National Poetry Month: Poem #23

Presentiment

Presentiment – is that long Shadow – on the Lawn
Indicative that Suns go down –
The notice to the startled Grass
That Darkness – is about to pass –

- Emily Dickinson



Absolutely adore Dickinson's personification.

Chillaxin' With My Mommy

Mother and Child   Leighton, Lord Frederick

What Saturdays are for.
 Mother's Day, May 13.

Cheesy Jokes and Serious Thoughts for the Garden (These May Bug You)

Go outside--nature calls! Recent research reveals what we know in our souls already, that people, especially children, need to frequently be outside relating to the natural world. There's even a classification when kids don't go outside enough:

Nature Deficit Syndrome http://www.education.com/topic/nature-deficit-disorder/

Trees, sky, grass, critters, breezes on our face, birdsong--more than therapeutic--these are essential for us to function.

Growing Up Free: Inspiring a Love of Nature 

http://www.childrenandnature.org/news/detail/growing_up_free_inspiring_a_love_of_nature/

So, get outside nature's calling yelling, "Let's play!"

Now for some silly.

How do snails fight each other?    They slug it out.

Hello, honey.

You wouldn't say that to my face!

What did the bee say to the flower?

Hello honey.


Here's a cool site for lots of activities:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/bees.shtml


Why do bees hum? Because they can't remember the words.

What silly jokes....

What is the difference between a fly and a bird?
A bird can fly but a fly can't bird!

To bee, or not to bee...

Two flies are on the porch. Which one is an actor?
(The one on the screen!) 

   

                                                    What do insects learn at school?
                                                                Mothmatics!

Woops, they misspelled it on the bottle and glass.

Frosted glass, please.

What do frogs drink?
          Croak a Cola

A rose is a rose, etc.

But I'm really such a nice guy.

What do you get if you cross a tarantula and a rose?






                                              

 (I'm not sure, but I wouldn't try smelling it!)
  

Always jokes about the legs.

I'm already a walkie-talkie-er-walkie flyie

What do you get if you cross a centipede and a parrot?

 (A walkie-talkie!) 

Educational Links 4/30/17

7 resources for much-needed information literacy skills

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/04/10/resources-information-literacy/

25 Pictures of Teacher Organization Perfection That Will Make You Drool

https://www.weareteachers.com/teacher-organization-instagram-favorites/

5 Crazy Useful Free Chrome Apps For Broke College Students

https://medium.com/browserfeed/5-crazy-useful-free-chrome-apps-for-broke-college-students-2b00492b8c7c

Teaching Students to Read and Process Complex Text

http://www.bamradionetwork.com/ascd-learn-teach-lead-radio/4357-teaching-students-to-read-and-process-complex-text

Despite Proposed FDA Ban, Shock Devices Remain

https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2017/04/28/despite-ban-shock-devices/23635/

The Difference Between Speech-Language Disorders and Attention Issues

https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/getting-started/what-you-need-to-know/the-difference-between-speech-language-disorders-and-attention-issues?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=understoodorg

Five Ways Teacher Leaders Use Storytelling

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2017/04/28/5-ways-teach-leaders-use-story/

So, how can teachers, as the storytelling leaders of a school, help change a culture, help ensure that the humanity in the work is not only preserved but treasured in ways that value each and every character in the story?

National Poetry Month: Best Simile Ever: like a fragment of angry candy

the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls

By E. E. Cummings

the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls

are unbeautiful and have comfortable minds

(also, with the church's protestant blessings

daughters,unscented shapeless spirited)

they believe in Christ and Longfellow, both dead,

are invariably interested in so many things—

at the present writing one still finds

delighted fingers knitting for the is it Poles?

perhaps. While permanent faces coyly bandy

scandal of Mrs. N and Professor D

.... the Cambridge ladies do not care, above

Cambridge if sometimes in its box of

sky lavender and cornerless, the

moon rattles like a fragment of angry candy 

After all the years of loving this poem, I just realized he capitalized the word Cambridge. 

How sarcastic he was. 

Best simile ever: 

the moon rattles like a fragment of angry candy

Educational Links 4/29/17

4 Steps Towards A More Personal Classroom
http://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/getting-started-personalized-learning/

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN DYSLEXIA DIAGNOSES

https://www.learningandthebrain.com/blog/gender-differences-in-dyslexia-diagnoses/

Finish the Race: Ending the School Year Strong!

http://www.teachonomy.com/033-finish-the-race-ending-the-school-year-strong/?utm_content=buffer21514&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Three Smart, Effective Alternatives to Suspending Students

http://www.bamradionetwork.com/student-centric-strategies/4356-three-smart-effective-alternatives-to-suspending-students

Why Differentiation Misses the Mark for Gifted Students

http://www.specialneedsdigest.com/2017/04/why-differentiation-misses-mark-for.html

Getting Started With Self-Organized Learning Environments

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/getting-started-self-organized-learning-environments-jacquelyn-omalley?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

MARIANA ACADEMY OPENS LITTLE FREE LIBRARY

http://www.avusd.org/news/news-archive/marianaacademyopenslittlefreelibrary

A Little Free Library is a “take a book, return a book” free book exchange. The libraries typically come in the form of a small box or bookcase that are placed in public areas. There are over 50,000 similar libraries registered in the Little Free Library database, in over 70 countries. 

The U.S. Department of Education has reported that up to 61 percent of low-income families do not have any books for their children at home. “We hope to provide a resource for these families,” Principal Kristin Dupree said. “The intention is for families to take a book and return it when they are done, or leave a different book in its place.”

Who Helped You Take Your First Steps?

'Farmstead" Van Gogh

Mom, and, alright, Dad, too. Sweet painting by Vincent.

Mother's Day May 13.

National Poetry Month: Poem # 22

Tiger , San Diego Zoo

THE TYGER (from Songs Of Experience)

By William Blake

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

1794 

William Blake

 William Blake

Matisse and Spring--What's Outside Your Window?

The Dessert: Harmony in Red, Henri Matisse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dessert:_Harmony_in_Red_%28The_Red_Room%29

Looks like Henri had trees in bloom outside his window.
Maybe he was listening to this music while he painted, which premiered the same year, 1908.

Maurice Ravel - Rhapsodie Espagnole, I-II 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1ZyAf1udmU 

Good Memories--Giving Students Good Memories

 

National Poetry Month: "A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet"

Roses in Stratford-Upon-Avon

Romeo's speech, the balcony scene

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!
She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks:
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!

Thank you, William, for the wonderful thoughts. And inspiring some profound music, too

Jefferelli's version

Music and song from "Romeo and Juliet."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FHpmn-KYec






 And Tchaikovsky and a ballet, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upyQMC-ioKE

Shakespeare lives.

Who Thought You Were the Cutest Little Thing in the Whole World?

'Mother and Child,' Uemura Shoen

Your Mama. あなたのママ

May  13. Mother's Day.

Teaching Is Finishing Strong

Finishing the School Year Strong

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/05/05/tln_ferlazzo_3.html 

End of Year Activities
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson345.shtml

Tips to Wrap Up the School Year!

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/collection/tips-wrap-school-year 

Top 12 Effective End of the Year Activities 

http://www.teachhub.com/top-12-effective-end-year-activities

The Last 40 Days Until Summer

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/end-of-school-year-danielle-moss-lee 

End Of School Lessons and Teacher Resources

http://lessonplanspage.com/endschool-htm/

Fun Last Day of School Activities

http://kids.lovetoknow.com/child-education/fun-last-day-school-activities 

10 Ideas for Teaching on the Last Day of School

http://teaching.monster.com/training/articles/4359-10-ideas-for-teaching-on-the-last-day-of-school 

8 Activities to Make the Last Days of School Memorable and Fun 

http://www.teachhub.com/8-activities-make-last-days-school-memorable-and-fun 

How to Stay Charged During the Final Weeks of School

http://www.edutopia.org/motivation-final-weeks-school 

 

Educational Links 4/28/27

How to Stop Yelling at Your Students

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/stop-yelling-at-students/?utm_content=buffer48310&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

For-profit education could come roaring back in the Trump administration

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/04/25/profit-education-come-roaring-back-trump-administration/

Bringing Joy to Math Class

https://www.edutopia.org/article/bringing-joy-math-class-matthew-beyranevand

How to Start a Makerspace for Less Than $20 in Your School

https://www.weareteachers.com/how-to-start-a-makerspace-for-school-budget/

The Secrets of Successful Blended Learning: Apps and Strategies for K-12 Classrooms

http://www.edtechroundup.org/editorials--press/the-secrets-of-successful-blended-learning-apps-and-strategies-for-k-12-classrooms

ESSA Parent Advocacy Toolkit

https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/your-childs-rights/basics-about-childs-rights/download-essa-parent-advocacy-toolkit?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=understoodorg

5 Tips to Survive AND Thrive the Rest of the School Year

http://www.trevormuir.com/new-blog-avenue/2017/4/27/5-tips-to-survive-and-thrive-the-rest-of-the-school-year

Spring Break is over. Hopefully it was glorious, and you feel recharged and rejuvenated and maybe even a little sunburned after a week of not thinking about grading papers, seating charts, the pythagorean theorem, and the SAT. Spring Break is well-timed and good for the teacher soul.

And now it’s over, and there are 6 weeks left in the school year.

Who Bathed Your Chubby Little Self?

Jules Being Dried by His Mother (above, from 1900), Cassatt

Be glad, very glad, I didn't ask, 'Who changed your pungent little diapers?'

Mother's Day is May 12.

National Poetry Month: Poem #21

Pieter Brueghel, Kermesse (1567-8)

 The Dance

William Carlos Williams

In Brueghel's great picture, The Kermess,
the dancers go round, they go round and
around, the squeal and the blare and the
tweedle of bagpipes, a bugle and fiddles
tipping their bellies (round as the thick-
sided glasses whose wash they impound)
their hips and their bellies off balance
to turn them. Kicking and rolling
about the Fair Grounds, swinging their butts, those
shanks must be sound to bear up under such
rollicking measures, prance as they dance
in Brueghel's great picture, The Kermess.

Off Chasing Butterflies--See you In A Bit

Owl Butterfly, The Living Desert Butterfly Pavilion, Indio, California

Butterflies! In a cozy display at the Living Desert in the Low Desert of California (near Palm Springs. No, we haven't seen Barrack and Michelle in our journeys. But we don't play golf.) I'm traveling with a high school friend of mine, Janet.

Flight is a theme of our excursion. Also checking out the Palm Springs Air Museum.

Will be back with Ed Links, Etc in a couple days. Fly right!

Who Told You Stories and Sang You Songs?

Grandmother Storyteller by Ada Suina, Cochiti New Mexico

I'm giving this one to Grandma.

Mother's Day. May 13. Don't forget Granny.

Check out the pottery from New Mexico:

Pueblo Storytellers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42ubb28IEFU&feature=player_embedded

 



This is a little ceramic piece I found at Furnace Springs, Death Valley, CAL. I wish I could hear what Grandma was singing.

National Poetry Month: Poem #20

Cosmos bipinnatus, commonly called the garden cosmos or Mexican aster. And it's in my front yard!

The Cosmos in a Cosmos 

William Blake

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

Not to get all Carl Sagan or Neil deGrasse Tyson

on you, but with so many heated discussions pro and con 

about intelligent design, I'm taking a moment to think of Artistic Design. 

Here is the last verse of Blake's poem.

God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day. 

Here is the entirety of William Blake's poem, remember, he is considered a mystic.

I see him as a caring person with a heart for the poor.

William Blake - Auguries of Innocence

http://www.artofeurope.com/blake/bla3.htm

William Blake

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/william-blake 

Reverie: A State of Abstracted Musing

Starry Night by Van Gogh

I've never noticed that little church in the center of the painting before.

Reverie by Claude Debussy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFL2MWuxa4&feature=related

Teaching Is... Making A Kid Feel Uniquely Important

1. How Can Teachers Foster Self-Esteem in Children?

Teachers play an important role in nurturing a student's sense of dignity and self-worth.

http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/health/773-teachers-foster-self-esteem-in-children.gs 

 2. Incorporating Cultural Diversity in the Classroom

http://www.teachersofcolor.com/2009/04/incorporating-cultural-diversity-in-the-classroom/ 

3. Social Emotional Learning

In the classroom, social skills come first. Keep kids on track with these ideas.

http://pinterest.com/weareteachers/social-emotional-learning/ 

4. Social and Emotional Learning: What is it? How can we use it to help our children?

http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/social_emotional_learning_what_it_how_can_we_use_it_help_our_children 

5. Core Strategy: Social and
Emotional Learning

6. Why Champion Social and Emotional Learning?

It's not enough to simply fill students' brains with facts. Educators must also help children develop the skills to manage their emotions, resolve conflicts nonviolently, and make responsible decisions. 
http://www.edutopia.org/social-emotional-learning 

7.  Build Self-Esteem in Children

Some Thoughts on Helping Children Build Self-Esteem
 http://www.stressfreekids.com/resources-2/self-esteem-in-children/build-self-esteem-children

8. Self-Esteem

• Subject: Social/Emotional Health  

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/self-esteem.cfm  

Educational Links 4/25/17

10 Reasons to Take Advantage of the Every Kid in a Park Initiative

http://www.gettingsmart.com/2017/04/10-reasons-to-take-advantage-of-the-every-kid-in-a-park-initiative/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=facebook_page&utm_medium=Getting%20Smart&utm_content=10%20Reasons%20to%20Take%20Advantage%20of%20the%20Every%20Kid%20in%20a%20Park%20Initiative

How Many States Are Following Federal Restraint and Seclusion Guidelines?

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/speced/2017/04/state_policy_restraint_seclusion.html?cmp=SOC-EDIT-FB

A Mindset Shift to Continue Supporting the Most Frustrating Kids

https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/04/24/a-mindset-shift-to-continue-supporting-the-most-frustrating-kids/

Teaching Students to Set a Purpose for Reading

https://www.middleweb.com/34655/teaching-students-to-set-a-purpose-for-reading/

The four ways we can train teachers to use technology that hasn’t been invented yet

http://hechingerreport.org/opinion-four-ways-can-train-teachers-use-technology-hasnt-invented-yet/

How the Challenge of Creating Balanced Classrooms Completely Changed My Career

https://www.weareteachers.com/creating-balanced-classrooms/

Building Choice Into Your Students’ Reading

https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-choice-student-reading-susan-barber

As more and more teachers are building choice reading time into their daily classroom schedules, making a variety of books available to a diverse group of students can be challenging. Inspired and challenged by several teachers 

to incorporate daily independent reading into class, I have set aside 15 minutes in each 90 minutes block for independent choice reading.

Who's Praying for You?

"Virgin in Prayer" by Giovanni Battista Silva

Bet your mom is.

Mother's Day is May 12, 2018, Sunday.

National Poetry Month: #19

Romeo and Juliet, 1968, Franco Zeffirelli

 

Romeo & Juliet, Act 2 Scene 2, spoken by Romeo

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
It is my lady, O, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!
She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.
I am too bold, ’tis not to me she speaks:
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!

Balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0qao2xINsE 

Educational Links 4/24/17

Some schools trading the blacktop for greentop as an innovative way to teach science

https://edsource.org/2017/some-schools-trading-the-blacktop-for-greentop-as-an-innovative-way-to-teach-science/579364?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Why education needs strong advocates now more than ever

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/04/14/education-advocates-now/ 

Building Rapport: Moving Beyond Teacher Characteristics to Actions that Promote Learning

https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/building-rapport-moving-beyond-teacher-characteristics-to-actions-that-promote-learning/

It’s Shakespeare’s Birthday – Here Are Related Resources For ELLs

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2017/04/23/its-shakespeares-birthday-here-are-related-resources-for-ells/

The End of Teacher Tenure?

http://educationnext.org/end-teacher-tenure/

THE IMPORTANCE OF ARTS IN EDUCATION

https://www.thinkinclusive.us/arts-in-education/

Teaching Strategies to Improve Student Self-Discipline

http://www.teachhub.com/teaching-strategies-improve-student-self-discipline

The number-one trait needed to accomplish your goals in life is to have self-discipline. Self-discipline is a learned behavior that not every student has. The ability for a student to be able to monitor and control her own behavior is a concept that many teachers would love their students to have, but unfortunately not all of them do.