I think that these reading really helped me realize what multi-genre writing was. I guess that I have been doing it in my classroom all along, but didn’t know that it had a specific name. For example, the unit that I am just finishing now in Science, has a unit project. In that unit project, I created a tic-tac-toe assignment based on multi-genre writing. At that time,I didn’t realize that it was called that, but some of the choices were to create a comic strip, write a journal entry, write a children’s book, write a newspaper article, poster, model, myth books, etc. The students had to research a Tsunami, Earthquake, and a Volcano and choose one activity to do with each incorporating required information that I had them include for each. The projects turned out really great. It was a research project, but rather than having the students write a paper, they got to choose three different things incorporating different genres of writing to turn in. I do projects like this because it breaks up the hum-drum research process and gives students opportunities to show off their unique qualities in the presentation of their product.
These readings helped me clarify the difference between autobiography and memoir. For the longest time I thought that they were synonomous. Now I know that an autobiography covers an entire lifetime whereas a memoir focuses on a specific time period in a person’s life. Reading “Boy” was very enjoyable and an easy read. Sometimes it is good to mix those types of books in just to keep it fun.
I am Kilauea
I live in Hawaii
I wonder when my next eruption will be
I hear the worry in the villagers as I begin to rumble
I see the concern on the faces of my visitors
I want to make sure that all of the villagers are safe before I explode again
I am Kilauea
I question the sanity of those who approach my summit
I feel indigestion deep within my magma chambers
I touch the pages of Hawaiian culture
I worry that one day I will create mass chaos
I cry tears of steam and smoke
I understand my power
I am Kilauea
I say that I am hom e to Pele, the Hawaiian Goddess of ancient legends
I believe that one day I will cause massive destruction
I dream of sleeping lying dormant so that no one gets hurt
I try to control my grumblings
I hope to give enough warning to the villagers before something happens
I was once beneath the ocean’s waters
But now I am the mighty Kilauea
S-timulating minds
C-reating opportunities
I-vestigating the unknown
E-vauluating the facts
N-ot always knowing the answers
C-ollaborating with others
E-veryone is a scientist
I really enjoyed reading the selections for this week. As I read them I began to think of ways that I could incorporate poetry into my classroom. I really enjoyed the Mummy Heb-nefert. I have always enjoyed learning about ancient Egypt. It has been an interest of mine since I was in 5th grade. I remember I used to read books about it and try to learn everything I could about what it was like there. I would have loved to read this book back then. I thought of ways that I could use this type of historical or factual writing in my classroom. I attempted to write a concrete poem about a tree just to see if I could do it, and to see if I could use it as an example for my students when they write concrete poetry in science. Here it is
So strong,
So hearty, dancing with the
wind as it blows through your branches.
You’ve seen the sun rise and set, day after day.
From spring’s first bud, until autumn’s last breath
you watch the world go by. The bird’s song echoes from your
branches, your leaves applaud the warm summer sun.
Your trunk is so sturdy, supporting your weight,
but yet you still make room for some furry
acorn hording friends.
Your job is
never done,
providing
the shade
that is loved
on a picnic,
or a Sunday
afternoon nap.
There are so many possibilities with using poetry in a content area, I just haven’t really thought about it until now. I guess we will see where this leads!
I thought that the “Silver Seeds” book was a beautifully illustrated well presented book of poetry. I have never really thought about putting acrostic poetry together. I guess I just have never seen it done like that before. Typically when I think of acrostic poems, I think of the “OLD SCHOOL” way that we had to do them when I was in elementary school. We would do them with CHRISTMAS, THANKSGIVING, HALLOWEEN, etc. They would beautifully decorate the bulletin board, but that was about it. I never really thought of putting them together in a book format.
“African Acrostics” was another great example of using acrostics effectively. The photos are great and the creative ways that the poems are written really adds excitement as you read. I can think of so many uses for this in the classroom. For example learning about NC or the US, have students write this about each state or concepts in science. I think that this is a great idea! I think that I will use this idea for my next science unit.
I read “Technically, It’s Not My Fault” and LOVED IT! I thought that it is a great way to introduce concrete poetry to students. My favorite was “It’s Not Fair” It really helps students who are visual learners be able to connect to poetry in a way that reading from left to right/top to bottom doesn’t. It gives it a creative flair, and I’m sure that the students would love it!
My camera’s not cooperating with me, so I am having to use online images.
and 
So much depends upon
my computer in my office
brushed with the cloud’s silver lining
communiciating with the world
keeping me abreast of all the latest happenings
each morning as the sun peeks across the sky.
So much depends upon
my plastic cell phone
kissed by the blackness of night
allowing me to be indispensible
to any one all of the time
any moment of any day.
The following are some quotes that really stuck out to me as I read the PowerPoint. I think that the reason they stuck out to me was because I connected with what they were saying. So many times I think that the reason our kids are so afraid to write poetry is because they think that there is a certain way that they are supposed to do it. They know about the greats such as Shakespeare and I think that intimidates them. So many of them are afraid of failure and to them, they are so use to things having a write and wrong answer, and poetry just isn’t that way. There are no right or wrong answers. I know from past experiences teaching Language Arts that if lines don’t rhyme like couplets, students don’t think of them as poetry. I try to bring other things in that they are familiar with to make poetry relevant. I took popular songs and print out the lyrics and we would look at how they song was written and see that there was a structure like poems. They didn’t always have to rhyme, nor did they always have precise formulas. I used to always do autobiographical poems and cinquians as well as Haikus just to introduce them to formulaic poetry, but I always did free verse as well. That always seemed to be the most difficult for them because they were looking for a formula.
This quote by Paul Janeczko really points out what I believe poetry should do. “A good poem creates a world that somehow touches the reader. That world is built of images that come to the reader through vivid sense details and the music of vivacious language.”
The next quote by Patricia Hubbell addresses the structure or lack of structure that I was talking about with my writers. “It seems to me a good poem can rhyme or not rhyme, use similes and metaphors or not, be metrical or free, be as complex as a Shakespeare sonnet or as seemingly simple as a statement by William Carlos Williams. It can be anything the writer wants it to be—as long as it reflects true feeling. And that “feeling” can be just the joy of using words!” Then finally the following quote by X. J. Kennedy is where I think we have to get some students to start. We tell them that it is bad to copy someone else’s work, but in this case it is acceptable with style until they find their own. “You can’t write without reading, so read everything you can find by writers whose work you love. Don’t be afraid to imitate them if you want to. Eventually you will come to sound not like them anymore, but like yourself.”
The safety pin poem is a simple way to introduce poetry to students, but yet challenge them in creating their own about something so simple. They could even use their pencil.
My Paper Clip Poem
Breathless, it lays
As flat as can be
Silently,
The Silver
Mirage
Of a
Whale;
On paper it clasps
With arms outstretched
Like tiny arms
Of A Mouse
Holding on
To the last piece of cheese.
I really like the www.readwritethink.org site because I have never used it and I found it to be a wealth of resources and opportunities for classroom application. I also like how it was differentiated among grade levels so that anyone would be able to find useful information on it.
Attached you will find my Writing Journal Invitation.
I really enjoyed reading the set of readings for this week. It was very inspiring but yet it pulled at the heart’s strings. In the Elliot chapter there were great examples of writing poetry as well as insightful ways of extracting nuggets of poetry from students.
Love That Dog was especially moving. As I read that book, I felt like I knew Jack, almost as if I was him. I could relate to his feelings and could really understand his opposition to writing poetry. As the book progresses, we see his tranformation take place as he feels more comfortable writing as his confidence builds through his teacher’s positive affirmation. He goes from not wanting his name on his work, to actually wanting his name on his work and actually sending it to an established poet. His writing about Sky dying was powerful. I could see it in my mind and I felt the pain that he felt as I imagined my own “baby” lying in the road taking his last breath.
Brown Angels was a beautiful book with precious photographs of the beautiful children and the great poems that accompanied them. As I read it I was shocked to find the poem “Love That Boy” embedded in it. The book was very touching as each poem shed a little glimmer of light into the imagination of what each child in the photographs might have been living through.
Love That Poetry was a great overview of various forms of poetry with great application techniques. This would be very helpful when introducing children to these forms of poetry.
Cold Plums was a great application piece as well as tying all of the readings together.
I really could see the connections among the readings. They seemed to be all connected to one another. Pieces of each reading were found in the others.
