Purple Glasses Club

The Bolduc House Earthquake Exhibit

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 05:06:11 PST

The Bolduc House Museum's exhibit to commemorate the New Madrid Earthquake of 1811 begins on December 16th. The thoughtful, varied ways they have chosen to commemorate the earthquake are intriguing and make me wish I lived closer so I could visit during the exhibit.

The aspect of their commemoration that is close to my heart is the exhibit of Debbie Davidson's etegami. Etegami is an art form I have always admired and wanted to try. I had seen plenty of beautiful artwork in Japan, but I remember first identifying Etegami as an art form when I went to mail a postcard. The post office was a large one and had a etegami exhibit. Etegami art is striking. It is common to fill the page and spill over the sides. I feel a certain kinship to it as I feel like I spill over the sides quite a bit of the time.

Debbie's work is remarkable. After the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster I found myself visiting her blog daily. She was a voice in those terrible days that followed that spoke of strength and unity and love. Her series Humanizing the Quake brought hope during a very fearful time. The images from Humanizing the Quake are on display at the Bolduc House Museum. The proceeds will assist those who have had to relocate after the disaster.

If the story ended there it would be enough. For me, there is more. My own response at the time seemed inadequate. Too far away. Too little. The poem I offered up was all I had to give. Debbie was inspired by it and (with my blessings) created an etegami. In fact she created two. This piece is part of the collection. So in my small way, I too, have a connection to the exhibit.

We are all connected. We all make a difference. You never know how far your actions may ripple.

Visit Debbie's blog Dosanko Debbie's Etegami Notebook and follow her on twitter @dosankodebbie

Our words take on a life of their own

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 04:47:56 PST

I am reflecting on the fact that our words, once let free, take on a life of their own. Last year I wrote a poem during the Month of Poetry. When Japan suffered the great tragedy of having earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster I offered my poem up right here.

Enter Deborah Davidson, Etegami artist based in northern Japan. Her artwork is beautiful, delicate and meaningful. I became a fan. Through some twist of fate, she read my blog and asked if she could make artwork of my poem. I was delighted. Not only was the result beautiful, I had never seen my words through someone else's eyes.

Months have passed and I received a comment from Deborah. Turns out she's part of a earthquake-related exhibit at The Bolduc House Museum in St. Genevieve, Mo. I'd never heard of the place. Her artwork will be for sale to raise money to relocate victims of the earthquake. She wanted to know if I would give permission for the image with a fragment of my poem to be used. My eyes misted over. Yes, a thousand times, Yes! What a beautiful thing to watch my words go out in support of this project. If you would like to see the announcement you can view it at:
http://hosted-p0.vresp.com/591095/a6771c7698/ARCHIVE

All this got me thinking of how one action leads to another. I wrote the poem during Month of Poetry so I really need to thank Kat Apel for the inspiration. I met Kat Apel through National Picture Book Writing Week and strengthened my correspondence with her through Picture Book Idea Month, so I guess I really should thank Paula Yoo and Tara Lazar. I found out about those events through NaNoWriMo from reading Paula Yoo's blog so it comes down to Paula again. And Paula, I have no idea how I started reading your blog, but it might have been from a link from Mitali Perkin's blog.

These words of ours. We write them down. We cherish them. We raise them until they can go out into the world alone. We hope they will not be led astray by hucksters. We pray that they will reach their blissful without despair. From the cradle of an idea to the moment of graduation we love them. But at some point we set them free.

And what a beautiful thing it is to see them bloom. To blossom. And to bring joy back to us in unexpected ways.

Participate in Picture Book Month

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:30:19 PST

This last six weeks have been all about picture books for me. Learning about them, reading them, evaluating them and trying my hand at writing them. So when I learned about Picture Book Month I wondered if I really had time to check this out as well. I thought I'd wait until December 1st, but my curiosity got the better of me. So glad it did. If you love picture books you'll want to take a visit to read all the great things these giants of the industry have to say about them. If you don't love picture books already, get over there and see what you are missing!

Guess I'll have to wait until January before I dig into those novels I've had my eye on.

Want to Write a Picture Book? Sign up for PiBoIdMo!

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:30:59 PST

If you write picture books or have been thinking about giving it a try, check out PiBoIdMo. Brain Child of Tara Lazar, PiBoIdMo stands for Picture Book Idea Month. That's just what it is. Tara got tired of hearing novelists having all the fun in the month of November as they attacked their novels during NaNoWriMo. So she took matters into her own hands. The challenge of PiBoIdMo is to come up with an idea for a picture book for every day of November. You finish the month with 30 ideas to work on through the year .

Now that might sound like an easy thing to do if you haven't done it. Sure, some days the idea hits you over the head. Some days you are looking at the clock approaching midnight and your muse has left town and you have to turn to some other inspiration, like a dictionary.

This is an event that I look forward to each year. Great people have signed up for the event, Tara gives away prizes and inspiration abounds. Not only that, but you get this fabulous, funny badge for your blog created by the talented Bonnie Adamson. It feels like homecoming weekend for picture bookies. Hope to see you there.

(Post also shared at my picture book blog, Picture Book Inspirations )

Why Do You Deserve to Win?

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 12:21:56 PST

Over the past summer I enjoyed things I never had time for during the school year – sleeping in to 6:00 a.m., sitting in the park for hours and enjoying the breeze and reality t.v.

One show in particular has sparked my interest – Project Runway. I have a passion for fiber arts and this show expands my vision. While I watch the show with the purpose of exploring a passion, my librarian brain will kick in and one thing keeps nagging at me.

Imagine the scene: Three designers exhausted, yet exhilarated after their emotional runway shows during Olympus Fashion Week stand in the spotlight of The Runway. They stand before the judges who will tell them who will win an incredible, life changing career package. The judges deliver their impressions of the collections – both the good and the bad. Here is the moment that grabs me every time. One of the jusdges asks:

“Why do you deserve to win?”

A simple question. The question should be easy to answer for someone who believes in their passion. It should be easy for someone who has spent months putting together the collections. They have certainly had time to ponder the question as they sew. They have seen the work of the other competitors. They have worked with them closely and had opportunity to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the other two on the runway. It should be a piece of cake to say a few sentences that sum up their strengths and merits.

But they can’t.

For the most part they fumble. I’ve heard their responses. They run along these lines:

“Because I’ve wanted it since I was five years old.”
“Because I’ve come this far.”

“Because I’ll crumple up and die if I don’t.”

“Because I need the money.”

“Because this is my only chance to put out my own line.”

“Because I want it so badly I can taste it.”

These answers do not address the question. One wonders whether it is the pressure, the lack of sleep, the intense emotional punch of the experience that throws them off course. I know I couldn’t survive their schedule. Still, could it be that they are not prepared to explain themselves?

As librarians and educators preparing our students for the 21^st century these answers make me feel a recommitment to teaching children skills to help them present themselves so that when they are asked “Why should you win?” the answer has more to do with assessing their achievements and little to do with desires and feelings. While feelings and desires drive us to learn, grow and develop ourselves, they are not a great persuasive argument for landing a job, an award or a prize.

Those designers who substituted their feelings for a carefully polished artist’s statement, lost the opportunity to sell themselves and make the judges see their vision.

Need ideas and resources for writing your artist statement? There are two resources I recommend. I’d rather be in the Studio!: The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self Promotion by Alyson B. Stanfield is chock full of insightful, practical information about artist promotion that can be put into motion. Stanfield is active on twitter at @abstanfield and runs workshops through her blog.

Another great resource is Writing the Artist Statement by Ariane Goodwin. This is a very different book. More introspective, almost meditative, the book is a set of writing exercises designed to help the artist to understand their work before writing the statement.

Both of these books have inspired my thinking. I hope you will find them helpful as well.

So you have done a great job doing whatever you do. Why do you deserve to win?

Mock Caldecott Election Thoughts on Picture Book Inspirations

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:59:46 PDT

Summer always seems to be a time I think I'll do non-stop blogging and get my posts straightened out for the fall. The reality is that I seem to think of new directions and find new distractions to keep me from posting. September is a blur with the beginning of school. October is when it settles down and I start up again. I'll try to remember that next year.

Meanwhile, I will be posting my process, progress and thoughts about running a Mock Caldecott Election on the new picture book only blog I started earlier this year. If you care to jump over there, my thoughts about running the same program, but giving it a twist are here at Picture Book Inspirations:

http://picturebookinspirations.blogspot.com/2011/10/picture-books-standards-and-mock.html

Hope I'll see you there.

Online Safety and Euphemisms

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:32:01 PDT

Sometimes the way we talk to children amuses me. For example, people have no trouble seeing a child in a grocery store/park/church/zoo and asking “How old are you?” will become angry when the child asks the same question. “Children today have no manners!” humph.

It is no laughing matter, however, that children today have many different configurations of living arrangements. As the custodian of a great percentage of a child’s waking hours, those of us who work with them struggle to always find words that will embrace and affirm all of the children in our care. Instead of saying “Have your Mom read this to you” as teachers may have years ago, we now go through all kinds of verbal gymnastics to be inclusive. I, for one, think this is a good thing, even if it can get silly at times.

One of the terms that makes me giggle is “trusted adult.” We say things like “Get your trusted adult’s permission before using the Internet” or “Your trusted adult must sign this permission form.” I can imagine the people children identify as “trusted adult” might shift from day to day depending on who lets them watch TV or stay up late or have cake and ice cream. Still, the phrase is valuable because it describes not only a relationship of power, but also one of trust. You can’t always trust the people in charge of you. This term may empower children to seek out and engage in conversation with those who are trustworthy. Sometimes children understand the issues more than we would imagine.

The term also made me think of all the adults who are posting about children in their online interactions. They may or may not be blood relations. They may or may not be a family. They may be entrusted with the safety and well being of the child for part of the day. What information are the adults divulging that is detrimental to the safety of the children in their care? Many of us think long and hard before doing anything to compromise the identities of the children in our care.

One day I decided that if we are asking children to have trusted adults, we should step up to the plate and trust the children as well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating letting them cross the street alone or make unguided decisions about meal choices. Yet children are worthy of trust and need to have opportunities to rise to the expectations. That is why you will see me post about my trusted teen (TT), my trusted middle-schooler (TMS), my trusted kindergartener (TK), my trusted preschooler (TPSK) and my trusted toddler (TTOD). I’m thinking about posting about my trusted retiree (TR) as well.

It sounds silly when you put them all together this way, but I feel we should be consistent with the terms we expect children to use and the terms we use to post about them. I want children to hear that they are worthy of trust, to feel empowered and to learn that they are not just helpless, dependent beings. They are also capable of being trusted, being dependable and being active members of their community. I also want them to know that I care about their privacy and safety. The best way I can let them know it is to demonstrate it in the way I share information related to them.

Font Choice in a Digital World

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 04:03:51 PDT

This week a member of my writing group got me thinking about typeface and professional behavior. For a long time New Times Roman has been a default of style and professionalism. It is the default typeface in most word processing programs. It is the font considered to be the professional choice to use when submitting work that matters.

I have to question whether this is really in our best interests in a digital world. Years ago a favorite professor of mine stated that she would appreciate it if work submitted to her digitally used a non-serifed font. Her choice was Verdana. The reason – non-serif font is easier to read from a computer screen. For someone who does a great deal of work reading online submissions this is a critical issue. From that moment forward, I have used a non-serif font on my digital submissions when I deemed it appropriate. Over the years, I have found that it does, indeed, make a difference to me. That is why I have chosen to use Verdana as the typeface on my blogs.

Dear Reader, know it or not, I care about your eyes.

I also wonder about how the default affects children who are growing up online. Adults who are not aware, default to a serifed font. This is not as easy a transition as one might think for the emerging reader. The letter “a” in particular, causes children distress.

After thinking about these things I have changed my way of selecting font:

1. For my own digital creations I use a non-serifed font. You will find this on my blogs, in my course materials, and in many of the more personal submissions I make.

2. For formal submissions, I follow the guidelines. If there are no guidelines, I usually submit in Times New Roman as that is considered the standard professional font.

3. For students I use a non-serifed simple font giving particular attention to the lower case “a”. This is for any computer generated materials including the materials children may be accessing digitally as well as the materials which I produce digitally to print and hand out.

4. Love letters, I write by hand.

I’d love to hear what people have to say about font choice in a digital context. Have you thought about it? How do different fonts make you feel? Do you always go with the default or are you a font manipulator? Do you think that the default font will change as we are increasingly a digital society?

Feeling Stylish

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Wed, 11 May 2011 02:16:58 PDT

A marvelous thing happened to me. Children’s book author, public and school librarian and all round, wonderful friend, Ann Dixon, emailed to tell me she was bestowing The Stylish Blog Award upon me. Thank you, Ann! This act of your friendship and affirmation have made my month!

I had never heard of the award. So I looked it up only to find that there is no official source telling about the award. However, after looking at many blogs that have received the award I can tell you that the rules seem to be:

1. After saying thank you, you link back to the person who bestowed the award upon you.

2. You are to tell the world between 7 – 10 things about yourself. People vary widely on their thoughts on this.

3. You then pass the award along to anywhere from 1 – 15 bloggers you have recently found.

My Seven Things

Most of you probably don’t know that:

1 . I am obsessed with reflections. Especially how light reflects in glass and water, how culture is reflected in people and how when two cultures meet one is reflected in the other and visa versa. Last summer I contemplated starting a blog named “The Reflectionist” to showcase my photos and thoughts on reflections, but it gave way to other projects.

2. The first place my mother took me after I was born was the public library.

3. One of my more unusual jobs was being an origami test folder.

4. My first grade teacher thought I might have a problem with speech because I was so quiet in class. My mother thought she might be mistaking me for someone else.

5. My grandfather was in the circus, but I’m just a clown.

6. I took up rock climbing to help me get over my fear of heights. It didn’t work. Can’t explain what made me decide climbing Bruneschelli’s Dome to get a bird’s eye view of Florence was a good idea.

7. I love flowers, but don’t ask me to tell you what my favorite flower is. If you dare to do so, I’ll probably tell you the last flower I saw or what is in season. See what I mean?

I’m delighted to bestow the following bloggers with the Stylish Blog Award:

I couldn’t resist passing it along to long time friend, Cindi Huss at Dancing Threads

The rest of these marvelous folks I have come in contact with within the past year. I have arranged them in alphabetical order. Those of you who are familiar with my work as a school librarian know that I am crazy about alphabetical order.

Dana Carey - http://danacarey.blogspot.com

Debbie Davidson - Etegami by Dosanko Debbie http://etegamibydosankodebbie.blogspot.com

Debbie Ohi - Inky Girl

Holly Thompson Hat Books

Jim Hill - Hey, Jim Hill

Julie Hedlund - Write Up my Life

Kat Apel - Kat Whiskers

Kathleen Isaac – Grilly Fish

Paula Yoo www.paulayoo.com

Tara Lazar - Writing for Kids (While Raising Them)

NaPiBoWriWee Wrap Up

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sun, 08 May 2011 16:57:56 PDT

This is the second year I’ve participated in NaPiBoWriWee. Last year it seemed like a huge challenge and commitment. I voraciously read the resources on Paula Yoo’s blog. As well I should. She provides great inspiration and the comraederie is wonderful.

This year, I had plenty on my plate. By all that is sane, I should have excused myself and lurked jealously, but I had looked forward to the challenge all year long. NaPiBoWriWee 2010 is how I met my cherished writer buddies – buddies who have cheered me on the whole year since. I jumped in this year thinking that each Picture Book I wrote would be more to add to my file – good, bad or in between. I may have worried each one into existence usually crossing the finish line just before bedtime each day, but finish I did. There are a few which are near the front of my editing stack.

I found time to tweet compatriots on the road, but I only managed one blog post. Sorry Paula and to those who I might have reached with information about this great event.

This year I was prepared to write using the ideas I came up with during PiBoIdMo. So I did not need to think of a brand new idea and do the writing each day. This made it simple. Last year the week seemed long and the writing hard. This year I did not experience it that way. It’s like I’ve built up the muscles the task requires over the past year. Time was in short supply this year, but the act of writing itself seemed easier. Perhaps it was easier to accept that these are drafts that can be edited into something better. I had more confidence that I could do it.

What I have learned this time around:

1. The practice of writing does indeed make the job easier.

2. Community, online or off, is a precious thing.

3. Pacing picture book writing throughout the year is helpful to sustaining momentum. PiBoIdMo in November, NaPiBoWriWee in May, and PB Dummy Challenge (which I have failed, but lurked and learned from) between the two. Hope these challenges continue to be offered.

4. Finding people who write Picture Books is very helpful in writing them. Not all my writer friends have the interest or understanding of the genre. It is important to maintain contacts with people who share the types of writing you enjoy doing.

5. I need to work on my system for tracking Picture Book ideas, drafts, and almost done manuscripts.

6. I have many aspects of picture books to explore. I feel like I need to write some that are junk stories in order to explore different aspects of writing picture books.

Thanks, Paula, for running this challenge. I look forward to doing it again next year. I’m sure that NaPiBoWriWee 2012 will yield new observations and skill sets.

If you’ve missed it this year, I’d still suggest you take a look at Paula’s blog. She provides great writing resources, writing advice and author/illustrator interviews. All of this is helpful not only for the yet to be published author, but also for the lovers of picture books everywhere.

NaPiBoWriWee 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Mon, 02 May 2011 02:33:11 PDT

Just a quick post to let you know that NaPiBoWriWee 2011 is going on right now! What? You don't know what NaPiBoWriWee is? National Picture Book Writing Week is the brain child of children's book writer, screen writer and musician Paula Yoo who packs more into her schedule than I care to think about. With all of these activities swirling about, she found it was hard to take the time to sit down to write those picture book ideas that were swirling in her head. So she set a goal, gave it a name and invited others to join her. The goal is to write a picture book a day for seven days. If you take the challenge you and finish you will have seven picture book drafts when you are done. Some people have more than that.

Paula is a great cheerleader. She provides guest bloggers, writing tips, inspirational posts and community through this challenge. Oh, and there are prizes. For those who do finish the challenge, there are a number of books signed by authors or illustrators ready to be distributed. While the real fun is the challenge itself and the community, the prizes are an added bonus.

I met many of my writing buddies through this challenge last year. We have crossed paths many times during other writing challenges. So this week feels like homecoming week to me. These friends, and you know who you are, have added so much to my life this past year - encouragement, knowledge, information, humor and motivation. We've participated in some of the same challenges, we've visited each other's blogs, we follow each other on twitter. This is one of the many beauties of the internet. So Paula, thanks for starting it all!

This article is also posted at my blog Picture Book Inspirations

Heart of a Poet

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 16:44:43 PDT

National Poetry Month has been a delightful surprise. The children have inspired me more than ever. We have talked about the “heart of a poet.” They fall in love with that concept. They also fall in love with the idea that words can be beautiful, can show emotion and that choosing the right word is the work of a “word artist.” These are entirely new thoughts to most of them and they grab onto them tenaciously. I am seeing poetry in the words we speak, write and carelessly bandy about. And they do too.

After rewriting Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Swing” with quite a few classes it became clear that there are many more ways to solve a poetic challenge than I thought possible. While many of the ideas/words/images the children came up with were the same, there were also many unique visions from each class. After brainstorming, each class chose a different focus to finishing their poem. I hadn’t expected this. I mean the view from the swing is simply the view from the swing, isn’t it? Absolutely not. How could I have been so naïve?

In most classes, I needed to really shepherd them the process. One class, however, took charge early. They delighted in beating out the rhythm, and finding words to fill the beats. They refused to be limited by our brainstorming. In the end the children grabbed scrap paper from my desk and feverishly jotted down their suggestions for amending our poem. I have a stack of entries and multiple submissions from most of the class. It is important to note that the scrap paper part of the lesson was entirely their creation.

Meanwhile, a class that had not yet done their three minute rhyme showed me something which tore at my heart. One child could think of just one word and started to weep. It’s not that this child is not used to challenges or cries when he doesn’t win. It was just that he was so inspired by the poetry. He was afraid that if he could not rhyme he could not be a poet. A wonderful thing happened. His classmates circled him, hugged him and affirmed him. They said things wise beyond their years and said them, dare I say it, poetically. His tears dried and he bravely joined us to find out how others did.

I gave my regular spiel, which starts by asking children to raise their hands if they have one or more rhyming word on their paper. Almost all children do. I congratulate them for being one step on the road to being a poet and compliment them on their poetic hearts. I then tell them that the children who were unable to rhyme may be the next stars in the world of non-rhyming poetry. This class actually cheered, jumped out of their seats and clutched their poetic hearts. They were so happy to be told that they already were something. Guess who smiled the broadest? You could not have stopped them from rhyming the rest of the class period. Nor could you have stopped them for looking for beautiful combinations of words.

What did I learn from this? Children love to be told that they are something. Aside from loving to get good grades or get praise, developing an identity is inspiring to them. Writing a sentence may be looked at as a chore. Being a poet seems like an honor. Writing is what poets do. Writing becomes a way of validating who they are. The assignment may be the same – write two sentences that rhyme. But the result is different. Way different. Even if the sentences are identical. When you inspire a vision, an identity and a passion, you inspire so much more.

I no longer think of myself as merely a teacher but more of a ringleader, mentor, inspirational coach. Yes I am a teacher, but I want to be even more. I hope I can do it poetically.

Writing Poetry with Robert Louis Stevenson

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:30:39 PDT

It’s National Poetry Month and I’m all agog at the different ways to share poetry. You all know by now that I went wild in January writing a poem every day for Kat Apel’s Month of Poetry. It was such a good time I didn’t sign up for a poetry challenge this month. Instead I’m challenging myself to think of new ways to share the poetry of other people.

Last week I challenged students to a rhyming contest. I gave each student a piece of scrap paper, gave a word to rhyme with and set my timer for three minutes. They wrote down as many rhyming words as they could in the time given. The person with the most rhyming words was given the accolade “King or Queen (insert name here) of the Land of Rhyme” written on a paper crown. You could not imagine how they set themselves to the task. The winner was often a dark horse candidate. Naturally, we read some rhyming poetry afterward.

This week I am working with classes on rewriting a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson to reflect the realities of the scenery from our playground swing set. I shared the poem with students and asked them about the content. Not a single child knew what “cattle” are.

We talked about the beauty of the scene, but how it doesn’t reflect our experience. We then made a list of what we can see from the swing set of our small city school. Though not an inner city, we certainly cannot see a single farm animal from our environs.

We then carefully cut out the sections which didn’t reflect our reality. I had the children clap out the beat of the original poem so that we could replicate it’s cadence. We then adapted parts and added in the vocabulary we had listed on the board. The finished product is a wonderful mix of Stevenson and Students.

The Original Poem

The Swing

By Robert Louis Stevenson

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so wide,

Rivers and trees and cattle and all

Over the countryside –

Till I look down on the garden green

Down on the roof so brown –

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

The Swing

Robert Louis Stevenson & Kindergarten Class

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so far,

Buildings and toys and sticks and sand

I feel I can jump on the car.

Till I look down on the school building

Down on the roof so brown –

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

(their vocab list - cars, trees, sky, a person, grass, a fence, a bird, a building, the school, sand, a leaf, toys, sticks)

The Swing

By Robert Louis Stevenson and First Grade Class

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the fence,

Till I can see so far,

Children and playhouse and sand and slides

Everything till the cars.

Till I can see the sandy ground

Down on the roof so brown –

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

(their vocab list – the woods, the road, the fence, the school, trees that are knocked down, sand, slides a factory, the playground, cars, a building, trees, the windows, the wind blowing, children, playhouse, the driveway, the door.)

I’m quite delighted with the results. They liked the poem on first reading, but they owned it when we were through.

Six Degrees of Separation

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 11:23:03 PDT

Art by Deborah Davidson

http://etegamibydosankodebbie.blogspot.com/

This week seems to have been a test of the theory of “six degrees of separation” for me. If you aren’t familiar with Frigyes Karinthy’s theory, it states that people are so connected that there are only about six threads between any two people in the world. I can see how Karinthy’s background could lead him to this conclusion. He was an author, playwright, poet, journalist and translator. Not only would the type of activity he engaged in provide a life of voluminous contacts, but the types of activities he engaged in were those which consisted of making connections. If the only activity in his biography was “translator” that alone would explain his belief in the nature of connection.

Debbie Davidson read the poem I included in my last post and asked permission to create art for it. Imagine that! In fact she made two versions. I like them both so much that I included one here and the other at the head of the last post. Debbie is one of those marvelous people who can take a less than perfect situation and mill what positive there is to be had from it. I know I said this in the last post, but I’ll repeat myself. If you haven’t checked out her blog, Etegami by Dosanko Debbie and her series on “Humanizing the Quake” you are missing out on pure beauty. I feel so humbled to have such beautiful artwork inspired by my writing and to read her thoughts on my poem. Heady stuff.

I also heard from Ann Dixon, Alaskan children’s book author. Amidst the back and forth of catching up with each other, I found out about her blog, Kid Lit North: Where Ravens Roam and Writers Dream It introduces books about northern climates and sheds light on places and events I can only dream about. Years ago during an emergency landing in Anchorage and subsequent surprise overnight stay there, my eyes were opened to the beauty of Alaska. I had always wanted to return, though I prefer to make it a planned visit next time. Through Ann’s books, website and blog I catch a glimpse of the trip I would like to take.

Last Sunday, I headed into Boston to the Boston Museum of Science to see the exhibit “Race: Are We So Different?” It was a thought-provoking exhibit questioning the notion of race. Though many of the things I saw and heard were issues I had given thought to and pursued through reading, the way the exhibit was put together brought ideas together in a powerful way. It is clear that we are all more closely related than we may think at first. The reflections people offered about the richness of their heritage was inspiring, moving and sometimes humorous. The lines between us blur. There are only 12 letters between I and U. I would highly recommend this exhibit.

I also saw the movie “Australia” in the IMAX theatre. The film focused on how Australia and Antarctica were at one time joined and how one became a cold barren land while the other became a harsh desert climate. I learned plenty from the film, including the surprising information that kangaroos and koalas are descendants of the same animal. I also learned about the profusion of pelicans during years of plenty. The connection between life and the land is intricate and integral.

Still, I was disappointed not to see more of the vibrant wildlife that fellow participants of MoP (Month of Poetry) featured in their poetry or conversations. In the evening, I spent time chatting with Australian children’s book writers Kat Apel and Jo Hart about the wildlife they see where they live. I should have known…how can a continent so large and diverse be introduced in a mere 50 minutes? Granted, there is much truth to what the film asserts, but I was looking for a more inclusive view of Australia. One which included the gamut of climates, flora and fauna.

Later in the week, I had an experience that really ties it all together. The power of the internet in connecting us is something we take for granted, but sometimes it is borne out in ways that delight and amaze. When Debbie sent me the first illustration I asked her a bold question – did she know a friend of mine who was rumored to live in her neck of the world. Turns out she didn’t, but a friend did and so after many years I’m back in touch with a dear friend. It was a delightful and awe inspiring experience. I’ve never met Debbie. Just made her acquaintance on twitter a month or two ago. The world is a small and big place. We are connected to each other. Thank goodness. Thank goodness.

Viva, Japan!

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 11:22:05 PDT

As those of you who participated in Month of Poetry know, I owe a debt of gratitude to Japan for not only writing material, but also a way of seeing the world – a change in heart. During Month of Poetry, I found my voice in writing poetic memoir, much of it about experiences I had during the ten years I lived in Tokyo.

About a month ago, a tweet led me to this blog post titled No-divorce expat: a mixed identity becomes permanent . The article struck me motionless for a while after I read it. Much of my identity revolves around my life experiences, especially those of living abroad. My outlook is more global and much less regional than they were previous to those formative years. I still don’t separate myself from the places I have lived or the people I have met.

So the news of earthquake, tsunami, and radiation have had me glued to news feeds. Worrying about the folk I know there. Wishing them well. I’ve written nothing, but encouraging emails and inquiries. Mostly, I’ve been paralyzed.

Undoubtedly you have seen plenty of venues for donating to humanitarian aid for Japan. Many of our children’s literature colleagues have started fundraisers to entice us to participate. By all means do donate, do volunteer.

For those who have watched in horror and need to feel some hope, I’d recommend having a look at Deborah Davidson’s blog Etegami by Dosanko Debbie. She has done a wonderful job of turning her own concerns into a healing, cultural experience in “Humanizing the Earthquake” posts. Not only that, but her whole site is a joy to the eyes. Her paintings are lovely.

Looking through my MoP poetry, I could find only one poem which I thought might be appropriate to share at this time. We have heard much of sharing despite the devastation. The gracious willingness to share despite scarcity is what ultimately, will get Japan through this crisis. We see it in the many stories filtering their way to us. Viva, Japan. My prayers are with you.

Mikan

I took a trip to Sado-gashima

All by myself

In winter

rather brave I thought

I had been there before

but never in the snow

at least I knew the road to take

and how to catch a bus.

A snowy day in winter

the cold wind blew in from Russia

I could feel it age my face

More than a wrinkle or two

As I waited at a bus stop

under an awning

in a rice field

I watched the lazy sight

of a hawk loop through the sky.

Before long three village women

wearing mompei and indigo scarves

came and settled on the bench

right next to me.

They didn’t want to stare

but they had seldom seen a white one

except on the tv

and that really didn’t count.

One woman, much braver

than her hesitant companions

turned and faced me

held out a mikan

round and pocked and shiny bright

she offered it to me

I thanked her greatly

which surprised her

more than a little

I could speak her native tongue

Next I knew they had exploded

questions flew through the frost air

Where I came from?

How I got there?

Why would I attempt the trip?

Once they could

they were only happy

to start a conversation

with this wild, strange foreigner.

When the bus came

we all boarded

they insisted that I go first

We sat together

eating mikans

until their stop came

but I stayed on

When they left me

they left the mikans

and the golden memories

of their gracious gifts

Nurturing Feedback Update

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 08:08:57 PST

It seems like as soon as you have a concept in your mind you start seeing it all around you. You paid a lot for that designer dress thinking it was so unique, but look around and you’ll see it everywhere. When money is at stake this phenomenon holds little charm, but when it is about self-improvement it is delightful.

A tweep (twitter friend for those not in the know) posted a link to Erica Johnson’s blogpost “Are You Well-Versed in Comment Etiquette?”

I enjoyed reading the article and would have posted a comment had I gotten there before the comments closed. Johnson clearly stated something I have been thinking about lately - feedback is about community building.

I started blogging out of curiosity about the technology, what it could do and how it could be used in education. Later as I started realizing how much I enjoy writing I read about online promotion. We have all heard about how building an online platform is essential for the writer/artist/librarian/educator/human being. We have all heard that the way to increase comments on your blog is to comment on the blogs of others.

Sure, it works. Commenting on blogs does get your name out there and people are more likely to comment. Seriously though, starting the feedback challenge for myself I was not thinking about attracting comments. (Not to say that I don’t care. They’ve been delightful, so keep them coming.) Honestly, I was thinking more about the opportunity for personal growth that comes through engagement.

In public education we expect this of our students. We don’t want them to just be passive receptacles of information. We want them to actually be able to apply what they have learned. We hear about engagement, the application to a product, synthesis. I say this every day. I work with colleagues to provide this to our students. It takes time and effort, but we know that this is valuable to our students.

Why would I not want that for myself?

So far my effort to engage more fully in the conversation have paid off. I find that I am making more connections between the information I am consuming and I find the conversations are more satisfying. I have always been the type of person would prefers intimate dinner parties with a few select friends with interesting stories to tell than cocktail parties where you meet many, but learn little. Giving increased feedback seems to lead me in that direction.

Classical Children’s Lit Malady

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:42:08 PST

I have always loved the classic children’s works written by the likes of Louisa May Alcott, Frances Hodgson Burnett, L. M. Montgomery and their contemporaries. I love the films bringing them to life, especially if they have Shirley Temple in them.

So I have never found it easy to hear someone talk about Scarlet Fever as a treatable, curable malady. The very words bring about visions of sick rooms, drawn bed clothes, the solemn ticking of a grandfather clock and shadows.

A few weeks ago I was exposed to Scarlet Fever. Last week I battled a serious bout of strep throat. This morning I awoke covered in red dots.

After a trip to the doctor, I have been given flight clearance to mingle as much as I want. The course of antibiotics make me safe to be around whether I have a case of Scarlet Fever or an allergy to the medication.

Still, I find the scenes from children’s literature, the classic and its poorer cousin, dance wildly in my head. The drawings of Edward Gorey taunt me and make me want to have that chocolate bar instead of resisting. Life is short and all that.

Children’s literature can uplift, inspire and inform. These old images, however, are not helping me put this into perspective. On the other hand, seen in a providential light, the images so skillfully wrought by our writing predecessors serve not only to make me wary, but also to incite gratitude. Looking back on the works of the foremothers of children’s literature, I can feel inspired by the deftly written story. At the same time, I am grateful yet again that I live in this time. Grateful for the present of a world in which scarlet fever need not be written in capital letters or dealt with in fear. Grateful for a world in which there is the medication to treat the malady. Very importantly, I am grateful for the fact that I have health insurance.

The Nature of Feedback and Nurturing Feedback Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 05:33:16 PST

A number of years ago I entered my sour cream coffee cake in the county fair. I took home a second place ribbon that year with comments written on the back which have delighted me ever since. Whenever someone tries to entice me to don my apron and take up a spatula to make one they refer to it as “your award winning coffee cake.” I’m a sucker for that. Nothing like a little affirmation as a catalyst for motivation.

The online challenges I have participated in over the past 18 months are part of the reason I am thinking about the nature of feedback. Part of the allure of these challenges is the feedback. The opportunity to have others share your work and comment upon it is not only helpful, but also motivating.

During Month of Poetry, fondly referred to as MoP, this year I truly understood how I needed that kind of community. It was the catalyst for me to go out and find myself a writer’s critique group. While not comfortably settled in one yet, I am definitely working towards that goal.

While writing is something done for the self, there is also a communal aspect to the experience. The presence of a reader makes it so.

During MoP I received a great deal of support from poets from across the globe. The motivation to keep at it was provided by the forum, the structure and the feedback of others. Without feedback, without knowing that someone was reading and commenting, I find that one of my many projects takes over. I haven’t written a single poem since MoP finished.

So I am looking to join or create that sort of space for myself on a local, physical level. The time is full. This is the season for this thread in my life.

That got me thinking. When I neglect to provide feedback on something I read, I am depriving the author or artist of that support. I am receiving, but not supporting when I go away silently inspired.

I was mulling over the nature of feedback in a social media environment when I came across an article by Jane Friedman on her blog for Writer’s Digest. As always, Jane wrote a thought provoking post.

Still, my own thoughts nagged at me. The amount of information available to us means that we can never stay on top of it all. We try though, don’t we? Personally that translates into an almost feverish chase, clicking on articles, getting inspiration, “liking” or “retweeting” them. Perhaps I’ll amend the tweet with a “must read” or “brilliant.” While I do feel that social media has benefitted me greatly, I also feel that the nature of my interaction with others has changed greatly. Instead of reflecting and responding to much of what I read, I am now tending to read, acknowledge and move on to the next. While that puts me in contact with others, I do not become truly part of the conversation that way.

My comments tend to be quick blasts, sent from my iPhone. Twitter allows me to make use of those “stolen moments” – waiting in the doctor’s office, in the grocery line, waiting for my car service. It also allows me to disengage from unpleasant thoughts in useless moments. It provides a useful distraction while improving my mind and allowing me to keep in greater contact with the world around me. These are not times for composing long, thoughtful comments. My thumbs are getting enough of a workout already.

Still, while hopefully we blog and network and tweet because there is something intrinsically positive about the experience itself, a large portion of the joy is in the dialogue. I find, like a skinflint, that I’ve been tightfisted with my feedback.

These musing have led me to determine that during the month of March I am going to flex my feedback muscles.

Nurturing Feedback Challenge

March 2011

1. Except for retweets on Twitter, I plan to eschew the one word comment.
2. This month I will increase the number of comments I leave.
3. I will try to leave more than a comment indicating that I liked what I have read. I will include information about why I liked it, what it made me think, how it benefited me, thoughts that spring to mind related to what I am seeing.
4. I will slow down and think about what I am reading and express my thanks to the author.When appropriate, I will provide a relevant link, a nugget of my own experience that is supportive or a nod of understanding.
5. I will keep track of my thoughts and experiences this month to see what effect this challenge has on my social networking experiences.

I don’t mind company. If you want to join me, I’d love to have you along for the ride.

Other Thinking Chairs

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 16:42:42 PST

I gave plenty of thought to where I am most creative during the month of November. Spurred to reflection by Dana Cary’s post about her “thinking chair” I made my own chair complete with floral print quilt and tassled, fuzzy, pink throw. The time I spent in that chair was highly productive (and sometimes relaxing), but I discovered that I have several other, more public thinking spots. These are places I go to write. Places where my mess doesn’t come along and taunt me. Places where the dishes are for someone else to worry about. Places where I am virtually alone.

I love writing in coffee shops and tea rooms. I don’t drink coffee, preferring tea in a tea cup, if possible. I am fortunate to have found a quiet one where I go almost every week to write. Those around me can tell if I missed my weekly sojourn because I’m grumpier than usual and out of sorts. The view is marvelous.

Libraries are another place I love to go write. There is usually a spot where I can spread out far more than I need to. The best thing, though, is that there are none of those piles of paper distracting me. Just me and a clear table space. That makes for ease of concentration.

I try to keep my desk clean. Really, I do. But there are the receipts to go through, the new Booklist and Horn Book Magazines, scraps of paper with curriculum ideas and cords from various electronic gadgets. There is usually a pile of books to review and a bag of books to return to my public library. I’ll forgive the public librarian if her or his desk looks like the one I have at home. I won’t bat an eyelash if it’s a tripping zone in the back office. Keep a table clear in the reference section or tucked away in a corner for me, though, and I’ll be your friend forever.

Poetic Month of January

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:22:58 PST

There goes my resolve to be more consistent in blog posting this year. January was a month full of writing, poetry, new friends and shoveling snow. I spent most of my free time at Australian children’s book author Kat Apel’s Month of Poetry. The challenge was to write a poem and post it every day. Sorry, you can’t see it as it is password protected, but you can put Month of Poetry on your calendar for January 2012 if you like.

What did making the commitment to writing a piece of poetry a day do for me? Tons. I started listening to words and feeling how they felt as I said them. I started listening to conversations with an eye for how words fit together. My eye became tuned to the small details about every day things. That was in the first week. Somewhere around the middle of the month I wrote a poem which surprised and delighted me. It was not the kind of poem I meant to write in January. I had meant to write short, fun and kid oriented poems – maybe one which could be turned into a picture book. On that day in the middle of the month I wrote a poetic memoir and found that my stories were new to me. Very different from recording them in prose or telling them in person, these poetic memoirs helped me to see the small details in my experiences in a new way. I didn’t write much of anything else for the rest of the month. That’s ok with me. I know for a fact that I wouldn’t have gotten to that place without the discipline.

Beyond the action of writing a poem a day, it was a wonderful writing group. They were very supportive and helpful. Inspiration came daily in the form of other people’s writing. I made new writer buddies from Australia as well as stateside.

What can I as a teacher librarian get from this experience? I find I’m tackling poetry more in my daily teaching. Today I spent time with a kindergarten class learning the difference between rhyming and alliteration. Will they all remember and get it right now? No. I have no illusions, but they did improve their ability during our class. I find that writing and especially the care with which you choose words when writing poetry has helped me be clearer with directions. It has also helped me to appreciate the writing process that our young students must learn.

It was a great month!

Mock Caldecott Reflections

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 10:20:09 PST

I’ve had some time to reflect on the process of running a Mock Caldecott group. Through that reflection I’ve come up with some things I would change if I for next time. It seems like this might be one of the most important things to share with others who are starting their own groups. Knowing the pitfalls is actually one of the more valuable things to know. We can all dream big. We can’t all see what snags we are going to get tripped up on.

When the results of Mock Caldecotts across the country came rolling, I found that there is actually a book about hosting this kind of event. Before I do this again I’d like to get my hands on a copy of Newbery and Caldecott Mock Elections by Kathleen Simonetta, Nancy Hackett and Linda Ward-Callaghan (ALSC, 2001) I’ve also discovered that Library Sparks had an article in January 2004 called The Peasleecott: A Mock Caldecott Unit written by Nancy Keller. I’d also like to get my hands on that article.

Things that didn’t work as planned and should be changed:

1. The length of time it takes to read and evaluate a book should be looked at. I did not anticipate how carefully our participants would view each book and contemplate the features. This was good, but we did not start out offering them an appropriate amount of reward for their effort.

2. Going along with number one, adjusting the number of books to review and the schedule for that.

3. Rethink whether it would make more sense to make this a weekly meeting. While I felt that offering the group in a flexible format would be easier to manage, people seemed to have more difficulty with that. Sometimes having a set meeting time can be easier. Sometimes it is easier to leave an important task to go to a scheduled meeting than it is to leave it to do something that is perceived of as “having fun.” When that happens, the fun factor decreases and guilt takes over. Perhaps this could be run as a graduate class to pair the reward with the amount of effort required to be an active member.

Things that would add to the program:

1. Provide posters on the library wall featuring successful renditions of various techniques.

2. Along with the examples of successful techniques, the actual tools and techniques would be a plus

3. Vocabulary posted on the wall to go with the posters above. This would help with identification as well as writing prompts for students.

Management items to tweek:

1. Start keeping a database in January. Adding to it each month would make it possible to keep on top of it later in the year and have more time for reading the books.

2. Differentiate between reviews and starred reviews.

3. Make sure to get a copy of ALL the starred reviewed books early on.

4. If I start previewing books at the beginning of the year, some of the titles that are not contenders can be weeded out in advance and we can focus on the best. This would include finding those books with illustrators who are not eligible for the medal.

5. Make decisions about offering the class earlier in the year so that people can plan their activities for the season. Most of our people really wanted to do it so they participated on top of a heavy load of activities. It would have been easier for them if they had known in May.

6. Come up with a list of refreshments in advance. While it may seem an insignificant thing, I find that creating a festive environment for the project makes people buy into it in a different, more joyous way. This yields more results than one might think.

I'm already scanning the book reviews for next time around and dreaming of other ways I can improve this program.

The Youth Media Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 10:22:16 PST

It’s been a week since the award winners were announced and I’m way behind in reporting. So many things have happened this week.

The night before the Youth Media Awards were announced I wasn’t able to sleep. I got up and high tailed it into work. I know the ceremony was t start at 7:45 AM, so I got into work a little earlier to ensure enough time to log on and connect to the live stream. I tried and tried, but the computer indicated that the item could not be found. After playing with it for about 30 minutes it dawned on me that the ceremony was being held in San Diego and wouldn’t be held until mid-day East Coast time!

All day long people were slipping by the library to see if I knew yet. One of my colleagues was completely unable to imagine that I would be able to keep quiet once I knew the results of the awards. She tried to wear down my resolve, but I could not be worn down or tricked. It seemed like the suspence building would enhance the experience of the group.

People started gathering before three and immediately wanted information. The suspense was so strong you could have cut it with a knife. When they arrived I gave them each a string of gold beads (Mardi Gras beads, but they were gold, round and resembled medals), pointed them to the direction of our round, gold confetti and offered refreshments. Round and gold things ruled the day.

When we were all accounted for, at 3:15, I made the announcements. We started with books we had read which won other awards, moved on to the honors and culminated with the Caldecott Medal winner. You can easily see that our list does not correspond, even marginally, with the winners. Some of us had seen two out of the three books. We are all anxious to get ahold of copies of the award winning books to peruse and evaluate.

It will be very interesting to look at them and try to guess which elements in these books made the committee choose them. Reading as many books as we did and not having access to them all simultaneously, it is very interesting to go back and revisit. We did do this with some, but not all of the books. The books we read at the beginning sometimes looked less appealing when revisited and sometimes we appreciated them more. It is a task we are anxious to undertake to further our own skill and perception.

The work of our meeting followed. We had to evaluate our journey:

How had we changed?

What had we learned?

What do we take away with us?

How will this experience change us as educators?

When we were through talking and filling out evaluation forms, I gave out prizes. I had enough prizes for everyone. Most of the prizes I collected at Midwinter in boston last. I threw in a couple of small gift cards to bookstores. Participants were delight to “win” something and it build fun feeling.

Now what is left for me to do is paperwork to fill out and my own self-reflection. The focus group took an enormous amount of time, but yielded correspondingly enormous benefits. Would I do it again? Yes, but there are many things I would tweak so that it would go smoother. That’s another post.

The Big Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 10:23:30 PST

Today is the day that the Youth Media Awards will be announced. I look forward to this day every year, but this year the excitement level is up. The Mock Caldecott group is fueling my enthusiasm with their own.

If you are interested in following them this morning the ALA's Youth Media Awards page will stream coverage for a limited number of viewers. I hope to get my computer turned on early enough to be one of those viewers. You can also get information about the winners by following on twitter. The hashtag is #alayma.

Our group will be meeting to hear the results, deconstruct the experience and evaluate.

Looking forward to a day of excitement and illumination.

New Blog - Picture Book Inspirations

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 17:09:32 PST

I'm pleased to announce my new blog: Picture Book Inspirations. I noticed that Purple Glasses Club was becoming a catch all for my many interests. Part of the reason I did not complete my 60 post challenge is that I spent most of the summer writing, brainstorming and re-envisioning my direction. From this Picture Book Inspirations was born.

Picture Book Inspirations will be a destination for the ways in which picture books inspire me, projects which I take on after reading picture books, writing and art projects which I hope may some day be picture books and news.

What I hope to feature on the blog:

Art Criticism – In order to appreciate picture books it is helpful to have some background in art appreciation. I will be posting mini-lessons to help us all become more adept at talking about the art.

Guest Writers – I don’t have any lined up yet, but I hope to have some guest writers post about what inspires them

Techniques – Know how those illustrations were made? If you answered no, you are not alone. I will be posting information about the process of making illustrations. Hopefully with photos and videos.

Writing Challenges – Information about writing challenges I am taking part in and ones that you can take part in too.

Drawing Challenges – Same as for Writing Challenges

Current Events – articles, events, congratulations, kudos, sympathy.

Other stuff that I have not yet dreamed about.

I hope you will come and join me there. The welcome mat is out. I've just moved into the site, so it will be a while before the curtains are up. You're welcome to join me there anytime.

The One

noreply@blogger.com (Lynda Shoup) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 17:51:44 PST

After the teacher voting on December 20 I went to the library and picked up a book I had seen a great deal of discussion about. I had not gotten my hands on it and it finally came in. The book I’m talking about, CHALK, was certainly one I wish I had ordered sooner and had had the opportunity to include in the discussions.

When I showed it to my colleagues over the next couple of days I heard them agree – this was a book that might have made them change their decisions.

Throughout the process of evaluating books I kept hearing people say that they were waiting for “the one” and some felt that this could have been it.

So I feel a bit like a fisherman. The one that got away. Not sure it would have made the difference, but I wish it had been on the table.