Unfinished

At long last, here's my last piece for this week, by far my least favorite. I feel the poem is weak and needs some work on language, and I don't particularly like the ending at all but I wasn't sure how to end. As I wrote this poem I was thinking about how, when we are little, the things that scare us don't seem so scary when we are grown ups looking back on childhood. Fear, and scary situations evolve with time. For example, shorting out our microwave because I left a spoon and paper plate inside seemed pretty scary at the time, but now it is quite the family joke. But almost losing my son,... that experience changed me as a person in a way that I cannot explain and I don't think that situation will ever be one on which I can look back and say, that wasn't so scary. So, anyways, rambling aside, here's my third piece for this week. Criticism welcome. And, I couldn't get the formatting right when I copied and pasted this from word so if it looks strange, that is why!
Untitled

In the fall of 1984 I got off the bus at the wrong stop and wandered down a country road
for two hours before being picked up and returned to my home thanks to an
address label sown onto my backpack

In the winter of 1985 I woke in my bed screaming for my mother but it was my dad who
came and reminded me that Mom lived in her own house now

In the spring of 1987 I tried to make chocolate chip cookies and almost burned our
building down because I didn’t know you couldn’t put a paper plate and a metal spoon in the microwave

In the summer of 1994 I hunkered down in the back of a van in a gravel pit in South
Dakota while a tornado cut a path through a cornfield less than a football field away

In the fall of 1996 I stared with horror at the D on my trigonometry test and wondered
how I would ever escape the quick hand and disappointing eyes of my parents

In the summer of 1998 I walked into the Satan’s lair with nothing but a shovel and a
water pack hoping to save myself and the 300 campers at our burning summer camp

In the fall of 2003 I accepted a ring from a guy I’d only known for seven months,
graduated from college and signed my name on a $135,000 home loan

In the winter of 2007 I pleaded with God, begged my newborn son to take a breath, to
hold on to life and he did not respond

In the seconds and the minutes of the days of the weeks of seasons of the years, fear
has found me and I have prevailed

Before Now

So my initial goal for this week's writing was to write poems that I could share with my students. Though I have been trying, sitting, staring at my computer for the last several days, I kept coming up with nothing. Tuesday's deadline for three pages of writing came and went and at that time I had only posted one piece that I thought appropriate for sharing with my students. I have never been in a position before where I have been absolutely paralyzed by writing, particularly this goal of writing for my students. I finally had to let go of that idea for now and resort back to writing something that I could write, pieces about my family, my job, my grown-up life because, honestly, being a grownup is pretty challenging right now and I think I'm so wrapped up in sick kids, education and the things of adulthood that I couldn't escape it this week. So, long story short, sorry that my last two posts are late. I tried mightily to get them done but writer's block was definitely a factor!

Before now

Before I was a mother

My purse, the size of a pencil case
Easily held lip gloss, money and Playtex
With room to spare

Saturdays began around eleven
Lazily sipping coffee, cozy on the couch
With my choice of book

A load of laundry could stretch a week
Clothes, washed, folded, ironed
Within an afternoon

Plans were made on a whim
Dinner and a movie, a trip to the mall
Without a second thought

Now that I’m a mother

My mommy-bag holds the world
Diapers, sippies and cracker crumbs
Glue stick? How’d that get in there?

Saturdays begin before sunrise
TV on by 6 to buy a few more minutes rest
Thank you Disney Channel

Which to do next, lights or darks?
Load number seven this week
Tide, my friend, let’s get busy

Carrie’s busy, so is Reid
So much for that Saturday night movie
Oh well, maybe next month.

Today on Facebook

One of the challenges that I have faced in this class so far is that I haven’t written much, well, anything really, that I could share with my students. It is very easy to write what I am living, but the life that I lead as a teacher, mother of three, PhD student, and at times, cynical teacher, is not very appropriate or applicable to the lives of my students. I want to be able to share with them things that I have read, and I have done this in the past and the students have always been very receptive which makes me wonder why I don’t write more, and then I remember it is because I don’t have a lot of time. But I do like to write, and I do not mind sharing my work with kids. So, my goal for this week’s poetry was to write things that I plan to share with my students. I tried to write about things that they can relate to or appreciate.

My first attempt is entitled, “Today on Facebook” and it is a melding together of status updates from my facebook account. I am fortunate to have five younger siblings, four of whom are still in elementary, middle and high school and so a lot of what is written here are direct quotes, and very close renditions of things that they have written. I believe the students will appreciate the unique attempt to create a poem from status updates (which to them would maybe be a novel concept) and I also hope the students find this poem to be relatable to things they may have written or read on facebook. It was an attempt at using something very popular to capture poetry, something the kids often associate with old, dead, white guys.


Today of Facebook

Chelsea is having a girly day
While in a relationship with Mikey
Who just wants a little respect
From his mom, Amy, who can’t believe kids these days

Logan wonders who invented homework
And Jeremy agrees as he writes his THIRD paper this week
Betsie chimes in and wants to know
Why Facebook didn’t include a link that says DISLIKE

Angie, and seven other friends are attending
Luke’s Surprise birthday party on Saturday at 7
But Dani can’t go because she’s stuck at home babysitting (again)
And Laura says it won’t be the same without her there

Mark is hosting a barn raising in Farmville
But Kenna won’t be there because she’s busy in Fishville
Saving a small manta ray whose fin is stuck in a lobster trap
While Tami just leveled up in Mafia Wars

Holly is having Just another Manic Monday via Facbook mobile
And while Nikki loves that song
Stephanie totally understands that feeling
And Jason is already waiting for the weekend at 9:02am on Monday

Cecilia and 1, 303, 838 others are fans of the film New Moon
While Liu joined the group I love Edward Cullen
Amanda joined Team Jacob and just finished reading
Breaking Dawn and omgstephaniemeyerhurryupandwritesomemore

Brian changed his relationship status to “It’s Complicated”
And Shannon agrees that love is not worth the stress
But Aaron and Beth make it FB official
And publicly share that they are dating

Elaine joined the group Grandparents on Facebook
And hopes to see everyone at her house on Easter Sunday at noon
Erin does not remember a life without Facebook
And Lisa wouldn’t want to

The Storm that Was

Here's one of Sara Holbrook's poems that I particularly like, not only for the content, but also for how the poem itself is like the building up and dwindling away of a storm.

The Storm that Was
By Sara Holbrook
From: I Never Said I Wasn’t Difficult

Me?
I rolled in like a storm,
darkening the room,
ominously rumbling,
then erupting with a BOOM!

I HATE PEOPLE.
I HATE SCHOOL.
I HATE WHAT’S HOT.
I HATE WHAT’S COOL.
I CAN’T STAND RIDING BUSES.
ALL MY FRIENDS ARE MEAN.
THE WORLD IS GUACAMOLE
AND
I HATE THE COLOR GREEN.

And you?
You didn’t run for cover
or have that much to say.
You listened to my cloudburst.

And the storm?
It blew away.


What I like:
-Use of capital letters to illustrate the storm
-Shorter, fewer lines a the end, like a storm dwindling away
-Presence of onomatopoeia “Boom”
-The use of rhyming isn’t forced, but is effective when used
-I love the line: “The world is Guacamole and I hate the color green”
-The poem is something my students can relate to, just feeling so mad and then once they’ve had their chance to speak out, they settle down

Using this poem to teach:
-How lines and letters can be manipulated to illustrate an event, in this case, a storm building and then dying away
-The capital letters are like the height of the storm, they look angry, all big and shouty. We, as writers can make our poems do things that illustrate an event.
-Rhyming can be used when it fits but doesn't have to be used throughout a poem.

So I like Sara Holbrook, not in an Edgar Allen Poe sort of way but she's cool

Sara Holbrock
Poetry Books by this author include:
I never said I wasn’t Difficult
Am I Naturally this Crazy?
By Definition
Walking on the Boundaries of Change
The Dog Ate my Homework
Wham, It’s a Poetry Jam, Discovering Performance Poetry
More than Friends: Love
Sara Holbrook has also written and co-authored other books for younger children.

What I appreciate about Sara Holbrook’s work is that the middle school students are able to relate to the poems she is writing. Her poems capture the identity crises that students feel in middle school, the plight of fitting in, falling into “like” with someone, feeling alone, developmental changes, fights with friends, and feeling confused. Students can find respite and sometimes even humor in the words of her poetry. Her work is so different from the more traditional works of the poets so often taught in middle school. Students “get it” and I this is something I appreciate the most about Sara’s work. It isn’t so fluffy and silly that the students think that they are being patronized and being spoken down to like the work of Jack Prelutsky (for example, though I do LOVE his work too for younger children). It is just very “real to life”.

Sara Holbrook began writing poetry as a child and as she states on her blog, writes poems for the not-so-bad, kids, not unlike the kind of child that she considered herself to be when she was growing up, a little grumpy at times, but all and all, good kids. I believe this type of writing appeals to most pre-teens and teens because most of them are “not-so-bad” kids caught up in a tough time developmentally As a teacher of 12-13 year olds, I read these poems and I can “see” certain students living out these poems. I’ve thought to myself, “this poem totally describes Matt or Lexie”. The kids appreciate the writing too and they seem almost surprised that Sara Hobrook is able to capture their experiences in a poem.

Sara Holbrook not only writes poems but she also performs them, something we’ve been recently addressing in class. She writes that, “a poem doesn’t really come alive until it is read aloud.” This ties in well with our discussion last week on performance poetry. There is something about listening to a poem being read aloud that makes it different somehow, more alive, more real. I have read poems many times but when I’ve heard them read to me, listened to someone else breathe life into the meaning of the poem, I’ve enjoyed it so much more. Ms. Holbrook does have one video on YouTube during which she is sharing a poem. Though it isn’t my favorite poetry performance (by far), but she still uses pauses, rate and emotion to add something to what otherwise might have been just a “quick read” kind of poem. This performance, found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ff0Mdd-mdQ wouldn’t be one that I’d show my students, it still gave me a better sense of the voice behind the writer of these teen-focused poems. I liked the line where she says with a LONG pause, “my hair brown, hers…… purple” (very drawn out) because I have thought this, and I am sure kids and parents and teachers have often had this kind of reaction as well when meeting someone with unique features. Her poems are real. I like that.

Learn more about Sara Holbrook at her blog: http://saraholbrook.blogspot.com/ or read some samples of her work at: http://www.readinglady.com/mosaic/tools/sara%20holbrook%20poems.pdf

Spoken Word Video and reflection

Every teacher needs to check out this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU
I've read this poem in an email that gets forwarded around our district about once a year but hearing it, seeing it preformed was SO much more effective and I had this urge to forwarded this video link to everyone I've ever met that has commented on teachers having to work only 9 months, having plenty of vacations, being overpaid, undereducated, and about a thousand other ignorant ways to describe how easy teachers have got it made.

what's no so good?
how is it a 'poem' as well as a performance?


This video, "What Teachers Make" works because it takes just a poem, that, as I said, I've read several times before, and puts passion behind the words. It was like he was in my face reminding me of what I do everyday that I don't realize. It was intense. There is an energy there that I didn't feel when I just read it. Additionally as this poem was preformed it was very much reminiscent of bits of conversations I've had over the years regarding teaching, about that kid that worked hard and finally got a C (amazing), or about making kids work harder than even they realized they could. It is about those parent phone calls, math problems proofreading, all of the stuff of teaching wrapped up in a concise package. He nailed it! I liked also the use of repetition to emulate the practice that goes into spelling, over and over and over to get it right, it was like it was happening, right there in the poem. The shifts in volume and in emphasis given to certain phrases, rushing through some parts and slowing down for others, phenomenal.

This performance contains elements that I consider to be very poetic. As I mentioned, the phrases are concise and descriptive, effectively capturing the message that I believe the author is trying to convey. Additionally there is some repetition of phrases that are used to illustrate something (for example, practicing and practicing spelling). There is also a rhythm about the piece that drives the reading, something I definitely associate with poetry.

I found the piece fabulous. I may not connect with this as much if I were not a teacher so in that way the intended audience might be limited somewhat to teachers. Regardless, I appreciated the content and the presentation.

Lesson for 02-15-2010: Poetry Slam

Poetry Slam
Lesson Plan

Objective: Students will prepare and perform poetry to a live audience

Materials: Poems written during previous class periods, white boards/score cards

Time allotment: One class period for performance after other class periods have been devoted to poetry instruction and writing

Grade Levels: 6-12

Procedure:
1. Begin by explaining the concept of a poetry slam to the students. Ask if students have attended a poetry slam and ask them to share experiences. Poetry slam explanations and examples can be found online at YouTube or at: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june00/poetryboxfreestyling.html
Discuss with students proper performance etiquette, listening when someone is reading, reading loudly and with feeling. Encourage students to look up from their poem as much as possible. If students are prepped ahead of time they could be encouraged to have poems memorized but students may need the poems with them for comfort. Also discuss with students what the job of a judge is to critique the poem, not the person. Listen to the poem for elements of poetry that have been discussed during previous lessons.

2. Divide the class into three groups (or four depending on number of students). Group one students will read their poems first while group two students will serve as judges. Group two presents and group three students judge, etc.

3. Hold the poetry slam. Record scores awarded to students during each round. After all students have read, the top poets from each round will compete for the title of Class Poet. They can read the same, or a different poem in the final round.

Assessment:
Teacher will informally evaluate students’ poems. I often use a half piece of paper to write notes to students about their expression while reading, eye contact, and presentation and give the sheet to the students after they have read.