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Quotation Motivation: Set Our Own Conditions
To get up each morning with the resolve to be happy … is to set our own conditions to the events of each day. To do this is to condition circumstances instead of being conditioned by them. — Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) I’m struggling to be happy lately. I do think happiness is largely
Lesson Plan for Emotion Poems
On Friday, I shared just a few of the cool poems that 4th-8th graders came up with in my Young Authors Conference workshops. A few people asked about the process, so I thought I’d share the outline of what we did. Each session was only 50 minutes, which gave us 45 minutes tops for the whole
Poetry Friday: Poems of Hope and Fear by Young Authors
I had a great time working with 4th-8th graders at Young Authors Conferences in May, and I wanted to share (with their permission) just a few of their poems. We imagined certain scenes/settings, and then the writers brainstormed all the things Hope and Fear could do in those situations. They used randomly chosen verb lists to
Poetry Friday: Jane Kenyon Went to My Pool?
I started reading Jane Kenyon: Collected Poems recently, and was shocked when part of one of the poems described a landmark of my childhood, The Langford Hotel, in Winter Park, Florida. My family had a membership to the pool, and my dad put on pool/diving shows there, sometimes including my sisters (I took diving
Quotation Motivation: Lost at Sea
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”–Andre Gide This is one of my favorite quotations, because I need to remind myself of this frequently with regard to my writing. In my life, I’m up for adventure and change and challenge. But in my writing, I find
Poetry Friday: Seal Lullaby (by Rudyard Kipling)
Yesterday, I was catching up on a little blog reading from National Poetry Month, and Kathi Appelt in her interview at The Miss Rumphius Effect mentioned her father reading Rudyard Kipling poems to her as a child. I’ve shared this poem once before, but I love it–so here it is again. Seal Lullaby Oh! Hush thee, my baby, the
Three Days With Fourth Graders: The Poems
Last week, I shared some of the highlights and the areas I needed to work on in my poetry residency with fourth graders. Today I want to share just a few of their poems. Most of these were first drafts, written in three minutes or less–we put the timer to good use! I loved how
Words Matter: Let Someone Know
I got the loveliest email last month. It was from Autumn Lubin, a woman I’ve never met, who recognized my name in an article about a writing fellowship. She works with foreclosure intervention counselors who work with families facing foreclosure, and here’s part of what she wrote: I start each of my classes by reading your poem “Smaller.” One of my
Three Days With Fourth Graders: The Good
Back in April, my first trip was a three-day poetry residency with fourth graders. Four classes, an hour per day with each class. Most of my school visits are large-group presentations, so I hadn’t worked with classroom-sized groups on multi-day projects in ages. I had a great time with the kids, but afterward, I wondered
Always a Runner-Up, Never a Bride
I’m back from a two-day mini-vacation with my husband (yay!) and I’ve got some good news to share! I was named an Honorable Mention for the Loft McKnight Fellowship, a much-coveted annual award here in Minnesota. The winner, Debra Frasier, gets $25,000 (hence the coveting!). The Honorable Mentions (my crit group partner Connie Van Hoven, Lynne
Poetry Friday: I Sailed a Poem to the Grocery Store (original poem)
It’s been a while since I’ve participated in a Poetry Stretch at The Miss Rumphius Effect. In fact, I haven’t been doing daily poems, either. I had to put that ritual and several others on hiatus this winter in order to meet deadlines. It’s been about two months now without some of my daily
Poetry Friday: A Round of Rondeau Redouble
So, every once in a while, I get to write poems with the Poetry Princesses, which is an intimidating thrill. First, we did the crown sonnet. Next up was the villanelle. And then, with barely time for a deep sigh of relief after we posted those in December, we somehow ended up embroiled in a
More Ways to Get Young Kids Involved in Poetry Readings
Yesterday, I shared some of the ways I try to engage young kids, especially pre-readers, in poetry reading during school visits. I don’t want to just stand there and recite my poems. I want the kids to own the poems, too. But there’s always limited time, so I can’t repeat poems three and four times
Making Your Poems or Book Interactive for School Visits and Readings
Last fall, I wondered how to make the poems in Stampede more interactive for readings with young kids. For either pre-readers who can’t read the entire poem up on a screen or for settings where there’s no screen available. I got some great ideas from you guys (thanks!) and did some brainstorming on my own. I’ve been
Kids Write the Darnedest Things
At my school visit last week, one teacher brought me a set of thank you letters from her kids before I left the school that afternoon. Letters from the kids are one of the very best things about school visits. Here are just a few highlights of notes from second-grade students: …My favorite part was
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Are You Looking For?
Go to my Poetry page for:
- National Poetry Month projects through the years
- Small Reads Roundups (poems grouped by topic)
- Introductions to several favorite poetry forms