Maybe small moments aren't so small after all...
Heart Maps
This was my second time completing a heart map, the first being in undergrad in my block 2 reading class. I enjoyed this experience the first time, but I really loved it this time. I completed this heart map while sitting in Higher Grounds Coffee shop and I let myself really reflect on what matters to me. I am so thankful for so many things, places, people, animals, and experiences in my life and it felt validating to put them all on paper. It felt like a way of thanking things or people that I would not normally thank. Throughout my work day I always think about how thankful I am for the students in my life, how genuine they are, and the way that Newland has become a home away from home for me. I loved getting to put those feelings of gratitude down on paper. According to Heard's article, the heart map works best to support small moment writing, personal narrative, and poetry (2016). From creating my own heart map I could write so many stories based on the things in my life that are most important. This would be an awesome opportunity to show students that our writing does not always have to be about large moments in our lives. For example, I could easily write about coffee and the way that it makes my life better. I really liked the idea of a heart map based on an animal. This could be a great place to start with students who may feel overwhelmed by thinking of everything that would be in their heart map. By narrowing the focus to pets, students would be immediately drawn in because people have strong connections to their pets or animals that they love.
Textbook by amy krouse rosenthal
I am in love with this book. I found myself further in love after researching the author and learning even more about her. If you have not read her article article, You May Want to Marry My Husband, grab a tissue and do it now by clicking this button.
This spread made me laugh out loud, how simple yet true. I really related to this because I have recently moved from being able to carelessly leave the empty box to having to throw away the empty box and then go buy more. There are so many small moments in life that signify big things and we often don't realize how much they matter. Just like starting to make your own doctors appointments and going alone.
A page from my journal that I jotted while reading.
I find Amy's writing to be eye opening in the best way possible. She is so simply prolific and writes in a way that makes you dig deep into yourself while laughing. I find it hard to read this book without sharing with someone. As I was reading in my bed the other night, I grabbed my journal and wrote quickly (I am finding out that my writer's notebook is not going to be the most aesthetically pleasing place, but I think that is important to show my future students). This book inspires me to write and share my story, I find myself wondering how I have never read it before because I love it so much. I have to admit when I saw this book on our required texts list I thought, "yuck" because of the title and the look of the book. Little did I know in just 100 pages so far it is truly changing how I view my everyday life.
An A.K.R inspired story...
On page 74-75 of Textbook, Amy discusses food associations. This idea made me laugh out loud because my Mom, aunt, and I all have an inside joke about watergate salad. I am honestly not sure if I ever liked it or if I've always just been way too nice. Watergate salad is a desert made from cool whip, pineapples, pecans, and I'm truly not sure what else. It's not that I hate watergate salad, I just don't love it nearly as much as my sweet Mawmaw thinks I do. One day my Aunt, Mom, Grandma, and I were all eating lunch at one of our favorite places in my hometown. At the end of our meal my Mawmaw whips out a Coolwhip container filled with watergate salad in a restaurant that sells desserts of their own. I never knew that my aunt was clued in to the fact that it was not my favorite until she COVERED my plate in watergate salad so that I had to eat much more than I bargained for. We could hardly hold our laughter in, but the last thing I would ever want to do is hurt my Mawmaw's feelings, so I'll be eating watergate salad for as long as my Grandma wants me to.
This is a story that I never found important enough to share, so I'm thankful to have a reason to because it has always been one of my favorites.
Brown Girl dreaming
Our names make us who we are and should be something we are proud of. I love my name now, but when I was little I would get so angry at my parents for spelling it the way that they did because I could never buy those cool name key chains (totally meaningless now) and even people in my family would spell it wrong. I am now proud of my name because I love that it is unique. Last semester I created a culturally sustaining pedagogy unit plan for the Latinx community in Avery County. One of the lesson plans focused on writing "I Am" poems and the pronunciation of names. When I interviewed Beth Prince, the family liaison and translator she talked about the importance of names. Often Latinx students are not called their family given names or are pronounced completely wrong. It is important that we honor people's names and take time to learn how to say them correctly. One quote that I loved from Brown Girl Dreaming was on page 34, "My mother throws her head back, her newly pressed and curled hair gleaming her smile the same one she had before she left for Columbus. She's MaryAnn Irby again. Georgiana and Gunnar's youngest daughter. She's home." (Woodson, 2019) This line was so striking to me because it touches on identity and what it means to truly be who you are. So many things make us who were are, but I think names matter a lot.
I love this book so far and the statement it makes about family, racism, and about the life of Jacqueline Woods. It is written in verse and contains beautiful figurative language.
Important takeaways from mentor texts chapter 2
I find the idea of welcoming different backgrounds and perspectives during read-alouds to be very important for students. Students need to know that their voice matters and a great way to do that is by inviting students to write about the memories that the book triggered for them (Dorfman, 2017). Another opportunity for writing for students is introducing problem posing questions and allowing students to respond. Such as, "Have you ever had to find room for someone or something new in your life?" or "Did you ever have the feeling of being choked up?" (Dorfman, 2017) The author suggests that students take time to do a quick write in their journals and then do a group discussion. I like this strategy because students will be allowed time to gather their thoughts and be ready to share. This would be a great time to walk around with a highlighter and point out awesome things that students have written for them to share with the group. This chapter also presents specific lessons that can be used in a classroom such as writing about memories, developing a "what if" story and other engaging lessons. These lessons follow a model of giving students an idea for their writing without giving them a specific prompt. Student choice is so important when the goal is to foster a love of writing.
Where I'm From...
I'm from no stop lights and dirt roads
I'm from Friday night lights and Sunday morning worship
I'm from family celebrations and "you've got this"
I'm from strong women and caring men
I'm from chocolate eclair and chicken tortilla soup
I'm from swimming and evening walks
I'm from a chef and a manager
I'm from tough love and gentle reassurance
From "I want better for you" and hard working parents
I'm from the blue house at the end of the road
I'm from all of the moments and people
that make me who I am
Launching the writer's notebook
I love the idea of launching the writer's notebook in a way that would immediately engage students. By wrapping up the notebook as a gift as this teacher has, I believe students will cherish their notebooks. When I launch writer's notebooks in my own classroom I want to invite students to be fearlessly brave in their notebooks by being themselves. Watching Sara Bareilles' music video for Brave nearly brought me to joyful tears in class. I felt inspired to write and be vulnerable in my writing. I want to share this story with my future students and hopefully inspire them through the music video and my own feelings when watching it for the first time.
Heard, G. (2016). Heart maps: Helping students create and craft authentic writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Rosenthal, A. K. (2016). Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Penguin Group USA.
Woodson, J. (2019). Brown girl dreaming. Vancouver, B.C.: Langara College.
Dorfman, L. R., Cappelli, R., & Hoyt, L. (2017). Mentor texts: teaching writing through childrens literature, k-6. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.