Poetry Friday -- Approximation

flickr creative commons photo by C hica ♥ :*

Perfection, Perfection
by Kilian McDonnell

("I will walk the way of perfection." Psalm 101:2)

I have had it with perfection.
I have packed my bags,
I am out of here.
Gone.

As certain as rain
will make you wet,
perfection will do you
in.

It droppeth not as dew
upon the summer grass
to give liberty and green
joy.

Perfection straineth out
the quality of mercy,
withers rapture at its
birth.

Before the battle is half begun,
cold probity thinks
it can't be won, concedes the
war.

I've handed in my notice,
given back my keys,
signed my severance check, I
quit.

(The rest of the poem is at The Writer's Almanac.)



This poem is my new anthem. Those goals I posted a couple of days ago? I'm going for approximation. Baby steps. A little bit at a time. Balance. Perfection might kill me, but the plodding pace of approximation is doable.

Ben, at The Small Nouns, has the roundup today. 

February Mosaic

Snow and ice, with a break for jazz and Chinese food at PF Chang.

More snow, with a delightful warm spell, spring-ish skies, a trip to Skillet, and a full moon.

Jacket weather in Austin for the Notables, followed by ice the day  after I returned.

Dublin Literacy Conference Friday author dinner. If you want to know more about the significance of the restroom signage, ask Patrick Allen.

Be Careful What Behaviors You Extinguish

I am reading The Search For WondLa to my fourth graders. I almost told this English Language Learner to put her paper away during read aloud, but, not knowing for sure how much she can even understand as she listens, I let her keep doodling while I read, as a "consolation prize" for all the "incomprehensible English that was washing over her."

NOT.

She handed this picture to me at the end of read aloud, when she leaves for an afternoon of extended ELL classes. It shows Eva Nine and Rovender riding on top of Otto. Eva is holding the omnipod, and she is thinking, "I'm skard." This is EXACTLY what is happening in the story right now.

Hmm. Big lesson here? Don't make assumptions. And be careful what behaviors you extinguish -- there is likely some really smart thinking going on where you assume there is none.


More in another post about WONDLA as a read aloud. The 3-D hologram maps promote some really fascinating conversation. Come to think of it, it was probably those maps that helped ELL Girl to make as much meaning as she did...

Dublin Literacy Conference Round Up

The 2011 Dublin Literacy Conference was one of the best ever! I haven't had time to write my learning from the day yet but lots of others have. If you want to read more about the Dublin Literacy Conference, here are some posts I've found and learned from:

Word from the Corner
Enjoy and Embrace Learning
Mary Lee (here:-)
Talkworthy
Literate Lives
Franki's Slides
Digital Writing, Digital Teaching from Troy Hicks
Reflect and Refine by Cathy Mere
Tony Keefer at Atychiphobia
Scott Sibberson
All-en-A-Day's Work

Who's Going to Put This in the Dictionary?

(click the image to get a larger, clearer view)

This was an unsolicited-by-me blog post on one of my students' blogs...on our snow day Friday!!

Huzzah!

Whew.

It feels like I've reached a summit of sorts!

Flickr creative commons photo by Dru!

But if I'm at the summit, that means the next bit is all downhill, right?  Wrong!

Maybe I'm just on a narrow ledge where I can hold on for a minute and breathe and gather my strength for the next part of the climb.

Flickr creative commons photo by John and Belinda

Franki's really good about going public with her personal learning, reading, exercise and balance challenges, so I'm going to put my to-do list out there in the world in the hopes that going public will help me get it all accomplished!

These first few are a result of the Dublin Literacy Conference:

Inspired by Patrick Allen

•re-read CHOICE WORDS by Peter Johnston

•take his double-dog dare to record all of my reading conferences for a week, then listen to them and really work on getting better at conferring 

Inspired by Kelly Gallagher

•celebrate that the "pool" my readers "swim" in is full to the brim with books 

•keep a tight hold on my students' independent reading time -- don't compromise it; don't let it go

•don't underteach books

Inspired by Brian Pinkney

•give my students more small music, rhythm and movement breaks

Inspired by Saturday night dinner conversations

•keep playing Words With Friends -- I'm better than some and not as good as others, but it's all good

•don't wait so long to get help when I'm stuck on a level of Angry Birds

Other goals include...

Get back in the exercise routine.

√ Went to water aerobics today.

Get back to blog reading and writing.

√ I give myself permission to ease into this a little at a time.

√ I started by reading 10 blogs on this week's Poetry Friday Roundup. 

Maintain Twitter stamina.

√ There's great stuff there. Did you see this blog post "Angry Birds: A Lesson in Assessment FOR Learning" and this one about Angry Birds and Instruction?

Grade that blasted stack of papers TODAY since the end of the trimester is tomorrow.

√ I'll get started on those as soon as I hit the publish button. 

Pay attention to the change of seasons. 

√ "And since to look at things in bloom/Fifty springs are little room/About the woodlands I will go/To see the cherry hung with snow." (A.E. Houseman)

√ Drove home from the health club with the top open. 54 degrees. Sun. Hard to believe we had a snow day on Friday.

√ Across-the-street neighbors' snowdrops are blooming.

Dublin Literacy Conference Slides

Below are my slides from my session at the Dublin Literacy Conference.

How Can Tools of Technology Impact the Reading Workshop?

Dublin literacy conference 2011

View more presentations from Franki22.

There Is No Frigate Like A Book

Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924.

Part One: Life
XCIX


THERE is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.

This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul.

















2011 NCTE Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts
Complete list here


Sara has the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Read Write Believe.

ANNOUNCING!! 2011 NCTE Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts

2011 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts

Angleberger, Tom. (2010). The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. New York: Abrams.

Appelt, Kathi. (2010). Keeper. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Aronson, Marc and Budhos, Marina. (2010). Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Baker, Keith. LMNO Peas. (2010). New York: Simon & Schuster.

Bond, Victoria and Simon, T.R. (2010). Zora and Me.  Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

Burns, Loree Griffin. (2010).  The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe. Illustrated by Ellen Harasimowicz. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Cushman, Karen. (2010). Alchemy and Meggy Swann. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Draper, Sharon M. (2010). Out of My Mind. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Elya, Susan Middleton. (2010). Rubia and the Three Osos. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. New York: Disney*Hyperion.

Fleming, Candace. (2010). Clever Jack Takes the Cake. Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. New York: Random House.

Fox, Karen C. (2010). Older Than the Stars. Illustrated by Nancy Davis. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.

Gidwitz, Adam. (2010). A Tale Dark and Grimm. New York: Penguin.

Golio, Gary. (2010). Jimi Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix. Illustrated by Javaka Steptoe. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Kerley, Barbara. (2010). The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy). Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. New York: Scholastic.

Mazer, Anne and Potter, Ellen. (2010). Spilling Ink: A Young Writer’s Handbook. Illustrated by Matt Phelan. New York: Roaring Brook Press.

Raczka, Bob. (2010). Guyku: A Year of Haiku for Boys. Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Raschka, Chris. (2010).  Hip Hop Dog. Illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky. New York: HarperCollins.

Reynolds, Peter H. and FableVision Studios; Emerson, Sharon. (2010).  Zebrafish. Illustrated by Renée Kurilla. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Riley, James. (2010). Half Upon a Time. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Ryan, Pam Muñoz. (2010). The Dreamer. Illustrated by Peter Sis. New York: Scholastic.

Sidman, Joyce. (2010). Dark Emperor & Other Poems of the Night.  Illustrated by Rick Allen. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Sidman, Joyce. (2010). Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors. Illustrated by Beckie Prange. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Singer, Marilyn. (2010). Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse. Illustrated by Josée Masse. New York: Penguin.

Underwood, Deborah. (2010). The Quiet Book. Illustrated by Renata Liwska. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Viorst, Judith. (2010). Lulu and the Brontosaurus. Illustrated by Lane Smith. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Wiles, Deborah. (2010). Countdown. New York: Scholastic.

Willems, Mo. (2010). City Dog, Country Frog. Illustrated by Jon J. Muth. New York: Disnney*Hyperion.

Willems, Mo. (2010). We Are in a Book! New York: Disney*Hyperion.

Williams-Garcia, Rita. (2010). One Crazy Summer. New York: HarperCollins.

Winter, Jeanette. (2010). Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia. New York: Simon & Schuster.

NCBLA 2011 Committee:  Mary Lee Hahn—Chair

April Bedford, Mary Napoli, Donalyn Miller, 
Nancy Roser, Tracy Smiles, Yoo Kyung Sung

Janelle Mathis—Past Chair

OKAY FOR NOW by Gary Schmidt

Can I tell you right off how much I LOVED LOVED LOVED OKAY FOR NOW by Gary Schmidt. I loved every word of this book. I was hooked in the first few pages and loved it more and more as the book went on.

The story is about Doug Sweiteck who is having a tough time of things. His father (who is not so nice to him or any of his brothers) loses his job so moves the family to a new town. Doug isn't happy and has trouble making friends. His older bother is a trouble-maker and his reputation seems to impact the expectations people have for Doug too. His oldest brother is in the Vietnam War but returns home injured. Life at home is not good for Doug.

The good news is that Doug finds some people who learn to trust and believe in him for who he is. This is a story of art and survival. It is a story of friendship and resilience. It is a story of hope and of suffering. The people in Doug's life are very believable. Many are teachers and librarians. Many would make our "COOL TEACHERS IN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE" list (although many might not...).

The author is amazing at weaving together many themes in a way that give a great amount of depth to Doug's story. I am hoping to reread it soon to read for these threads that Schmidt weaves through the entire book.

I think the thing I love best about this book is the character's voice. He is a character I care deeply about and one who I am pretty sure will stay with me for a very long time. He is complex and very human.

I think this book is a good one for grades 5 and up. It is marketed as YA in some places but it seems between middle grade and YA to me.

When I sat down after finishing the book, I realized how brilliant the title is. I LOVED the WEDNESDAY WARS but I LOVED LOVED LOVED this one. I am already hoping it wins some prize for 2011. (This is the first book I have dared to say this about in 2011!)