Slice of Life – NCTE Reflections

28 November 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

I guess “Reflections” in my title is a bit of a stretch because I didn’t actually take time to reflect much yet. Instead, I wanted to get some thoughts down and share some photos. There is so much more to say about the whole NCTE experience, but for now here are some of my delighted, though surfacy, highlights.

Highlights

  • Having presentations to attend where I knew presenters, like fellow Slice of Life writers–Glenda, Sally, Margaret and Trish.
Sally and I with Glenda at her round table discussion on “Planning with Purpose”
Trish inspiring us at “English Language Arts and the Climate Crisis”
  • Presenting and rooming with Mo and Jennifer
Sarah Donovan was the lead presenter, but sadly we took no photos of her.
  • Hearing Jacqueline Woodson and Tom Hanks

Serendipities

This beautiful mural in the Convention Center with my favorite word
That yellow book on the top shelf is one I wrote with Gallit Zvi, and there it was on display in the exhibit hall.
I had several opportunities to write poetry. It is such a peaceful practice during a busy conference. I bought some new Poetry Spark cards–examples on lower left (moon, echo, distant)
We went to the Scholastic brunch and heard these four authors and received their books–Alan Gratz, Joanna Ho, Ali Terese, and Ann E. Burg.
My return flight was on Southwest, so I was able to check a bag and a suitcase full of books I received from the conference. Free books and free transport for them. They will do a lot of good in my community.
The fall leaves were gorgeous, as was the neighborhood Airbnb we stayed in together

New Connections

  • Meeting Victoria Pasquantonio, a fun and passionate educator who is now the education producer at PBS NewsHour Classroom.
  • Meeting Dr. Luz Carime Bersh from Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Carime used a kaleidoscope as a beautiful metaphor for the multiple layers of identity.

Delicious Food

  • Restaurants at the Short North Arts District on High Street in Columbus were a definite high–but I didn’t take any photos! My favorite was Brassica, where we ate dinner two nights in a row.

Poetry Friday – Giving Thanks

It’s Poetry Friday and Ruth is rounding up the posts for us and gave us a beautiful “Ode to Taxonomy.”

I was in Columbus last week for NCTE. I was delighted to see Poetry Friday friends Margaret Simon, Laura Purdie Salas, Laura Shovan, Mary Lee Hahn, and Heidi Mordhorst. I didn’t take pictures very often, but I did get this one after Laura signed her sweet Finding Family book for me.

Thankful and Questioning

The last love letter I write will say
thank you for this life,
the whole of it–
the spilling of Thanksgiving dressing in the oven
the wrapping yarn in a ball
the sore wrist that makes using the yarn difficult
the coyotes moaning and howling in the early hours
the morning hugs in the kitchen with my partner
the foamy milk on my cup of tea this fine day

The last love letter I write will ask
questions, questions like
Who decided the one with the most money gets the most power?
What has bewitched us that made love low on the priority list?
When will justice and peace come?
Where are the helpers?
Why do some grandchildren die in war?
How can you sort through all this mess?

Slice of Life – Open Write for November

21 November 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

I had a wonderful time at NCTE, and I want to write more about it later. Here are a few pictures on Instagram, but my slice today are the poems I wrote for Open Write. My Sunday poem includes a strong feeling I had this week.

Saturday, 11/18/23 “Instructions on Being a Dragonfly” with Kim Johnson

Instructions on Healing with Witnesses: A Skinny Poem

Not on a journey. I’m alone.
healing
needed
fears
wounds
healing
occurring
witnesses
together
healing
I’m on a journey; not alone.

Sunday, 11/19/23 “Belonging” with Fran Haley

Kaleidoscopic Encounter

I met someone yesterday
At a conference–
We engaged in
conversation
standing in the exhibit hall.
She’s come here from a
South American country
Where she fled to the U.S.
as a refugee.
Her grandfather came there as
A refugee fleeing the Holocaust.
Her name came together,
a perfectly delightful mix of
Spanish, Arabic, and Jewish.
She is a kaleidoscope of
color and light and generosity,
And I am better for having met her.

I’ve come here from
a white-washed history,
a white-washed lineage,
and so much loss of
color and light and generosity.
I’ve come from who knows where,
Except the generic ‘Wales,’
as a child, it was all I was given
when I asked, evidence enough
that we were in the right pot,
melting into America.
I came from who knows when–
not in this century,
or the last,
maybe the one before.

We are all losers
in the myth of white supremacy.
We are not a melting pot,
We are a kaleidoscope.
We will all win, when
We all belong.

Monday, 11/20/23 “Give Me This” with Kim Johnson

On the airplane, Moon followed me home
last night. She wore a hefty grin–
face half full of bright white teeth,
gleaming, she smiled at me
as I peered out through
the darkness. Watched
her dance with
the plane’s
wing,

As
I view
her playful
moves, She reminds
me: we need the dance.
While the Sun brightens far
away, we are left here with
Moon. She transforms: new-, crescent-, half-,
full-faced, while dancing with obstacles.

Tuesday, 11/21/23 “Birdspiration” with Fran Haley

Quail families grow–
Eggs hatch, and precocial chicks
hit the ground running.
Soon, coveys are filled with teens.
How quickly we come of age!

Wednesday, 11/22/23 “Doggerel” with Fran and Kim

There once was a dog named Sonny
Whose lifelong goal was not money
All he wanted was rubs
Castle King he was dubbed
scritch-tingle-scratch of the tummy

Poetry Friday – At NCTE

It’s Friday and Irene Latham is hosting Poetry Friday today with thoughts about the last poem.

I’m at NCTE this week, and today, as I wandered the Exhibit Hall feeling overwhelmed with all the busyness and people, I chanced upon this collaborative poetry project called Tend the Flame, sponsored by Traveling Stanzas and the National Writing Project. I love poets and people who love poetry, and there were both hanging around this exhibit. It was a delight to take time out to sit at a picnic table and write and draw–just what I needed for a sensory-overload break.

“Poetry Sparks” was a deck of cards, each with either an adjective, a noun or a verb, along with more specifics and definitions. I randomly chose three cards: moon, echo, and distant. I chose to use them when I wrote my addition to the collaborative poem:

I give my students
a rocket 
and they give me back
the moon
with a distant echo
of where we 
began

This is the deck of cards that sparked my poetic thinking today. I bought a deck for future use.

Slice of Life – NCTE and more biking

14 November 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

A few weeks ago we met a new friend at Starbucks. He’s a fellow bike rider and lives in the town of Joshua Tree. He has literally ridden every highway and road–paved and dirt–as well as all the trails. He helped us find a new shortcut to Joshua Tree on a three-mile trail to his house. Now, he has taken us on several adventures seeing the landscape and sites. This week we went on two 20-mile rides. Just some of the sites we saw were beehive homes, a split rock, a suspiciously-not-really-contaminated “high energy microwave field”, a mirrored egg embedded on a mountain, a train museum (where the train has never passed through) and more. He estimates it will take two more months to finish seeing the sites he has to show us. Here are some photos of our last two bike rides.

Those are full-sized train cars in the background. In the foreground are tracks for a narrow-gauge train that goes around the grounds.
Is this warning sign really something? There was no fence around the area, and “Security by Julia.” Do you see the egg-shaped light in the background?
Here is the egg up close. I’m wondering if the warning is to protect this beauty.
How do you suppose this rock split?
A working fire hydrant in the desert (There was a house behind me)
These little cabins are made with socks of dirt with cement powder arranged in concentric circles.
My husband riding up ahead
We made it home just in time for the sun to fully set

 

 

I’m working on my own personal schedule from the NCTE Conexiones schedule. Have I missed any that you are leading or that you are attending?

Sessions

Thursday
A
B
C
D

Friday
7:00 a.m. – One Line Coffee with Ethical ELA friends
E
F.14 – “Building Networks: Bringing Together Teachers, Researchers, Families, and Communities to Explore, Expand, and Interrogate Writing Instruction” with Sarah Donohue and Margaret Simon and others
G
H.10 – “Acts of Assemblage: Bringing Art, Science, and History Together in the Storytelling Classroom” with Glenda Funk and others
I.18 – “Connecting English Language Arts and the Climate Crisis” with Trish Emerson and others

Saturday
J
K.19 – “Authors are Real People: Connecting Students to Children’s Book Creators” with Margaret Simon, Sally Donnelly, Mary Lee Hahn, Heidi Mordhorst, Amy Ludwig VanDerWater, Laura Shoven, and Laura Purdie Salas and others.
L.29 – “Relational Poetic Practice: How Poetic Thinking Empowers Teachers to Author Their Own PD” with Sarah Donohue, Mo Daley, Jennifer Guyor Jowett, and me, Denise Krebs
M.34 – “Planning with Purpose: Nuts and Bolts for New College Classroom Teachers” with Anna J. Small Roseboro, Glenda Funk, and others and 4:00-4:30 – Laura Purdie Salas signing Finding Family
N

Sunday
O
P.11 – “Connections within Research in Young Adult Literature” with Leilya Pitre and others

 

Poetry Friday – Poetic Thinking

Today is Poetry Friday and the roundup is over at Karen Edmisten’s clever blog with some autumn love.

I started a new book this week, The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson. This is a beautiful epic history of the Great Migration of Black people from the U.S. South to American cities over seven decades in the 20th century.

The title was inspired by the following poetic excerpt from Richard Wright’s  memoir, Black Boy, which documents his life from growing up as a boy in the South to migrating to Chicago as a young man and becoming a writer. It has a history of being banned in the United States for several reasons, the most significant of which is for the historical truth it tells from the perspective of someone who lived life as a black child and man in America:

 So, in leaving, I was taking a part of the South to transplant in alien soil, to see if it could grow differently, if it could drink of new and cool rains, bend in strange winds, respond to the warmth of other suns, and, perhaps, to bloom . . . And if that miracle ever happened, then I would know that there was yet hope in that southern swamp of despair and violence, that light could emerge even out of the blackest of the southern night. I would know that the South too could overcome its fear, its hate, its cowardice, its heritage of guilt and blood, its burden of anxiety and compulsive cruelty.

Wright, Richard. Black Boy [Seventy-fifth Anniversary Edition]
(pp. 420-421). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

From 1942-1966, Orville Prescott was the chief New York Times book reviewer. After Wright’s autobiography was published in 1945, Prescott wrote: “If enough such books are written, if enough millions of people read them maybe, someday, in the fullness of time, there will be a greater understanding and a more true democracy.”

It’s been 80 years since Prescott’s hope for the fullness of time to come. How many “such books” will be written? How many of those will continue to be banned? When will we “overcome fear, hate and cowardice” as Wright dared to hope?


On a much less significant note, “poetic thinking” was in my poem last week, and it’s in my NCTE presentation next week. I hope to meet you there!

And here is where I’ll be some for some of the other sessions! Do you have any recommendations? Or will you be presenting at any other sessions? I would love to meet you.

Sessions

Thursday
A
B
C
D

Friday
E
F.14 – “Building Networks: Bringing Together Teachers, Researchers, Families, and Communities to Explore, Expand, and Interrogate Writing Instruction” with Sarah Donohue and Margaret Simon and others
G
H.10 – “Acts of Assemblage: Bringing Art, Science, and History Together in the Storytelling Classroom” with Glenda Funk
I.18 – “Connecting English Language Arts and the Climate Crisis” with Trish Emerson and others

Saturday
J
K.19 – “Authors are Real People: Connecting Students to Children’s Book Creators” with Margaret Simon, Sally Donnelly, Mary Lee Hahn, Heidi Mordhorst, Amy Ludwig VanDerWater, Laura Shoven, and Laura Purdie Salas and others.
L.29 – “Relational Poetic Practice: How Poetic Thinking Empowers Teachers to Author Their Own PD” with Sarah Donohue, Mo Daley, Jennifer Guyor Jowett, and me, Denise Krebs
M – 4:00-4:30 – Laura Purdie Salas signing Finding Family
N

Sunday
O
P

 

Slice of Life – Bike Riding and NCTE

7 November 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Yesterday, when I was out for a bike ride, I thought I had my slice of life for the week. We were riding up to Eureka Peak, the highest place in Joshua Tree National Park.  It’s only a bit less than ten miles from our house, so we ate a monster cookie and some M&Ms, and got started on our ride (on electric bikes!).  It is a 2000 foot elevation climb, and it was getting cold and we had about an hour of sunlight left. The sand became so thick on this uphill climb, that it was here I had given up. I asked my hubby to take this photo for today’s Slice.

But he started walking his bike and passed me. He discovered the sand became firmer just up ahead, so we walked a ways and then we were able to continue riding. We made it to the top and saw this nice view of San Gorgonio and San Jacinto, two of the most topographically prominent summits of California.

San Gorgonio
San Jacinto

On the way down the mountain, my husband paused for a picture for me. We didn’t get to stay up on top to enjoy the sunset, as we had a long sandy road home while it was still light. When we got to the bottom of Covington Flats and onto our road–just a stone’s throw from our house–I stopped to talk to my husband where we always wait for each other. When I braked, I fell over, bounced off my bike and hit my hip, leg and arm on the ground–fortunately, not seriously. I was able to get up and continue. That is what I’m grateful for today! That I had such a painless reminder of my aging body. I am delighted that we can hike and bike around this place we call home. I may not always be able to, so today I am grateful for the time I do have.

Who else is going to NCTE? It would be great to meet you in person.

 

Poetry Friday – Renewal

Today is another day to expect joy and hope.  I’ve just been watching a National Writing Project video interview with Stacey Joy and Gholdy Muhammad. It’s making me feel more hopeful. Peace to all of you this day–Spiritual Journey Thursday and Poetry Friday in one.

Reading these times through eyes of empathy
Engaging in poetic thinking, reading, and writing
Noticing God at work in a broken world
Embarking on a new chapter
Watching my kids and six of their friends drive up yesterday
Anticipating joy
Laughing in the midst of tears

 

Thank you to Fran Haley for hosting at her beautiful blog Lit Bits and Pieces.

Thank you to Buffy Silverman for hosting today and celebrating early-flying flakes.