As we gathered this morning, the general conversation revolved around everyone voicing relief that the school year was finally over. Ruie played hostess and offered participants little quiches which I am currently munching on. Very yummy! Thank you Refreshing Ruie and Motivating Megan!
Many folks were missing today. Chelsea is on her honeymoon, May is in Guatamala, Amy and our other Sarah were also missing today.
We began with our alliterative adjective get-to-know-each-other activity. Being second to last was good and bad for me: I was able to hear the names over and over, but it also meant I had a lot of names to remember. Despite this stress, I found that this activity really helped me learn people's names!
For those of you who were absent, here are our alliterative adjective creations:
Amazing Amy
Anxious Amy
Calm Colleen
Courageous Curtis
Ironic Adrienne
Jovial Justin
Joyful Jill
Juggling Jackie
Juicy Justin
Kempt Kevin
Laughing Laura
Loquacious Lisa
Lucky Lauren
Motivating Megan
Nautical Natalie
Refreshing Ruie
Relaxing Rachel
Showing Sarah
Sleepy Spencer
Spiritual Stephanie
BTW, Congratulations Showing Sarah on your good news!
After summaries of our May 18th class were read, Ruie showed us the the convertors and adapters we can check out for our trip. I hope I the following information is correct:
• The adapters simply allow something that won't get fried by 220v (like a computer) to be plugged into an English outlet.
• The converters are used with electrical appliances (such as a coffee pot, Laughing Laura's curling iron, or Juggling Jackie's hair straightener) to prevent them from being destroyed by 220 volts. Maniac Michael commented "You'll know if you made a mistake. You'll hear a pop, smell smoke, and that'll be it."
We then pulled out our essays and Refreshing Ruie then went over the rules of commenting on each other's writing. They included:
• Start with the person on writer's right.
• Readers take turns saying positive things about the paper during the first round of commenting
• During the second round, give suggestions or things that you noticed
The writer has the hardest part in all of this: She/he cannot talk: no apologizing, no defending, no butting in while a person is talking.
I was in a group with Amazing Amy and Enlightening Elliot and I personally had trouble following the rule of "no butting in." When one of them had a question about something I had written, I felt the need to explain it, as they did when I had questions abut what they wrote. Did anyone else find this challenging?
We then had a presentation by Dr. Sally Buckner, a well recognized NC Poet. She has done so many things that I couldn't write them down fast enough during Refreshing Ruie's introduction, but fortunately the Asheville Poetry Review summed it up nicely:
"Sally Buckner has taught at every level from kindergarten through graduate school and recently retired after twenty-eight years on the faculty at Peace College. A former journalist, she has published poetry, plays, non-fiction and short stories in many journals and anthologies. In 1991 she was the editor of Our Words, Our Ways, an anthology of literature designed to accompany eighth grade studies of state history. Her first collection of poems, Strawberry Harvest, was published by St. Andrews Press in 1996. In 1999 she was the editor of Word and Witness: 100 Years of NC Poetry, published under the auspices of the NC Poetry Society by Carolina Academic Press.
http://www.ashevillepoetryreview.com/tag/sally-buckner
Dr. Buckner's presentation was entitled: "Bringing Out your Inner Poet." "These techniques," she stressed, "can be used with any grade level. Students will read poetry better if they write their own poetry," Dr. Buckner went on to say. "In general, people who don't get poetry tend to read it like a newspaper."
We began our thoughts about reading poetry through "How to Read a Poem" by Michael Chitwood . Though his poem, Chitwood encourages us to focus on the words and their meaning, read and re-read slowly and quietly.
Dr. Buckner advised that when writing a poem, "the what dictates the how." She then gave us many ideas for writing poetry called "frames." These were particularly helpful for me since I am not in the habit of writing poetry, unlike many of my talented colleagues. Some frames started with phrases such as "If I were to see her shape from a mile away, I'd know so quickly it was her. . . If I felt hands on my head. . .If I heard a voice coming from a rock. . ." Other frame poems had a specific number of lines and directions of what to mention in each line. Another used the idea of writing two poems about opposites.
We experimented with writing poetry using these frames. Maniac Michael wrote about his granddad and included some neat words that evoked smells (which is a powerful poetical device.) Dr. Bruckner suggested that such a poem would make a great gift because it tells meaningful things about the the subject. When the frame poems were finished, we then took as much of the frame out of the poem as possible. Some people liked their poem with the frame better than without.
"A good poem tries to get at an ultimate truth." said Dr. Bruckner who illustrated this thought with a poem her husband wrote about his father who died when her husband was 13. Through poetry, he was able to illustrate the essence of the question "What was so special about my dad?"
After writing our own poetry, we discussed poetry revision suggestions: check for clichés, use lively, precise verbs, avoid adverbs, take out function words, be specific with your words, use strong beginnings and satisfying endings. The draft review form offers suggestion to use during revision or a student can take a bad poem and revise it to make it better.
To wrap up the morning, students shared poetry ideas:
Lucky Laura's students look at something through a scientist's eye then a poet's eye. For example, a scientist might see that a pencil is yellow, it has an eraser etc. A poet might see it as a magic wand.
Jovial Justin uses music in his classroom. Has students extract powerful lines from their favorite songs and discuss how they are poetical.
Enlightening Elliot also uses music. She has students pick a favorite band, examine its song lyrics, and create a powerpoint explaining the literary devices used in the lyrics.
Don't forget to check Moodle for a corrected copy of Buckner's guide.
Respectfully submitted,
Colleen Walsh
Many folks were missing today. Chelsea is on her honeymoon, May is in Guatamala, Amy and our other Sarah were also missing today.
We began with our alliterative adjective get-to-know-each-other activity. Being second to last was good and bad for me: I was able to hear the names over and over, but it also meant I had a lot of names to remember. Despite this stress, I found that this activity really helped me learn people's names!
For those of you who were absent, here are our alliterative adjective creations:
Amazing Amy
Anxious Amy
Calm Colleen
Courageous Curtis
Ironic Adrienne
Jovial Justin
Joyful Jill
Juggling Jackie
Juicy Justin
Kempt Kevin
Laughing Laura
Loquacious Lisa
Lucky Lauren
Motivating Megan
Nautical Natalie
Refreshing Ruie
Relaxing Rachel
Showing Sarah
Sleepy Spencer
Spiritual Stephanie
BTW, Congratulations Showing Sarah on your good news!
After summaries of our May 18th class were read, Ruie showed us the the convertors and adapters we can check out for our trip. I hope I the following information is correct:
• The adapters simply allow something that won't get fried by 220v (like a computer) to be plugged into an English outlet.
• The converters are used with electrical appliances (such as a coffee pot, Laughing Laura's curling iron, or Juggling Jackie's hair straightener) to prevent them from being destroyed by 220 volts. Maniac Michael commented "You'll know if you made a mistake. You'll hear a pop, smell smoke, and that'll be it."
We then pulled out our essays and Refreshing Ruie then went over the rules of commenting on each other's writing. They included:
• Start with the person on writer's right.
• Readers take turns saying positive things about the paper during the first round of commenting
• During the second round, give suggestions or things that you noticed
The writer has the hardest part in all of this: She/he cannot talk: no apologizing, no defending, no butting in while a person is talking.
I was in a group with Amazing Amy and Enlightening Elliot and I personally had trouble following the rule of "no butting in." When one of them had a question about something I had written, I felt the need to explain it, as they did when I had questions abut what they wrote. Did anyone else find this challenging?
We then had a presentation by Dr. Sally Buckner, a well recognized NC Poet. She has done so many things that I couldn't write them down fast enough during Refreshing Ruie's introduction, but fortunately the Asheville Poetry Review summed it up nicely:
"Sally Buckner has taught at every level from kindergarten through graduate school and recently retired after twenty-eight years on the faculty at Peace College. A former journalist, she has published poetry, plays, non-fiction and short stories in many journals and anthologies. In 1991 she was the editor of Our Words, Our Ways, an anthology of literature designed to accompany eighth grade studies of state history. Her first collection of poems, Strawberry Harvest, was published by St. Andrews Press in 1996. In 1999 she was the editor of Word and Witness: 100 Years of NC Poetry, published under the auspices of the NC Poetry Society by Carolina Academic Press.
http://www.ashevillepoetryreview.com/tag/sally-buckner
Dr. Buckner's presentation was entitled: "Bringing Out your Inner Poet." "These techniques," she stressed, "can be used with any grade level. Students will read poetry better if they write their own poetry," Dr. Buckner went on to say. "In general, people who don't get poetry tend to read it like a newspaper."
We began our thoughts about reading poetry through "How to Read a Poem" by Michael Chitwood . Though his poem, Chitwood encourages us to focus on the words and their meaning, read and re-read slowly and quietly.
Dr. Buckner advised that when writing a poem, "the what dictates the how." She then gave us many ideas for writing poetry called "frames." These were particularly helpful for me since I am not in the habit of writing poetry, unlike many of my talented colleagues. Some frames started with phrases such as "If I were to see her shape from a mile away, I'd know so quickly it was her. . . If I felt hands on my head. . .If I heard a voice coming from a rock. . ." Other frame poems had a specific number of lines and directions of what to mention in each line. Another used the idea of writing two poems about opposites.
We experimented with writing poetry using these frames. Maniac Michael wrote about his granddad and included some neat words that evoked smells (which is a powerful poetical device.) Dr. Bruckner suggested that such a poem would make a great gift because it tells meaningful things about the the subject. When the frame poems were finished, we then took as much of the frame out of the poem as possible. Some people liked their poem with the frame better than without.
"A good poem tries to get at an ultimate truth." said Dr. Bruckner who illustrated this thought with a poem her husband wrote about his father who died when her husband was 13. Through poetry, he was able to illustrate the essence of the question "What was so special about my dad?"
After writing our own poetry, we discussed poetry revision suggestions: check for clichés, use lively, precise verbs, avoid adverbs, take out function words, be specific with your words, use strong beginnings and satisfying endings. The draft review form offers suggestion to use during revision or a student can take a bad poem and revise it to make it better.
To wrap up the morning, students shared poetry ideas:
Lucky Laura's students look at something through a scientist's eye then a poet's eye. For example, a scientist might see that a pencil is yellow, it has an eraser etc. A poet might see it as a magic wand.
Jovial Justin uses music in his classroom. Has students extract powerful lines from their favorite songs and discuss how they are poetical.
Enlightening Elliot also uses music. She has students pick a favorite band, examine its song lyrics, and create a powerpoint explaining the literary devices used in the lyrics.
Don't forget to check Moodle for a corrected copy of Buckner's guide.
Respectfully submitted,
Colleen Walsh