Loud Poetry

For the past few days, the students have been reciting their poetry out loud for Poetry Out Loud. Today, the students are making flash cards. On one side of the card they are putting two to three lines of the poems. On the other side of the flashcard, they are drawing a picture that will help them visualize those lines.


After a half hour coloring, the students put away their flashcards and worked on their memorization skills. My room got very loud as many different poems were being recited at once.




The words of Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, Robert Browning, and many more are being murmured within my classroom walls. It's exciting.



The students are coming up to me with their poems and asking me what I think of a certain line and what it might mean. For the most part, the student's intuition was right and when I help them confirm their thoughts, they smile. The poem is etched a little deeper into their hearts.

Allison's New Glasses

Allie got her new glasses. She got them in the mail on Friday. She was thrilled. For years Allison has been taking out Natalie and my glasses and putting them on herself. Now she has her very own pair.

At the hockey and basketball games this past weekend, she has been going into everyone's face asking them if they like her new glasses.

"Do you like my new glasses? They are a pink- sugar color with rhinestones."

Everyone.

Allison's cousin Mariah is mad. Mariah wants glasses now. She wouldn't even sit next to Allison at lunch yesterday.

Allison can't wait for the big day tomorrow when she enters the school and shows the entire world her new pink-sugar glasses with rhinestones on the side.

Tots

We had bacon cheese burgers and tater tots for lunch... Whenever we have tater tots at school I'm reminded of this...

Poetry- it's a Piece of Cake.....

We went to the computer lab to find about 100 perfect poems to recite. I walked around helping and guiding students into finding their poems. I had a blast. The students were into it. I only had one student complain.

"I hate poetry Mrs. Aakhus"

"This is boring. Mrs. Aakhus."

The other students started getting angry with her.

She continued whining.

Over and over. Finally, I took a look at her and said "Have you ever been given a piece a cake that is not your favorite cake? And when you had that cake, shout out 'This cake stinks!' I bet you haven't. You only need to state how much you hate poetry once. After that, you're ruining it for the rest of us. It's rude."

Poetry- Outloud?

My students are confused. I'm expecting them to memorize a poem and recite it to the class. As part of a grant our school is participating in a Poetry Out Loud competition. I decided to incorporate it into my poetry unit. The organization maintains that students learn many skills along with reciting poetry.

Poetry offers mastery of language, and stocks the mind with images and ideas in unforgettable words and phrases

• Poetry trains and develops our emotional intelligence

• Poetry reminds us that language is holistic—that how something is said is part of what is being said, with the literal meaning of words only part of their whole meaning, which is also carried by tone of voice, inflection, rhythm

• Poetry lets us see the world through other eyes, and equips us imaginatively and spiritually to face the joys and challenges of our lives

For the past few days, we've been reading poetry. We've been listening to an Elizabeth Alexander interview on NPR. We've been watching a Nikki Giavonni interview I found on iTunes. The kids have watched a video I made on "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. This is the youtube version of the poem/song.

A lot of students have been whining.

"Not poetry! How boring!"

These are the same students who volunteer to read the poems. So, I totally ignore them. They're supposed to whine about poetry. It's expected.

One of our colleagues has worked diligently on this program. She set up a visit from Diane Tribbit who presented the program to our students. She talked a lot about Poetry Outloud and how one poem can save a life. She really connected with the students when she told them about when her husband died. I hate to admit I had a few tears in my eyes. Some of the students wiped a tear from their eyes too. The students watched a DVD of some of the winners from the national contest. They were on the edge of their seats.


How boring.

Ask a Ninja...

Ninjas can love... awww... I've always wanted to know.

A Year in Forty Seconds.

I thought this was a beautiful video of a "Year in Forty Seconds."

My year seemed to go by in forty seconds or less.

I finished my degree.
I started my job.
My youngest started first grade.
My oldest started fourth grade.
We had bees.
We sold cars.
I started to blog.
I made progress on my bills.


If I didn't stop and think about it, I'd probably think nothing happened this last year.

This last year was probably one of the most eventful years of my life. I've met some amazing students with amazing pasts. I've had the honor to be mentored by some of the most thoughtful and provoking teachers I've ever met.

A lot can happen in forty seconds.