There Is So Much To Be Grateful For:
As I sit here crafting my final post and reflecting on this weeks readings I can't help but consider what I am grateful for in my own life. I rarely take the time to do this. To take a step back and look around at what I take advantage everyday of but wouldn't be the same without. My education is a huge aspect of my life that I take for granted. I have never known what not having access to education feels like. I have never not had a parent to help me with my homework or support me. Those seemingly simple parts of our lives is something that far too many children do not have. As a future educator, it is my privilege to provide a safe and comfortable environment where my students can feel supported, make mistakes, learn from them, and grow into the unique human they will become.
Safe places such as this blog or a writers notebook, allow me to grow as a life long learner and look back at my own progress throughout my time in this program. In this post I take time to experiment as a writer, something we should encourage our students to do everyday. Continue reading to see my take on poems from this weeks reading; Thanku: Poems of Gratitude.
Me beginning my education journey
The beginning of a new education journey
Thanku: Poems of Gratitude
This text highlights diverse poets and their diverse poetry. The poems take many shapes and forms but overall are inspired by gratitude. From dimples imprinted on cheeks to a love letter to the sky, each poem has its own personality and rhythm. In the back of this poetic picture book, the editor, Miranda Paul includes all of the various forms of poetry featured and the authors of the poems featured in the book.
In the editors note Paul also explains her goal for this book. Her aim was simple yet powerful, make being grateful a year round tradition not just around thanksgiving. With the themes of the poems being very diverse students can see that we can be grateful for all the little things in our lives just as much as the large milestones.
I decided to write some poetry inspired by the poems that resonated the most with me from the text:
I included my editing process to showcase my thought process while reading, writing, and completing my poems.
As my own graduation date approaches, I couldn't help but resonate with this Poem. Traci Sorell uses a simple cinquain style poem to express her gratitude to her education. Just 5 short lines highlight her pride in her accomplishments and excitement for what lays ahead.
As I started writing I did not limit myself to the traditional format of a cinquain poem. I drafted several lines about my experience in this program and the extra time I took to further my education.
After I wrote the original poem, featured below, I used that as a starting point to then format it to a 5 line, non rhythmic poem.
Grateful For This Extra Year
5 years down, 2 degrees later
Lifetime learner expanding my wealth of knowledge
Extra time to focus, to learn, to improve
Extra time to feel young but grow wise
Grateful for this extra year.
This poem caught my eye for several reasons. The art, the message, and the relevance. We should make a habit of thanking ourselves and our students for being open to learning and wanting to expand our knowledge of each other and the world around us.
My writing process was similar to the last poem, featured above. I allowed myself to just write after I became inspired by this poem, Thankful For Thinking by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. I then went back to format it in the correct rhyming scheme that limerick poems contain.
I found it more enjoyable to work from what I already had and find rhyming words inspired by my original poem.
The final poem is seen below.
