Monthly Archives: April 2010

One Thing

One Thing 2010

I recently showed my 8th graders a photography project by Susan Mullally entitled, “What I Keep”.  This photo essay collection sparked a discussion about what we value most.  I asked them all to bring in one thing that they would keep if they could only keep one thing.  It could be symbolic, real, or a photo.  I brought in a jar of sea glass that my gram and I had collected throughout my childhood.  Inside is a card that reads:

Dear Megan,

This shell and sea glass collection is now yours.  I treasure the memory of the happy days we spent together collecting them on the shore of Ship Ahoy beach.

Happy Birthday

Love Gram

We talked about the fact that it is not about the object, but the memories that were created around the object.  Today they brought in their objects and I photographed them by the beloved “Winnie the Pooh” tree on our campus.  I loved seeing what they brought in and hearing the stories that came with it.  I also loved showing my students how one thing and one picture can tell a story without one word.

So, what makes a difference?








  • Creative writing ~ published children’s books, poetry books, journals
  • Music ~ original recorded guitar music along with lyrics and poems








So, what makes a difference?

  • Connecting students to their work through service learning.



Natalie Merchant Sings Old Poems to Life

Natalie Merchant has been a favorite singer/songwriter of mine since the days of Ten Thousand Maniacs.  These Are The Days continues to be one of those “go to” songs for me.  When I watched this video today, I was awe-struck.  She has literally breathed life into poetry that was flat and lifeless on a dusty old page for hundreds of years.  She has created something new and innovative with something embedded in time.  Natalie spent six years researching the poets and poetry that she painstakingly chose to bring to life in her new album Leave Your Sleep, which debuts on April 13th.  Her Ted Talk highlights some of the songs from the album along with her amazing storytelling skills.  Just watch Natalie make people fall in love with 19th Century poetry with her  uniquely haunting voice.  I’ll be sharing this with my students and have already pre-ordered the album.  What a spectacular comeback for Natalie!

“Leave Your Sleep is the most elaborate project I have ever completed or even imagined.  Nearly seven years ago I set out to create a piece of work I hoped could capture the universal experience of childhood through poetry and music.” ~ Natalie Merchant 2010

Poetry March Madness!


Since April is National Poetry Month and March is (unofficial) Basketball Month, I decided to have a little fun with poetry!  The original idea was from an article on the National Council of English Teachers website.  I used How to Eat a Poem from the American Poetry and Literacy Project to gather the 64 poems that I needed:

how to eat a poem

The book is separated into 4 themes:  Magic Words ~ Poems about Poetry, Books, Words, and Imagination, My Heart Leaps Up ~ Poems About the Beauty of the Natural World, I Think Over Again My Small Adventures ~ Poems about Travel, Adventure, Sports, and Play, and Hope is the Thing of Feathers ~ Poems About Love, Friendship, Sadness, Hope, and Other Emotions.  This made it really easy to put the poems into four different sections, so that each class was only analyzing 18 poems.  Students read the poems with a partner and had a discussion about the following:

  • meaning
  • voice and speaker
  • language
  • structure and form
  • tone
  • personal reflections

I structured the poems in pairs that would be voted on after each poem was read and discussed.  Here are the “lineups” that each class received:

Lineup #1

Lineup #2


Lineup #4

Each student also had a blank bracket, but I had a live google docs bracket that had all of the class information on it that we would add to each class.  I have to say that I’ve never seen kids so excited to read poetry!  We certainly had some lively discussions, voiced opinions, and had a really great dose of healthy competition!  The final four came down to Six Words, Swift Things Are Beautiful, Sick, and How Many, How Much. The final votes came down to How Many, How Much, by Shel Silverstein.  The poem is perfectly fit for middle schoolers…it is short, sweet, and about the most important thing in their lives:  friends.

How Many, How Much
By Shel Silverstein
How many slams in an old screen door?
Depends how loud you shut it.
How many slices in a bread?
Depends how thin you cut it.
How much good inside a day?
Depends how good you live ‘em.
How much love inside a friend?
Depends how much you give ‘emHow Many, How Much How Many, How Much

How Many, How Much

Shel Silverstein

How many slams in an old screen door?
Depends how loud you shut it.
How many slices in a bread?
Depends how thin you cut it.
How much good inside a day?
Depends how good you live ‘em.
How much love inside a friend?
Depends how much you give ‘em.

Congratulations to Duke and Shel!  I absolutely plan on doing this again next year, but I’m going to have the students research to collect their own top picks and seeds!

Depends how much you give ‘em. Shel Silverstein
How many slams in an old screen door?
Depends how loud you shut it.
How many slices in a bread?
Depends how thin you cut it.
How much good inside a day?
Depends how good you live ‘em.
How much love inside a friend?
Depends how much you give ‘em.

Can you see me? Transparency in Teaching and Learning


I’ve been teaching for 15 years…I’ve been learning my whole life.  My passion is the process of teaching and learning together.  I love learning from others, sharing ideas, and collaborating.  It is a part of me…an extension that is so natural, that I don’t even think about it.  Recently, I was sharing and collaborating with a group of teachers on twitter about a google maps lesson when a fellow teacher, Zoe Branigan-Pipe,  wrote this on her blog about me:

Well – I feel pretty engaged. Today, I thank @mrspal, a colleague in Philly that I met through twitter and blogging. Just read her blog: and you will see that she has a passion for education that is viral. She is transparent in her teaching and makes it a priority to share and support others.
After reading her post “take a walk down memory lane”, an interactive, inquiry based activity using Google Streets View, she inspired me to try it out on my own students. Within the hour, she emailed me her lesson plan/student instruction sheet and seemed as excited as I was. Now that is open source, open content, free, creative commons, license free at its GREATEST.

This absolutely blew my mind.  Zoe was able to see me as a person and a teacher within moments of our initial contact.  I wondered if others could see me as well without ever meeting me in person…I really thought about how she was able to do that.  When mulling this over in my head, I realized that everything I do online is an extension of my authentic self.  My digital footprint truly represents the person I am in “real” life.  So, what are the implications of this lightbulb moment?

  1. We need to be transparent in our web 2.0 lives in order for authentic learning and collaboration to occur.
  2. We need to make sure that our digital footprints are reflective of ourselves.
  3. We need to teach our students that it is vital to preserve their own digital footprints by being authentic and transparent.
  4. We need to be transparent in the classroom on a daily basis by being open, fair, accountable, and flexible.
  5. We need to be transparent in our learning.  Our classrooms are not limited to the four walls that hold it up any longer.  By collaborating and sharing, we are modeling transparency in learning for our students.

Sometimes it isn’t easy to step outside yourself  to see what others see.  I no longer see a divide between “real life” and “online life”.  I am the same person…I am transparent.  Thank you, Zoe, for reminding me of the importance of that.

Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids

I am inspired by kids every day; it is why I’ve been a middle school teacher for the past 15 years. I learn from kids about new technologies, interesting books, and daily life as a millennial tween.  I am reminded on a daily basis to laugh, be in the moment, and not take life too seriously all the time.  I witness moments of learning, sparks of imagination, and creative wheels spinning before my very eyes. I laugh, I cry, I get frustrated, I learn, I teach, I care, and I am passionate about what I do.  I clearly remember being a student teacher and having to write my educational philosophy.  Sixteen years later, the last line still rings true for me, “I intend to learn as much from my students as they learn from me.”  Thank you, Adora Svitak for reminding me that I am so incredibly lucky to do what I do every day!