TG PoeTRY Challenge 2019

The TG PoeTRY Challenge is back!  The idea is to write poetry.  Just that simple!

Without further ado, please read on.  Won't you join me this year?

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Dates:  April 1-30 - Yearly

Choose an Option:

1. Challenge 1 - The Epic:  A poem a day...yes, everyday!  You choose the topics and types of poetry you prefer.
2. Challenge 2 - The Sonnet:  A poem every other day (evens or odd) and write at least 14 days this month.
3. Challenge 3 - The Limerick:  A poem at least five times, for you are just here to have a good time and learn about yourself as a poet (aren't we all, though?)
4. Challenge 4:  The Haiku:  Three poems...as short as you would like them, for you just prefer to dabble a bit and want to attempt this challenge.

Winners!

One winner from each category will be awarded a prize!  Either in the form of a book OR Gillmore Brownies!  :)

How to Sign UP:

Sign UP below in the comments by giving your name (first name is fine!) and a link to where you will be publishing your poems.

OR

Post a link in any TG Poem Post (I plan to post daily!)  in the comments, being sure to include a link to your blog.  Add another comment when you have completed the challenge.  

I look forward to your endeavor and the spirit behind the challenge being met.  

Good luck!

Class Culture...Reflecting

A focus that the Arkansas Literacy Association wants to take during the fall conference this year is culture within the classroom.  This topic "lives" close to my heart.  (Pun intended!)

For example...today...in Cafe Gillmore...we began watching To Kill a Mockingbird, and their homework consisted of bringing a bag of microwave popcorn, for what is a good movie without popcorn!?

They were soooooo good!  Loved it!  Good kids!  Smelled so good in my room today!  Like I was wrapped up in butter!  :)  Then, they cleaned up the "house" and everything!

My theme next year will return to a more intense focus on the word CAFE...collaborating, analyzing, facilitating, elaborating...as we cook up all sorts of literacy dishes.  AND...does this not tie in nicely with what a friend says is one of my love languages...food...?  :)

This was all reiterated as I sat and listened to author/speaker Dave Burgess (Teach Like a Pirate) yesterday morning...thanks to our district for bringing him in to speak to our faculty.  I need to teach more like a chef...and I will! 

Love Burgess' energy!  While his style is not quite mine, I do not want to be that boring teacher, either.  My students should see and hear my passion for what I love to do.  Yes...planning some menus now!

How do you build and cultivate culture within your classroom?  Would love to hear from you!

The Empowerment of Rereading a Text

As I finished a three-meeting book club last evening where we chatted with author Colby Sharp about his and Donalyn Miller's book Game Changer...and then as I completed a multiple re-read of To Kill a Mockingbird last night, the topic of empowerment of re-reading a text tugs gently. 

I cringe a bit when I recall my response at times when students have asked if they could reread a book...then the memory clears as I recall that non-reader wanting to read Gary Paulsen's Hatchet for the tenth time...and the second time that year.  Know that kiddo, do you?

Then, I recall the students who wanted to reread the Harry Potter series...and how much fun we had diving back into several of those books during lunch and meeting Harry and all his friends at a different stages in our lives.  Fun...and totally different books! 

This semester, I again reread To Kill a Mockingbird with my sophomores.  Such a powerful book.  Always engaging with current events...ever since the first time I taught the book 20+ years ago.  Why?  Will we never learn from history?  I am getting very close to being able to answer that definitively...with, no.  No, we are not learning...not as much as we should, at least.

In Game Changer, the authors, too, encourage rereading a text...and encouraging students to do so after some time has passed.  Fun listening to them meet their "friends" again on the pages of novels that remain dear to them.

Another reread I am currently enjoying is Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest.  A powerful book full of nuggets, this one speaks to me again.  I am also enjoying the discussions centered around this book with my Bible Study Gals, as this is the book they chose to read and discuss for 2019.   

So tell me, what book have you reread lately?  Or a novel you would enjoy diving into again?

Happy reading!