It has been a great two first days… I have enjoyed meeting the students and we are getting acquainted with each other and learning the classroom routines.  They have come in with great attitudes and a willingness to share their ideas.  I think this is going to be a very exciting year for your children and myself. Please send in all papers that need to be signed and returned so we can get that at of the way.

Tell me what you think about the blog.  What would you like to see on here? Leave comments, I want to hear from you.   School starts tomorrow and we are hitting the ground and running.  Can’t wait to see the kiddos tomorrow.

-Mr. D

Welcome to the 2010-2011 school year.  I hope you are as excited about getting back to school as I am.  This year is going to be a great year and it is my expectation that this is you or your child’s best school year yet.  I am very excited to be back and to have my mind focused on teaching this year.  During the last two years I was taking my graduate school classes, which I am proud to say I completed this summer.  I look forward to having that extra time to put into my classes and my students this year.

What is a blog?  I began this blog while in graduate school, so you will see some of my work if you look around.  But what I found out through looking at other teacher’s blog pages, was that it was a great central location for teachers, students, and parents to interact.  I want to use this pageto keep parents in touch with what is going on in our classroom, to share resources that may be of interest to you and your children, and to showcase student work throughout the year.  I hope you all will be frequent visitors of this site, use the resources that I provide, and let me know what I can do to make this site useful for you as well.    I look forward to working with each and everyone of you this year.

I have been thinking about this assignment for a few days   After read through the assignment and the I poem books I really think that this is going to be a very beneficial activity for my students.  I am going to focus my project on the Revolutionary War and can not wait for the  kids to start on this project.  Some of them have already learned about I poetry in their language arts class, so this won’t be new to some of them.  I really think that they are going to really immerse themselves in their poems and in their topic. I hope that they feel like they are the character, event, or location that they research. After seeing some examples, I can’t wait to see how much the poetry project aspect will enhance their understanding of the content I will be teaching to them.  I envision seeing their poems as a collection, telling the story of the Revolutionary War.

Here is my attempt at an I Poem

 Valley Forge

I am cold and harsh
I wonder how long the soldiers will last
I hear the despair in their voices
I see the calloused feet and tattered clothing
I want to provide a place for shelter and safe harbor
I am cold and harsh

I pretend to not notice the shivering and lack of supplies
I feel responsible for their misery
I touch the fingers of their glowing campfire
I worry there will not be enough logs for cabins
I cry as the men toil to build their shelter
I am cold and harsh

I understand this will only make the soldiers stronger
I say there is no gain without pain
I dream about warm summer days of freedom
I try to protect the men from sickness and disease
I hope their struggle will prove worthwhile
I am cold and harsh

References

Freedman,  R.  (2009).  Washington at Valley Forge.

Stein,  C. R. (1994).   Valley Forge.

Here are my two ordinary things that are meaningful to me.  The first is my camera. 

My Camera

 I can’t imagine life without it.  I take pictures all the time, I know my family will get sick of me at some time, but that doesn’t bother me.  I took over 7,000 pictures last year.  I didn’t get them all developed, but I did get some great shots.   I figure for about every 75 – 100 pictures there is a great one.  I wan’t to capture all of life’s little moments, so I do it with my camera.

The second ordinary object is my iPod. 

My iPod

Here is another little gizmo that I find meaningful.  I can’t imagine life without music and this 2 by 4 inch machine has made my life so much simpler.  I always have all of my music with me.  Whatever I want to listen to I have at the touch of a button.  I also can store pictures on it as well.  I usually have it with me wherever I go.  I can play it through my car stereo, I use it in my classroom and sometimes take it with me when I run.

 

Love my Doolin

 

Everyone who I mentioned this book to, told me two things:  I would love it and that it would take me like 15 minutes to read it.  They were correct on both accounts.  However I found myself going back to cetain parts and re-reading them.  I love how the book starts out and reminds me of myself and so many other boys.  My favorite part of the book are the parts where he questions why poets are writing about what they write about.  I hated sitting in class and analyzing poems, I never felt comfortable sharing my ideas about why the author did what he/she did.  I think many kids feel the same way as I did. 

 Poetry is something consider one of the things boys do.  But through reading this book, I think boys can come to learn to appreciate it.  I, like Jack, always thought of poetry in terms of a certain format that had to be followed, and if it didn’t rhyme, I wasn’t interested.  I do recall really enjoying Robert Frost poems in 7th grade, but who doesn’t like Robert Frost?  I think that is how many boys feel, and if it isn’t presented to them in a certain way, they will be lost and uninterested.  I think by sharing this book and showing them how this boy evolved into a poes, could help some boys.  I also think that as a male teacher, I have a little advantage, that I could use to get boys interested in poetry, so it doesn’t seem like something just for girls. 

I really also like how  Jack and Mrs. Stretchberry developed a close and trusting relationship through his writing/poetry notebook.  If he was a bit reserved the notebook gave him a place where he could talk to her and he felt safe doing it in his notebook.  I have many kids that I think a notebook would serve them well as a place to communicate with me.