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Poetry Friday October 24, 2008 in poetry, what works | Tags: poetry friday, poetry instruction | 1 comment In all my years of teaching (which count 4 now, thank you very much! ), I have done one thing consistently: Poetry Friday. However, this is the first year that I’ve really been organized about it. Nearly every Friday, I introduce a new form of poetry to my students. With any luck, I have a book that I can read with examples of the poem style. The students and I are building Poetry Portfolios. Some Fridays we devote to organizing our portfolios and finishing unfinished poems. Their portfolios contain a table of contents where they add each form that we study then there is a page with information about each form and a sample of the form. Following that page, they put their own poem from that form. So far, we have studied FIB, Group, Acrostic, and Shape poems. I love teaching poetry because even reluctant poets or poor writers or struggling students can be successful at it. A poem isn’t daunting. It’s short and feels achievable. Some of the poems that have been produced are breathtaking. I’ll share more about this project as the year goes on. So far though, it’s all good. What © 2008 Liza Lee Miller September 26, 2008 in telling tales | 1 comment My students this year are fantastic. There are those among truth about enzyte them that I worry about but by and large they are an easy-to-teach bunch of kids. There are some quirky ones that stand out . . . in a good way. One of them is a huge fan of KISS. Yup, the rock band with the face makeup and all. He loves KISS. Every free write he does is about KISS. I have poems about KISS now and let me tell you, you haven’t really lived until you’ve read a haiku about KISS. Yesterday, he came up to me at the end of the day, all 9 year old seriousness. He had something shoved under his shirt and asked me to guess what he got for his birthday. Well, I couldn’t guess and so he pulled them out . . . KISS deodorant and cologne. Ahhhhhh, I thought. That was that pleasant odor that would waft through the classroom periodically today. He was over the moon about it. Cute kid. Wonder what he’ll be for Halloween! I guess I can only hope that he’s not Gene Simmons and doesn’t stick his tongue out at me while he’s “in character.” September 8, 2008 in what works, writing | 2 comments All is moving forward in my classroom. Math groups are happening. Social Studies is moving forward. Spelling is underway. Reading is progressing. Writing is my big area of focus this year. I want to look back at this year and think that was the year that I really started teaching writing well. Thankfully, some of our stars are aligned. Our district sets benchmark assessments three times a year in different writing genres. This guides our curriculum in writing for the year. The first genre is Personal Narrative. So, we’re moving forward. Today, I started reading to the kids from Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry. It’s a delightful story about an unusual 2nd grade girl who tells stories about herself. At the same time, we started using our 5 subject notebooks to start this unit of study. We started with what the class in the book learns about writing Personal Narrative which is that they need to have a beginning, middle, and an end. They also are about you and you are the main character. The kids got excited about it. Along with all that work, we are doing Poetry every Friday. I’ve done that for three years now. It’s a huge success and I’ve gotten a lot more ideas now about how to go on. We started last week with writing Fib poems. I love them — they are quick and easy to write and the kids really enjoy it. One of the sections in our 5 section notebook will be for poetry lessons. We also intend to cover Summary and Response to Literature. I know that’s only 4 sections — maybe I’ll come up with some else for after the last benchmark. I am gathering books to read for our personal narrative touchstones. I have a few pieces. I’m also gathering resources from around the InterWebs to be get me started. I’ve never been one to feel the need to re-invent the wheel. I’m excited about it. I can sense the kids are excited about it. I know this year won’t be perfect but I also know it will be better than any previous year has been. Buckle up, class, we’re writing now! September 1, 2008 in whatever | No comments Our first week was a survived quite nicely, thank you. As I mentioned, my students are very sweet and very eager to please. They are particularly concerned about making sure I’m happy and that they are doing their jobs. We accomplished a lot this week. Academic highlights included: I’m feeling very optimistic about this year. There are worries, of course. But I think we’re going to have a fun year. On a personal note, I’m very pleased about the way that I’m managing to keep a real balance between home and school so far this year. It was a goal last year and I was somewhat successful at it last year. I’m going to keep working on it this year. Having a family helps me keep that goal clealy in mind. But, it’s not easy. I do, however, have my pretty toenails to keep me on track! August 25, 2008 in whatever | 1 comment So, I survived my first day back. My new class seems . . . and I hate to jinx myself by saying it . . . mellow. Oh, sure, there are chatty kids and blurters and wiggly ones, too. And, of course, there are some with rough home lives that I’ll have to worry about but, my goodness, they were just sweet and mellow and cooperative. Wonder what they’ll be like tomorrow! |