Poetry Month 2018

Some favorite lessons are those I teach during April, National Poetry Month.  We read and share poetry other months, too, but this is a built-in topic for the whole month.  I look forward to using familiar books and poems every year, but adding new ones, too.

The first day in April, I hang up our "Poem in Your Pocket" pants, where students can choose to take a poem from their grade's pocket, put it in their pocket and share it with someone.  Sometimes they share it right in the library with a classmate, sometimes they take it home to share with a family member (or even a pet, that is allowed in the rules!).

If students share their poem, they can choose a Poetry Month bookmark, which have more poems on them.  They can get one poem and one bookmark each day during April.  The last day of April the pants go back into the closet until next year.  This is a popular activity for many students and they remember it the next year when the pants come back out.

New Media Storytelling - Give and Take

I recently was invited to participate in a pilot course created by KQED, called "New Media Storytelling" which helps teachers learn how educators and students can use new media formats to tell stories and communicate information.


New media includes many digital platforms used by teachers and students already: Twitter, Facebook, Vine, YouTube, Instagram, and blogging platforms such as Blogger, Tumblr, and Wordpress.   Many are currently used as personal communication tools, but this course focuses on the educational uses of the tools and how to engage students and teachers in their use at school.


The question posed in one module is

"How will embracing the role of producer (of new media storytelling) impact your teaching?"

I think the biggest result of my becoming a producer of digital storytelling in different formats will be to encourage students to use these types of media in school, because I know they are already using it in their personal lives.  They may not think to use it at school, or there may be barriers to using it at school (filters or the reluctance of teachers to accept this format of storytelling).  I have students as young as first grade creating videos and posting them on YouTube.  These children know how to use these tools, and if they don't know how to use something, they are not afraid to learn.

I look forward to a give and take between teachers and students, learning about tools and how to share information that is well-researched and thought out using new media.  Students can teach teachers about the applications and tools, and how to not be afraid to take risks with storytelling.  Teachers can teach students about how to tell a good story, how to reach an audience, and how to have high quality content within their storytelling.

Articles and ideas for 2015-16 school year

I try to take some time off during the summer, to regenerate and reset my thinking.  Along the way, before I'm really ready to start thinking about school, I usually come across articles or ideas that I want to keep track of, so I can reread them in August when I'm in the school frame of mind.

I'm going to post them here, with short descriptions, for myself and anyone else interested.  I'll keep updating through August.

Note on my methods:  I tend to just come across things through browsing Twitter, blogs, news items, and emails with articles and ideas.  I sometimes browse websites such as School Library Journal and Free Technology for Teachers.  I have some teaching and library related websites in my Feedly feed, which I browse a few times a week.  It is not organized.

Twitter works the best for me right now.  It is timely, I can adjust who I am following by adding or removing accounts to fine-tune until I get a list where I find the most helpful and relevant information.  My Teaching list on Twitter has 153 accounts right now that I am following: authors, illustrators, teacher-librarians, librarians, teachers, organizations, etc.

Articles for 2015-16:

• 7/20/15 - Slowing Down to Learn: Mindful Pauses That Can Help Student Engagement - MindShift 
• Excerpt from the book “Mindfulness for Teachers: Simple Skills for Peace and Productivity in the Classroom,” by Patricia A. Jennings.
• "One way to promote engagement and learning is to consciously create pauses throughout the day. We can create a sense of spaciousness in our classroom by slowing down the pace of our speech and punctuating our lessons with silence."

Book Spine Poetry - Room 18

Book spine poetry from Ms. Cleveland's class: