Yesterday, I joined Brenner for his interview at a local charter school. The brick three-story building is nearly 90 years old. As he ingratiated himself with the VP, I explored the "condemned" second floor. I expected tiny ghosts to lure me in to be the teacher that they've so patiently awaited all these years. As I cautiously shuffled along the ruined hardwood floors, I realized that I was snooping in an area that wasn't used for storage like all the other rooms. As I tried to exit, the loud creaking floorboards sparked visions of my crashing through to the first floor, landing in Brenner's khaki lap just as he answered, "What do you have to offer our school?"
Two whole floors are condemned, crammed in sections with every literacy and numeracy program that was adopted and neglected over the past twenty years. And what about all of the air conditioning seeping out to nowhere from the stairwell? I wanted to call a home improvement show. Kids are in those character-void portables in the back, taking up more of their free space, because the school does not have money to renovate and refurbish this treasure. Was I in New Orleans again?

Word of the Week

malapropism (noun): a usually humorous misuse of a word or phrase

Idol Worship

I met up with some teacher friends at Casbeers this morning. Casbeers is, as of quite recently, housed in an old Catholic church in the middle of Southtown. Once a month, there' s a jazz brunch. An eight- member band named Earfood plays upstairs on the stage while the "parishioners" sip Bloody Mary's in the pews, toe-tapping and finger snapping. Two of my colleagues know Neesie, who sings for the band. She's actually a former teacher at our school. Her booming, soulful voice flows smoothly out of her petite frame, dressed in regular ol' teacher attire. Ya just never know about a person.

I didn't know until today who one of her closest friends happens to be. As we ate our brunch, Suzanne called over to a woman dressed in white linen, whose long salt and pepper hair sat loosely in a pony tail.
"Naomi! Hi!"
I don't even remember their exchange. I saw what appeared to be a nice lady smiling over at Suzanne and continued to fork my scrambled eggs.
Once this Naomi person returned to her seat, Suzanne asked me, "Do you know who that was?" as if she were passing me a wrapped present.
I assumed it was someone's mother or so-and-so's first wife, something juicy by that look she gave.
I was not prepared for what she did reveal:
"That's Naomi Nye."
I nearly choked. I'm crazy about Naomi Nye. Her poetry is real and it's alive.
I had pictured her entirely different, so I wanted to check her out in some sort of unobtrusive manner. I had the misfortune of sitting with my back to her. I must have turned just to look at her a dozen times.
She later sat two pews in front of ours and I watched her shoulders rock to the rhythm and wondered how the poet perceived this church gig. How would she describe the echoes? the stained glass windows? Neesie joked between songs that the band should sing Rutabaga-Roo, one of Naomi's songs for kids.
Oh, there was a poet in our midst! I was star-stricken! Ultimately, I failed to introduce myself, afraid that words would fail me as I stood before the poet Naomi Shihab Nye.
I know someone who knows someone who knows Naomi Nye. That's good enough... for now.

Hidden
By Naomi Shihab Nye


If you place a fern
under a stone
the next day it will be
nearly invisible
as if the stone has
swallowed it.
If you tuck the name of a loved one
under your tongue too long
without speaking it
it becomes blood
sigh
the little sucked-in breath of air
hiding everywhere
beneath your words.
No one sees
the fuel that feeds you.

History of Six Traits

Stunning! I've spent the past three days in Lincoln City, Oregon at the lovely Salishan Resort for the NWREL Training for Trainers of the 6+1 Traits. Kane and I lodged amidst majestic evergreens that emitted an intoxicating fragrance. The days were sunny with temperatures 55-65 degrees and the nights were a chilly 50 or below. It's July! Leaving here is...
I think I have a bit of a crush on this town.



We visited two light houses, spotted seals playing right about where that large structure stands near the shore (in the first pic), experienced a pretty frightening hike through the woods, munched on fish and chips at a local dive (turns out we do like cod fish... a lot), collected driftwood, shopped along the historical Newport Bayfront, and today we visited downtown Portland, which we like equally as much for completely different reasons. We need more time to explore eclectic, fresh city. We found Powell's Books, "the largest independent used and new bookstore in the world". It would take a full day just to completely journey through this place!

Alas, we're now lodging in a Days Inn near the Airport. Our flight home is scheduled for early tomorrow morning. All good things..
But, what I gained from the workshop is endless. Thanks to our materials and our activities and to the extensive practice of scoring the traits, I am fully prepared to present this information to my colleagues.

Six Traits History:

(In the words of Sophia Petrillo) Picture it. Northwest Region of US 1980's. Teachers were scoring student papers holistically or were deriving writing grades from standardized tests, which really didn't assess a student's ability to write. So, they got together, discussed what makes writing effective, researched other educators with similar concerns, and pinpointed it to six traits: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, and Conventions. The process of assessment continued into the 90's and the 6+1 Trait Model was developed.
The Plus One is Publishing, which is important for the reader of a piece, but doesn't qualify as a full-fledged trait on its own. The Model is built upon the use of rubrics for assessment and on incorporating rich literature as models of effective writing in the instruction cycle.

6+1 Traits is a model of writing, not a program.

6+1 Traits does not replace the writing process. It is the content of the writing.

6+1 Traits helps students to grow as writers. If they struggle with one trait, they can still shine in another instead of receiving one overall grade with no explanation or guidance on how to develop as a writer.

Lighthouse print by Roger Bansemer

Word of the Week

panegyric (noun): a eulogistic oration or writing, also: formal or elaborate praise.