Spectacular (7 Lines/7 Days #102)

 #108Weeks

April 24-30, 2022

I am keeping up on my reading goals.

I am moving forward on my surging ideas.

I am happily busy and creatively playful.

I am impressed by my learners' growth.

I can see their changes -- at the beginning of the year they didn't even know how to be students. Now they are striving & thriving.

I can feel their involvement.

I can make the last 23 days together spectacular!

53. My Heart Knows the Way

 #66Challenge

 

This poem poured out of me first thing today. It is a revisit of several others I've written for this project.

 

Cut brambles long enough 

sprout after sprout

I have gotten my teaching down to the essence of me

And the lotus will bloom

of its own accord

All this time I did not realize the lotus is me, not some outer creation

 

Already waiting in the clearing

the single image of light

 

I knew it was there all along. How did it get so obscured?

 

The day you see this

that day you will become it

 

"You will know what to do and when to do it"

 

Playfulness (7 Lines/7 Days #101)

 #108Weeks

April 17-23, 2022

Easter included a lovely brunch with Pam and family at Lexington Country Club.

Every day I pray for our country.

Decided to bring more playfulness to the last 30 days with the kids.

I'm already organizing a plan for next year and using the rest of this year to experiment.

My learners are definitely showing strength and know-how.

Got my first pedicure in months. Felt so good!

Spent Saturday early hours planning poetry activities. 

I'm alive with ideas that are not just useful, 

but PLAYFUL, too!

 

52. Kintsugi (Gold-Filled)

 #66Challenge

 

Written on 4/22/2022, inspired by this line from the poem "Plate" by Al Zolynas:

 My life is simple

and full of surrender 

 

 

I have surrendered to knowing

that the only thing that

works as a teacher is to

teach in a way that works

for me.

Here is where I stand firm.

You want to dictate

to form my ways

to make me feel

like I don't know what

I'm doing.

You broke me once,

    but the gold filled in

    and now I'm strong

    in the weak spot.

Makes life so much simpler, 

to surrender to what God wants me to be:

whole, healed, and free.

51. What We Learned from Lebron

 #66Challenge

 

The kids were mostly surprised to learn the tough childhood Lebron had. It was obviously an inspiration to them.

50. Creative Writing Club, April Edition (Spine Poem Series)

 #66Challenge

 

In this session, I introduced the idea of SPINE POEMS -- using each word in a line from a poem as starters for the sentences. Three wonderful and dedicated writers showed up, which allowed me to create a series of my own, based on the lines I had pulled.

The lines are in italics. My poem follows. Below are all the titles and poets who wrote these lines.

Crying only a little bit is no use

Crying nearly nonstop that day

only dry eyes when students were present

a cavernous sorrow and pain 

little did I know it was a

bit like the mouth of a river, this

is now so obvious, as I entered and learned to flow,

no loss, only gain, a new path

use(d) to get me to Wild Joy

 

 

The magic of the day is morning

 

The way I experience it

magic happens in those hours

of writing and music and clarity

the earlier the better, sun greeting

day rise, a rise within; it 

is how I survive, a think I cherish

the routine I can't live without

morning practices keep me alive.

 

 

I put a seed into the ground

 

I will always remember when someone

put out the idea I should be a teacher

a surprise I dismissed outright, but a

seed was planted

into my inner self that always knew,

the way just needed illumination, so the

ground could be tread to reach this place.

 

 

if everything happens that can't be done

if I keep going in this direction

everything will fall into place

happens that the right moments twinkle

that I have trained myself to watch for, notice and

can't ignore when I know it's good

be that teacher, I hear a voice say.

done!

***While we wrote, the girls were playing different songs. I liked this artist that Grace chose:

Sources for spine poems:

"Crying" by Galway Kinnell

"Ballad of Morning Streets" by Amiri Baraka

"Tommy" by Gwendolyn Brooks

"if everything that can't be done" by e.e. cummings

Unfolding (7 Lines/7 Days #100)

 #108Weeks

April 10-16, 2022

 

Crystal Bowl Meditation is back, and what a wonderful way to untie all the knots!

Winding down the school year with the goal of giving them the best that I've got.

Put the Three Big Questions (Kylene Beers) in front of my kids when we read about Lebron James. I could hear them THINKING.

My stepson is suffering another bout of cancer. Prayers needed.

We had a good PLC talking about how we can best support monolinguals. We need a lot more sessions like that!

Friday was great--beach walk, lunch with a friend, and a massage.

Came across the word "unfolding" in more than one thing I read. A beautiful and gentle word that prompts a question for spring: What is unfolding for me now?

49. "Fifty" Revisited

 #66Challenge

 

It is the smallest class, the one I previously wrote about, who has changed the most. 

No joke...it is mostly because one boy hasn't been coming to school.

Another falls right to sleep because all the sites he wants to go to on his Chromebook are blocked.

Another changed his tune after spring break. Threats from mom? Maturing? Hard to say for sure.

The biggest surprise -- the boy that has been disengaged and goofy all year suddenly paying attention, participating, doing his work. More than one day in a row now...

Ah...but my largest, most spirited class...

two monolinguals added.

The temperature turned up.

I take my Rescue Remedy.

And just pray I'll make it through.

Still...the good news is that I haven't added to the fifty referrals.

And hell...maybe I won't!

I can only hope...

48. School Year Twilight

 #66Challenge

Inspired by this line from the poem "Twilight" by Louise Gluck:

I let it go, then I light a candle.

I let go the things

I felt commanded to do.

I let go the need to

do it "right,"

because "right" isn't always right.

Now

I light a candle

to thinking

    creativity

    nourishment

something real that will last.

I let go the "gotta do,"

and light the way to "moved to do"

         the gifts that only I can give.

 

 

 

47. What We Learned from RBG

 

#66Challenge

It was an inspirational week.

Singing My Own Song (7 Lines/7 Days #99)

 #108Weeks

April 3-9, 2022

Yola’s  album Stand for Myself is incredible. Sorry it took so long to check it out.

The Grammy award show made me smile all the way through—great music and a ton of honor and respect .

The writing test went okay. I have a small group.

Jon Baptiste’s “Freedom” video is so much fun.  I had my 9th period dancing to it.

I have felt a shift in the classroom in some small, positive, and important ways.

Los Lobos won a Grammy for their album Native Sons, which drew my attention to it. It is all cover songs by California artists, including Jackson Browne and The Beach Boys. Great listening.

As I’m inspired by music and the school year coming to an end, I’m motivated to keep singing my own song, and it feels great!

Getting Through (7 Lines/ 7 Days #98)

 #108Weeks

March 27-April 2, 2022

The Sierra Hull concert was fantastic!

Jim and I persevered and got the lanai set up, and we love it. 

The kids were really wound up the first day back from break.

Super busy week with something scheduled every morning. 

By Wednesday I was exhausted and not in a good frame of mind.

By Friday I was back on an even keel and had a great day.

I started showing spoken word poetry videos for National Poetry Month and the kids are mesmerized.