Poem a Day 8.

The last one!    Today’s challenge is to mentor yourself after a favorite poem.  It could be one of the poems people have shared in our challenge or it could be your self-portrait poem or it could be anything else.  When you share your poem, please identify your mentor poem + what you emulated [...]

Poem a Day 7.

Today’s challenge is to think COLOR.  Write a poem inspired by color.  It could be your favorite color, a happy color, or a color that represents your day (hey . . . that would be including symbolism too!).   Happy Writing.

Ruth’s Slice of Life: Walking.

I used the same topic for my slice as I did my PAD.  (Hey, Ruth, where are your PADs?  I’ve collected them and put them together to share on the last day of the challenge as inspiration to others to “publish” their PADs.)  So my slice . . .
Tonight, after finally coming downstairs from the [...]

Day 100, Swine Flu, etc.

Tomorrow marks the 100th Day of President Obama’s Administration. Today also marks the day that our school stepped up our prevention of the Swine Flu. (Click here for an acrostic poem I wrote about hand washing and how it relates to the prevention of disease.) And those are just two of the many [...]

Poem a Day 7

The challenge today lies in creating an acrostic poem which is meaningful.  As opposed to using a single word for each letter, attempt to string phrases together which still achieves an acrostic poem, but also includes meaning.  Here are some Stacey and I have written in the past.  To further the challenge, in honor of [...]

The Final SOLSC for April 2009!

Share a slice of your day with us.  All you have to do is write it out and then link it to this post by leaving a comment.

Poem in Your Pocket Day Is Coming!

One of my colleagues and I collaborated to create a bulletin board for the 4th and 5th graders to use in case they come without a poem in their pockets on Thursday. (My colleague Kirsten created those awesome pockets below). Click here to find out which poems I selected to put inside of [...]

Memoir Monday Meets Poem a Day 5

Let’s merge the two!  Perhaps use a repeating line such as I remember . . .

Happy Writing!

 Link your memory-related post to this one by leaving a comment on this post.

Please share your memories with us today and every Monday.

Conventions Celebration

I spoke with my student teacher about a half hour ago. She’s designing an assignment for my students to show-off their knowledge of conventions since we’re ending our unit of study (on conventions) this week. Our celebration is set for Friday, but we weren’t sure exactly what their finished piece would look like, [...]

Poem a Day Challenge: 4

Today’s challenge is to attempt some personification.  Can’t wait to see the poems linked via the comments.  Happy writing!

Where Do You Want to Go This Summer?

Professional Development can go hand-in-hand with a summer getaway! Think about seeing a new place and learning something too. Here’s what other readers mentioned as great summertime p.d. opportunities to help you enhance your teaching of writing. Just click on the hyperlink to go straight to the website.

ARIZONA

NWP Professional Writing Retreat [...]

Poem a Day Challenge: 3

For today’s poetry inspiration, put on your poetry glasses and see something in the world in a new way.  Often times this is easiest achieved by using a comparision.  I tried this with my three and five year olds:  Hey guys, how do you think a poet would see those dandeloins?  They look like . [...]

Poem A Day Challenge: 2

Hello Poets!  One of the ways poets create images is by using the senses.  For today’s challenge, write a poem about your favorite season, using as many of the five senses as possible.  (Remember, this suggestion is only for inspiration — you do not have to write a poem about the seasons to share!)
Link your [...]

Stimulus Dollars + Writing Instruction

I, clearly, love the idea Mary Tedrow proposes in her article about investing money in quality writing instruction for our Nation’s students. Please read this article about spending stimulus dollars on writing instruction.    Then, let me know what you think by posting a comment.  Is this where you think a lot of stimulus dollars should [...]

Poem A Day Challenge: 1

Link your poems (or Google Docs) here.  Happy Writing!

Big Picture Series: Poetry Matters.

One of the reasons poetry is so powerful is because of all that can be taught and learned via this genre.  Since typically this genre is short it makes it manageable for students to try new strategies and techniques.  It is also appealing since it takes less time to write a poem, often drafting, revision, [...]

Get Ready!

It’s coming . . .
Eight Days . . .
Eight Poems . . .
Insight into poetry that only comes from being a poet yourself.
Join us for our poetry challenge: 

What?  No blog?  Don’t let that stop you! 
Use Google Docs . . . simply upload your poem to Google Docs and then copy + paste the link in [...]

Action Research Update

Part of the reason I took a blogging break last week was because I was in San Diego presenting with some of my former classmates and instructors at the AERA Conference.  We presented the action research projects we did while we were at Teachers College before an audience of professors.  It was exciting to think [...]

Big Picture Series: Poetry Matters

March 2009’s Voices from the Middle included an article by Georgia Heard entitled “Celestino:  A Tribute to the Healing Power of Poetry. ”  In typical Georgia Heard style, the article is both eloquent and poignant.  Early in the article Heard writes,

One of the reasons to invite poetry into our lives and into the lives of our [...]

Ruth’s Slice of Life: Book Group Discussion

Today the ninth grade class I work with met for a discussion about their books.  They did a phenomenal job!  I stood in awe as I watched the groups come together, students listen and respond to one another, and understandings emerge.  The thoughts in my mind spinning around so quickly they tripped over each other

They [...]

Ruth’s Memoir Monday: Haircut.

A year ago our daughters had their first official haircuts.  My oldest had seven inches cut off and donated to Locks of Love.  Here’s what I remember and realize now . . .
Later that night she said, “I wanted my hair short so it could be like yours, Mommy.”  It stopped me in my tracks.  there was [...]

Slice Away!

It’s time for our Weekly Challenge.  Leave a link to your SOLS by leaving a comment below. 

The Big Picture Series: Poetry Matters.

“I hate poetry,” unfortunately those words were the truth of my existence for many years.  They prevented me from becoming an English major, steering me toward science — give me biology and chemistry, not symbolism and personification.  Embarrassingly, I even taught for a year while still hating poetry.  I had never learned the point of [...]

Memoir Monday

Please link your memoir-ish post to this one by leaving a comment below.

Can “The Fluent Reader” Help Create A More Fluent Writer?

The Reading Specialist in my school recently lent me her copy of The Fluent Reader: Oral Reading Strategies for Building Word Recognition, Fluency, and Comprehension by Timothy V. Rasinski after a brainstorming session we had about ways to help two of the students in my class who have not met the reading benchmark for this [...]