Silly Me

I told my students this morning that over Spring Break we were going to put the poetry challenge on hold and go back to slice-of-life. They were a little disappointed, but before I could explain my reasoning that I wanted to be able to clarify some of the poetry forms and terms in class as we go, someone's hand shot up.

"I know why you're doing that!" he blurted out. "It's so you can keep in touch with us over break, and know what we're doing, right?" His classmates nodded in understanding.

It's so cute that they think that. It reminds me of when Josh was a little boy. We were getting ready to go on vacation and were talking about the pet sitter. "Maybe when you're older, you can stay at the house and take care of the cats and dog," I said to him. "We would pay you and everything. I bet you would be the best pet sitter ever!"

At first he thought it sounded like a great idea, easy money, but then his face fell and his brow furrowed. "But wait," he said, "won't I be on vacation with you?"

Spring Break Fever

Monday is done; Tuesday and Wednesday I'm on a field trip, Thursday and Friday are planned and ready to go.

The countdown is on!

Protective Clothing

Browsing through a catalog this morning, I came across a garment described as a "smock." The very word transported me back to elementary school where, every year for art, we were asked to bring in an old shirt of our dads' to use as a smock. I could remember pulling on the over-sized garment that somehow still smelled like my father, my classmates and I a tiny, clownish white-collar work force. The buttons were always a struggle, and the sleeves dangled far below my hands; the cuffs were uncontrollable, dragging through the tempera paint and on to the paper as if they had an artistic vision of their own. At the end of class, having done their diligent duty, the spattered shirts went back on the hook or into the cubby, neglected until next time. By the end of the year they must have been a work of art themselves, but I couldn't tell you what happened to them once that final school bell rang in June.

This Is Just to Say

Today's poetry challenge is to write a parody of William Carlos William's beloved poem. Here are a couple of my favorites, (written on a Saturday, no less!):

This is just to say
by Andrew

I have destroyed
planet Earth
that was in
the Milky Way

and which you were probably
planning
to live on
with the rest of your species

Forgive me
(but if you were more advanced)
your planet would not be
so burnt
and so dead.

********************

This is Just to Say
by Carlos

I threw away
your ticket
that was on
your desk

and which you were
planning to use to go to Wrestle Mania
this Sunday in the
Mercedes Superdome in New Orleans

Forgive me
but if you put it in a safe place
this wouldn't happen

So now you gotta watch it in T.V.

Sounds Like Poetry

Today's poetry challenge is to write a poem in the style of Shel Silverstein, interspersing onomatopoeia between the words of a sentence. Here's the original:

The Fourth
by Shel Silverstein

Oh
CRASH!
my
BASH!
it's
BANG!
the
ZANG!
Fourth
WHOOSH!
of
BAROOOM!
July
WHEW!

The kids in my class really liked this one, and they wrote some terrific stuff. Here's my version:

My
clickety
students
clack
are so
clickety
busy
clack
writing
clickety
poetry,
clack
it's like
clickety
they've
clack
forgotten
clickety
how
clack
to
clickety
talk!
clack

Will Rhyme for Gum

Yesterday was the big prize day for any of my students who wrote 20+ days in March. I warned them in advance that the prizes were silly and the real reward would be to become a better writer. Even so, their eyes were wide when they saw the array of 30 prizes in the front of the room. Each prize was numbered and each winner got to draw a slip from a jar to see just what treasure he or she had earned.

Some were thrilled and some were disappointed. At the end of the day, a couple of the more coveted prizes were left unclaimed, and I assured everyone, those who had met the challenge last month and those who had not, that they were going back into the bag for April, a new month and a new challenge where everyone, and anyone, could be a winner, if only they would

WRITE!

The Limerick Zone

Day 2 of the poetry challenge involves limericks. These little five liners can be tricky to compose since they have both a set rhyme scheme and meter. My students were pluggers, though, and it didn't hurt that their teacher has an ear for doggerel. Case in point:

Our meeting today was a sham.
Our department is in quite a jam.
They push us their best
to teach to the test,
but that's not the teacher I am.