Poetry Friday

Join Tabatha and a host of poetry friends for Poetry Friday round-up to share poetry love.  I searched the poetry collection at my old school for a favorite book of poetry.  There were many old friends on the shelves.  The World According to Dog:  Poems and Teen Voices (an odd choice for a cat lover who has never owned a dog) jumped into my arms.

I love the combination of poems by Joyce Sidman with Doug Mindell's gorgeous photographs and the essays from teen writers accompanied by photos of their dogs.  I recall many poignant pieces of writing that came from my students about their pets.

This is a book of poetry made for sharing with students.  Joyce Sidman provides a reader's guide with specific ideas for crafting a personal essay, a diamante, and a memory poem.  Tara shared "A Dog in Bed" in her November post.  The advice poem, "Always Take a Dog," is my favorite poem.  This book was published in 2003, but it's still one of my favorite poetry books a dozen years later.  Share it soon with the dog lovers in your life!

Spiritual Journey Thursday - Focus

I've been a sometime visitor and commenter to Spiritual Journey Thursday. I loved Holly's idea of writing about the spiritual focus of our OLW.  So I asked Holly to include my OLW on the list.  Then I received a tweet from her reminding me that it was time to post.  That's when I realized I had joined the group!

This morning I picked up a favorite book, Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver.  The book fell open to p. 101 and this paragraph:
"The story of Mary and Martha was never meant to be a psychological profile or a role play in which we choose the character with whom we most identify.  This is the story of two different responses to one singular occasion.  In it, we should find not our personality type, but the kind of heart Christ longs for us to have.
A heart centered in him alone."

I long to be the kind of disciple mentioned in Jeremiah 28, verses 12 and 13:
"Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

A heart centered in him alone, and searching for him with all my heart - this is a quest that requires my constant focus.  I like this Selwyn Hughes quote (also from Weaver's book):  "Life works better when we know how to glance at things but gaze at God.  Seeing Him clearly will enable us to see all other things clearly."  I fear that I am guilty of glancing at God and gazing at things.  I want this to be a year when I spend more time gazing at God and focusing my heart on the Lord.

Contented Cat Stretches!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Tuesday Slice of Life sponsored by
Two Writing Teachers.

In the waning days of 2014, I started thinking about my OLW for this year.  I had a wonderful journey with savor and felt that I truly embraced my word this past year.  I found that checking in on 5th Tuesdays was key for me and helped me maintain a focus on my word throughout the year.

Suddenly, people were beginning to post their words along with beautiful visual reminders.  When I saw Michelle's beautiful visual on Twitter, I quickly messaged her and asked how she did it.  Here's her reply:

"I used google slides (just like power point). Found the pic online.

It's a wallpaper, so I can use it. So easy! :) Happy New Year!"

Great, except that you must understand that I'm a teacher of a certain age who spent fourteen years out of the classroom and was totally overwhelmed by technology when I returned.  I relied heavily on help from my own kids, my husband, my students, and somehow never mastered Powerpoint.  But I plunged into google slides anyway and tried a few things.  I decided it was a good way to "stretch" and put my OLW for 2015 to work right away.  After playing around for almost an hour, I decided my effort was "good enough" and followed Jone's recent advice to "let go of unrealistic expectations for perfection."   I love that the photo is one I took this fall when the steps in our ravine were covered in scarlet maple leaves.  

I connected these steps to an experience I had this past week.  I arrived before 8 am for a doctor's appointment.  I thought that I could park my own car instead of using the valet parking.  It was early, there were sure to be parking spots, and I'd save some money.  As soon as I entered the garage, I remembered why I use valet parking.  It's an old garage, with sharp turns and tiny parking spots.  I ended up on the top floor and then realized there was no elevator.  However, it was all downhill at that point.  When I returned from my appointment, the steps up four flights all flew by quickly, and I wasn't even winded because they were gentle steps.  I immediately made a connection to these gentle steps when I chose this picture to represent my OLW. 

I want gentle stretches in my life this year.  I like the slow, languid, relaxed image of a cat stretching (that was the image I originally wanted, but couldn't find - maybe later this year).  There are certain areas of my life that pop up year after year as resolutions:  "Lose weight, exercise more, get organized, strengthen my spiritual life."  I no longer make new year's resolutions, but I know that I can gently stretch myself as I seek to grow in these areas during the coming year.  When I saw Mary Lee's acrostic for notice, I was inspired to create one for stretch that I shared on Poetry Friday.  Perhaps it will be more meaningful with this bit of background I've provided about my intentions for stretching myself this year.

Moving On

Steps,
Tiny steps, with time to
Refresh, to celebrate
Each day's small effort as I seek
To gently grow,
Comfortable as a cat, content and
Happy to move forward slowly.

                      - Ramona Behnke

If you want more inspiration for choosing your OLW or sharing OLW with students, see my previous post, Resources for OLW.

I plan to continue last year's practice of writing about my OLW journey on Slice of Life each 5th Tuesday throughout the year:  March 31st, June 30th, September 30th, and December 29th.  I look forward to seeing updates from each of you about your journeys throughout the year whenever you choose to write!

Resources for OLW (One Little Word)

I introduced Slice of Life writing to some teachers at the school where I taught before retirement.  I'm sharing the letter I sent them with resources for OLW (One Little Word) because I think some of you might also find it helpful:

 January 5, 2015

Good Morning Slicers,

Many slicers (people who write Slice of Life entries on the Two Writing Teachers blog) select a OLW (one little word) for each year.  Some of them have used the concept with students.  One of my blogger friends, Margaret Simon, featured my stretch acrostic in an Emaze she created to share with students.  I asked for her permission to share the link and her reply was:  "It is meant for sharing!"

Here's the link to Margaret's Emaze:
http://app.emaze.com/@AOFLCWZL/one-little-word

Here's a post from another blogger friend, Tara Smith (6th grade teacher), about introducing OLW into writing workshop (with great pics of student visuals for OLWs):
http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/keeping-a-writing-blog-taking-our-writing-workshop-online/

Here's a post from my blogger friend, Terje about how to choose your OLW:
http://justforamonth.blogspot.com/2015/01/how-to-choose-one-little-word.html

Here's the archive link for OLW entries at TWT (Two Writing Teachers) blog:
http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/category/olw/

This morning I finally got around to reading, The Right Word:  Roget and His Thesaurus, a fabulous picture book that I bought at NCTE after attending a panel discussion that included Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet, the author and the illustrator.  This book would be a fabulous resource to trigger thinking with students about the power of words.  Here's a book trailer on YouTube.

Here are some links to blog entries I wrote about savor, my OLW for 2014:  

http://pleasuresfromthepage.blogspot.com/2014/01/seasonal-olw-intentions.html

http://pleasuresfromthepage.blogspot.com/2014/04/its-5th-tuesday.html

http://pleasuresfromthepage.blogspot.com/2014/07/revisiting-my-olw-savoring-book.html#comment-form

http://pleasuresfromthepage.blogspot.com/2014/09/5th-tuesdays-check-in-time-for-my-olw.html#comment-form

Savoring 2014! (the year in pictures)

Introducing stretch, my OLW for 2015:

http://pleasuresfromthepage.blogspot.com/2015/01/2015-olw.html

http://pleasuresfromthepage.blogspot.com/2015/01/poetry-friday.html

The new year is the perfect time to introduce OLW as a tool for reflection and growth in writer’s workshop.  Have fun and let me know how it’s going!

Ramona 

Celebrate this Week!

Join us each weekend for Celebrate this week with Ruth Ayres.  

 When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.

                                    A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

 

1.  Visited Vivian, Bei, and Li - Christmas Day was Vivian's 100th day celebration.  Isn't she beautiful?  I savor my friendship with this family which began last summer before Vivian's birth when we met at Slater Park.

Double kudos to Mr. B. (my husband): 

2.  He replaced my hard drive this past week.

3.  He made cranberry scones for New Year's Day!

Have a wonderful New Year!

Poetry Friday

An acrostic for my OLW for 2015:

Moving On

Steps,
Tiny steps, with time to
Refresh, to celebrate
Each day's small effort as I seek
To gently grow,
Comfortable as a cat, content and
Happy to move forward slowly.

                      - Ramona Behnke


Thanks to Tricia for hosting our first poetry roundup of 2015.  Head over to The Miss Rumphius Effect to enjoy more poems for this new year.

2015 OLW