantly working towards already. (Constantly, in fact.)

Then I went on a brainstorming spree: bellicose (too negative), cheer (hmm...possibility), levitate, float, informed. Then I got grumpy: hibernate, eschew, shirk. I tried chickadee, puzzle, curious, inquire, ask, design (hmm...possibility), stretch, change, barter.

Suddenly, my word found me:

BEND

Bend. It tells me to be flexible, reminds me not to break. It shows me a curving road with an unknowable ending, a journey, and it beckons me forward. If it is my teaching, I think of it as to mold or shape. If it is my poetry, photography, and art, I bend my efforts toward the creative. A bend is a kind of knot that connects two ropes, so I can feel a tightening of connections with this word. Last of all, it's a warning to me not to go in too deep -- divers get the bends, you know!

Poetry Friday -- Found Poem

In a recent Brain Pickings article about Mark Strand, this quote stood up in front of me, shot its sleeves, straightened its tie, and announced, "I'm here. I understand that your OLW for 2015 is notice? Well, I've arrived to wallop your brain with a new take on attentiveness."


We’re only here 
for a short while. 
And I think it’s such a lucky accident, 
having been born, 
that we’re almost obliged to pay attention. 

In some ways, 
this is getting far afield. 
I mean, we are – 
as far as we know – 
the only part of the universe that’s self-conscious. 
We could even 
be the universe’s 
form of consciousness. 

We might have come along 
so that the universe could 
look at itself. 

I don’t know that, 
but we’re made of the same stuff that stars are made of, 
or that floats around in space. 

But we’re combined in such a way 
that we can describe 
what it’s like to be alive, 
to be witnesses. 
Most of our experience is that of being a witness. 
We see and hear and smell other things. 

I think being alive is responding.

--Mark Strand, quoted in CREATIVITY: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DISCOVERY AND INVENTION
(line breaks are mine)


Wow. Just...wow, right?

When you click over to the article, there is a for-real Mark Strand poem at the end, and as you read or scroll through to get to it, don't you admire how Maria Popova uses art from children's books to illustrate her post?

Liz has the Poetry Friday roundup today at Elizabeth Steinglass. I hope to be able to make the rounds this week. Life has expanded my one square inch to give me a smidge more breathing room than last week!

OLW Goes to School

Do

Live

Try

Brave

Exercise

Respect

Friendly

Family

Decide

Moderation

Hope

Balance

This year, I have invited my students to choose their own One Little Word. The above is a list of some of the words my students and the other adults who work in or visit my classroom have chosen.

I am impressed with the perceptiveness of some of my students. They didn't take this choosing lightly, and their words are ones they will be able to live into and grow with throughout the year.

Today, we spent some time with dictionaries and thesauruses looking up and brainstorming synonyms, antonyms and related words.

Perfect timing for this book to show up:

The Right Word
by Jen Bryant
illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2014

I can't wait to introduce my students to Peter Mark Roget, a man whose passion for list-making and words began at the age of 8 and resulted in the most amazing resource book of language -- a book that has remained in print from 1852 until today.

The thesauruses we have in our classroom are alphabetical. I'd love to be able to get ahold of some that are topical, the way Roget originally organized his.

At any rate, this will be the perfect book at the perfect time as my students consider the meanings and nuances of their OLWs for the year.

Poetry Friday -- Expectantly

EXPECTANTLY

Next to the lamp, an
Open book and a steaming cup of
Tea.
In the chair, she sits with
Closed eyes, listening
Expectantly.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015


My One Little Word for 2015 is NOTICE. In this poem, I prepare myself for whatever 2015 will bring!

Tricia has the first Poetry Friday roundup of the year at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

Poetry Friday -- To Stand and Stare

Leisure
by William Henry Davies


What is this life if, full of care
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

If measured in "time to stand and stare," then William C. Morris has a very rich life. One night earlier this week, Mr. Mary Lee noticed him staring out the bedroom window into the dark. Following the cat's gaze, the man focused on...a barred owl sitting on the wires that run through the easement behind the house!

Just imagine all we would see if we took time to really look.

It's a little early to declare my One Little Word for 2015, and I haven't spent hours or made lists deliberating on the pros and cons of this word vs. that word. I just decided. Just now. BREATHE has been a great word for 2014, and I'm sure I'll go back to it over and over again, but in 2015, I'd like to 

NOTICE

I want to slow down. I want to notice. I want to savor small moments.

Be sure to wish Holly a Happy Birthday today -- she's spending her special day with us rounding up the Poetry Friday links at Reading, Teaching, Learning.

I have the new list of roundup hosts in the sidebar here at A Year of Reading. The file with the code has been uploaded on the Kidlitosphere Yahoo group, and you can always find the current (and past) roundups on the Kidlitosphere Central website. If you want me to send you the code for your very own sidebar, just send an email (new address: marylee dot hahn at gmail dot com).

I Shouldn't Be Blogging

I shouldn't be blogging.

I should be grading papers.
I should be reading students' blog posts.
I should be sending post-conference follow-up emails to parents.
I should be watching training videos for my new school laptop.
I should be deconstructing standards and digging into resources.
I should be reading so I have something to blog about.
I should be doing amazing things in my classroom so I have something to blog about.
I should be reading the blogs of our faithful blog readers.
I should be cleaning the house.

Okay. That helped. It always does. Best One Little Word ever.

Remember at the end of last summer, when we went to Vermont on a fly fishing trip...and didn't catch any fish? And how I vowed to "catch" a "trout" every day of the school year so that no matter what kind of picture the high stakes testing paints of my students, I will be able to look back on a year full of great moments of learning and joy?

I've got a "creel" full of fish.

We're 40+ days into the school year, and in my special little purple Moleskine I have 40+ "trout." Some days when I look back, they make me laugh, or swell up with pride. Some days I get a little teary.

At the exhaustion end of Parent Conference Night, a dad told about organizing his 30th high school class reunion, and how much it meant to him and the others who attended that some of their elementary school teachers attended. Even their first grade teacher was there. "You are making a difference in these students' lives, you know," he said. "You have no idea right now how the seeds you plant will turn out, but you are planting seeds for the future."

The next day, I got an email from a student who was in one of my looping classes 10 years ago. I helped to get her on an IEP back then. She's a junior in college now and she wanted to come interview me for one of her classes. She just switched her major. To education.

All the "I shoulds" will have to wait. I have some seeds to plant. I have some fish to catch.

Poetry Friday

How To Be a Poet
(to remind myself)

by Wendell Berry

Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill—more of each
than you have—inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your work,
doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
There are only sacred places
And desecrated places.




My One Little Word for this year is BREATHE. It's been a perfect word to remind myself to slow down, to notice all the good in people and in the world around me, to make space in my busy days and weeks just for me.

On a somewhat related note, if you haven't seen FALL LEAVES by Loretta Holland, get your hands on it asap. It is a poetry/nonfiction hybrid with gorgeous-GORGEOUS illustrations. (my review here)

And head over to Laura's place, Writing the World for Kids, for a peek at one of her new books and the Poetry Friday Roundup!