I tried a new mic system to improve my Remote Learners' sound quality, but it didn't help. I want to find a mic that can hang from the ceiling and pick up voices all around the room.
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My freshmen are setting up their blogs. We use a private system so the only readers of our blogs are our classmates.
Last year my students posted once a week. We used our Passion Blogs to analyze topics and questions we cared passionately about. This year we'll include poetry in our blogs as well.
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COVID brought our undulating life rhythms to a screeching halt. When we crept back to a new normal, we saw our world had changed. Mundane actions such as a handshake, standing in line, or passing a clerk your credit card suddenly demanded forethought and caution. Choices to attend a parade, a church service, or a picnic were weighed with the deliberation of a major purchase or elective surgery.
There is no such thing as a free lunch: if energy is expended on getting through the day (Did I sanitize after I touched that public door handle?), it is drawn from the finite reservoir of energy we would have used elsewhere.
My students shoulder worries and questions they did not carry last February. As their English teacher, I want them to know that writing can help us all make sense of our feelings and experiences. Poetry, specifically, invites us to sift through the clutter and find the best words to capture the distilled essence of our thoughts. In a supportive community, poets can feel brave and heard and liberated.
Especially in times of stress and uncertainty, leading students toward the solace of poetry is my calling.
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As I guide students to poetry, I use mentor texts. That is, we examine a poem together, noticing how the poet's words made us think and feel. Then we analyze the poet's choices that achieved the desired effect.
I like to share my own attempt to write using the model as my guide. The students can then share their perceptions as readers, and I can tell them my perspective as the writer.
At this point, students are invariably ready to write. Their ideas are bursting. They want to try.
Today we wrote "Where I'm From" poems, based on George Ella Lyon's poem by the same name.
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Tonight before blogging, I read the first four poems that had been submitted. Here is a composite:
Action, adventure, and fantasy I am from those books Writing my own story Writing and writing
I am from the cancer that took my grandma, the cancer that tried to take my dad.
I am from the smiles my parents used to share.
I am from the rights and wrongs I make. -----------------------------
This gentle invitation to poetry allowed my students to explore books, cancer, divorce, and mistakes.
The form is open and forgiving.
We can all use a little of that.
Enough, Be well. Write poetry.
Allison
Evening #IowaSky
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