March 11

#SOL22 #11

These #SOL pieces are part of a writing challenge spearheaded by Two Writing Teachers. Throughout the year, they promote the idea of writing a “Slice of Life” every Tuesday. In March, they challenge us to write a “slice” every day. I have ready many wonderful slices over the past several years, but this year is the first year I am participating.

Today, they announced that this is the second “Multi-Lit Friday of the year,” which encourages “participants who write in other languages to share their slice of life stories in another language.” Once upon a time, in the ten years I lived in Montreal, I became functionally fluent in French. So, this post is an attempt to dredge up and honor that language.

Ça fait déjà 20 ans que j’ai quitté la province du Québec. J’ai habité dans la banlieue de la ville de Montréal pendant 10 ans, une des plus accueillantes villes au monde. Où les habitants parlent en franglais, et pour la plupart coexistent en harmonie.

Mes deux fils sont nés au Québec et sont donc des citoyens du Canada ainsi que des Etats-Unis. Ma fille y habite toujours avec sa jeune famille, un garçon et une fille. J’y retourne souvent, sauf ces derniers temps… depuis l’entrée de Covid, et depuis la fermeture de la frontière Canadienne au non-citoyens.

Ils me manquent terriblement. Ainsi que les restos, la ligne d’horizon, et les nuits d’été longs et plein de sensations vibrants.

Mais, je dois dire, “mon pays, ce n’est pas l’hiver!”

This is very much a “school girl” essay, but I’ll nonetheless leave it there.

Category: SOL22, Writing | LEAVE A COMMENT
March 10

#SOS22 #10

In the secondary (Modern) World History class I’m teaching this year, we spent time talking about current events today, specifically the conflict in Ukraine. I asked the students what the motivations were for Russia to invade, and received well-informed answers: farmland; access to sea ports; feeling threatened by the possibility of Ukraine becoming a NATO member. As we explored the minute in history that is comprised of the fall of the Eastern Bloc to today, I was reminded how these young learners have no real understanding of the time of the USSR, which countries were under Soviet rule, the brutality of Stalin, the list goes on. None of them have read any of Solzhenitsyn’s works.

Archivi Mondadori, CC-BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I have been fascinated with Russian history since I was the age of my learners, and think they would be too! So, you heard it here first, next year I’m going to teach a quarter-long or semester-long course on Russian history. Maybe it needs to be a double bock of history combined with literature. The planning and lists are already started.

Category: History, SOL22 | 2 Comments on #SOS22 #10
March 9

#SOL22 #9

Over in EPIClearners, a community I co-lead, we are doing a slow read of Brené Brown’s book Dare to Lead and how we can apply her leadership ideas in the classroom. In this week’s reading, Brown retells a story of Colonel DeDe Halfhill’s (Air Force Global Strike Command) experience in applying Brown’s ideas. (Convoluted much?) Halfhill was startled to discover the Air Force leadership manual from 1948 has a far more human approach to dealing with the emotions military personnel experience than the current one does! As a “play” activity, we are examining that 1948 guide and reflecting on how those long-ago words apply to our present-day environments. Come join us!

 

Category: Community, EPIClearners | 3 Comments on #SOL22 #9
March 9

#SOL22 #8

In a riff off Kim Douillard’s #SOL for today (found here), my mind went to books I’ve enjoyed recently, then collided with the idea of showcasing women authors in honor of International Women’s Day.

Leigh Bardugo: I am pretty sure the first of her books I read was Six of Crows. I was captivated by her world building and character development, and stayed that way in reading the sequel, as well as the Shadow and Bone trilogy. I also loved Ninth House and am waiting for a sequel!

Alice Hoffman: I stumbled across her Practical Magic series quite by accident, or perhaps by magic. I’ve read the two prequels and am looking forward to finishing out the series!

V.E. Schwab: I read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and fell in love! Her time jumping is done so well. I’ve also enjoyed her Shades of Magic trilogy and will certainly return to her writing again!

 

Category: Reading, SOL22 | 8 Comments on #SOL22 #8
March 7

#SOL22 #7

Day 7, a full week. This is my first year as a “slicer,” so wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve seen a bunch of Tuesday slices over the years, primarily from #clmooc compatriots, and have been… well, chicken to try it for myself. The experience has been freeing! I tend to become way too pedantic in my posts in this space, citing numerous sources, providing evidence of  my claims. Which is a laudable habit for formal writing.

#SOL has a much more casual air, with writers talking about many topics, from the mundane to the profound. In a few words, or in many.

I spend a lot of time telling my teen writers that we are writing “for fun” with flash fiction assignments, everything from six-word stories to 100-word stories based on an image/picture. Initially, students are reluctant to embrace the “fun” part, and agonize over their stories being “right” or “good.” I hope (and think) they are learning this kind of writing truly is fun, allowing us to let our imaginations go, to be as crazy, dark, goofy, cliff-hangerish as we want. A few examples:

“I saw the lives of all three flash before my eyes as they ate. In the corpulent, red face of the emperor, I was afraid, as I saw greed in his small black eyes, as he shoveled food down his maw. The king was of more refined corporeality, although his haughty gaze glared with the contempt of ignorance of life’s struggle, and the discontent with luxury. But of the peasant mans face, , I saw nothing but simple happiness, for his was dinner hard worked for, and the omniscience of his world in his eyes made his dinner taste the best.”

“With flurries in their eyes, and chills through their bones, they trudged forward. Stinging pains crept through their whole body, when they finally saw billowing smoke in the distance. Like a rose amongst jasmine, a scarlet cottage had been hidden in the icy dunes. The house had a golden glow coming from its lone window, but oddly, not a single door. As they took a step onto the frozen pond to reach the house, they began to flip, along with the whole landscape. The cottage’s grayed reflection in the pond had spun upright taking them to the warm world beneath.”

“How can I describe this family? The Mashes had a buttery way about them, sometimes they were salty about things, but always a pleasant treat.”

Category: Deeper Learning | LEAVE A COMMENT
March 6

#SOL22 #6

On this spectacularly beautiful early spring day, I started tackling some of the gardening cleanup, including pruning my one grape vine. I know nothing about growing grapes. I read through materials from the extension service, as well as other gardening guides, and also consulted several YouTube videos. I still have a very limited understanding, but the one point that was invariably emphasized is that each year 90% of the previous year’s growth needs to be removed. Multiple guides stated that the most common error home gardeners make is not pruning enough.

I flinched every time I cut through one of the canes, but understand the experts know what they are talking about. In the end, I will have better, more abundant fruit.

I also mused that it would be a good idea to apply this pruning to my life. I definitely am juggling too many responsibilities right now, and know it is not healthy long-term. I need to cut back to the essentials and let the rest go.

 

Category: SOL22 | 4 Comments on #SOL22 #6
March 5

#SOL22 #5

In the EPIClearners community I co-facilitate, we are in the midst of a book discussion of Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead and how it applies to creating Daring Classrooms. My colleague Terry Elliott had the brilliant suggestion to include a playful activity each week to enhance our shared learning and reflection.

This week, we are examining the quotation which serves as the through line of Brown’s work, Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena.” We are creating artifacts that express our interpretation of this quote and sharing them. These types of activities always impress upon me how creative work of all kinds is iterative, and also how rewarding it is to get into a flow state, to leave aside for a time the responsibilities and burdens of my “regular” life.

An initial draft of my interpretation:

Category: Community | 2 Comments on #SOL22 #5
March 4

#SOL22 #4

an anti-ode

reading the headlines

“people who die from this day forward”
“will die because of you”

“nuclear plant…seized by Russian forces”

“banned access to Twitter and Facebook”
“increasingly harsh crackdown on independent”
“and critical voices in Russia”

“has no water, heat or electricity”
“running out of food”

my broken heart splinters further
that a madman has the power
to trample on innocent lives
unchecked

 

Category: Deeper Learning | 7 Comments on #SOL22 #4
March 3

#SOL22 #3

This is a book review of sorts. I’m in the midst of reading The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray. It is historical fiction, and moves back and forth across three timelines, and therefore three central (female) characters, 1776-1807, 1914-1918 and 1939-1945. Chateau Lafayette (Château de Chavaniac) is a real-life manor house where Lafayette, yes, that Lafayette, was born and raised, and to which he returned at various points during his adult life.

I must admit that I had very little understanding of the impact Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (phew, all those names!) had, not only related to the US Revolutionary War, but also the French Revolution. He is touted as a hero in both countries.

One thing I appreciate about well-written historical fiction is how it humanizes the characters. It moves them from stiff portraits on a gallery wall to living, breathing, emotive beings. In the context of this story, it is Lafayette’s wife Adrienne who is cast as the central character, and we get to see him through her eyes.

I’m enjoying this read!

Category: Reading | LEAVE A COMMENT
March 2

#SOL22 #2

In my storytelling class (what we have traditionally called “composition”) we practice writing through a lot of freewriting and flash fiction work. Throughout the year, we experiment with formats ranging from six-word to 100-word stories, sometimes with a prompt, other times with a short list of elements that must be included in the story. This is an activity that I practice with my students, and we all share our work.

This week, the assignment was to write a 100-word story that includes gasoline, a Hostess product, and a childhood hero, with no adjectives or adverbs. Here is mine:

Nozzle in hand, I gaze into the distance, crumbling the pastry between my fingers. My brother had been telling the truth when he said Twinkies never decay. He and I had fueled his Chevy at this same station 27 years ago, when he told me he was marching off to war. We each ate a Twinkie in silence, ignoring talk of the possibilities that frightened us.
Robbie left the remaining two Twinkies with me, promising to return to re-enact this scene after the war. I still wait, knowing it is in vain. I wish I knew where his remains lay.

Category: Writing | LEAVE A COMMENT