It has been an extremely busy week at Georgia State. I have been unable to post but I have been thinking about all of you all week. First, I want to say that your poem ideas were really good. Hey, they were more than good, they were terrific. I had read the students the poem "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon. Click here if you would like to read it. I had learned about a group of elementary and middle school students who had been inspired by this poem and written some of their own. I read several of them to my students. I thought what a great way to make introductions on our Wrinkles weblog. We had lots of discussions and everyone brought in their list of ideas. The students are in the process of posting them but I wanted to share a little of what you did as our poems are still a work in progress.
Yoceline - I can learn new cultures everytime I meet someone new. I am from a school where I can always say, "I can do it!"
Jackie - I'm from a Mom who is a best friend to a good cook.
Keith - I am from the swamps in Louisiana.
Jenny - I am from looking at horses to almost having my own.
Luz - I am from a holy day to eating tasty food.
Juana - I am from Mexico and playing with my friends.
Derrick - I am from a grandmother far away and a mother who is always cooking.
Jerry - I am from a town with lots of traffic and business and a state that is known for its peaches.
Emily completed hers. Emily was in my NewsQuest group last year and she is really soaring with her writing skills. She really pitches in to help everyone else learn and write well, also. This is a team effort. For a real treat, click here to read Emily's poem entitled I'm From. Click here to see Emily's weblog. We hope to have all others up and going this week!
Tomorrow we will work some more on the poems and maybe even get them published on our weblogs!
Last week I was amazed at the students' responses to my post the previous week. I had talked about how weblogging made me think and write and learn! I had shared Mr. Richardson's view of what blogging was to him. They love the idea of forming a writing community. They can express themselves well but the writing is much harder. They all began forming their thoughts on a post last week but as usual the time ran out before we wanted it to! It was a good thinking day. We are going to keep on working on our writing skills. We will probably have a mixture of types of posting from writing about subjects they choose, to current events, to teacher prompts, to wherever our discussions lead.