Today I was glad to have my Ipod because I got the chance to listen to Green Day's Wake me up when September ends. Love the song, but it alone did not inspire this long overdue posting. The month of September is all about new beginnings. A time of peace and reflection on the summer that has crept away too soon. This September, my mind is unsettled with the ideas and experiences I've gobbled up. Yet, the coming of my favorite season carries with it, new perspective as well as new promise. My intention here is not to get all sappy and melodramatic; however, if this past summer has taught me anything, I've learned to free the writer within. So, here is my freeing brain write: writing workshop, journals, multimodality, creativity, habits of mind, New Literacies, certification, Voice Thread, prezi, Google docs, Disney world, NCTE, NWP, blogging, writing, gifted education, multiple intelligences, first day of kindergarten, Forest Lawn, inspiration, digital storytelling, creative problem solving... and I come up for air.
Sorry to go off on a tangent like that, but I am in a new frame of mind, in which I don't hold back and I write like a writer, not an editor. What does such a blurt mean? I think it encompasses what I have inside me at the present moment. It represents what is conducting my thoughts and guiding the here and now of Asia. I am making sense of the places I've been while simultaneously trying to figure out what it all means for who I am and who I am becoming. Perhaps, when I look back on this posting I may say that I am proud of myself for writing what I wanted without thinking about how I will be judged. Then again, I may say that I was crazy to have posted at 12:56 am, on the threshold of crash and burn. Whatever thoughts my hindsight will lay out, I would have left an imprint in history on the first day of my most cherished season, in the month I dedicate to new beginnings.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Listen to Them
What should I say, what should I do?
How should I put it when I'm talking to you?
Talk about this or talk about that
Let's talk about something, this silence is whack
Let's talk about this, let's talk about that
Talk about what it means for them being black
In case you didn't know it's not a topic of choice
The topic of the matter is we're losing our voice
Conversations of substance, a story that's real
Not like school lessons where they're told how to feel
Let's talk about that, let's talk about this
Let's talk about all the things that they have to miss
Stories of meaning, conversations of truth
Told by adolescents who carry the proof
They carry good lessons, they carry the day
They carry life experience with something to say
What should they say, what should they do?
How should they put it, when they're talking to you?
Talk from the heart, talk from the mind
Talk from every ounce of what they're holding inside
They talk about this, they talk about that
They talk about what it means for them being packed
Back of the class, they talk about school
Back to talk to teachers with nothing to lose
So listen to that and listen to this
Listen to their sayings, they're often dismissed
Listen to this, listen to this
Talk about that, talk about that
Talk about this, talk about this
Listen to that, listen to that
Listen to them
Listen to them
Listen to them!
How should I put it when I'm talking to you?
Talk about this or talk about that
Let's talk about something, this silence is whack
Let's talk about this, let's talk about that
Talk about what it means for them being black
In case you didn't know it's not a topic of choice
The topic of the matter is we're losing our voice
Conversations of substance, a story that's real
Not like school lessons where they're told how to feel
Let's talk about that, let's talk about this
Let's talk about all the things that they have to miss
Stories of meaning, conversations of truth
Told by adolescents who carry the proof
They carry good lessons, they carry the day
They carry life experience with something to say
What should they say, what should they do?
How should they put it, when they're talking to you?
Talk from the heart, talk from the mind
Talk from every ounce of what they're holding inside
They talk about this, they talk about that
They talk about what it means for them being packed
Back of the class, they talk about school
Back to talk to teachers with nothing to lose
So listen to that and listen to this
Listen to their sayings, they're often dismissed
Listen to this, listen to this
Talk about that, talk about that
Talk about this, talk about this
Listen to that, listen to that
Listen to them
Listen to them
Listen to them!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Why blog?
I wrote my first ever blog featured poem ("Listen to them") about 5 nights ago. I was just lying in bed thinking about all the ideas I've learned and explored over the past few weeks. There are so many different theories about how to get teenagers interested in school and a life of learning.
As an educator, I am constantly reading scholarly journals, which give me information on how to "reach" adolescents. I have always contended (and always will) that we need to listen to them. We need to hear them and know them! We need to be down with them like we care. I recently became friends (on Facebook) with many of my old students at a charter school in Buffalo, NY. These connections spark my wondering how many of them are getting what they need out of "education."
As an educator, I am constantly reading scholarly journals, which give me information on how to "reach" adolescents. I have always contended (and always will) that we need to listen to them. We need to hear them and know them! We need to be down with them like we care. I recently became friends (on Facebook) with many of my old students at a charter school in Buffalo, NY. These connections spark my wondering how many of them are getting what they need out of "education."
I wonder If teachers are guiding and inspiring
Admiring and providing
the tools they need to navigate this ever-changing world
I'm wondering If I played a significant role
Or whether they saw
Me, merely as another teacher playing that authoritative role
I wonder
I wonder if my future students will remember me for what I impart
Not only what I remark
To them
My constant wondering wonders me
I wonder, therefore I've wandered into the blog spot
I've wondered if I should or should I not
Wander into a new way to document my thoughts, social commentary and wonderment
Often expressed through poetic inducement
Some ideas on wondering... in tow
From where this idea emerged
So here I go...
Admiring and providing
the tools they need to navigate this ever-changing world
I'm wondering If I played a significant role
Or whether they saw
Me, merely as another teacher playing that authoritative role
I wonder
I wonder if my future students will remember me for what I impart
Not only what I remark
To them
My constant wondering wonders me
I wonder, therefore I've wandered into the blog spot
I've wondered if I should or should I not
Wander into a new way to document my thoughts, social commentary and wonderment
Often expressed through poetic inducement
Some ideas on wondering... in tow
From where this idea emerged
So here I go...
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