This week in my writer’s notebook I explored three different types of poems; a sound poem, math poems, and an ordinary object poem. The first poem I composed was the sound poem. The sound poem was inspired by Forest Has A Song by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater. In this poem, I wrote about sounds that I heard in my classroom this past week during an interactive small-group extension activity that I had students participate in to help further develop their understanding of the characters in a novel that they are reading. While listening and paying extra close attention to the various sounds I heard in my room. The sound of collaboration and laughter stood out to me, similarly how the sounds that are heard in Ludwig’s poem. In my classroom, I try to facilitate learning through a nurturing classroom environment, collaboration, and inquiry. Specifically in this activity, I let student groups have creative freedom with how their projects looked visually. One group was struggling to draw their character from the book and needed some assistance. I went over to their group and started talking to them about their ideas. It became evident that “normal” people weren’t something that they were interested in, but they loved anime. They asked if they could portray the character in anime form. I was 100% okay with this idea because if the character that they were portraying had the key facial features and included character traits that accurately described the character then it doesn’t really matter if they drew the character as a “normal” person or as an anime character. The students became instantly excited when I validated and supported their idea. This led to the sounds of laughter and collaboration in my classroom. When students are engaged and having fun with their learning they are more likely to “buy in” and be engaged in their learning.

 

This experience in my classroom this week also got me thinking about Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal. In Rosenthal's memoir, this week graduate students explored the sections Language Arts and Final Review. In the section Final Review, I really started thinking about “defining word” on page 275. This concept relates to the extension activity that I had students complete for the novel Wonder. There is no singular way to complete an activity like the one I designed; the individuals have creative freedom. Therefore, they “define” what their project looks like. This correlates the Rosenthral’s example because the word “writer” has many different connotations, much like a character traits project, the possibilities are endless. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I probably would not have chosen it for me to read on my own, so I am so glad that it was assigned because it brought so much joy to me as I read along. At certain points of the memoir, I just couldn’t help but giggle and it has been a long time since I could say that about an adult novel. 

 

The math poems that I created were inspired by Thanku: Poems of Gratitude. The math poems that I composed were centered around the theme of inspiration. I have been reflecting a lot recently about my life in general and am forever thankful for my students, amazing friends, and my family. I would have never made it through this semester without them. The poem that specifically guided my writing this week was Appreciation Equations by Becky Shillington. I really loved the creative outlook and equations that she compiled for her appreciation for others. I choose the direction of writing equations about things or people who bring me inspiration to keep pushing through, even when things get tough. 

 

The observational poetry that I composed this week was inspired by my chacos. To me, chacos are associated with adventure. Lately, I have felt called to have some type of adventure. Although I do not know exactly what type of adventure is in my future, I do know some type of change is going to happen. One thing is for certain, my chacos will go with me wherever I go. They have traveled hundreds of miles in the mountains of North Carolina and they will travel many more miles before being replaced, therefore the adventure will continue. When writing this poem, I thought back to last week’s observational poetry that I composed after reading Georgia Heard's "Observational Drawing" strategy out from pages 94-97 of Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School. Although this week I didn’t sketch a picture of my chacos before writing my poem as the strategy suggests, I did observe them while sitting outside and enjoying the beautiful Boone weather. When using this strategy with students, I would consider giving them the to option sketch a picture of their object before writing about it. Some students have anxiety associated with drawing even if it is low-stakes and I would like for this strategy to still be accessible to them. Therefore, I propose that if a student would like to take notes or have the object they are writing about nearby so that they can examine the details that it is okay to do that instead of sketching their ordinary object. In my opinion, students are still able to use this strategy in a meaningful way to compose poetry without sketching their ordinary objects.