The Sunrise Story

Slice of Life Challenge Please join the challenge over at  Two Writing Teachers ! Today is one of those days... I have so much to say and no words. Thirty-three days left... Breathe Making the most of every precious moment, Breathe I need to remember to enjoy and  not stress Breathe I need to remember to listen and  not nag Breathe I need to remember to watch and  not assume Breathe They need ME  not crazy, stressed out me. Breathe A reminder to myself as we journey through the crazy end of school year time...BE present with my students. BE with them. LISTEN to them. HEAR them. WATCH them. It's easy to get caught up in the hulla-baloo of test prep and finish the curriculum. ..being stressed doesn't make any of those things better, just stressful. Breathe! Breathe! Breathe! How are you managing a joy-filled end of the year?!?!

Each week on Saturday  bloggers celebrate at  Ruth Ayres Writes .  Won't you join us?  As we enter the season of testing, finding celebrations becomes more of a challenge. Our focus shifts, our stress levels rise... I was talking with a colleague yesterday and she was getting lost in the numbers...the data...and feeling like a failure...losing perspective. I asked her to come up with a list of reasons why she's a great teacher! She started to decorate her writing notebook with those words and I saw some sparkle return to her eyes. I made my own list. Numbers and data are not sitting in front of us every morning...our students are. We need to remember our students and their progress and their achievements and them as people before we fall down the rabbit hole of testing. Here are a few of my reasons why I celebrate myself as a teacher... 1. My most reluctant writer in September, now walks around school with a notebook to find poems. She asks to write i...

I wrote this poem yesterday after lunch... Oh how I wish I were a juicy green grape One of a bunch always accompanied with branch buddies and companions along the journey never alone Lounging in the cool, refreshing spray surrounded by love. No one judges the juicy green grape No one teases the juicy green grape No one bullies the juicy green grape No one yells at the juicy green grape No one ignores the juicy green grape The juicy green grape lives in harmony with the gaggle until… it doesn’t Mmmmm I'm so grateful for my fellow bloggers who share in my passion for poetry. Check out their blogs and their creative and amazing poems. They inspire me everyday... Julieanne ,  Margaret ,  Leigh Anne ,  Mary Lee ,  Kevin  and  Cathy . 

Slice of Life Challenge Please join the challenge over at  Two Writing Teachers ! Teacher Poets Community Joining the Teacher Poets Community has inspired me during a time when inspiration is hard to find. Chris Lehman  invited teachers to write and share their poetry under his leadership. So many of us said, YES ...and here we are a full fledged community writing and sharing poetry on Saturday mornings.  Using Google Communities and Google Hangouts and Twitter to connect us is new for me. I love the technology! In real time we are sharing and writing and workshopping poetry together. There are only a handful of us on screen, but so many more watching and participating using twitter. The video is archived on Youtube and people can return to the video and the community to participate at a later date.  It's there for our reference at a later time and we can share it with others. This makes me wonder how it can be used for professional ...

As I await the beginning of our poetry workshop this morning, I will celebrate my week. Please join us at 11AM EST...at TeacherPoets . Spring Break this week...and I'd decided for a quiet week at home. I had lots planned and I just wanted to be... I took a break from blogging this week, and I missed it more than I thought I would. I missed writing here everyday and seeing my blogging friends. It was a needed break, but I'm so glad to be back. Taking a break gives perspective and I needed some perspective.  This week I painted...I found my inner artistic self...and I love her! I set up my painting studio. I also finished one canvas.  I am addicted. It's a new kind of creativity. I've always loved writing, but with painting, I'm free! Free to explore and take chances and mess up and discover something more beautiful or more ugly than before.  It's a new kind of journey for me and I'm LOVING it.  I'm won...

I am taking a week off from blogging, BUT I just completed my first painting and I wanted to share it. I'll write more about the process and the painting, but for now...enjoy. I'd love to hear what you think... It makes me happy!

Please visit  Chris Lehman's blog   or our  TeacherPoets Community Page   to get the second assignment.  We meet and discuss on  Saturday morning at 11AM EST.  Hope to see you there!

Vacation means I'm  turning off my brain today Unplugging myself...

Each week on Saturday  bloggers celebrate at  Ruth Ayres Writes .  Won't you join us?  So much to celebrate this week!!! My celebration comes in the form of an acrostic poem. I hope you enjoy... C hris Lehman's Poetry workshop ! I am an on screen participant! Our first session is this morning at 11AM EST. Please stop by and check it out. #TeacherPoets E ating cheerios. Oh, it's so simple...but cheerios make me happy. They remind me of childhood. What a great way to start each day! L eo...it's my first week without my doggie . My students took his passing well. We talked about it and wrote poetry inspired by Mary Oliver's Dog Songs . Their compassion moved me!  E lated to be published on Kirby Larson's blog this week! So exciting to share my experience building a classroom library for my students! B eautiful Words...for the past two weeks, the students have been reading, analyzing and writing poetry. I'm inspired and awed by their...

Here is an example of a Fibonacci poem ... For the 6-line poem that means: 1 syllable for first line 1 syllable for second line 2 syllables for third 3 syllables for fourth 5 syllables for fifth 8 syllables for sixth Spring break almost... three-thirty vacation begins ten hours until I am free I'm so grateful for my fellow bloggers who share in my passion for poetry. Check out their blogs and their creative and amazing poems. They inspire me everyday... Julieanne ,  Margaret ,  Leigh Anne ,  Mary Lee ,  Kevin  and  Cathy .  I am excited to announce that I will be part of the Teacher Poets Workshop led by  Chris Lehman ! Please stop by his blog to get details and join us virtually on Saturdays. 

Why poetry? I answered this question in a poem. My poem is inspired from a line in Naomi Shihib Nye's poem Valentine for Ernest Mann , "poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes," Poems hide... in the bottoms of our shoes in our basements in our attics inside our souls Poems hide... on turtle shells on pinwheels on ferris wheels on the tips of our tongues Poems hide... with anticipation with fear with trepidation with hope to be discovered Poems hide... We search We write We learn And we find them ©Michelle Haseltine, 2014 All Rights Reserved I'm so grateful for my fellow bloggers who share in my passion for poetry. Check out their blogs and their creative and amazing poems. They inspire me everyday... Julieanne ,  Margaret ,  Leigh Anne ,  Mary Lee ,  Kevin  and  Cathy .  I am excited to announce that I will be part of the Teacher Poets Workshop led by  Chris Lehman ! Please stop...

Oh how I treasure poems like this. It's rare when writing comes this easily. This poem poured out of me. I feel like it's been inside for a long time...waiting to be written. Writing moments like these are precious.   Me I am  Me tall plump smiling curly-haired Me I read I write I learn I listen I share I talk for so long I hid behind a mask behind expectations behind fear pretending to be who I thought I  should be it was lonely no one knew I  didn't let them today I'm  Me some like Me some don't it doesn't matter I  am ME @Michelle Haseltine, 2014 All Rights Reserved I'm so grateful for my fellow bloggers who share in my passion for poetry. Check out their blogs and their creative and amazing poems. They inspire me everyday... Julieanne ,  Margaret ,  Leigh Anne ,  Mary Lee ,  Kevin  and  Cathy .  Announce...