bike ride

this is yalei's first bike ride!

smiles

aviyah's sleeping!

carnivale!

chanukat florida 2008

a poetry stage

today, the new york times introduces elizabeth alexander, a yale professor. president elect obama chose ms. alexander to read a poem at his inauguration. the article reviews past inaugural poems and profiles a few poems from ms. alexander. inside the article, ms. alexander talks about how she is using other poets and other poems to help craft her inaugural poem:

She is going about making a poem for Mr. Obama, she said, by casting an eye back. “I have read the previous inaugural poems, as well as many others,” she said. “The ones that appeal to me have a sense of focus and a kind of gravitas, an ability to appeal to larger issues without getting corny.” One thing Ms. Alexander wants to do, she said, is speak clearly but artfully. “I don’t want the poem to talk down to some imagined audience,” she said. Among the poets she has been reading for guidance are Virgil, W. H. Auden, Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney and Gwendolyn Brooks.

it's crazy cool to see that she's using other poets to help inform her own poetry. that's something we work on with students. we learn how to be good writers by reading other good writers. it's something we really do, and it's something that real writers really really do! it's important in our workshop that we teach authentic writing. . . that we teach students to write like real writers. that we let them write like they write. they they are able to write the things they want to write in the way they want to write them. we can teach them how to make them better, but one of the most powerful ways to help their writing is to get them reading. reading writers they really like. writers that really know how to write.

independent writing

i've been trying to think a lot about how to make the students' writer's notebooks more effective. . .