Bugscuffle
Tuesday Slice of Life : August 16, 2016. It's all Robyn Hood Black's fault and she has no idea. I read her Friday Poetry blog post last week. Bugscuffle? Really! I just couldn't let go of it. She'd piqued my curiosity. Now, if anyone reads any further and clicks on...
Poetry Notebook: Day One
Poetry Friday : August 12, 2016. I really like interactive notebooks. Many teachers I know really like interactive notebooks. I've used them for years in one form or another -- binders, handmade notebooks, or composition notebooks. Today is Poetry Friday. It is...
Madut
Tuesday Slice of Life : August 2, 2016. A text from the limo service was waiting for me when AA Flt 1475 touched down four hours later than scheduled. As we taxied to the gate, I connected with my Limo driver. While I waited for my bag, our texts continued. I walked...
Sittin’ on a Tennessee Porch
Poetry Friday : July 22, 2016. She waits Gently swinging back and forth Slowly sipping cool, sweet tea The air hangs heavy-- peonies lemon grass and magnolias Two butterflies dance upon a zephyr A brave cottontail hops close by Robins pull their breakfast And a...
Living the Good Life
Tuesday Slice of Life : July 19, 2016. It is one of those days. I clearly know what needs to be done. And I'm ready to get busy. Oversized sheets of paper are on the table. Colored pencils are sharpened. My notes are gathered. Some mentor books are stacked on a chair....
The Way
Poetry Friday : July 15, 2016. According to my journal, it was during my sophomore year of college. I do not remember the exact occasion, but I do remember being so taken by its message that I committed "The Way" to memory. It offered focus to many issues as I...
I must let go . . .
Tuesday Slice of Life : July 12, 2016. As I write this Tuesday Slice of Life, I find that sentences don't work. And feelings overpower words. My best is a rough draft. I doubt I will ever revise or edit it. In this moment, it is raw, like my heart. We gather And stand...
I Saw
Poetry Friday : July 8, 2016. In a crowd yet alone touched by many loved by none he called out. I saw Hope. Moved with compassion a man reached out his hand touched him. I saw Love. With body bent in broken desperation she touched his garment. I saw Faith. Sensing her...
Blueberries
Tuesday Slice of Life : July 5, 2016. In the early morning hours of the Fourth of July, I put on my berry-picking grubbies and headed into my friend's enormous blueberry patch. The air was heavy with cool dampness. Birds were twittering their morning songs. A rooster...
Sea Joy
Poetry Friday : July 1, 2016. Sea Joy Jacqueline Bouvier When I go down by the sandy shore I can think of nothing I want more Than to live by the booming blue sea As the seagulls flutter round about me I can run about--when the tide is out With the wind and the sand...
From Seat 6B
Tuesday Slice of Life : June 28, 2016. From seat 6B, I look out the tiny window. The flight attendant holds a tray of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies in front of me. Although the aroma is tempting, I maintain control with a quick "no thank you." The man in 6A...
Writing Just Because . . .
Tuesday Slice of Life : June 21, 2016. Every Monday rolls around and I tell myself that this is the day. This is the day to think about writing just because . . . Not for a project. Not for an assignment. Not because I need a model for a lesson. But just because I...
Nobody Expects Anything
Tuesday Slice of Life : May 24, 2016. At three o'clock this morning as I shoved last minute items into my carry-on, I reached for one of my favorite books for travel reading and squeezed it in beside my work already packed. I've read and re-read every page in that...
Empower Students
Language is the instrument of knowledge. Knowledge is power. Hence, language proficiency empowers.
On a May Afternoon
Tuesday Slice of Life : May 10, 2016. The sky is summery Here, there is a puff of white The sun is warm on my face But a brisk, nippy breeze Reminds me of winter A profusion of blossoms Arrayed in a myriad of color Some brilliant, some now faded Nod as they welcome a...
Two! Not ‘tow’ : Not ‘to’ : Not ‘too’
Students often use the wrong homophone, to or too instead of two. Or they misspell it, tow being the most common misspelling. Several things make this misspelling likely to happen. The w is silent The consonant team tw is not very common The vowel team ow is common,...
Transformations
Digging
Seamus Heaney, described by Robert Lowell as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats," was perhaps the best-known poet in the world in our age, a master story-teller, the recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature. From "Digging" My grandfather cut more turf...
On an April Day
The sky is summery, the wind is nippy Trees have donned their garb of spring Arrayed in brilliant color, flowers are nodding That’s what it’s like on this April day a poem for April 2016 National Poetry Month, a literary celebration inaugurated by the Academy of...
Spring
Cold melts away Sun rises earlier Grass grows green Leaves unfurl Blossoms lift their heads Daffodils dress in yellow Crocuses in purple Tulips wave red, yellow, pink Robins pull worms Songbirds sing Squirrels scamper Summer's coming Writing about my writing Why I...
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