Valentine for...

Naomi Shihab Nye's poem, Valentine for Earnst Mann, has always been one of my favorites poems.  I first heard it in a workshop years ago when Georgia Heard shared it with us.  And since then, I've become a fan.  Her poem "Famous" is also a favorite of mine (thank you Donalyn Miller for sending it to me just when I needed it most)!

    Valentine is one of those pieces of poetry that has become memorable for me as a reader and writer.   I wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day today.  Why not write your loved one a poem, or two.  Wrap your words with a bow across a page just for yourself.  Or better yet, write a poem and "put it in your pocket" and hand one to a stranger you meet today!  What a surprise that would be...

Valentine for Ernest Mann

You can't order a poem like you order a taco.
Walk up to the counter, say, "I'll take two"
and expect it to be handed back to you
on a shiny plate.

Still, I like your spirit.
Anyone who says, "Here's my address,
write me a poem," deserves something in reply.
So I'll tell you a secret instead:
poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,
they are sleeping. They are the shadows
drifting across our ceilings the moment
before we wake up. What we have to do
is live in a way that lets us find them.

Once I knew a man who gave his wife
two skunks for a valentine.
He couldn't understand why she was crying.
"I thought they had such beautiful eyes."
And he was serious. He was a serious man
who lived in a serious way. Nothing was ugly
just because the world said so. He really
liked those skunks. So, he re-invented them
as valentines and they became beautiful.
At least, to him. And the poems that had been hiding
in the eyes of skunks for centuries
crawled out and curled up at his feet.

Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us
we find poems. Check your garage, the odd sock
in your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite.
And let me know.

This poem is published in Paul Janeczko's book The Place My Words are Looking For, which is a wonderful collection of poetry and advice from poets.  I'd forgotten what a great book it is.  This book and Seeing the Blue Between are two important books to have in our collections.  Helping young writers find that "place" is something I think we need to focus on more... a child's writing place isn't necessarily found in a "power paragraph" or a "five paragraph essay."  With our state tests looming around the bend, let's not forget the real reason writers write.  Let's not forget to help children learn to fall in love with words and language and their own creativity.  Let's not forget to read beautiful poetry out loud to students.  Let's not forget to model our own writing and the ways our writing gives us a voice.
     Happy Valentine's Day.  And, thank you Naomi Shihab Nye for your beautiful voice and for sharing your words with us.  I can't think of a better way to start today!

Happy Birthday - Jane Yolen

Birthdays come and birthdays go... but a February birthday, well, that's something extra special.  Who was born in February?  
     Lots of folks, famous and infamous.  My sister Joy, who turns 82 on February 13th (she was the subject of one of my very first blogs).  Lincoln.  Washington.  Clark Gable.  Langston Hughes.  Cindy Crawford.  Larry the Cable Guy.  Tina Louise (Ginger!).  Sarah Palin.  Mark Spitz.  Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Ida Lupino (For all you movie buffs).  Jim Backus (The millionaire).  Longfellow.  Bernadette Peters.  Dinah Shore (golf, anyone?).  Johnny Cash.  Carrot Top (really?).  Judy Blume.  Oh, and there's me, on February 20th!
     But I can't let February zip by without wishing one of my favorite authors the happiest of birthdays.  Today is Jane Yolen's Birthday!  Of all the people born in February, I owe her more than gratitude.  I owe her a standing ovation.  Without her dedication to story, and language, and children, my teaching life wouldn't be as rich or as  blessed.  So, I chose to wish Jane "Happy Birthday" with a little blog tribute.  As I reread my older posts, I noticed that I've blogged about her several times (12/9/10, 10/12/10, 8/10/10, 8/17/10, 10/14/09), but wanted to once again thank her!
     Today, I read All Those Secrets of the World to my students in celebration of her birthday.  As I shared, I found several emails tucked safely inside (correspondence between Ms. Yolen and me from 2002).  I was having trouble finding copies of All Those Secrets of the World and Before the Storm and I emailed to ask her about the availability (subject line:  A search, A request, A frustration).  She graciously offered to send me a copy of both books stating, "Cover price, and I will take care of the postage.  Autograph is free!"  As I read the emails to my students, they were in awe, "You emailed Jane Yolen and she ANSWERED!"  It was the beginning of a wonderful read at the beginning of writer's workshop.  We did a memory write after I read the book.  Several students wrote wonderful pieces.
     Tucked inside was the memory write I wrote about our daughter, Anneke, on January 27, 2003, it read:  "I remember the day you were born.  You came swimming out of your mother with arms and elbows flying.  And we were so happy.  We had our little girl and you were beautiful.  You cried until your mom held you close and the sound of her voice made you stop and look and listen.  We both stared at you and couldn't believe how perfect you were, how absolutely lovely your skin was, and how soft and cuddly you were... we were amazed!"  Anneke is now 20.
     Today I wrote:  "Oompah, pah!  Oompah, pah!  I miss tuba sounds floating through the house.  The tuba has paved the path for more eclectic noise--that of an electric guitar.  Instead of John Phillip Sousa, now all I hear reverberating through the house is AC/DC, Metallica, and periodically, The News Boys.  

     I long for those innocent days when Jens's musical career was more about playing marches in bass clef rather than raucous strumming of the bass itself!"

     "Turn down the bass!"  I yell up the stairs.  But he doesn't listen (can he hear?).  Oompah, pah has transformed into "Drrrrerrr, drreeereee, drreee, derreee!"  The back beat has changed in clarity--with the hidden tune that of "Seek and Destroy" rather than "Ode to Joy!"

     In the concert band, I could always hear Jens.  His "oompahs" holding the beat of each piece, each song.  His cheeks puffed as he filled the twisted labyrinth of the tuba with air.  In  the rock band, all I see is head shaking, all I hear are riffs, and all I understand are the mumbled versions of what was once someone's poetry.  

     Screaming has replaced clarity for these old ears.  BUT, what hasn't changed is the love Jens finds in his music.  That's the joy!"
     So, I must thank Jane Yolen, for giving me the nudge to write about my own children.  When I have my students do a "memory" write (really to build and strengthen our writing muscle), they briefly jot possible thoughts in their notebooks as I read the story.  I give them a few minutes to chat with a friend to "get their writing out into the air." Then together, we spend 10 minutes in our notebooks, jotting fodder for future work.  Today was such a day.
      And, so again... Happy Birthday, Ms. Yolen!  Happy Birthday to you!

 -------------

By the way... it was a tough job narrowing down from so many titles, but here are my favorite Jane Yolen books.  Which ones do you love?

 

At the Write Place...

Sitting in the general session at CCIRA on Thursday morning turned out to be one of the highlights of our local reading conference.  Little did I know, Kevin O'Malley was sitting at my table.  And, to my surprise, I soon discovered he was doing more than just listening!  As the keynote spoke, he was drawing on a brown drawing pad, chuckling, and creating the most magnificent sketches.  Next to the pad, he had several drawing pens and white Prism colors at the ready.  I was enthralled!  He handed one drawing to Stevi Quate (seated on my left), then drew another and handed it to the lady (retired teacher from Brush, Colorado) on my left.  He handed me this drawing... Poor little Timmy!  I was stunned, not only was it beautiful, it was brilliant!
     As the keynote concluded, he handed a final drawing to a woman who walked in at the end of the keynote (it was of a rooster and I secretly hoped he would hand it to me and say, "Have another!").  He was absolutely passionate, engaged, and thoroughly enjoying himself!  After the keynote, we chatted a bit about how he had always drawn while he was learning (does that speak to the doodling our children like to do in their notebooks?) and it was how he "survived" school.  I started thinking about often teachers might squelch a student's need to doodle, to draw, to create.

     Kevin just won the 2010 Colorado Children's Book Award for his book Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude.  On Friday, when I returned to school (my wife went on Friday to CCIRA, we tag-teamed), I discovered more than half of my students had read it... and loved it!  He had two other illustrators work on the book with him.  He drew the main characters, but the publisher enlisted two other illustrators... one to draw the girl's story ("because if I drew her, she would have looked just like me, but wearing a pink dress") and one to draw the boy's version ("a marvelous illustrator who captured the story magnificently").  In fact, one of my students read it to us and we did an impromptu reader's theatre!

     Then my fourth graders told me about all the Miss Malarkey books that he illustrated, which many of them had checked out from our library.  We also rediscovered that he wrote and illustrated one of our favorite read aloud books, Velcome!  If you haven't read it to your students, get your best Boris Karloff voice ready and try it out.  The perfect book to read to your students, letting them see that prosody plays such a crucial role in the opportunities we have to share books with other readers... they love the part of the book when it's time to throw a cough drop at the coffin and the coffin stops!  Stop reading if you are scared... such a fun text to read and it inspires some play on word writing from students!  

     Another hilarious book by O'Malley is Gimme Cracked Corn & I Will Share.  It's full of rather slapstick writing (which after meeting him, I see why) and it makes me laugh!  One night chicken had a dream about buried treasure--a treasure trove of corn.  I enjoy the playfulness of the language, the quirkiness of the illustrations, and the fun of this book.  
     You never know when you're going to be in the "write place at the write time"... and on Thursday morning I chose just the right seat!  I am off to buy a frame to protect my drawing... and to search my library for more of Kevin O'Malley's books!

Growing Up Laughing

From 1966 until 1971, "That Girl" was a regular on our console black and white television (it was a Sears model and boy did we think it was fancy).  Does anyone remember the "That Girl" episode where Roger took Ann Marie to a party and told her to mingle?  She walked around saying, "Mingle... mingle, mingle... mingle!"  I still laugh when I think about that one.  And, I don't know why it sticks in my head!  There's something endearing about sitcoms of the 1960s; I miss them!
     Today, while I was wandering the bookstore, I picked up Marlo Thomas's book Growing Up Laughing: My Story and the Story of Funny.  I sat in a comfy chair with a cup of coffee and, for the next hour and a half, I was hooked!  The creator of Free to Be... You and Me and other "best selling" books has documented a creative look at her childhood through the eyes of the "laughter" that surrounded her family.  But, of course, if Danny Thomas was your father, you would have to laugh!
     What I enjoyed about the book was the fact that she included anecdotes and memories about Bob Hope, Sid Caesar, George Burns, and Milton Berle (and other famous comedians of her father's era).  Imagine having them as family friends... imagine the dinner parties!  I laughed out loud at some of the jokes and stories she included... I guess because I remember watching these same comedians when I was growing up... still love catching them on re-runs or You Tube.  Watching comedians work their magic was something that bonded our family as we sat and watched television together (well, that and Gunsmoke, Carol Burnett, and Bonanza).   My parents loved a good joke and we laughed together a lot!
     Thomas includes interviews with many of today's "hot" comedians... which is an added bonus.  Among her stories of growing up with the greats and her family memories, she intersperses interviews with Jerry Seinfeld, Ben Stiller, Jay Leno, Tina Fey, and several other contemporary comedians... all of them share how they were influenced by the same actors and comedians that Marlo Thomas had been, except that she knew the "greats" personally via her father!  Who doesn't love a good joke?  Who doesn't love a good story?
     Not my typical blog post, but I certainly could see using bits and pieces of this book as a mentor text for writers.  Imagine students adding tidbits and "interviews" with family members and friends as part of a memoir study.  I think it would add a delightful twist to a study of memoir. 
     I may be adding Marlo Thomas's book to my "have to buy it" list!  "That Girl" sure got me thinking about a new twist to make memoir writing come alive... for myself and my students.

A Recent Professional Development Day with Administrators...

Captive audience, no?

Two weeks ago, a snowstorm (albeit slight in Colorado terms) co-mingled with a planned day of professional development, so I ended up working with a group of school administrators in Missouri.  I was planning to work with a wonderful group of elementary teachers who are working to blend thinking strategy instruction into the work they are doing with writers in writer's workshop.  Instead, the principal called me while I was on my way to the airport explaining that school had been canceled in the district in which I was scheduled to work.  So, he asked, "Would you mind working with a group of about 20 elementary administrators instead?  We have to come to school and would love the opportunity."  Without hesitating, I immediately agreed.  
     We forget that administrators need wise professional development just as much as we do.  I thought about the plans I had already organized for teachers.  Some aspects of the day would work.  I knew I would invite them to take part in a reader's workshop (I worked on inferring with a meaty piece of text).  I knew I would have them them take a blank model of the workshop structure and identify three things, "What would children be doing?  What would teachers be doing?  What would I (as administrator) be doing?" during crafting, composing, and reflecting.  So, I did a bit more planning on the plane and when I landed and got to my hotel, I immediately "tweeted," emailed, and called some of my colleagues for suggestions. 
     Karen Szymusiak (OH) tweeted a great suggestion, "Talk to them about the hallmarks of good reading and writing workshop.  What do you look for in an effective literacy-based classroom."  
     Franki Sibberson (OH) and Carol Wilcox (CO) both suggested I use conferring as a basis for discussion, "How can principals utilize the same theories of a good reading conference when talking about instruction?"   
     Donalyn Miller (TX) replied, "Administrators must understand what best practices look like in order to help us."   
     Lori Conrad (CO) suggested asking, "What does a reader look like at ______ (insert name) elementary?" 
     Using their suggestions as guiding questions, I framed my day.  Then I had a long telephone conversation with Dana Berg (WY) about the ways her former principal, Christine Frude (our friend who is now retired, splitting time between WY and FL), provided and encouraged opportunities for ongoing, systemic, and thoughtful professional growth (I've worked with their school for six years).  
     Ahh... when collective minds come together!  The result... together, adminstrators and I spend the morning talking about reader's workshop... focusing on specific rituals and routines, strategy instruction, and some of the nitty-gritty aspects of reader's workshop.
     We ended our day using, in part, a document my colleague Missy Matthews (CO) and I had created entitled, "What do I expect from someone facilitating a group of learners in my classroom?"  To it, I added the results of my conversations with friends and colleagues.  Here is the result:

Pondering:  How can my administrator best support literacy work?

 

During classroom visits:

• name the things I may not have noticed I did – name the brilliance
• ask questions that will encourage my best thinking
• talk with me before and after formal visits… debrief and plan… know my classroom and who I am as a teacher
• focus the prebrief and debrief on specific areas of instruction... ask me about the “data” I hope to glean from our visits
• provide feedback – 'here's another brilliant thing I noticed that you did'
• together decide on a focus -- one or two 'look fors'
• be prepared, on time and friendly
• let me in on the purpose of the visit
• write my students and me a note after the visit
• bring calmness, humor and sincerity to the visit
• understand the workshop model and where we are on the gradual release of responsibility model
• notice underlying rituals and routines, and bring them to the forefront of the discussion
• help me name specific observations – beyond “I liked how…” or “Johnny seemed to be…”
• understand thinking strategy instruction

In terms of Professional Development:

• understand how children think and learn
• provide opportunities and time to talk with other colleagues
• provide resources – books, fund workshops, etc. 
• focus the prebrief and debrief on specific areas of instruction
• be creative in scheduling large blocks of time for literacy
• be an active participant in the learning process
• differentiate – look for ways to meet specific needs
• eliminate “yes, buts” – encourage collegiality
• communicate
• take it slowly – know that growing takes time
• model the role of a learner – look for growth opportunities
• step out of administrator role into role of a learner
• build systems for continued growth
• focus energy on the “naysayers”
• act as a political “filter”
• be present – not just “nice” – understand instruction
• participate in study groups – provide resources and time

Not the actual....

.... administrators!

     Our day turned into a productive day of learning, a day of great conversation, and a day of professional development that can't help but impact the work principals do with their staffs.  In fact, several of the participants took their learning and used it with their staffs that same week.  They appreciated the time to talk, to ask questions, and to learn alongside their peers.  And, who could ask for anything more?  A perfect snowy day! 

Home, Home on the Range...

In my classroom, I have a basket of books labeled "About Country Life"... and in it are all my favorite "cowboy" books.  When I was little, I remember saying, "I want to be a cowboy when I grow up, just like Curtis" (he's my brother-in-law and I've written about him many times, if you search my blog archives you can read all about him... and, by the way, he's still hanging in there).  Mrs. Cannon had our entire class interviewed in "Heckart's Market" by the local radio station.  And, something about that six-year-old dream still sticks with me.  I haven't ridden a horse in years, I haven't helped brand cattle since I was about 16-years-old, and can you imagine what a pair of size 13 cowboy boots would look like?  But, there's a part of me that still remembers... especially the songs!  I'm still a country buff and loves "old" country music and I'm partial to the Sons of the Pioneers. 
     I also happen to love Deborah Hopkinson's work.  In this book, she writes a delightful "biography" based on the life of John Avery Lomax, a "musicologist."  She brilliantly captures his life growing up in Texas and his love for music.  John Lomax didn't grow up to be a "cowboy" either, but he did grow up to be a searcher of songs.  He was a music hunter (sounds like a good show on TLC, eh?)!  Traveling, collecting, recording... he was a collector of folk songs!  Lomax attended the University of Texas and later Harvard.  He focused his efforts on documenting the cowboy songs that drifted through this childhood memories... and even attempted to collect recordings of them being sung by real cowboys.  Now that's a hobby! 
     And, I'm so glad Deborah Hopkinson captured his story... in detail, based on fact, and brilliantly inviting!

Jean Fritz... 95 years and still ticking....

What are you going to be doing when you're 95 years old?  Breathing, perhaps?  Living?  I hope so.
     If you're Jean Fritz you'll be celebrating the publication of your 45th book.  This month Jean Fritz added Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider to her repertoire.  In this book, she writes a detailed account of Alexander Hamilton's life... from his arriving in New York to Study from the West Indies, to his political career, to his death in a duel.  
     Jean Fritz has won many awards for her writing, including the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award and the Newbery Honor.  I've always enjoyed reading her writing... Shhh! We're Writing the Constitution to The Secret Life of Pocahontas to Surprising Myself to The Cabin Faced West.  Homesick: My Own Story her autobiographical "story" of her young life is nothing less than brilliant.  
     Ms. Fritz has found her niche and has brought history alive for many young readers.  I'm amazed at her ability to capture history in such a rich and varied way.  She once said that she researches like a reporter... she looks for a scoop, notes clues and details, digs deep into her subjects and the result is her incredible list of books, many of which have become part of our classroom libraries.  She writes about real people and searches journals and letters for "real" dialogue.  She only uses the actual words of her subjects to recreate history and making it accessible for her readers.  And, she often surprises us with humor and unique situations that even the most "adult" biographer skips.
     As she begins her 95th year, I think we need to all tip our collective hats with a huge "thank you" and wish her continued blessings.  I can't wait to read Alexander Hamilton... I wonder what secrets she'll reveal?  She always does...