I put the PRO in procrastination
Odes are poems that celebrate a particular person, place, or thing. Writing an ode is an easy way to ease kids into the art of writing poetry. Click here if you’re a teacher or home-school parent wanting to know more about how to teach this writing lesson.
From our friends at DiverseWorks:
Slinging Ink is a war of words in which you are invited to submit your own writing about a given theme.
Dig these out of your shoebox, or write them down for us.
To submit your brief submissions (between 1500 and 1800 words), first download the doc form or download this Google Doc form.
A “blind” panel will select four writers in April and will invite them to read their work for an audience on May 8, 2012.
The audience will select a winner for the evening who will take away a $100 prize.
The review panel: Hank Hancock, Kate Schmitt and Kyle Henricks. More info about the panel here.
Send questions to Hank Hancock at hank@diverseworks.org.
Writers in the Schools partners with Beeville ISD for intensive writing project
When we think of big cities, we think of tightly packed, vertical apartments, clustered skyscrapers, and commuter-filled trains. But to the residents of Beeville, TX, the “big city” means the colossal sprawl Houston. During our wonderful visit to Beeville, we found that our students’ initial interest in us centered on our metropolitan origins. For many of them, Houston is a mythical land accessible only by traveling sports teams, a land filled with shopping malls, upscale restaurants, and, strangest of all, professional writers.
“Are you a real writer?” students asked. When we showed them our books or told them about our projects, many seemed to be in awe.
Perhaps this is part of why the students at Moreno Middle School, where the three of us spent two intensive days teaching creative writing, were so engaged. “They never write that much for me,” one teacher told us. It was clear, however, that many of the students had a genuine interest in writing, and were excited to meet adults who had prioritized it in their lives.
We worked with the students to develop an understanding of the key elements of narrative and poetry. We collaborated on story arcs and invented our own cities, some even stranger than Houston. We were truly impressed by their quick grasp of writing concepts like imagery and simile, as seen in this poem by Ms. Mertz’s student, Ysidro:
City of Gold and Silver
Through the walls of gold
you can feel the cool breeze of the morning
the ground still wet from the morning dew
as you look off the diamond balcony you can see
the houses made of gold and silver
with light posts still glowing with embers
the sun is like an orange small and still
as you walk down the stairs the library is still and calm
you slowly walk in the city of gold and silver
with the strange markings on the walls
everyone still sleeping except for the old man
the old man sitting on a gold rocking chair cursing at the
wind
as the day goes on the city turns brighter
than the sun itself and after the hours of sun
night falls with a still glow and the city of gold and silver
is still bright.
This poem testifies to the dedication and talent of Moreno’s teachers, who made us feel welcome in their classrooms and even thanked us during a school assembly. We left Beeville feeling a little sorry to go and hopeful for another chance to leave the big city and return.
By Ryler Dustin, Jesse Donaldson, and Becca Wadlinger, Writers in the Schools
Writers in the Schools thanks Tracy Saucier and The Joe Barnhart Foundation for making this experience possible.
Here are some fun poetry games made just for kids:
1) The Funny Poem Machine is a mad-lib type of application. Fill in a short list of questions–crazy adjective, awesome verb, etc. And the machine will give pack a poem guaranteed to make you laugh.
2) The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) provides an app to help you create an acrostic poem. There’s even a brainstorming step built into the process.
3) Scholastic Books offers up a free Poetry Idea Engine on their site.
Writing is fun, and these applications might make it even moreso!
Image by epSos.de via Flickr
The Extremely Gross Monster
(inspired by a writing exercise in Karen Benke’s Rip the Page)
In the forest there once lived a leechish, fly-infested, oozing monster with crud-like scales. He was a serious bloodsucker. The color of his skin was yellowish-greenish like mucus. He had a deadly gnaw. The inhabitants of nearby villages called him pond scum because he was extremely gooey like sludge. He was also hairy and full of lumps. This monster smelled so sewer-like that he could make you vomit. When he emerged from the forest, people would act squirmish because he was so garbage-like, flea-like, booger-like, and blob-like! Anybody who saw him would definitely die.
By Quint, age 9
Image via Wikipedia
One popular WITS writing activity for elementary school students is based on Ruth Gendler’s The Book of Qualities. Gendler got the idea for her book when she was a young girl. She made up a story about a store where they sell qualities such as courage, excitement, and joy instead of products such as milk, bread, and jam. She imagined the store as a trading post where customers could visit and try out different qualities, including ones such as anger, terror, and despair.
The Book of Qualities introduces 74 qualities as everyday characters who live among us. Gendler says that she wanted to penetrate through the layers and stereotypes of each quality, not just assume it was “good” or “bad.” She wanted to explore what it could teach us. The best way to do this, she thought, was to imagine that they were real characters who inhabit a town.
Here is a character description of the word “messy” by a third grader. He imagines where Messy lives, what he was like as kid, and how he died.
Messy was born in a garbage can in a dump. It smelled worse than anything. He went to school at Trash Elementary, which was a really dirty, messed up place. When he was in middle school, he got a pet pig, and he named it Dumpster. Dumpster messed up the house and yard and never behaved. In high school Messy always wore the same clothes, overalls with worms in the pockets. He was not very popular. He loved to go to the movies, and his favorite one was “My Trashcan Talks.” When he grew up, Mr. Messy’s best friend was Mr. Dirty. They loved to tackle and run in the mud. They didn’t care what they looked like. One time Mr. Messy got a special award from the city called “Most Trashy Award.” He was happy about that. When Mr. Messy was old, he moved to Not Clean Street, where he lived the rest of his life. When Mr. Messy died, he had a trash funeral.
By Jacob, age 9
by Marcia Chamberlain, Writers in the Schools
Image by monojussi via Flickr
In the middle of your brain is a word warrior.
It spurts out words like neon rain and crunch of gold.
Tangled, loopy.
Frizzy, iggily.
Words are an ancient song of praise.
Busy or slow? Crowded or desolate?
East or west? Left or right?
My world of words, a personal world.
I’m keeping its eyes and ears open!
Can you see under my skin?
I have blood cells of words.
I keep my promises.
It’s time to head home.
See you at next year’s celebration of words!
By Clarissa, age 10
by Marcia Chamberlain, Writers in the Schools
Image by roger4336 via Flickr
When WITS writers teach a lesson, they don’t have to look far for inspiration. WITS writers understand that everything in the world is up for grabs when it comes to engaging subject matter. We encourage children to look at the world around them and pick objects and activities that resonate with what they like to do.
I remember one 3rd grade boy named Sebastian who could never think of new subject matter. He often complained that he didn’t want to write “dumb poems about flowers and stars.” So, I asked him what he liked to do and found out he loves to ride his bike. The following week I brought him a poem called “Ode to Bicycles” by Pablo Neruda. Neruda’s poem didn’t have a magical effect on Sebastian’s poetic output (he still had a hard time getting started), but it did seem to surprise him.
May is National Bicycle Month, and I always think of Sebastian and wonder where he is and what he is writing about as a teenager. In honor of Sebastian, here is another bicycle poem.
Maybe Alone On My Bike
I listen, and the mountain lakes
hear snowflakes come on those winter wings
only the owls are awake to see,
their radar gaze and furred ears
alert. In that stillness a meaning shakes;
And I have thought (maybe alone
on my bike, quaintly on a cold
evening pedaling home), Think!–
the splendor of our life, its current unknown
as those mountains, the scene no one sees.
O citizens of our great amnesty:
we might have died. We live. Marvels
coast by, great veers and swoops of air
so bright the lamps waver in tears,
and I hear in the chain a chuckle I like to hear.
by Marcia Chamberlain, Writers in the Schools
There’s a point when all WITS teacher learn to believe in magic. It usually happens when you’re not expecting it—you’re shuffling lessons around TAKS testing, tending to paper cuts and fire drills, repeating “Five more minutes, just five more minutes of quiet writing time, and then we’ll share…”—then you happen upon a moment of stillness and see it: an entire room full of young minds scribbling as quickly as they can. They are writing and loving to write. Moments like these are perfect, infinite, and astonishing.
This school year, I was blessed with one third-grade class that was magical from the start. On my first day, one student waved me over. “Ms. Becca,” she said, “I’m a poet!” The boy next to her leaned in and earnestly confided, “Me too. I feel it in my soul.”
The passion for writing spread wildly throughout my visits. If any students in that room were doubtful, it wasn’t long before they were infected with the “Poetry-in-the-Soul” virus, too. Writing prompts were met with hushed anticipation and riotous cheers. Sharing time took on the extravagance of Grammy performances or Nobel Prize speeches. Students even asked for extra WITS homework. “I was working on a story last night,” they’d tell me. “You have to read it.”
To my utter disappointment, my time with this magic classroom is nearing its end. I find myself thinking If only I could 
bottle the energy in the room! and What is it that makes an entire class love writing so much? I had no idea, so I thought I’d ask the experts themselves. And so, I posed the question: “Why do you love to write? What is writing like to you?” The students answered (as any illustrious writer might do) in similes and metaphors. I’ve shared a few of my favorites below.
Thoughts On Writing
(by some of my favorite third-grade creative geniuses in Houston, Texas)
“Writing is like swimming in an ocean of words. It is a fun way to express your feelings. There are so many things to write about.” –Caleb
“Writing is like you’re using vision inside your head.” –Trenton
“Writing is like a rainbow after a storm. When I get sad, I write. It flows with nice music.” –Braelon
“Writing is like your head is exploding. It’s like it’s raining money. It’s like thunder. It’s like flying in space.” –Demarcus
“Writing is like living inside of a book.” –Jaya
“Writing is like floating in a pit of clouds. Writing is like flying with birds.” –Jeremiah
“Writing is like an ocean tide that never ends.” – Jemarcus
“Writing is like me on a Saturday morning, when I am just relaxing in my bed on the laptop computer. When I type the first word, my head clears all my troubles.” –Rhemi
“Writing is like eating Pay Days. They have peanuts that make me nutty, and my nuttiness drags along the paper when I write.” –Jazmine
“Writing is like water—it flows from my head to my hand and onto my paper. Just my pencil, my paper, and me.” –Jade
“Writing is like making a life out of words. Use your imagination to do the work. Use your words to feel (snap snap).” –Keshau [Note: the “snap snap” is Keshau mimicking the applause of Beat poets.]
“Writing is like a clock flowing through a mind with good sounds. Tick tock…” –Venerick
“Writing is like a feather that falls from above. It is a beautiful thing—to hear the words, to touch the paper. It is as beautiful as the sunset.” –Shelbi
“Writing is like an eruption of imagination. Like daydreaming on paper. With writing, you have to be creative.” –Caleb
“Writing is like you are flowing. When you write with your hand, it is just like your hand flows with the pencil.” –Kamille
“Writing is like a powerful storm that blows you away with words.” –Tianna
By Rebecca Wadlinger, Writers in the Schools
WITS writers often turn to Paul Fleischman when they teach choral poetry. His book Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices has delightful, double-column poems about insects. The poems, which include everything from a love affair between lice to fireflies writing in the sky, are written for two readers alternating turns.
What I did not realize until recently is that Paul’s father Sid Fleischman was also an accomplished writer, who like his son, is a recipient of a Newbery Award. In addition to writing screenplays, Sid is the author of notable children’s books such as The Whipping Boy.
For anyone interested in knowing what it is like to be a writer (and a magician), Sid Fleischman’s book The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer’s Life offers one picture. The book is divided into 43 short chapters that begin with humorous excerpts from letters that Fleischman has received over the years from children. One child, after being asked by his teacher to write a thank-you letter to Fleischman, the visiting author at his school, wastes no time getting to his main point, “Please don’t come back to my school. I hate to write letters.”
Try this:
Go to your local library this week and check out some books by Paul and Sid Fleischman! Then, write a poem for two voices. Record your poem with a friend or parent!
by Marcia Chamberlain, Writers in the Schools
As I walked towards the front entrance of E.O. Smith Education Center to observe WITS Writer Deborah Wiggins, I sensed love in the air. On this Valentine’s Day, Wiggins’ writers were preparing to work when I slipped through the classroom door. An international performance poet with a commanding stature, Wiggins is a take charge teacher with a big smile and a warm heart. She wasted no time arresting the boy’s and girl’s attention, using a count-to-ten approach. By the time she reaches number 10, every bottom should be in its seat and all eyes should be on her. (She later told me her students usually are glued to their chairs by number 9.)
Deborah Wiggins inspires her 4th graders to create heart-shaped love poems. Photo by Jennifer Watson.
Getting the children to focus is one of the many challenges Wiggins learned since she took on the class last fall. WITS writers are tasked with developing innovative teaching methods that encourage children to think of language in unconventional ways in addition to showing them that writing about their everyday experiences can be fun. Although each WITS writer is given a sample curriculum as a guideline, customizing the lesson plan to each classroom is no easy feat, not even for a seasoned teacher like Wiggins.
“The biggest trick to working with the kids at Smith is [finding] engaging and active ways for them to interact with writing that transcends the page,” she said. “There are no interesting pieces without imagination. As long as their imaginations are alive, so are their emotions and stories.”
WITS student Guadalupe Hernandez and Mayor Parker. Photo by Gayatri Parikh.
In the spirit of the holiday, Wiggins shared a heart-themed prompt to inspire love poems. Everyone was given construction paper, scissors, and pencils to create a heart and decorate it and asked to write a poem beginning with a simile. The children read their work aloud, and the results were beyond charming. What impressed me most was the individual attention Wiggins gave to every student and her ability to draw on their emotions in a way that got them excited about describing their hearts’ desires.
Wiggins’ natural gift of connecting with her audience as a spoken word poet is a skill she transfers exceptionally well as a teacher. In a recent public performance she was invited to showcase both talents at the kickoff event for Public Poetry, a reading series established to celebrate poetry in the community. She brought along Guadalupe Hernandez, a 4th grader from E.O. Smith, to read poems in honor of National Poetry Month. Of the featured poets including Wiggins, Mayor Annise Parker, Rich Levy, Martha Serpas, and Eva Skrande, it was Hernandez who stunned the crowd with her two poems “Diamonds” and “Untitled” (below).
By Guadalupe Hernandez
My world feels
Cold and windy
The grass is wet
temperature around 65 degrees
it moves like a sphere
an airplane
the right way the wind is going
My world sounds like
Vibration of the wind
In my ear
Trees blowing
I could hear the freeway
When the wind blows
And the trees blow
And the leaves get in your face
And the bears migrate in the winter
And when it stops
It feels hot
I get mad
And our stuff flies away.
Her courageous performance was a testament of how writing “transcends the page” and manifests itself into an experience memorable enough to make a teacher/writer/poet’s heart incredibly proud.
by Jennifer Watson,
Writers in the Schools
What: GiggleIT Project competition for students ages 10-14. This is a international competition encouraging literacy and cultural education. Share your sense of humor with the world through your poems, stories, jokes, etc. and win funny prizes too.
When: Free online registration starts now at the IASL website.
Where: A digital publishing project hosted by the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) and co-sponsored with the International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL), all submissions are online.
View the complete GiggleIT Project media release here.
The 2010 WITS Writer Orientation featured special guests Michele Kotler and Keith Kaminski from the Community Word Project (CWP) in New York. Our friends at the CWP have given a great deal of thought to preparing writers to teach in classrooms. We at WITS Houston invited them down to see what it was all about. As you might guess, we were very impressed.
One of the cornerstones of CWP is creating poetry and art as a group. Michele and Keith led our writers in an exercise to help us produce a community performance. The process was fun and exciting. Have a listen?
Cover of Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee
Grade level: Kindergarten – 1st
Genre: various
Objectives: To involve the students in listen to a story read aloud
Primary sources: Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee by Paul Galdone
Materials: a basket with small stuffed animal characters from the book Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee
Contributors: Brooke Brown, Linda Draper
This story basket activity ensures the active participation of all students in listening to a book read aloud. Originally used with Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee, it can easily be adapted to any book by printing and laminating images of the story’s characters. Additionally, the students could make representations of the characters in the book as a pre-reading, art project.
Have the students sit in a circle on the floor with the “story basket” in the center which contains characters and farm animals from the book. The students should each take one animal from the story basket as the book is read aloud, listen for the appropriate time to place their character back in the basket.
