Well, I was blown away by our Special Guests.  I thought they were great!  I was touched, moved and inspired by Lee, Joseph, and Aaron.  I was glad we were able to meet with them first at Andrea Kristina's.  They were very informative about the kind of poetry they write.  I didn't know what a poetry slam even was before our meeting with these gentlemen.  Lee explained to us that poetry is more like telling a story.  There is a variety of ways to do it and to write it.  It all depends on the person.  He also said that mimicry is usually how poetry writing starts.  I would have to agree because when I have read a certain type of poetry I tend to find myself writing in the same style as the poem I just read.  Lee also expresses for us not to use writing as a punishment.  Otherwise we will never get out students to write freely.  Aaron encourages us to make poetry more accessible.  We should make connections - use emotion, the real world, and write how we feel.  Joseph was a little more quiet at the meeting.  He did however have a comment for us.  He said, "once the students get it, they get into it."  I hope that is true for our Tibbetts students.

Once we finally reached Tibbetts we were given quite the performance!  I never knew poetry to be so powerful.  I think the students were surprised as well.  After the performance Lee, Aaron, and Joseph explained the story behind Mark Smith (SO WHAT!), and the poetry slam.  They told us the rules and what we need for the poetry slam - sign up sheet, audience, host, judges, score keeper, and of course poets.                                                              

Well I hope this will be an exciting and adventurous journey.  I look forward to working with the students at Tibbetts.                

March 9, 2009

Today our special guest was Louise Mae Hoffmann, author of the autobiography titled Goulash and Picking Pickles.  Louise is the 4th out of five children.  She comes from rural Wisconsin.  Louise told us about her early teaching experiences.  She also talked about some of the stories in her book.  Louise has been an elementary school teacher, a librarian, music teacher, and co-owned and managed a country store in Vermont.  She loves to travel and when she does so she always takes a journal to write in.  She warns us that the thing that keeps children from writing is whether they can spell or not.  She describes how we have to hear, experience, and share stories in order to write.  Writing and telling stories is what she is all about.  This is how she started writing her book.  She though she would write down a few memories and recipes for her children.  Before she knew it she was writing her autobiography.  She lets us know that we all come from stories in our lives.  Stories are things people can relate to.  Louise was a very pleasant guest and I took away some good ideas from her visit.

April 6, 2009

Today we met at the San Juan College Library to listen to Devin Murrary.  He turned out to be a past student of Frances's.  He was quite the expert on the genre Manga & Anime.  He told us that manga is a type of Japanese graphic novels, which I did not know.  Those people who carry the title mangka are experts in manga.  When manga is geared towards boys and men it is called shounen.  When manga is geared to girls and women it is called shoujo.  When manga books appear dark it is more serious.  When the pictures are lighter they are more easy going.  The characters are the same - the darker characters are the bad guys, the lighter characters are the good guys.  Some example to manga are Avatar, Pokemon, and Sailor Moon to name a few.  I will be referring to Devin's webpage if I need further assistance.

April 13, 2009

Today Katy Beatty came in and told us about her wonderful work with John's Bookshelf.  Her story nearly brought me to tears as I remembered all my loved ones I lost to cancer.  Their story is very inspirational and I am happy to hear that some good came out of their bad situation.  I think this would be a great service learning project to donate to.  Books are such a wonderful and precious gift to children.  It gives them an opportunity to escape their fear and pain even if only for a little while through the book that they read.  I commend Katy and John for their selfless work with John's Bookshelf.