Poetry Friday

This poem came to mind yesterday when I was doing a training swim at Alum Creek Reservoir. Tomorrow is my second-ever 1.5K time trial open water swim. It will certainly not be too cold, I don't plan to die, and I'm only occasionally too far out (in my life or otherwise).

Not Waving But Drowning
by Stevie Smith

Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

On a lighter note...

Franki, you don't have to read the whole Series of Unfortunate Events. Here's a perfectly good ultracondensed version by Andrea M., age 13, one of the winners of a Muse Magazine contest:

Mr. Poe: Your parents died.
Orphans: Woe is us.
Count Olaf: I want your money.
Orphans: You can't have it.
(Count Olaf does mean things.)
Orphans: Things can't get much worse.
(They do.)

THE END

For more of this silliness, check out the website that inspired the contest, the Book-a-Minute site. You'll find ultracondensed versions of science fiction, fantasy (don't miss the two versions of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone), classics, bedtime stories (don't miss The Mitten), and movies. For the rest of the winners of the Muse contest, you'll either have to check out the July/August issue (Heather D., age 17, did such a good job with the Harry Potter books that I've been inspired to slog through #6 even though I'm a year late), or go to the Muse website.

It strikes me that these are only funny if you know the book or movie. And to get them right, you have to REALLY know the book or movie. Are there classroom applications here? Whaddaya think?

Events, current or otherwise

Newsphoto: Basra,
Collateral Damage 




Our armies do not come into your cities and lands
as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators.

—General F.S. Maude, commander of the British
 colonial forces in Iraq, 1914




Apparently the little girl is dead.

In Basra, bombed to rubble by the Yanks,

her stricken father cradles her small head.



Her right foot dangles, ghastly, by a thread.

Cluster bombs & F-16s & tanks.

That is to say the little girl is dead



whose fingers curl (small hand brushed with blood)

as if to clutch his larger hand. He drinks

her—sobbing—in, & cradles her small head,



& rocks her in his arms, the final bed

but one in which she'll lie. The father clings,

as if his broken daughter were not dead,



her face, as if in sleep, becalmed, but red,

bloodied, bruised. At bottom left, the ranks

of those still dying die beneath her head.



Legions of the Lords of Plunder: the dread

angel of empire offers you thanks!

Look, if you dare! See? The child is dead.

Her stricken father cradles her small head.



by Steve Kowit

Quote for the day

Wole Soyinka said, "A book if necessary should be a hammer [or] a hand grenade which you detonate under a stagnant way of looking at the world."

Cosmic Again

Last book was TWICE TOLD, short stories inspired by original art. I just finished Elizabeth Winthrop's new book, COUNTING ON GRACE, which is historical fiction about a twelve-year-old girl in the early 18th century who doffs bobbins in a cotton mill in Vermont. And what was Elizabeth Winthrop's inspiration for this book? A Lewis Hine photograph in his collection which documented child labor in the early 1900's!! (There's also a one room school in this one. This is just getting too weird.)

I'm probably going to have to twist the arms of my literature circle group to read this -- they are avid NON-readers of historical fiction -- but they read both CASTLE IN THE ATTIC and BATTLE FOR THE CASTLE last year and vowed that they wanted Elizabeth Winthrop to write a new book. Well, this isn't quite what they had in mind, but I think they'll fall in love. Grace is a likeable character, contrary down to her stubborn left-handedness and her inability to sit still or concentrate. It seems that she'll fall into the trap of a lifetime of work at the mill, but because of the influences of Grace's teacher, a visit from Mr. Hine, her best friend Arthur's deliberate mangling of his hand to escape mill work, and her mother (as much of a sharp-edged, contrary character as Grace is), Grace winds up, at age 12, the substitute teacher in the mill school when her teacher is fired for her work with Mr. Hine against child labor. GREAT characters. SUPERB writing. EXCELLENT end notes about Louis Hine and the photograph that inspired Elizabeth Winthrop.

Twice Told

It's an interesting concept. Scott Hunt sent some original drawings out to authors, and two authors per picture wrote stories inspired by the pictures. It's definitely NOT a book for a 4th/5th grade classroom: the picture with a cake and an ax on the kitchen table inspired a tale of a semi-abusive father forcing a coming-of-age ceremony on his son, and in the other, the son kills his father with the ax. There's also homosexuality in one, and sexual abuse in another.

That said, I loved both of the stories that go with the picture on the cover -- an older woman in her robe and scuffs giving a bear what-for; shaking her finger at him so hard it's blurred. In one story, the bear is a stuffed animal come to life, and in the other, nature's tables are turned in quite a clever way.

There are some other good stories, and the notes from the authors in the back shed light on what it was about the picture that spoke to each of them, and how they went about writing their story for the collection.

Yet Another Cosmic Reading Event

First there was the time I was reading PRODIGAL SUMMER by Barbara Kingsolver and it was not just the same season, but exactly the same dates in spring in my world and in the book. Same wildflowers were blooming, everything.

Then there was ANGELA'S ASHES by Frank McCourt while I was cold, hungry, and uncomfortable (just like him in the book) the time I got snowed in at the Alamo car rental place at the (then) new Denver Airport. That was before the city and the airport had figured out who was responsible for plowing Pena Blvd. out of the airport to I-70.

Last week I was reading 1776 by David McCullough while home visiting Mom. I finished it the day before we sorted boxes of pictures of her ancestors when I learned that her grandmother had been a member of the DAR. So that means I, too, can trace ancestors back to the 1700's and Vermont and the Battle of Bennington.

Now, today's cosmic reading event: the very next book I picked after one room schools in Montana (THE WHISTLING SEASON) was a one room school in Nebraska! ROOM ONE by Andrew Clements.

Teacher Man vs. The Whistling Season

I was completely unimpressed by Frank McCourt's TEACHER MAN. The only saving grace was that I listened to it, and got to hear his wonderful Irish brogue.

Now, if you want a great story that also gives insight into the making of an inspired (and inspirational) teacher, read THE WHISTLING SEASON by Ivan Doig. It's set in 1957 and the state superintendent of schools in Montana is faced with having to close all the state's one room schools because of Sputnik. He himself is a product of a Montana one room school, and the book is an extended meditation on one formative year in his life and the teacher who made so much of a difference to him and his family. (That's a huge exaggeration, but you'll have to read it to find out.) Doig is a master story teller -- there's an interesting plot turn on page 327 -- and gifted in his use of language and creation of characters. Plus, you can read it with a teacher's eye and find differentiation, discipline strategies, integration, state standards, school board politics, and playground subcultures. You'll get a refresher/beginner's course in Latin, as well.

STUDY DRIVEN and Response to Comment

After RETHINKING RUBRICS IN WRITING ASSESSMENT, I went on to read Katie Wood Ray's amazing new book called STUDY DRIVEN: A FRAMEWORK FOR PLANNING UNITS IN THE WRITING WORKSHOP. LOVED IT TOO! Katie is always brilliant but this book was another one that was exactly what I needed. She reminds us that we are the professionals, the people in the classroom who know our students best. She helps us to see how to bring inquiry back to the writing workshop while still having rigor and making sure we teach what is required by our districts/states. So often, we are losing the authenticity of our reading and writing workshops. My favorite thinking was about kids needing vision. I have really been struggling with writing workshop for the last few years. Trying to figure out how to make it work but with more rigor. Like Katie, I have a bit of an uncomfortable feeling when I assign a certain genre. So, I avoid it. But, I think I am uncomfortable because of the way it has been done and what I am seeing come out (published) lately. But STUDY DRIVEN clearly shows how to have the energy that a workshop should have and keeping the kids empowered and balancing the process and the product.

Someone on the blog asked me to expand about my comment about RETHINKING RUBRICS when I said I was happy to see this book because: "I worry that lately we have had lots of books that tell us what to do. But, this book really gets us back to the professional roles that we have--really thinking about what matches our beliefs about students and learning--the conversations that seem to have become lost over the last few years." I guess I am saying that so much of what is being published lately is very scripted or very planned and the teacher decision making is taken out of it all. As a profession, we are losing faith in what we know, afraid to question things that seem to be "what we are supposed to be doing". I am excited about RETHINKING RUBRICS and STUDY DRIVEN because both of these books open up conversations that need to happen. I don't think it is important that we all agree on practice. But I think it is critical that we talk and process and are free to question so that we can make the best decisions for our students. It seems that with the standards and testing and No Child Left Behind...teachers have less of a say about what goes on in our classrooms. So, I am glad to see books like these two that are helping us (teachers) to rethink some practices that may not necessarily be the best for our students and to give us better options.

My favorite book of 2006

My best book of 2006 dates clear back to April: THE BOOK OF STORY BEGINNINGS by Kristin Kladstrup. Nothing else has come close since then.