The Power of Choice During this Online/Pandemic Learning

**Mary Lee, Franki and Julie have been talking and thinking about choice during this time of Online/Pandemic Learning.  We decided to share our current thinking about choice and writing today and would love to hear from others on what is working when it comes to choice, writing and online learning. You can find Julie's post here.


From Franki
Writing Workshop is the heart of our classrooms and we believe student choice is so important for authenticity. Typically during the school year, we do 3-4 genre-based units of study and then between those, I do other units of study that cross genres. I want my readers to know there are so many ways to study and grow as a writer and although there are specifics for particular genres, there are also skills writers have that cross genres. Learning from Other Writers, Revising, Expanding Important Ideas in a Text, and Word Choice to Improve Writing are all units we've done across the year.

With this new online/pandemic teaching, it's been a challenge to stay grounded in what we believe about writing and writers.

I thought long and hard about what this time means for writers and I realized that this stay-at-home time is a perfect time for writers to do authentic work, to commit to a project with lots of time to work, to play around and to grow, to build a stronger identity as a writer.  So I decided that choice would be the most important thing over the next few weeks.

After talking with Julie Johnson on how she was providing her 3rd graders choice, I created this board for students.  Last week, students spent time thinking about the possibilities for their writing over the next several weeks and they committed to one of the ideas on this Choice Board.

Link to Writing Choice Board for 5th Graders

Having a writing workshop with very little live time together has been tricky so I built this board with this in mind. I knew I wanted students to have choice in genre, but I also knew that my focus for teaching as they were working on their writing would span genre. I knew I wanted them to find mentor texts and I knew revision would be important.  So I built some mentor texts into the slides so that as students explored options, they could see writers who they might learn from in each project.

This week, we will have small groups meeting to share and discuss their writing. And I am thinking about how to incorporate this brilliant idea from Clare Landrigan from Tuesday's blog.  My main goal is to support writers in lots of ways, to invite those writers who have lots of time to give to this, some options to dig  (working hours each day if they'd like) in in a way that isn't possible when school is in session.  I want them to know what that feels like they have a project they love and are committed to. I also want to give writers who don't have as much time or space for this the option to create and learn something--something they want to learn. It seems like an easy time during the year to do this as routines are set, students have goals as writers, they have learned from mentors all year and they have lots of writing ideas. 

I am already amazed at the ideas kids have shared and the work they are doing.  I am hoping this choice board meets the needs of all of my writers during this challenging time.

From Mary Lee

In our first full week of online learning, we had a very successful Flipgrid Science Symposium on Friday, where students shared their learning about food chains, food webs, energy pyramids, and the biome of their choice in a short video on Flipgrid. They loved having a project to work towards, and seeing how all of their work in reading, writing, and science could come together. In our "more of this/less of that" conversation on that first Friday, they definitely wanted more projects, and one student requested work with biographies, so I made a mental note to somehow work that in for our next project.

Last week and this week we have done some activities that are building towards an in-depth opinion piece. I wanted to weave together life science, biographies, and opinion writing. This is what I will present to the students next week. I hope I built in enough choice so that every student can find an entry point.

Link to Choose Your Own Adventure Opinion Writing

Students will be able to choose by person, by the person's area of science, or by the person's action -- what they're famous for. All of the links (except Julia Hill) go to our school's subscription (via Infohio) to WorldBook Student. 

Some of my students will be able to chose a topic and run with the research and the writing, but many will need scaffolding. We will brainstorm ways to make this an opinion piece. It will be very different than a "fuzzy socks are the best" opinion piece. They will need to make a claim about the importance of the person, the area of science, or the work. While they will start in WorldBook Student, they will need to do online searches and find information in unlikely places like BrainPOP.

I am struggling to get my students to keep their commitment to the small group session they signed up for, but in my dreams, those small groups will become writing support groups where we can discuss their progress and they can share their writing for peer feedback.

I envision this project lasting several weeks, and I have my fingers crossed that my students will be up for the stamina of this. Perhaps I'll have to drastically modify my expectations, or even toss the whole thing out as a spectacular failure. Time will tell, but I think it's worth a try!

Ode to My Hardboiled Egg

Ode to My Hardboiled Egg

You came into this world ready
to be whatever was needed from you --

glue, to hold together a cake,
glaze, to make a pastry shine,
shell, to become a work of art,
sustenance, to give my body the strength

to do whatever the world needs from me.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020

We Are In This Together

We Are In This Together

When, in the human history of the
Earth, have

All the people --
Regardless of continent or nation -- shared the same
Experience? No one is

Immune from the daily
News of infection and death.

Turn on the media and you'll
Hear "furlough," "recession," "economy."
Incredible to see crops of tulips and onions
Sitting in fields, rotting.

Turn off the media and head
Outside. Nature will fill you with
Gratitude. Our
Earth -- spinning out days, circling out seasons --
Tells us change is inevitable,
Have hope, share wisdom, take care of
Each life.
Remember: we are in this together.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020

Good News From Across the Pond

Good News From Across the Pond

in the village of

Ribbesbüttel, Germany

the storks have come back

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020

It Never Grows Old

It Never Grows Old

Redbud
blooms burst from bark,
fleck the tree with color,
then open into a haze of
purple.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020

This Online/Pandemic Learning Journey (so far....)

We just completed our 2nd full week of online learning. We started with a 3-day week, then had Spring break. So last week was our second full week of this new, online learning.  The journey has not been an easy one.  As teachers and students grieve the community space we know and love, teachers are also trying to support students and families during this pandemic.

The first week of online learning was easy. And boring. I put some things out there and kids did them. We were lucky to be able to send lots of books and some supplies home with kids before schools closed so that made things a bit easier. My kids were already comfortable with many tech tools, so I wasn't worried about that.

But at the end of the week I was frustrated and depressed. What I was doing wasn't teaching. How could I be teaching when students did the work in their homes, while I sat in mine? There was no laughter, there were no inside jokes, no greetings and no book talks. I mean the libraries are closed. Never in a million years did I imagine a world in which there are no libraries.

I missed the big kitchen table in our classroom and the way that kids would gather when they needed a bit of community support.  I missed read aloud and the collective thinking of this amazing group of 5th graders. I missed the conversations on the way down to lunch and I missed watching friendships develop.  I even missed indoor recess --and all the noise that goes along with that. I realized again that every single minute in a classroom is a minute that teaches us something about a child in our company.  I've always known how quick little conversations with kids add up across a school year but the absence of all of these quick conversations made it so much more clear.

When I was able to reflect last week, I knew I could create lessons. I knew I could find resources online. I knew my kids could use the online tools easily and effectively.  I knew we had Google Meet and we could gather in real time. But the thing I couldn't figure out was how I could possibly teach without the listening and watching. I teach by listening, by talking to kids individually, by checking in. I believe that my best teaching is in listening and observing children in the midst of learning and making sense of things.

So, I started to wonder about listening in this new world of school. What does listening look like? What could listening look like now? How could I create an online space that felt more right? That felt more like our real, physical space?  How could I listen and be responsive to individual students and to the classroom as a whole? How could I know what they needed? How can I be more myself as a teacher in this space and how could my students be more themselves?

One of my students said something amazing last week before a read aloud. She said, "I don't feel like I'm learning anything at home. I mean, I am learning new things but I don't get that happy feeling I get at school when I learn new things. I don't like that we can't turn and talk and hear other people's thinking. It just doesn't feel like learning."

So this last week, instead of spending my time finding as many great resources online as I could, instead of trying to find things kids could do independently, I spent time (thanks to Clare Landrigan) thinking about what was most important to our classroom community and what was most important to me as a teacher. I believe in student choice and agency.  I believe in invitations over accountability. I believe in authenticity, connectedness and intentionally. And I believe that if I am not learning, my students are probably not learning either.

And then I set up things that, even though they were asynchronous, gave me ways to listen. Just like at the beginning of the year, when I slow down and listen and watch, I did a lot of that this week. Even though they were nothing like being in a classroom together, my focus was on listening and learning from my students and that helps me plan better, I think.

Once I figured out that it was the LISTENING that was missing and that I cannot teach without learning from my students and allowing my students to learn from each other, I went from feeling like this:

to feeling like this:

So, here are some things that helped me listen and learn over the last week or so. These things helped make our online classroom feel just a TINY BIT more like our real, wonderful classroom.

6 Word Memoirs-I asked my kids to write 6 Word Memoirs and they posted them on a class Padlet. I was hoping that this was a type of writing would be an invitation for students that they could spend as little or as much time as they wanted on.  They could process what this time has been like for them or write a 6 Word Memoir about something else. They could add art, but they didn't need to. I could see where their thinking was, and I figured most kids would do this as it is a quick, low stress kind of writing play.

Friday Letters to Me--Each Friday during the school year, my students write letters to their families about their week's learning. Last week, I asked kids to write letters to me. Not necessarily about their learning but just a letter about how they are doing, how they are spending their time, how things are going, etc. They did these on Google Docs so I could respond individually.

 I created a Padlet called "Stuff We Are Doing" and invited kids to share things they are making, books they are reading, ways they are helping etc.

I wanted to touch base with families without adding stress. So, I sent individual emails to families just checking in--inviting them to let me know how things were going.

We've had daily Live Read Aloud via Google Meet.  This gives us time to come together around a good story and to also have time to stop and talk.  It isn't quite the same as being in the classroom, but it does feel like our old routine and our conversations have grown more natural as the week went on. We also use this time to catch up--I open the meet about ten minutes early and have time to chat with students as they log on and as the group goes. We were even able to use this time to sing Happy Birthday to a few classmates last week!

Flipgrid has been my favorite tool during this last week. It seems to be the place where students are themselves and where they can share and feel like they are talking to and with classmates. They seem confident and happy in this space.  So, we've used Flipgrid for a few screenless Science challenges as well as some student-led Classroom Bookadays.  Then, in a conversation this week, one of my students suggested we make a FLIPGRID AT HOME so kids could post videos of things they are doing.  Almost like a talent show but more inclusive in terms of things kids could include. They are thinking playing songs on instruments, baking, introducing us to a pet, etc. I am anxious to see this Flipgrid grow.

If you haven't seen Georgia Heard's poem, "WhenWishes Return", this was an incredible conversation. I had a Google Meet to just answer questions and chat on Thursday. About 9 kids showed up.  I pulled up this poem as they had read it earlier in the week and we just chatted, looking at the poem. For a few minutes, I forgot we were online as the conversation was so much like so many we've had in our classroom. This poem invited such rich conversation. It was accessible. It had depth and it was relevant. I realized that this was something we were missing--the rich real time conversations that happen every day in the classroom around important ideas in text. At the start of every class meeting, we usually start with a shared book or poem or topic of discussion.  Talking about texts beyond just our read aloud in real time is going to become an important part of our routine moving forward.

Finally, my students told me they miss the small group time. That they love seeing the whole class, but they also want to meet live in small groups around tings we are learning. So, I created some Invitational Book Clubs and some choice writing for kids who were interested. Next week, I'll offer small group conversations and keep building on those.

The most important thing I did this week was to open up Comments on anything the kids turned in. Rather than turning something in just to me, I asked them to post it on a Padlet or on Google Slides so that others could learn from and respond.  I love Flipgrid because it allows video comments. By making "commenting" part of the daily learning plan that I sent out each day, students were invited to learn from each other and I could tell how important this was to students by the number and sincerity of their comments.

Like every teacher in the world right now, I'd much rather be in the classroom. And I am sad. So sad. But, this journey is definitely one in which I am learning every day. I'm not sure what next week will bring. But my main focus after much reflection is on trying to remain true to what I know is important whether in the physical classroom or not. So for now my focus is to make sure that whatever I put out there for my kids to "do," it is something that allows me to listen and learn, to give them space to be who they are right now and to share their voices. If I am listening and learning as if I were in the physical classroom, my hope is that they are too.

Poetry Friday -- Living is a Form of Not Being Sure

Living is a form of not being sure, 

not knowing what next or how.

The moment you know how, you begin to die a little.

The artist never entirely knows.

We guess.

We may be wrong, 

but we take leap after leap into the dark.

--Agnes de Mille

Living is a Form of Not Being Sure

There are all kinds of dark.

You close your eyes in fear, exhaustion, or prayer

and dark is there.

The sun sets, the clouds roll in, you step into shade

and dark is there.

Your mind fills with unmarked roads, closed doors, gaping chasms

and dark is there.

There are all kinds of light.

You open your eyes in hope, anticipation, or gratitude

and light is there.

The sun rises, the clouds roll on, you step into sunshine

and light is there.

Your mind takes leap after leap into the dark, guessing, risking

and light is always there.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020 (with help from Agnes de Mille)

Amy has this week's Poetry Friday Roundup at The Poem Farm.

Now, More Than Ever

Now, More Than Ever

Breathe
in hope,
then exhale
your gratitude.
Remember these truths:
students over standards,
patience over procedures,
compassion over compliance,
care over content, and grace over
gimmicks. We must humanize our teaching.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020


This poem is an etheree.  It is also a found poem, comprised of bits of a post I read on the Nextdoor app, and this tweet by Shana V. White:

Unbounded

unbounded by walls

my classroom fits on my lap

hello front porch

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020

This Is Just To Say

This Is Just To Say

I am not reading
the books
that patiently wait
on my shelves

and which
I should probably
have read
by now

Forgive me
I will read again
someday
maybe today


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020


My mentor texts for this poem are William Carlos Williams and Kate Messner.

When I Stepped Outside for My Early Morning Walk

When I Stepped Outside for My Early Morning Walk

I was met by the moon,
full and bright, hanging low.
Good morning, Moon, I said.
What do you know?
And Moon said, Glow.

Few will notice
fewer will care.
All the more reason to always be there
and glow.

Waxing is joyous
waning is real.
Whether a sliver or the whole wheel,
you glow.

Find some light
get in its way
reflect that light with beam or ray
and glow.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020

My Hands

My Hands

wrinkled cracked and dry

these clean clean clean clean clean hands

my gift to the world

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020

This poem was inspired by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's Sharing our Notebooks video.

On My Walk

On My Walk

On my walk
around the block
what do I see?
I see a teddy bear
looking at me!

As we go
I look below
and what do I see?
I see chalk art
looking at me!

Walk some more
and on the door
what do I see?
I see a rainbow
looking at me!

Come back home
where we're alone.
What do I see?
A hopeful heart
is looking out for me.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020

The Flipside: My National Poetry Month Project for 2020

My Joy

I see
you on my screen.
Hear your voice, check your work.
But I miss the reality
of you.

Your face --
pixilated --
so close, and yet so far.
No matter the distance, you are
my joy.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020


This poem is a pair of cinquains. They were written in response to Liz Garton Scanlon's prompt.

So much about the world right now is scary and uncertain. That was always true, but it is in-our-faces true now. At the same time, there are amazing acts of generosity, compassion, connectedness, and creativity that are happening because of These Unprecedented Times. For myself, for my students, for my readers, I wanted to write poems this month that remind us what's on the flipside of the scary uncertainty.

Heidi has the first Poetry Friday Roundup of National Poetry Month 2020 at her blog, my juicy little universe.

Gratitude

Gratitude

I
give thanks
for the clouds.
Yes, the same ones
that spoiled your picnic,
that rained on your parade,
that flooded the soccer field.
I am thankful for clouds because
without them there'd be no rainbows, and
behind them there will always be blue skies.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020


This poem is an etheree, written with gratitude to Liz Garton Scanlon for her poetry prompts.

National Poetry Month 2020: The Flipside

The Flipside

Your fear stings like a fresh paper cut.

The flipside is brave determination to never give up.

The changes are rollercoaster fast -- disorienting, dizzying.

The flipside is the steady predictable approach of Spring.

Our connection is like the two sides of a coin:

the flipside says, whether we are together or apart, we are joined.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020

Happy Birthday, Robert Frost

Tree At My Window

by Robert Frost

Tree at my window, window tree,
My sash is lowered when night comes on;
But let there never be curtain drawn
Between you and me.

Vague dream head lifted out of the ground,
And thing next most diffuse to cloud,
Not all your light tongues talking aloud
Could be profound.

But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,
And if you have seen me when I slept,
You have seen me when I was taken and swept
And all but lost.

That day she put our heads together,
Fate had her imagination about her,
Your head so much concerned with outer,
Mine with inner, weather.

The picture above is not the tree at my window, but it is the first tree I've seen in full bloom this spring. I wish you could have been there to see the cloud of bees buzzing hungrily amongst the blossoms. 

There was a crabapple tree outside my window growing up, and I memorized "Tree at My Window" in high school as a tribute to her. I need to re-memorize it. Maybe this could be my new hand-washing poem. I've been using "Loveliest of Trees the Cherry Now" and "Barter." My "playlist" could use some variety. 

My real reason for sharing this poem is that today is Robert Frost's birthday. And amazingly, though I've shared MANY of my Robert Frost favorites over the years (some, multiple times), I've never shared this one. It was the phrase "outside my window" in this Incidental Comics that reminded me of "Tree at My Window." (The comic also made tears spring to my eyes and his comments about the comic validated my NPM theme...more on that later.) Robert Frost's poems are wise and timeless. Here's to the all the best we humans have and will make, and here's to the things upon which we can rely, like Spring and Poetry Friday. Tabatha has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week at The Opposite of Indifference.

What It Means to Be a Teacher Today

So 2 weeks ago, I did a talk titled, "What Does It Mean to be a Literacy Teacher Today."  I focused on digital tools and all that was possible for our children. Then this pandemic arrived and our governor closed schools.  I can't put into words what it means to be a teacher today, but I saw three things that put into words all that I've been feeling.

First this, at Her View from Home, a piece that I've read over and over. Dear Students, We Didn't Even Get to Say Goodbye.

And then I saw this thread from Jessica Kirkland.  Read the whole thread and then follow her because she has lots of good posts during this time. I've been reading these words over and over again.

And then this (I can't find the link but this says so much.  I've always been proud and humbled to be part of this group we call teachers. And this....this is what we do.

I'm so happy to be part of so many incredible teaching communities as we figure this out together and take care of our kids and each other during this very difficult time.

Poetry Friday -- That Unexpected Something

Photo via Unsplash

Not silence, but close:

No noise wafts from the freeway

Just the trees dripping

©Mary Lee Hahn

Ron Padgett has a poem, "Advice to Young Writers." In it, he advises writers to "find/that unexpected something..." 

When I think back on the day today, my unexpected something has to be the silence this morning as I walked in the dark. Usually, I can hear traffic on the nearby freeway. Not today. Usually, there are lots of cars on the street -- early birds heading to work. Not today. Today, the unexpected extraordinary thing was the silence. All I could hear were the trees dripping from yesterday's delugenous (my invented word) rains.

Be sure to follow the link to Padgett's poem. You'll see that he's got more to say on the subject, and the ending might make you snort, so put your tea down.

Michelle Kogan has the First Full Day of Spring Poetry Friday Roundup today. No matter what, Happy Spring!

Ways I'm Staying Sane

photo via Unsplash

1. Schedule
After 3 hours of school work, I take a break for Creative Time (write, sketch, paint, bake), a non-working half-hour lunch, and a half-hour for chores around the house. After 2 more hours of school work, I break for an hour of reading and an hour outdoors.

2. Exercise
Every morning I exercise (strength and stretching or strength and walking). Every time I get up out of my chair, I also go up and down the basement stairs three times.

3. Chocolate
One piece every morning -- Ghirardelli, Lindt, Dove, or Whole Foods' 365 Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Minis.

Moderation, pacing, and patience.

Rollercoaster

photo via Unsplash

In the course of a day, I rollercoaster from "this is scary/unnerving/overwhelming" to "this is such an exciting opportunity!" Over and over again. 

I'm doing my best to enjoy the ride and stay focused on the exciting opportunity we have ahead of us. This post by Seth Godin gives me hope that some of the changes in the way we "do school" can be lasting and positive. Here's the bit I like the most from his column:

"If you want to do a lecture, do a lecture, but that’s prize-based education, not real learning. If people simply wanted to learn what you were teaching, they wouldn’t have had to wait for your lecture (or pay for it). They could have looked it up online. 

But if you want to create transformative online learning, then allow people to learn together with each other. 

Connect them. 

Create conversations."

I brought home a few things from my desk to set out on a corner of the kitchen table. Each of these items has a person and a story behind them that will help keep me grounded. The poem by Wendell Berry has never felt so spot-on.

Now it's time to plan for some connections and conversations. Now I get down to the real work of making this "impeded stream" sing.

The Importance of Community

photo via Unsplash

Yesterday we did our regular weekly grocery shopping. At the big national chain store, there was ample evidence of panic buying and stockpiling. Nearly every aisle had empty shelves and shoppers kept their heads down and their eyes on their lists or their phones.

Contrast that with the experience at our small, local, independent grocery store. People were acting like they live in a community: folks were taking what they needed and leaving enough for others. People were smiling and chatting with neighbors and with the clerks we all know so well.

Never downplay the importance of community.

The Things That Matter

photo via Unsplash

I saw a tweet this morning encouraging us all to be historians -- open our notebooks and capture these times on paper in a format most likely to be "pass down-able." We should record our responses, our feelings, our points of view. I'm going to do that, AND I'm going to log bits of the journey with distance learning here as well. I started with my (very rough) poem, which was written Thursday and shared yesterday.

Here are some thoughts from the last day of face-to-face learning yesterday:

More than anything, my students crave the assurance that some semblance of our routines will continue. Will we have read aloud? Yes! I can do that with Screencastify. Will we do Poetry Friday? Yes! We can find poems online (especially at The Poem Farm) and share them with Flipgrid. Will we have morning announcements (my Social Justice Club wrote the features for Women's History Month)? Yes! I have access to the doc with the Women's History features and I can share them with Screencastify or FlipGrid. Word of the Day? Yes! Birthday ritual (singing in 7 languages) for the two who will have birthdays? Yes!

On Monday, we will receive direction from Central Office and begin working on the nuts and bolts of how to make Distance Learning happen. No matter what, I'll work to keep our routines intact.

Poetry Friday -- Uncertainty

photo via Unsplash

Twenty Questions in Three Voices With No Answers

Can I sleep in every day?
Can I play video games all day?
Who will take care of me?

How will I feed my children?
Who will care for them?
What if I lose my job?

Who will feed and care for my students?
How will we fill this gap in their learning?
How can we help?

Why are they taking away all the fun things?
How come we can't have our carnival?
Why is this happening?

How will I feed my children?
Who will care for them?
What if I lose my job?

How will we fill this gap in their learning?

Will testing season be cancelled?

How can we help?

How can we help?

How can we help?

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020

At this point, I know as much as you do. Ohio schools are closed for three weeks starting Monday. It will be relatively easy for me -- no child care, internet access, lots of books to read, a garden to tend, a sorely neglected house to clean, art supplies, writer's notebook, April Poetry Month project to concoct. But for our families...

There's nothing we can do right now except wait and see. Will we be required to provide distance learning? Will our students have the support to do any of the activities we send home? How will our free/reduced lunch children be fed? How can we help?

I've missed the Poetry Friday community for the past few weeks. I cleared the last of my big hurdles this week with the publishing of the Casting for Recovery Ohio online auction. Check it out and bid, if you're so moved!

This week's Poetry Friday Roundup is at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme. Thanks, Matt! And good luck with Madness!Poetry.

Let's Dance!

Let's Dance!
by Valerie Bolling
illustrated by Maine Diaz
Boyds Mills Press, March 2020
review copy provided by the publisher

With a cast of characters as diverse as the world of dance itself, and a rhyming text that just begs to get you up and moving, this book is going to be a favorite to read aloud or read alone. It's got my favorites -- fabulous endpapers (featuring rainbow colored dancing shoes and instruments), and back matter that gives more information about the dances: Flamenco from Spain, Kathak from India, Irish Stepdancing, the Long-Sleeve dance from China, the Kuku from West Africa, the Cha-Cha from Cuba, and the more familiar breakdancing, line dancing, disco and ballet.

"Tappity-tap

Fingers snap

Turn, twirl

Twist, swirl

Jiggity-jig

Zig-zag-zig"

Marilyn Singer's Feel the Beat: Dance Poems that Zing from Salsa to Swing would make a fabulous companion book. If you wanted to do a whole study of dance, you could use A Mighty Girl's list of picture books featuring dance.

Welcome to A Year of Reading, Valerie! Happy Book Birthday on March 3!

Valerie Bolling has been an educator for over 25 years and a writer since age 4. She is a graduate of Tufts University and Columbia University, Teachers College and currently works as an Instructional Coach with middle and high school teachers.

In addition to writing picture books, Valerie writes a Monthly Memo for teachers that she publishes on Twitter, and she has been published in The National Writing Project’s Quarterly and NESCBWI News. Recently, she had a poem accepted for publication by Cricket Media.

Valerie is a member of NCTE, SCBWI, the NESCBWI Equity and Inclusion Committee, the Authors Guild, the WNDB Mentorship Program, #12X12PB, 2020 Diverse Debuts, 20/20 Vision Picture Books, and a picture book critique group.

Valerie and her husband live in Connecticut and enjoy traveling, hiking, reading, going to the theater, and dancing.



Karen has the Poetry Friday roundup at her "Blog With the Shockingly Clever Title."

Poetry Friday: Election Security

via Unsplash

"Who will stop the people who want to cheat?" 

-- Tabatha Yeatts

I joined Tabatha in writing Election Security poems this week. I managed a nonet, but I have two others still struggling to leave draft form. One features a squirrel burying acorns, and another that will double as a response to Buffy's DMC challenge, if I can just figure out the last stanza!


Your Vote Only Counts If It’s Counted (A Nonet)

Your
ballot:
analog,
not digital,
not ephemeral.
In your hand. Palpable.
A vote that will be counted.
An actual piece of paper
holding officials responsible.

© 2020 Mary Lee Hahn

Cheriee has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Library Matters.

Poetry Friday -- When They See You

Via Unsplash

Valentine Letter From Shadiya

I Love you so much
I ned you so much Miss Hahn
I nau you is so tieard
because I see yor pekchar in the book
I want show you your pekchar in 2018
You is so nice Miss Hahn
I see yor pekchar in the book
my firend has the book
you is so difrend in 2018 and 2020
I see you
and I see you is so tieard
if you ned hilpp
I can hilpp you.


Shadiya was new to the U.S. this fall. She is from Kurdistan, and speaks a rare dialect of Kurdish that has left her linguistically isolated in ways that none of our other EL students experience. There are no bilingual aides available to help her navigate our world. Every bit of English and our 5th grade curriculum that she has conquered has been won with grit and determination.

She must have always had this big heart we see in her letter to me, and it gives me comfort that the harsh reality of her isolation has not made her bitter and withdrawn. Rather, it has sweetened her already good nature like the boiling down of maple sap to make syrup. She begins and ends every day by giving me a hug. She keeps me centered and helps me remember why I do what I do.

Thank you, Shadiya. Yes, I am "so tieard" this year. But where would I be without you?

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope someone touches your heart like mine has been touched! Check out the Poetry Friday Roundup at TeacherDance.

My Eclectic Reading Life

Kent State
by Deborah Wiles
Scholastic, April 21, 2020
review copy provided by the publisher

This is an amazing book that belongs in every high school library, every high school US History course, every HS American Lit course, every high school student's hands.

It's greatest power is that it is told from multiple points of view represented by different fonts (not quite verse novel, not quite script). There can never be one single accounting of a moment in history and that was never more true than this one. This was an important, galvanizing moment for young people of that time to work together and make changes. We can only hope this book will help this generation to do the same. This history of youth activism is one we definitely want to be repeated.

HiLo: All the Pieces Fit

by Judd Winick

Random House Books for Young Readers, February 4, 2020

A very satisfying ending to the HiLo story line. All the pieces do indeed fit, and as usual, the story is filled with big truths. (Don't despair! A new book comes out in 2021!)

For popular "next in the series" books like this, I get first dibs! When I take this into the classroom, we'll draw sticks for the order of the readers. Each reader gets the book for 24 hours and then must pass it on.

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
by Robert Dugoni
Audible Audiobook

This is my current listen. It's our book club book, and I started it without reading any reviews or synopses. I'm loving it. This book has lots to say about the power of family and friends, about discrimination, and about the lingering effects of bullying.

Poetry Friday -- Some Things Never Change

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was born on July 3, 1860

The Socialist and the Suffragist

by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Said the Socialist to the Suffragist:
“My cause is greater than yours!
You only work for a Special Class,
We work for the gain of the General Mass,
Which every good ensures!”

Said the Suffragist to the Socialist:
“You underrate my Cause!
While women remain a Subject Class,
You never can move the General Mass,
With your Economic Laws!”

Said the Socialist to the Suffragist:
“You misinterpret facts!
There is no room for doubt or schism
In Economic Determinism–
It governs all our acts!”

Said the Suffragist to the Socialist:
“You men will always find
That this old world will never move
More swiftly in its ancient groove
While women stay behind!”

“A lifted world lifts women up,”
The Socialist explained.
“You cannot lift the world at all
While half of it is kept so small,”
The Suffragist maintained.

The world awoke, and tartly spoke:
“Your work is all the same:
Work together or work apart,
Work, each of you, with all your heart–
Just get into the game!”

This poem is in the public domain.

Does this bickering sound familiar? 

"MY side is right!" 

"No, MY side is right!!"

I'm with the world -- "Stop fighting and get to work -- make things better!" (...she said in her sternest, tartest Teacher Voice.)

Jone has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week at Deowriter.

Poetry Friday -- Webinar

Just a quick post this week to invite you to this webinar. You do not have to be a member of NCTE to take part!

Join the National Council of Teachers of English and the Center for Learning, Literacy, and Engagement at the Library of Congress on Wednesday, March 11 at 4 pm ET for a webinar conversation with award-winning poet Willie Perdomo as he talks to educators about his life as a poet. Perdomo will introduce his own approach to writing, share and discuss two of his poems, and dedicate ample time for Q&A. Willie Perdomo is the author of four poetry collections, most recently The Crazy Bunch, recently named one of New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2019. He teaches at Phillips Exeter Academy.

 Kat Apel has the Poetry Friday Roundup this week.

Poetry Friday -- Schooled

foggy view of the sheep farm by our school

It was foggy yesterday.
On my early morning walk,
I considered ways to describe fog.
None were new:
it shrouds and blankets and conceals,
it muffles and oozes,
smooth and thick.
Of course it sneaks,
famously tiptoeing.
It is pensive, introverted,
secretive, and calming.

Later, I asked my students to describe fog.
Suddenly, fog was new again:
clouds too lazy to float,
earth auditioning for a scary movie,
floating water,
clouds coming down to say hi.

At that moment,
I was the fog
and they were the sun,
illuminating new ways
to see the world.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2020



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

Poetry Friday for A New Year

This gapingvoid graphic.

This podcast review of Auld Lang Syne by John Green, for all the AKR fans out there. (Grab a hankie before you listen...)

This New Year poem by Barbara Crooker.

And this book...

16 Words: William Carlos Williams & "The Red Wheelbarrow" 
by Lisa Rogers
illustrated by Chuck Groenink
Schwartz & Wade (September 24, 2019)

This is a book about how we write poetry every moment we're alive, awake, and aware. It's also a book about how to read poetry. How to imagine into a poem everything that shapes 16 words into an entire world.

Now it's time to CONTINUE over to Carol's Corner for an inspirational poem by Maya Angelou and this week's Poetry Friday roundup.

Poetry Friday: Thanks

THANKS by W.S. Merwin
This poem starts out easy, but it gets complicated real quick. Kind of like life. In her commentary, Tracy K. Smith says of the poem,"It insists upon a fierce form of moral reckoning."

Nonetheless, I'm giving thanks for YOU, as well as for every bit of this complicated messy achingly beautiful world. Listen to the podcast and read the whole poem here.

Thanks, also, for Michelle Kogan's POWER filled Poetry Friday Roundup. The last roundup of the year. I almost missed this one...what day is it today? Lookie there! It's Friday!!

The January - June 2020 roundup list is in our sidebar for the grabbing (or message me and I'll send you the code) and on the Kidlitosphere website.

Poetry Friday -- The Power of Short Writing

I found this great article that reminded me about the power of short writing. SHORT writing seemed like just the thing for this past SHORT week and its potentially SHORT attention spans. It was also a good way to keep working on one of my main goals as a teacher of writing -- I want my students to be fluent as writers. I want them to be able to get an idea and run with it, to take risks, to get words on the page...and then go back and make those words communicate more clearly and effectively.

We started the week by writing 50 word summaries of the read aloud we finished last week, Indian No More by Charlene Willing Mcmanis.

I think JC did a great job with her summary! She is an EL who has only been in the US (from Hong Kong) for five months.

I love GP's themes, especially, "No matter what road you get, you still have to drive." I'm thinking he's heard that one at home!

This one is my favorite. HM clearly has some challenges with his writing conventions, but his thinking is SO intact. He found some sketches of butterfly chrysalises in his writer's notebook, from back in the fall when we watched caterpillars grow and change. He drew them on his paper, but I wouldn't let him get away with randomness. I told him he had to connect them to the story. And he did. He so did. The butterfly stage represents the family's happiness on the reservation. The pupa stage represents their sadness and struggles. But after the pupa stage comes another butterfly, so they WILL be happy again. And "they will always stay Indian."

After our 50 word summaries, we went on to Get Curious -- Encyclopedia Edition. I gave each child (or pair) one volume of our classroom set of encyclopedias. The assignment was to 1. Browse, 2. Get Curious, 3. Take Notes, 4. Write a haiku. Here's one by ZA about Kimchi.

Kimchi’s important
It is traditionally
Used in Korea

ZA

Next, we did Get Curious -- NewsELA Edition. JW read articles about the impeachment process (mouths of babes, my friends...mouths of babes), and JF read about the tourists who were killed by a volcano in New Zealand.

Donald Trump is bad.
Donald Trump should be Impeached.
Donald Trump is bad.

JW

14 die on New Zealand’s White Island During Volcanic Eruption

December 9th
The blast left 30 people hurt
Words were things like help

JF

Here's to SHORT WRITING on almost the SHORTEST DAY of the year! Buffy is hosting the "Almost Solstice" edition of the Poetry Friday Roundup today.

Teaching is hard.

Teaching is hard. No, wait. Let me rephrase that. Raising up twenty-seven 10- and 11-year-olds to be kind, responsible citizens is hard. Doing that makes adding and subtracting fractions with common denominators look like a piece of cake.

We make mistakes. (At least I do.) But hopefully, we also reflect, and talk to our unpaid counselors (brother, husband, friends), and come back the next day ready to do a better job.

This is year 36 for my tradition of making cookies for my class to decorate. And this year, I made the mistake of holding cooking decorating over their heads as if it is a reward for good behavior.

And it's not.

And it never has been.

Cookie decorating is a gift I give to my students. It's a gift of my talents and my heart. It has always been and always should be given with joy and love.

Like a parent, I must compartmentalize my disapproval of and frustration with a child's behavior, and my love for the child as a growing, learning young human. As an adult, I must model for my students how to criticize constructively while loving unconditionally.

I'll stop there, because I need to go iron my Pajama Day pajamas and get to work.

Poetry Friday -- The Grace of the World

Vermont, 2015

The Peace of Wild Things

by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief.

(read the rest here, and take a few moments to listen to him reading the poem)

Impeachment, global warming, violence, mass extinctions, greedy corporations. But also Greta Thunberg...and art that has lasted 44,000 years...and the peace of wild things. These all give me some kind of hope for some kind of future. Plus, for the short term, we've got a Poetry Friday Roundup Schedule for January-June 2020!

For the even shorter term, head over to Liz Steinglass' blog right now for this week's Poetry Friday Roundup!