Saturday, April 13, 2019

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 

Educational Links 4/14/19


The Best Classical Music For The Classroom

Social-Emotional Learning: What You Need to Know

Differentiating by Offering Choices


Doris Kearns Goodwin’s 10 Leadership Lessons from the White House


Using data to solve boundary challenges


What Is The MAP Reading Fluency Test? A Literacy Assessment Tool For Teachers



When kids have dyscalculia, it impacts how well they learn and do math in school. But having poor number sense and other math skills can also lead to all sorts of challenges in daily life.
For example, kids with dyscalculia may have trouble with amounts, time, distance, speed, counting, mental math, and remembering numbers. Those difficulties can show up in ways you might not expect or recognize as being related to math.

Poem In Your Pocket Day-April 18

National Poem in Your Pocket Day 

http://www.poets.org/academy-american-poets/programs/national-poem-your-pocket-day 

About PIYP Day 
http://www.nyc.gov/html/poem/html/about/about.shtml

Poem in Your Pocket Day

https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/poem-in-your-pocket-day/ 

Participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day!

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/participate-poem-your-pocket-20720.html 







Such a difficult choice-which poem? "The Raven"? "The Road Not Taken"? "Hope Is A Thing With Feathers"? I'm torn between a poem previously in my pocket-"The Rainy Day" by Longfellow- and tucking e e cummings' "anyone lived in a pretty how town"  back there. Hey, since there is no rule about only one poem in one pocket, maybe I'll put on my cargo pants and live it up! 

Friday, April 12, 2019

What Does Poetry Do?


Poetry brings us immediately to the top of Bloom's Taxonomy of higher level thinking, triggering the growth of synapses in our brains as we struggle for personal meaning in the verse. Poetry satisfies our daily emotional nutritional requirements for serendipity, musical language, inspiration, mental challenge, comfort, schmaltz, and frequently, humor. Poetry is packaged in mystery, mathematical meter, and personal validation--equity in our own interpretations.
Melanie Link Taylor, M.A.

Promised You Poetry Resources--Here They Are


Haiku by Dick Brown
Poetry brings us immediately to the top of Bloom's Taxonomy of higher level thinking, triggering the growth of synapses in our brains as we struggle for personal meaning in the verse. Poetry satisfies our daily emotional nutritional requirements for serendipity, musical language, inspiration, mental challenge, comfort, schmaltz, and frequently, humor. Poetry is packaged in mystery, mathematical meter, and personal validation--equity in our own interpretations. I'm going to have the greatest time posting poetry tips every day for a month!

1. National Poetry Month
http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41 

Poem in Your Pocket
2. 30 Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month
http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/94

Poetry on the playground.
3. Poem in Your Pocket Day

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/406 

4. Poetry Resources for Teachers 
https://www.teachervision.com/poetry/teacher-resources/6657.html?utm_content=buffer50c10&utm_medium=social&utm_source=plus.google.com&utm_campaign=buffer


5. 6 Activities to Celebrate National Poetry Month
https://blog.edmodo.com/2013/03/28/6-activities-to-celebrate-national-poetry-month/ 

Poetry Slam
6. April is National Poetry Month: 24 Great Sites to Check Out 

http://mediaspecialistsguide.blogspot.com/ 

7. Poetry Everywhere

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere/ 

 
So get planning--you Math teachers, too

Educational Links 4/13/19


Teachable Moments: Reaching Students Through Technology


To Boost Reading Comprehension, Show Students Thinking Strategies Good Readers Use


7 Math Tools for Grade-Schoolers You Can Find Around the House


ED TECH DIGEST


The Difference Between IEP Meetings and Parent-Teacher Conferences

The Google Science Journal App Now Saves Data in Google Drive

https://www.freetech4teachers.com/

Nine Ways To Ensure Your Mindfulness Teaching Practice Is Trauma-Informed


https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/53228/nine-ways-to-ensure-your-mindfulness-teaching-practice-is-trauma-informed

Often mindfulness is used as a way to help students build self-regulation skills and learn to calm down when they become frustrated or angry. Cultivating those skills can be powerful for students, but many teachers say mindfulness is crucial for themselves, helping them take an extra moment before reacting to students.

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 

Thursday, April 11, 2019

National Poetry Month: Poem #18

Hamlet, 2008 RSC Production
Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.–Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d.


 David Tennant - Hamlet's Soliloquy (RSC Hamlet) 


https://www.youtube.com/watch

Five Poems to Soothe Kids' Toxic Stress

Grandpa was really sick now, thin like a skeleton.

The last thing I remember him saying was, "Did you bring the little dog?"
We hadn't brought Kip because Grandpa was in a hospice, but the pain-killers made him think he saw the chihuahua at the foot of the bed.  Kip had been a faithful friend stationed at the foot of his bed the previous five years at home when Grandpa was bedridden due to cancer.

Melanie, Grandpa and Kip 1962
Technically, Grandpa wasn't our 'real' grandfather. He was our grandmother's second husband. But to me, my sister, and all the many cousins, he was the best grandpa in the whole world. Everyone says that even over fifty years later. He loved children. He loved us. He spent time talking to us, taking us on walks, teaching us to play the card game 'Casino.' And card tricks, too. All the photos with him showed everyone smiling. He was like that.

I recall watching baseball on television with him. He was a San Francisco Giants' fan. I realized last year that the reason I knew so much about the Giants was that I watched the World Series (1962) with him (the last baseball season Grandpa was at home) before he passed away the following spring. His going left a dark hole in the family.

Literature can ease the stress of a child's serious loss, so the effect doesn't advance to toxic, chronic stress. Literature draws the isolating pain out in the open. We aren't alone in our experiences; universal themes speak to our human condition, too. For me, I somehow found  "The Rainy Day," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, probably in my parochial school library. It soothed my heartbroken, prepubescent soul with lines like "Behind the clouds is the sun still shining" and "Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary."  Henry knew how I felt.
http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/longfellow/12207 

#16 Life Doesn't Frighten Me At All by Ian Lantz
Childhood can be filled with fears, even terrors, real and imagined. We don't need to describe the traumas kids suffer. Maya Angelou's "Life Doesn't Frighten Me," infers a child's nightmares and possible real terrors;  the voice in the poem stands up to her fears. A group discussion of a poem allows a student to absorb the comfort at her own pace and need; she can share her fear or not. But the universal experience of fear is acknowledged. http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/life_mayaangelou.htm

Kids can be demeaned, betrayed, bullied. How can a kid handle that? Students, usually middle-schoolers, respond with shock at the opening lines of'
                                            I'm nobody! Who are you?
                                            Are you nobody, too?


Someone else knows how it feels? I'm not the only one going through this? When you're born into the caste of the rejects--what's a kid to do? Like Emily Dickinson suggests, reject the insult-- it's the conformists who are to be ridiculed.  To read how the totally unique Emily suggests we do this, go to this link and see all the poem. http://www.online-literature.com/dickinson/448/

Every year I have taught in Southern California, I have students that have had traumatic losses due to violence close to them. Even what we consider to be a cliche can comfort them. Famous sayings and poems aren't famous to kids--its new material.  The well known saying from Tennyson's "In Memoriam" is still valid:
                      
                                           I hold it true, whate'er befall;
                                           I feel it, when I sorrow most;
                                           'Tis better to have loved and lost
                                           Than never to have loved at all.
For the rest of the poem, 
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174603. I always liked the reference to not wanting to be a 'linnet' (caged bird) that was never free to experience 'the summer wood.' Life has joys and sorrows, and we fly to the first despite the eventual descent into the second. 

Our people, our family can uphold us. Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son" speaks a mom's heart.http://allpoetry.com/Mother-To-Son Life's exertion, exhaustion, and unexpected reversals require relentless effort to overcome, often too much for the young person by himself. Whether its a mother to son, grandpa to granddaughter, teacher to student---there are grown-ups reaching out to you. Someone cares. We can navigate you, one step at a time, past the hidden trip-ups. We know where they are-- we've tripped over a few--but let's get up and keep on climbing.

The comfort from the community;  poets from even two hundred years ago can be a member of that community. A poem can embrace the sad, frightened, lonely soul of a child.





I thought of Grandpa when his Giants won the World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014.  I couldn't share it with him, except in my heart. That's a comforting thought. I learned that from poetry.

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 4/12/19

Using the Arts to Promote SEL

10 Ways to Use Poetry in Your Classroom


Parent-Teacher Conference Action Plan and Surveys



When Zero-Tolerance Was Failing Students, This School Turned to Restorative Justice


IT’S NO SURPRISE TO TEACHERS, BUT RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT MOST BENCHMARK ASSESSMENTs ARE USELESS



Modeling Writing and Revising for Students



Free 2-Week Guide to Ending Defiant Behavior



Your child is openly, blatantly defiant, and your confrontations sometimes escalate to violence. Traditional rewards and punishments don’t work. So what do you do? Starting today, change your mindset about consequences.

Suggestions: How to Direct Students Writing Research Papers


How to Write a Research Paper in 11 Steps



Scaffolding Methods for Research Paper Writing


Teacher Guide for Teaching Research

Students As Authentic Researchers: A New Prescription for the High School Research Assignment


Sample Guideline Research Paper: English 10


Sample Guideline RESEARCH PAPER: English 10


Sample Eleventh Grade Research Writing Student Handbook


Sample MLA Formatted Paper


And here is great input from our friends.


How to Make Writing Research Papers Relevant for Students


8 Reasons Why Students Should Still Write Research Papers


And never forget to encourage your student writers that they are well able to discover information and brilliantly express important ideas in clarity with confidence. Write on!

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

National Poetry Month: Poems #16 and #17


The Old Guitarist, Pablo Picasso

La Guitarra, The Guitar



Federico García Lorca

Empieza el llanto
de la guitarra.
Se rompen las copas
de la madrugada.
Empieza el llanto
de la guitarra.
Es inútil callarla.
Es imposible
callarla.
Llora monótona
como llora el agua,
como llora el viento
sobre la nevada.
Es imposible
callarla.
Llora por cosas
lejanas.
Arena del Sur caliente
que pide camelias blancas.
Llora flecha sin blanco,
la tarde sin mañana,
y el primer pájaro muerto

sobre la rama.
¡Oh, guitarra!
Corazón malherido
por cinco espadas. 
The Guitar
The weeping of the guitar
begins.
The goblets of dawn
are smashed.
The weeping of the guitar
begins.
Useless
to silence it.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps monotonously
as water weeps
as the wind weeps
over snowfields.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps for distant
things.
Hot southern sands
yearning for white camellias.
Weeps arrow without target
evening without morning
and the first dead bird
on the branch.
Oh,guitar!                                                                     
Heart mortally wounded
by five swords.


  Maybe the old guitarist was playing this:
Albéniz, Asturias (Leyenda), guitar solo, James Edwards (animation)  

 

Concert for Bangladesh, George Harrison

George Harrison & Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr on drums - While My Guitar Gently Weeps


Prince, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne and others -- "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y 


 While My Guitar Gently Weeps
George Harrison
I look at you all see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and I see it need sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps

I don’t know why nobody told you
How to unfold your love
I don’t know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you

I look at the world and I notice it’s turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps

I don’t know how you were diverted
You were perverted too
I don’t know how you were inverted
No one alerted you

I look at you all see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at you all
Still my guitar gently weeps