Second Grade Cursive (a poem)

Second Grade Cursive

Miss Rice passed out worksheets

of cursive l’s spaced like soldiers

commanded us to copy.

I dragged my pencil up and down

left almonds in the middle.

Marty Brewster finished first

his scrawls like deflated balloons.

Even after he redid his letters

I still gripped my pencil

the little fish slowly blooming

life no longer balls and sticks

now muddled into loops and angles.

Questions:

1. Should I leave the lowercase l in the opening stanza? That's the cursive letter I'm describing in the poem, but would a capital L make more sense?
2. Although I usually use commas in my poetry, I decided not to in this one. Would the poem's readability improve if I added commas, or are the line breaks enough?
3.  Does the title work? I originally titled this poem "Learning Cursive" and had the second grade information in the body of the poem itself.

Teaching v. Coaching

I attended a wonderful workshop today. The speaker was dynamic, engaging, and informative. I will take what I learned and apply it to my classroom this week.

Throughout his presentation, the speaker (a former principal, teacher, and coach) occasionally used the example of a coach teaching his athletes. Mentally, I called apples and oranges.

Here are some basics:

• Coaches work with a limited number of players. They usually have at least one assistant coach as well. I can't even tell you how many total football coaches we have at the high school where I teach.
  
• Teachers, meanwhile, usually go it alone in the classroom. This semester I actually have a student teacher, but that is an exception. Most secondary teachers face 120+ students a day without any backup.
• Coaches cut players from the team. Some make varsity, some don't.
• Teachers are required to teach every single student assigned to them.
• Coaches hold practices longer than the typical class period.
• Teachers do not get to hold longer classes, and they must contend with absences and interruptions.
  
• Coaches work with students who inherently love the sport.
• Teachers work with students who may or may not love the subject they teach.
• Coaches are assessed multiple times throughout the season by their team's record.
• Teachers are assessed one time by their students' scores on a single test at the end of the school year.

Poetry in the Classroom

In anticipation of #titletalk this coming Sunday, I want to honor one of my favorite genres: poetry.

5 of my Favorite Poets

1. Ted Kooser
2. Linda Pastan
3. Billy Collins
4. Carol Ann Duffy
5. Wislawa Szymborska
   

These five poets write lovely, rich yet accessible poems students can enjoy. The first three are American, Duffy is British, and Szymborska, who recently passed away, is Polish.

4 Novels in Verse

1. Sold by Patricia McCormick
2. Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
3. Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
4. Requiem: Poems from the Terezin Ghetto by Paul Janeczko

3 Helpful Poetry Websites

1. I'll admit I'm somewhat cheating by leading off with Sandra Effinger's National Poetry Month page; she has amassed a wonderful collection of poetry websites and activities here. Some of my favorites pages are American Life in Poetry, Poetry 180, and Poetry Out Loud.
   
2. Poems Out Loud collects audio of contemporary poets reading their poetry aloud, including famous poets like Billy Collins, Rita Dove, Stephen Dunn, and Seamus Haney, as well as lesser-known poets like Julie Sheehan, whose "Hate Poem" never fails to crack me up.
   
3. The Journal of Mythic Arts dedicates one of its page to poems based on fairy tales, folklore, and myths. If I were still teaching 7th grade in my district, whose curriculum included timeless tales, I would definitely supplement prose with this poetry.
   

2 Guides to Poetry

1. Naming the World: A Year of Poetry and Lessons by Nancie Atwell rescued me during my first year of teaching. This strong collection of traditional, contemporary, and student-written poetry also comes with a DVD of Atwell teaching. I learned so much from her, and six years later, I still return to this book.
   
2. Poetry for Beginners by Margaret Chapman and Kathleen Welton was a serendipitous find at a Borders that was going out of business. As I flipped through this paperback, I was struck by all the lovely ink illustrations that peppered its pages. An illustrated poetry guide? I was sold! The explanations are clear, and many types of poetry are introduced. Though the first edition I purchased had some typos, the author has said a new, corrected version should be coming soon.
   

1 Poet to Follow on Twitter

1. Sherman Alexie, author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, has also written a number of poetry books, including Face, his most recent. His tweets range from humorous and memoir-ish to social commentary and political. He doesn't over- or under-tweet either.
   

Hunger Games Jeopardy

I created this game for the Hunger Games party I am hosting in my classroom over spring break. I hope the students who come enjoy the food, movies, and games. I invited students from the entire high school to attend. I expect mainly my current students to come, but I've had a few former students tell me they plan on coming. I'm excited!

If you want to play, you'll need to download this PowerPoint by clicking on the following link.

Hunger Games Jeopardy

Obama's Report Card on Education Policy: D+

During President Obama's State of the Union address, "An America Built to Last," I waited to hear when he would tackle education.

He began by mentioning the progress of CCSS, the Common Core State Standards:

For less than one percent of what our Nation spends on education each year, we've convinced nearly every State in the country to raise their standards for teaching and learning - the first time that's happened in a generation.

I have teacher friends who varying opinions about CCSS. The rigor for math and English across the nation will increase with them, and writing will now be encouraged across the curriculum. These are worthy goals, but I am fearful that the true goal of CCSS is a national test, which will be used to grade and punish states around the nation. The truth is that we already have a reliable national test called NAEP, but millions of dollars are being used to develop tests on the CCSS.

President Obama quickly shifted to talking about the monetary impact a single teacher can make on a student's life:

We know a good teacher can increase the lifetime income of a classroom by over $250,000. A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance.

Until America addresses its poverty problem, we will continue to have problems in education. "Reformers" like Arne Duncan and Michelle Rhee will say that poverty should not be a contributing factor to the progress a student makes in education, but that's false. America has one of the highest rates of poverty in a developed nation. One great teacher in tenth grade is not going to save a student from a lifetime of problems associated with poverty. And the research that claims good teachers can make their students become richer is not credible in the least. And by not credible, I mean not peer reviewed.

I am forming a headache as I type this, so I will try to be briefer from here on out. Obama goes on to say that teachers do impact the lives of their students, which is nice, but then he says:

Teachers matter. So instead of bashing them, or defending the status quo, let's offer schools a deal. Give them the resources to keep good teachers on the job, and reward the best ones. In return, grant schools flexibility: To teach with creativity and passion; to stop teaching to the test; and to replace teachers who just aren't helping kids learn.

Bashing? Teachers get bashed for bad test scores, which are part of the No Child Left Behind / Race to the Top agenda. Obama's policy encourages teachers to be evaluated based on their students' test scores. This practice is bad, wrong, foul, foolish, etc. So when Obama says he wants to reward the "best ones," how will they be determined to be some of the best? By the test scores of their students. Principals also play a role in evaluating teachers, but as long as these testing mandates drive instruction and many teachers will not "stop teaching to the test." A school where teachers can "teach with creativity and passion" would not be burdened with all the guidelines and policies of Race to the Top.

Obama has a classic case of wanting to have his cake and eat it too. He can't tell teachers that he wants to give them flexibility and creativity while still enacting a program that punishes schools for low test results when many of those schools are dealing with students who come from impoverished backgrounds. The testing mania needs to stop before any more damage is done.

In other words, Mr. President, don't cry about spilled milk when you were the one who pushed the milk to the edge of the table.

And Then CBS News...

In reading a CBS News article about a 15-year-old boy who brought a gun to school and was then shot by police, I was distracted by the following paragraph:

"He said he last saw his son around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, when the boy said goodbye before leaving to catch the bus to school. And he said nothing seemed amiss the night before when he, his wife and their son went out for nachos then went home and watched a movie."

That second sentence which starts with And was very clunky to me. I'm all for starting a sentence with a coordinating conjunction when the time is right. This just wasn't one of those times. I had to read it twice before it made sense. Here's my revision, which eliminates the conjunction, changes a phrase, and adds a comma:

He said nothing seemed amiss the previous night when he, his wife, and their son went out for nachos, then went home and watched a movie.

Do you like my sentence better?

My Reading Life in 2011

This is the year I read my first Stephen King. It was his first book published, Carrie (1974). I had seen the movie in high school, but I got to experience the story from so many angles in the book. Why did I wait until I was 28 to read a Stephen King? I don't have a good answer.

This is the year I finished Suzanne Collins' trilogy with Mockingjay (2011). My students were divided about the final book, and I was worried I would fall into the Disappointed camp. My fears were confirmed when I closed the book with anger and frustration.

This is the year The Book Whisperer (2009) changed my teaching life. Donalyn Miller's advice on how to turn my students into readers was insightful and practical. I brought my reading life to the forefront of the classroom, and I started all my classes with silent reading. In the spring 2011 semester, I read 7 books. I read BW over the summer. In this fall 2011 semester, I have read 28 books. What a difference!

This is the year I bought into the hype of The Help (2009) and was whisked away to a world I hardly knew about. The book was slow-going at times, but I loved the conversation it sparked between my mom and me. I discovered her family had a maid when she was young.

This is the year I listened to The Year We Left Home (2011) on audio. I was mesmerized by the storytelling, by the characters, by the command that Jean Thompson exercised over her language. I did not want it to end, but it had a perfect ending.

This is the year I devoured Kathryn Erskine's Mockingbird (2010). I ran out of church after the service, so I could hurry home and finish this children's book on the journey of Caitlin, a girl with Asperger's who is coming to terms with the loss of her brother. To top things off, I read this book aloud to my creative writing students, and then we Skyped with Kathy! She was gracious, funny, and smart. Our Skype session was my favorite part of this fall semester.

This is the year I read and re-read poems from Linda Pastan's Traveling Light (2011). Then through serendipitous events, I discovered she was speaking at a writers' conference in Tulsa. I bought a ticket immediately. Attending her session was a highlight of the year as well, as was getting a picture with her.

This is the year I discovered Carol Ann Duffy, one of my new favorite poets. Her collection Rapture (2005) is heartbreaking and wonderful. Everyone should read it. EVERYONE.

This is the year I stayed up past midnight to finish reading Patrick Ness's A Monster Calls (2011). I sobbed like a baby, and then I decided to read it aloud to my Pre-AP English II students. Three of my four hours were receptive. I still got choked up at the ending even when I knew what was coming.

This is the year I read Room by Emma Donoghue (2010). I was struck by the narrator, one of the most interesting creations I've read in a long time. This book knocked me over.

This is the year I re-read To Kill a Mockingbird (1963) for the nth time. I continue to find new insight and themes and motifs in this classic. I'm glad I get to teach it.

This is the year I finally read John Hersey's Hiroshima (1946/1985). I had resisted this novel, even though it was an option for my sophomores to read. I thought it would be too boring or too sad. I was partially right. The book is sad, but definitely not boring.

This is the year I read Kelly Gallagher's Write Like This (2011). I found lots of great ideas and resolved to become an even better teacher of writing.

What about you? What books did you read this year?