New Teacher New Year - A First Day of School Poem

Oak Leaves and Watercolors

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I have been very lucky to meet many many teachers this summer.  My work takes me to different places where I have the good fortune to learn about different people and different classrooms and different ideas from teachers of all different grades.  Lots of times, I find myself wishing that I could be in school again, to have the chance to have this teacher or that one.  And one of the things that always strikes me the most is how a teacher can make a student feel, and how these feelings help or hurt our learning.  

This poem dedicated to teachers, teachers who are all also beginning or almost-beginning school, just like you.  Teachers who stay in our hearts, teachers who whisper in our ears even when we are all grown up.

And this poem is also dedicated to you, to students.  May your first day of school - and the days that follow - fill your minds and hearts and souls with goodness.

Like you, I have had many teachers in my life, and each one has made me a little bit of who I am.  This summer, one of my teachers (one I have never met) is award-winning author and our Children's Poet Laureate Jacqueline Woodson.  I am reading every single one of her books to help me learn both about life and about writing.  And what a teacher she is!  Two of her books that I am thinking about today, LOCOMOTION and PEACE, LOCOMOTION exquisitely explore, among other things, the power of teachers.

I cannot recommend highly enough all Jacqueline Woodson's books.  They are making me a better person, and I hope, a better writer too.

Available at Your Local Bookshop

Available through Your Local Bookshop

I am happy to share that my forthcoming EVERY DAY BIRDS, with beautiful cut paper illustrations by Dylan Metrano and published by Scholastic in both English and bilingual editions, is available (English only) for pre-order on Amazon.  The publication date is February 23, 2016.  

Available for Pre-Order through Amazon

Tabatha is hosting today's grand Poetry Friday roundup over at The Opposite of Indifference.  Visit her place to check out the poetry happenings all around the Kidlitosphere this week.  We're a warm and welcoming community, and everyone is invited!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Morning Song - Copying Rhymes & Rhythms

Weather Report for This Week - Holland, NY

From the National Weather Service

Kitten Fiona Watches Snow

Photo by Amy LV

Students - As you can see in the forecast above, it has been a very snowy week south of Buffalo here.  So I knew I would write about snow again. (How could I not? I did yesterday too.)  But HOW would I write about snow?  I did not know and thought about it a lot while shoveling the driveway.

I decided to open a book and find a poem and use the same rhythm as the poem I found.  In THE POETRY TROUPE, by Isabel Wilner, a writer I was fortunate enough to take a class with once, I came across the poem, "Song" by Elizabeth Coatsworth.  As you see below, I copied this poem into my notebook and noted the number of lines, number of syllables per line, and rhyme scheme.  Then I used the same number of lines, same number of syllables per line (almost), and same rhyme scheme for my own poem.

Coatsworth on Left/Me on Right

Photo by Amy LV

So while my poem is about something very different, Elizabeth Coatsworth gave me a boost with my rhythm and rhyme.  Some of you have seen me stand on other poets' shoulders so directly before; it is a favorite way for me to explore writing, a favorite way to grow.

This is a wonderful exercise if you ever wish to stretch yourself or if you ever feel you're in a writing rut.  Sometimes my writing sticks with the same rhythms, so experimenting with new ones keeps me limber.  Find a book with a poem you like, and just play around with the lines and rhythms.  See if you find a new writing you inside of the old writing you.

On a wonderous book note, I could not be more pleased to learn that Jacqueline Woodson has won the 2014 National Book Award for Young People's Literature for her gorgeous memoir in verse, BROWN GIRL DREAMING. 

Learn More at IndieBound

I may have never folded down more corners in a book than I have in my copy of Woodson's memoir in poems. This book is honest, beautiful, wise, and full of love.

In the author's note, Woodson writes, "The people who came before me worked so hard to make this world a better place for me.  I know my work is to make the world a better place for those coming after.  As long as I can remember this, I can continue to do the work I was put here to do."

BROWN GIRL DREAMING makes the world a better place.  I dearly hope this snow lets up so that I will be able to hear Jacqueline Woodson speak at NCTE tomorrow.  And I dearly hope that if you have not read this book yet...you will.

Over at Sharing Our Notebooks, I am grateful to host teacher, literacy coach, author, and founder of Book Love...Penny Kittle!  Please check out her notebooks, the great exercise she offers us, and leave a comment by Monday, November 24 to be entered into a book giveaway.

Celebrate Poetry Friday at Tapestry of Words with Becky today! All are welcome to visit her place find the varied poems and poem sharings around the Kidlitosphere in this third week of November.

Please share a comment below if you wish.