Thrive by Meenoo Rami

We are thrilled to be part of the blog tour for Meenoo Rami's new professional book Thrive: 5 Ways to (Re)Invigorate Your Teaching . We are early in the blog tour and there are many great stops coming up where you'll learn more and more about the book and Meenoo. So, our post will be the random things we love about Meenoo and the book--the reasons you'll want to pick it up soon!

I first "met" Meenoo on Twitter as #engchat was one of the first Twitter chats I participated in.  It was the one that hooked me on Twitter chats because it taught me just how powerful these conversations could be. And Meenoo INVENTED #engchat.  I remember her telling me when I finally met her in person at NCTE one year, that she created a talk for teachers on Twitter as a way to give back to the community that has given her so much. I realized then what a generous and genuine person Meennoo is. She mentioned that she was thinking of writing a book and I knew that whatever book she would write, I would buy it. I knew that whatever she had to say would be thoughtful and important.

I was lucky to interview Meenoo several weeks ago for a Choice Literacy Podcast. The podcast, "Finding Meaning and Joy in Teaching" can be found at Choice Literacy's website. So much of what she said in the interview continues to live with me.  As I think back on my 27 years of teaching, so much of what she teaches us are the things we don't learn in student teaching, but things that are most important to our lifelong work.  What she writes about are the keys both to being a true professional and to staying true to our students.

There couldn't be a better time for Meenoo to share her voice on the topic of (re)invigorating our teaching lives.  It is easy to be tired about our work these days -- tired from the mandates and the politics and the testing and the criticism.  And Meennoo describes, with honesty, how lonely this work can be if we don't reach out.  Then she reminds us how wonderfully energizing our work can be when we do reach out. I love that this book focuses on the people in our lives.

I love this book because after 27 years, it totally resonated with me.  I think no matter how long you've been teaching--20 days or 20 years, there are ruts in our teaching lives. There are times when staying energized gets hard and times that we feel alone, no matter how many wonderful colleagues we have.  Meenoo talks about those first few years of teaching and how lonely they often were, how isolated she sometimes felt. But she took charge of her teaching and her learning and reached out and found people to learn with.

And I love this book because it reminded me of mentors and I love the way that Meenoo thinks about them. She talks honestly about mentors who were assigned to her and she shares mentors who have been part of her teaching life.  I love that she doesn't talk about one mentor but the idea that we need lots of mentors and each mentors us in a different way.

Meeoo is someone you want to follow. Her book is powerful but so is her blog and her Twitter feed (@meenoorami). She shares thoughtfully and generously and invites us all into the network she has created-- a network of learners who thrive in even the toughest times.

THRIVE Blog Tour Stops!

Be sure to visit all these great blogs who are celebrating Thrive. 

Hear what they have to say about Thrive 

and read guest posts and interviews from Meenoo herself!

4/9/14

Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts!

4/10/14

Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading

4/11/14

Alyson Beecher at Kid Lit Frenzy

4/12/14

Kira Baker Doyle at Kira J Baker-Doyle, Ph.D.

4/13/14

Sarah Mulhern Gross at The Reading Zone

4/14/14

Christina Cantrill at Digital Is (National Writing Project)

4/15/14

Kate Roberts and Maggie B. Roberts at Indent

4/16/14

Beth Shaum at Use Your Outside Voice

4/17/14

Linda Baie at Teacher Dance

4/18/14

Troy Hicks at Hickstro

4/19/14

Joy Kirr at Genius Hour

4/20/14

Tara Smith at The Teaching Life

4/21/14

Antero Garcia at The American Crawl

4/22/2014

John Spencer at Education Rethink

4/23

Kellee Moye and Ricki Ginsberg at Unleashing Readers

Our Wonderful World.10

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

Wikipedia

10. The Channel Tunnel

The Song of the Overworked

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
We thought it would never appear.
We toiled and we moiled ‘til we thought we would drop.
When we saw it we gave out a cheer!

Now we know we can make it the whole way.
Our steps have new vigor and zeal.
We’ll skip and we’ll prance and we’ll sprint to the end.
We can outlast this wretched ordeal.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

The Channel Tunnel is a fascinating feat of human engineering. I love that cross-section that shows how deep it goes. 

But my poem for today refused to be about this exact tunnel. First it wanted to be about earthworms and moles. Then I got the phrase "There's a light at the end of the tunnel" stuck inside my head. Maybe because it's been such a long week. Maybe because our state's "blessed event" is within sight at the end of this month. Maybe because I am starting to plan out my professional development and travel plans for the summer. 

No matter what you're working your way through, this poem is for you -- I hope you can see the light at the end of your tunnel.

Kevin has a visual poem today.

Carol's found poems for the Taj Mahal yesterday are at Carol's Corner.

Our Wonderful World.9

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

Wikipedia

9. Taj Mahal

W is for Wonder

From the far end of the reflecting pool

the Taj Mahal is a W.

Unanswered questions carved in white marble:

What? Where? When? Why? and are you able

to fathom the love the emperor felt

when he had this tribute built?

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

Kevin's Taj Mahal poem is about the blues singer of the same name.

Carol and Catherine have Leaning Tower of Pisa poems from yesterday at Carol's Corner and Reading to the Core.

Our Wonderful World.8

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

Wikipedia

8. The Leaning Tower of Pisa

A Note From the Architect

I didn't mean

for my tower to lean --

my work is usually not sloppy.

At least I know

that history will show

my creation will never be copied.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

A note about the architect: there is actually controversy about the architect of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Imagine that. No one made sure to leave concrete (pun intended) evidence that this mistake was his.

Be sure you go over to Carol's Corner and read her poem about the Hagia Sophia from yesterday. Wow.

Kevin used a Google tool to make his Leaning Tower poem today. It's at Kevin's Meandering Mind.

Our Wonderful World.7

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

Wikipedia

7. Hagia Sophia

The Hagia Sophia began as Greek Orthodox church, then it became a mosque, and now it's a museum in Istanbul, Turkey.

The whole time I was swimming my mile yesterday, I was thinking about religions. About how different religions fight to say that theirs is the true one, about the wars throughout human history that have been waged in the name of religion. There are many places (case in point, the Hagia Sophia) that have been declared holy by one religion, and the invading culture says, "Yes, this is holy...but now in OUR religion." Holy can't ever seem to be a shared holiness. Humans and our civilizations are fairly new to the planet and maybe the things we think are so important that we would kill for them are actually as fleeting as a cloud passing across the sun. It is that idea that gave me the image for my haiku today.

clouds block the sun

spires and domes are shadowed

brief darkness passes

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

Carol's lovely and heart-wrenching poem for the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing yesterday is at Carol's Corner.

Kevin's poem for today is at Kevin's Meandering Mind.

New Possibilities with Padlet

I'm participating in a Heinemann webinar series that Kristin Ziemke is doing . She is my new favorite person and I've learned so much from her over the last few weeks.  Her classroom is amazing and she embed technology in thoughtful and authentic ways.

One thing Kristin showed was a Padet she created for participants of the webinar series (http://padlet.com/wall/CompandTech). I know Padlet and I've used it lots. But I've used it in a very simple way. I've used it for kids to put sticky notes up as a way to think collectively I had no idea it could be used as a conversation starter with videos, images, padlets on padlets and more. Her Padlet gave me new visions for what Padlet can do. I didn't know you could change the background. I had missed so much about this tool. 

So I played around with a few ways to use Padlet as a way to begin conversations and as a way to collect our thinking. I also think it will be a great way for kids to access learning and to continue the conversation at home.

I played with a board to think about how I might use Padlet in Read Aloud.  We are currently reading How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor.  I created a board with the cover of the book, a book trailer and a link to Barbara O'Connor's website.  We have had so much success with Corkulous as a way to stretch and collect our thinking around read aloud that Padlet seems to add even more options.  I can see adding a board within a board to do the things we are doing on Corkulous. And since it is web-based, it can be accessed from home and school.

We also played with a board to collect and add to as a class.  We have a bird watching area at our school and we've been spending time there for some of our science and math work.  The Padlet board shares the ways we are using various tools to collect information.  This is a site that will help us see how different tools can be used for different purposes. Hopefully it will start a conversation around tools that really help you observe and collect data in efficient ways.  

Today, I attended the Literacy Connection Event and Ruth Ayres spoke about Writing Celebrations.  She talked about the importance of writing celebrations--both the process and the product.   I'm thinking now of ways I can you Padlet for writing celebrations. I am thinking we can share lines we've written,a board of  links to finished products, a board of student writing with room for response. I am going to play some more to see where this thinking might go.

I have been playing with lots of tools over the last few years but, I so love finding one tool and thinking of new possibilities for use.  I am going to focus on this one tool for a while and think about various ways to use it, play around with what the tool can do and grow some possibilities!  Thanks Kristin for stretching my thinking about using this tool for more than one thing!

*For more posts on Digital Literacy, visit Reflections on the Teche for the Link Up!

Our Wonderful World.6

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

6. Porcelain Tower of Nanjing

Unmuseum.org

The Eight Gratitudes

I hope you won't think I'm wasting

one of my eight

by choosing daffodils.

They hold hope

in their cup-and-saucer blooms.

If I choose

books -- 

the ones I bought yesterday,

plus the ones that line nearly every wall of every room --

can they also stand 

for the authors,

and my fellow readers,

and a quiet afternoon 

spent curled up on the couch reading?

Is that cheating?

How could I not

include chocolate?

Or my mug of hot tea 

first thing

in the morning?

When I close my eyes

and think of home,

I picture my mother, 

looking out the window above the kitchen sink,

calling me 

to come and see

the sunset.

Yes, that's worth three:

home, mom, sunsets.

Number eight is silence,

which was broken just now

by the train's whistle,

and earlier

by the robins and wrens 

singing in the dark.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

As I read about The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, trying to find a starting point for a poem, I came across these names for the pagoda: "Bao'ensi, or "Temple of Gratitude," and I learned that the base of the tower is octagonal. That's all I needed. My poem would be, "The Eight Gratitudes," which is a poem I could probably (should probably) write every day of my life with eight different gratitudes per day. After all, there's a growing body of research that shows an "Attitude of Gratitude" is actually good for your health.

The original tower, built to honor either the Emperor's parents or just his mother, was destroyed in the 19th Century, but was rebuilt in 2010.

Amy has been writing about her mentor poems in her process notes for her daily poems at The Poem Farm. I didn't have a particular poem in mind as I wrote, but I tried to imitate the conversational tone of Billy Collins' or George Bilgere's poetry.

Kevin's Notegraphy is here.

Be sure to visit Carol's Corner to read the fabulous abecedarian Carol wrote about The Great Wall of China yesterday.

March Mosaic

March was a great month for photos.

We start and end March with birthday celebrations. The March 2 Chocolate Cake was the traditional recipe, but by request, the March 29 cake was made with coffee buttercream frosting. It was probably the best cake I've ever made. I'm drooling just remembering it.

We ate some amazing cinnamon rolls at Sunday Brunch at Natalie's (see that empty plate?!), and I'm trying to get better at taking time to play around with my photos using some of the many apps on my phone. I had a LOT of fun with that picture of Jack Nicklaus and the lampshade reflection that makes him look like he has on a tutu.

The fractal broccoli took me by surprise at Whole Foods. I wrote a Fib once upon a time about fractal broccoli, but I've never seen it in real life.

During spring break we went antiquing in Clintonville, and we went and saw the Bruce Munro light exhibit at Franklin Park Conservatory (with yummy hot chocolate in the Short North after).

Also during spring break, we had a mini-blizzard. Really. This has been The Winter That Will Not End. But spring is springing, whether it is out in the garden (covered in snow) or in the potato bin in the pantry.

Spring break was a great time to try out my new (old) desk I got when we went antiquing (and a good time to take illustrated notes with a few TED talks).

We went to (near) Lancaster to Rockmill Brewery for a tour and tasting. And even though I was on spring break, and on my way to a craft beer tasting, I was noticing an example of erosion to show my students. You can take the teacher out of school, but you can't take the school out of the teacher!

Happy March, even though I'm a week late!



Click to enlarge, or you can see all of these pictures on Flickr.

Our Wonderful World.5

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

5. Great Wall of China

Wikipedia

My Uncle's Getting Married

My uncle's getting married

in the church at Broad and High.

He's wearing a tuxedo,

cummerbund and bolo tie.

After all the boring stuff,

it's off to the party house.

We'll eat a fancy dinner

and we'll toast his brand new spouse.

The fun will really start then,

the groom will dance his bride,

we'll do the Macarena,

chicken dance, electric slide.

We'll boogie woogie, bump and grind,

we'll limbo way down low.

We'll shimmy, shake, we'll shuffle, swing

we'll do our best disco.

And when the bride says, "One more dance!"

the conga line she leads.

We ribbon all around the room,

we curve, we swerve, we weave.

A snake of happy revelers,

the young and old alike,

connected hand to waist to back,

we dance away the night.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

I'm giving myself permission to have more fun with this project. I don't think I can write 25 more poems that are exactly about the wonders. So anything at all about the wonder that inspires me is fair game. 

Can you tell how I got today's poem from the image of the Great Wall? I hope you can see the conga line in the photo!

Here's Kevin's beautiful poem, Walls Won't Hold Us.

Here's Carol's poem about the Catacombs from yesterday, at Carol's Corner.

Our Wonderful World.4

The details of my Poetry Month project can be found here.

4. Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa

Tripadvisor.com

We All Wait

What's a forgotten catacomb to do?

My tunnels sprawled,

my columns endured,

my stairways persevered.

What's a forgotten catacomb to do?

I cradled the bones of the dead

in silence.

My statues stood guard

in secrecy.

And I waited.

We all wait.

Sometimes

we even know why,

or what for.

Never

in all my centuries

would I have imagined

what would break the monotony 

and end my waiting.

What's a forgotten catacomb to do?

A thousand years I waited.

Then a donkey fell through my roof

and the silence, the secrecy, and the waiting were over.

Who would have guessed?

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014


This is the first wonder I knew absolutely nothing about. Based on my experience yesterday, I knew we would need to do a bit of research before we started writing. I showed my students the image above and we brainstormed the questions we hoped to have answered by our research:

What are catacombs?
Are there traps?
Can tourists go there?
Are there kings, or treasure?
Where are they?
How old are they?
How big are they?
What are they used for?

My reading minilesson plans called for us to think about how we can determine the speaker in a poem (or a text), and in writing, we would try to write from an interesting point of view.

Turns out this was the perfect wonder for personification. You could write from the point of view of the catacombs themselves (as I did) or from the point of view of the donkey that fell through the roof in 1900, leading to the rediscovery of the catacombs. You could be a serpent guarding the doorway, a statue, a dead person buried there, or one of the shards for which the catacombs are named: "Mound of Shards." You could be the desert around it, the sky above it, or the water that's flooded the lowest level.


Carol has a Colosseum poem from yesterday at her blog, Carol's Corner.

Kevin's poem today is multimedia.

All of my Poetry Month posts can also be found on my new poetry website.

Amy has the Poetry Friday roundup today at The Poem Farm. She's certainly one of the wonders of the world!