A maudlin poem

Actually, I don't think the poem is maudlin, I wanted to take the challenge to be a teacher who writes poetry, given in the throwback post from Two Writing Teachers. I followed the general plan for starting with a word of the day, finding synonyms and then synonyms of synonyms.

Maudlin

Tearfully charming,
Mawkish weeping,
Dreamy howling.
A comic mourner
In a funereal scene
from Charles Dickens.

Lachrymosa

Tall black hat,
Downcast eyes.

Dies Irae

The undertaker's mute
Pacing behind
Tenderly, professionally tearful.

Requiem

Maybe the poem should speak for itself, but I'm going to talk about it anyway. I tried to pair unexpected synonyms - some of the synonyms and definitions were at odds with each. This led me to thoughts of the undertaker's mute, the hired mourner who walked behind the hearse in Victorian England. Oliver Twist was a mute for a short time in Dickens' novel, a pale, sad little boy dressed in mourning. One of the synonyms was lachrymose, which I discovered means weeping. That word took me to the Requiem mass. The Lachrymosa is part of the Dies Irae, so that became part of the poem, too.

Though I have written poetry in the past, I have fallen out of the habit. This was an enjoyable challenge that should lead to more poetry on my part.

Insomnia

I decided to write this post in the middle of the night. I was awake, wishing I was asleep.

I don't really know why I can't sleep through the night sometimes. Maybe there's some noise that wakes me, maybe it's something I ate, maybe it's the end of the school year anxiety, but it's been happening regularly lately.

The first doctor that I told about my sleep problems gave me a prescription for Sonata. Such a nice, musical name. He said, "You'll love this. You'll think nothing is happening for 20 minutes, then the next thing you know, you're waking up in the morning." It did work like that for awhile, though it always made me a little nervous. Then I took it and it didn't work. If you don't fall asleep after taking Sonata, you can have hallucinations! Not fun at all. That was it for Sonata.

Years later with a different doctor, I got a discussion on "sleep hygiene." If you can't sleep, don't stay in bed, get up and do something boring for awhile and then go back to bed. Dark room, don't read in bed, etc. Doesn't work for me. I also tried natural remedies - melatonin and calming herbs.  I'm still awake. And being awake, I start thinking of all the things I should or could be doing.

My teaching partner said I should put a notebook and pencil beside my bed. "If you're going to do lesson planning in the middle of the night, you might as well write it down so you don't forget it."

This is a pretty good representation of what it's like to be laying awake, not being able to sleep:

That is The Nightmare Song from the operetta Iolanthe by Gilbert and Sullivan, performed by Dave Ross. It's a patter song and the lyrics go by pretty quickly, so here are the words:

When you're lying awake, with a dismal headache,
And repose is taboo'd by anxiety,
I conceive you can use any language you choose
To indulge in without impropriety.

For your brain is on fire, the bedcothes conspire
Of usual slumber to plunder you.
First your counterpane goes and uncovers your toes,
And your sheet slips demurely from under you.
Then the blanketing tickles, your feel like mixed pickles,
So terribly sharp is the pricking.
And you're hot and you're cross and you tumble and toss,
Til there's nothing twixt you and the ticking.

Then the bedclothes all creep to the ground in a heap,
And you pick 'em all up in a tangle.
Next your pillow resigns and politely declines
To remain at it usual angle.

When you get some repose in the form of a doze
With hot eyeball and head ever aching,
Your slumbering teems with sucn horrible dreams
That you'd very much better be waking.

You awake with a shudder, despairing...

You're a regular wreck,
With a crick in your neck,
And no wonder you snore,
For your head's on the floor.
And you're needles and pins
Form your soles to your shins,
And your flesh a acreep
For your left leg's asleep.
And you've cramp in your toes
And a fly on your nose,
And some fluff on your lung,
And a feverish tongue,
And a thirst that's intense,
And a general sense

That you haven't bee sleeping in clover.
But the darkness has passed, and it's daylight at last!
The night has been long, ditto , ditto my song,
And thank good ness they're both of them over!

I love Gilbert and Sullivan!

What I have been working on lately is getting some exercise, mostly walking and a little yoga. I think this makes me more relaxed and tired, so hopefully I will fall asleep and stay asleep. It is also essential for me to avoid looking a screen too close to when I want to sleep, because the light in my face disrupts the melatonin that should move me into sleep mode. So no computers or Kindle before bed. I have to say that the experience of not sleeping makes me appreciate those nights when I sleep soundly until morning. What a great feeling!

Gratitude

This week I am feeling grateful. Last week one of my colleagues, who is also my friend, was taking his daughter on a college visit out of state. They were in a horrible car accident on Wednesday. The driver behind them didn't slow down in a construction zone and plowed into the back of their car, pushing them into the car in front of them. My friend was airlifted out to the hospital. His daughter was banged up, but had no serious injuries, though I'm sure it was pretty terrifying for her.

My friend is married to my teaching partner, who got the call at school from the hospital. She dropped everything and headed for the airport.

He was in the ICU with multiple injuries for a couple of days, and then was released from the hospital and flew home on Saturday, amazingly. He is now recovering at home, and will probably be there for a few weeks. He's been sending cheerful emails, including mentioning that he'd always wondered what it would be like to be airlifted, and now he knows!

My teaching partner sent a photo of the car, which had been towed away. It looked more like a ball of metal than a car.

It's a reminder when terrible things happen - a reminder of how important our friends are to us, and how much we care. It's also a reminder that life can change in an instant.

So I am very grateful that my friends are back with us.

Favorite Books or Best Books?

I thought I was the only person who disliked The Giving Tree, but it turns out there are others who had the same response to the book that I did!

Grammarly's post on April 1 titled "The 5 Best Children's Books of All Time." The list includes Charlotte's Web, The Giving Tree, Oh, The Places You'll Go, The Giver, and Where the Wild Things Are.  I disagreed with several of the books on the list. But, lists of favorites or bests are very subjective. Lists like this are a starting place for discussion.

I hated The Giving Tree the first time I read it and have not changed my opinion. I know dozens of people who love it and find it inspiring, but I see it as the boy talking everything, including, finally, the tree's life. The boy gives nothing. I have kept my opinion mostly to myself, until now. Several readers made similar comments, saying, for example, it "should be renamed The Taking Tree."

I love Dr. Seuss, but Oh, the Places You'll Go is not one of my favorites. I love Horton Hears a Who, The Sneetches, and especially Green Eggs and Ham. I haven't read The Giver and though I like Charlotte's Web and Where the Wild Things Are, they don't touch me the way other books have.

So what would I put on the 5 Best Children's Books of All Time list? The Wind in the Willows is perhaps my absolute favorite children's book. I didn't read it until I was an adult, but the story of the friendship and gentle adventures combined with the luminous language is the best, in my opinion. I also loved Kidnapped and The Jungle Book, for the adventurous stories. A Wrinkle in Time and the Narnia books are also up there on my list.

I was so fortunate to have an uncle who loved books and gave me a book every year for my birthday. Because of him I read some more offbeat novels that I wouldn't have found without him. He gave me The Return of the Twelves by Pauline Clarke, which led me to the Brontes and more wonderful novels. He also gave me The Outsiders when it first came out, and an oddball novel by Jules Verne that is printed sideways on the page. I owe him at least for some of my love of reading.

Read-alouds

My class in in our fourth read-aloud book of the year. We alternate between historical fiction that complements our social studies curriculum and books that I love but think my students will probably never find on their own.

We switched from assigned group books with discussions and worksheets a few years ago to choice reading after my partner found The Book Whisperer. It was a good decision; the kids are more engaged with reading when they get to choose their books. But our reading unit had been heavy on historical fiction that we still wanted to use to reinforce social studies units. So we decided to turn some of those historical fiction novels into read-alouds.

We start the year learning about the Pilgrims and Plymouth. We do some activities about Jamestown in order to learn about that settlement, too, and to be able to compare the two early English colonies. So now we read Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone, which tells the story of the settling of Jamestown, narrated by Samuel Collier, a real boy who came over on the first ships. It's an excellent novel, especially for the upper elementary age group.

Our next social studies unit jumps to colonial America, followed quickly by the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. We read James Printer: A Novel of Rebellion by Paul Samuel Jacobs. This novel takes place in 1675, so it fills in the time period between the founding of Plymouth and the most established colonial time period later. The story revolves around the conflict between the English settlers in Massachusetts and the Indians, who are beginning to lose land to the English. It's a wonderful novel that explores fairness, loyalty and the choices people are sometimes forced to make. It is unfortunately out of print, but available secondhand.

In between those novels, I intersperse two delightful fantasy novels: The Return of the Twelves by Pauline Clarke and Minnie by Dutch author Annie M.G. Schmidt. In The Return of the Twelves, a 10 year old boy discovers an old set of wooden soldiers that may have belonged to the Brontes. I got this novel as a gift from my book-loving uncle when I was a kid and it led me to read Jane Eyre, and from there, other great novels. I bought Minnie for my own children, and we read it aloud together and loved it. Minnie is a young woman who until recently was a cat. The other characters are cats and people.

Usually my students really enjoy listening to these stories, though occasionally I have a student who has trouble listening and following the plot. I have tried to add more expression and use different voices to engage my listeners.

When my own children were actually children we read aloud nearly every night and it was always a favorite activity and a positive way to end the day. I'm happy I can continue to read aloud to my students.

I'm still looking for a really good historical novel set during the American Revolution. Any suggestions?

What I think I learned this month

I know there's still one more day of blogging, but I have been thinking about all this experience has brought to me and I wanted to reflect on that today. This was my first year with Slice of Life.

Though I have written for years and I take writing seriously, I had never written a piece every day for a month like this. Sometimes it was hard to fit it in or I had trouble thinking of something to write about. But the discipline of writing every day felt good. And mostly, it got easier.

I learned that every post is not going to be excellent. Some are going to be so-so or even less. But I realize that that's okay. You have to write a lot of lesser stuff in order to write the outstanding stuff, which I hope I do now and then. I have been telling my 4th graders that for years, and I have always believed it, but now I'm living it.

Sometimes the teeny idea that seems sort of boring turns into a wonderful post. In fact, sometimes it works better to start with an everyday, unexciting idea than to tackle a "big, important thought."

This community of writers is awesome! Every writer who commented on my posts wrote positive, thoughtful comments. I am totally spoiled now. I write two other blogs that people read, but almost no one ever leaves a comment. But besides the comments on my posts, reading other people's posts was an exciting journey every day. There are so many outstanding writers in this group! So many people shared parts of their lives, opening up their unique experiences to the rest of us.

There are so many generous teachers writing here! I came away with so many ideas that I want to try. Some I'll be trying in April, when we'll be writing poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month.

I feel empowered as a writer. I feel ready to tackle new challenges in writing. I have a friend who just wrote a book, because he wanted to. Maybe I will do that, too. And I feel even more excited about teaching writing to my students than I did before this month.

Thank you, Stacy, Anna, Beth, Betsy, Tara, and Dana for creating this challenge and this community. Thank you to all the writers who read my posts and commented. Thank you to everyone who shared great ideas.

Oversharing

This post has been removed, possibly because of TMI.