Reblog - Sondra Hall from The Roar Sessions

Jena Schwartz asked me to guest blog this month for her series "The Roar Sessions". Here is my piece about loving my work with writing and kids.

Leaving Job City
by Sondra Hall

Looking back now, at 55, I realize that I felt landlocked for most of my professional life. For years, I did “good work” for nonprofits, producing conferences and fundraisers. I earned a living, but part of me was desperate to get to the seaside, so to speak, to inhale and exhale deeply, watch the rhythm of the waves and feel the expanse of sea and sky.

To continue the metaphor, it was like being stuck in the middle of Job City without a car. Life was fine, I had what I needed, but on the rare occasions when I would get out to the beach I was reminded that there was another horizon; I remembered how to breathe.

Eventually, I decided to quit working in Job City and leave my landlocked life behind. I packed all of my stuff and moved permanently to an entirely different place where I could really breathe. I call that place Creativity and I’ve lived there ever since.

You have to take a lot of air into your lungs to breathe deeply and even more to let out a roar.

Now that I’m allowing myself to breathe more deeply, I roar quite a bit.

One of the things that I believe in wholeheartedly is the power of writing to transform. Writing has been a conduit for my frustrations and fears, aspirations and anger since I can remember. I’ve got several shelves filled with journals where I mused and questioned, proclaimed and confessed from high school, through my twenties, and into my thirties. It’s always felt good to express my feelings on paper, as well as to write stories and poems.

Because writing creatively has always been so important to me, I wanted my two children to have the opportunity to have adventure with words as well. By the time they were in elementary school George W. Bush had signed the “No Child Left Behind Act” that started the obsession with testing and assessments. Art, music, dance and creative writing got the short end of the stick and my children weren’t getting much time during school to explore their author-selves.

It upset me tremendously that public school kids weren’t being encouraged or supported to explore their creativity because it couldn’t be measured and tested.

This state of affairs made me roar.

One day (and I still remember the moment, sitting up in bed that morning) I woke up and decided that I was going to do something about this. I wanted to create a place where elementary school kids could use their imaginations and be encouraged to “color outside the lines.” I called it, “Take My Word For It!” and seven years later we’re going strong with 20 plus programs throughout the Bay area, outside of D.C., in Cambridge, MA and in Chicago. Our aim is to create an environment where kids feel supported and safe in expressing themselves and are free to dive into their imaginations.

Our curricula are designed to let them stretch their creative muscles, the ones that have been too dormant in school all day. They write about reaching into their pockets to find polar bears and portals to other worlds, and compose odes to calamari and chocolate mousse. They embrace metaphor and simile, personification and alliteration and are thrilled to discover the places they can go with words.

They learn that what they have to say is valid and important. They learn to R O A R.

At the end of each session of classes we put on a reading where the kids have the chance to share their work with family and friends. I’ve attended countless readings over the years and have never ceased to be bowled over by the power, poignancy and inventiveness of their writing. Here’s an example of a Question Poem, written by one of our students, Patrick, who was in fourth grade at the time. (His spelling has not been corrected.)

Questions

Is
rain
the tears of god?

And why hasn’t god been crying lately,
there is so much to cry about?

Why don’t fish go to preeschool,
and learn how to share?

Why do some kids hate preeschool?

And why do some of the
smartest people on the planet
have few friends?

Why is there so much discrimination
in the world?

Why can’t people that are so much
the same yet so different be friends?

Why do people be unkind to people
only slightly different than themselves?

Why can’t people be friends?
Why can’t I spell freainds right?

Why do people have to yell to be
heard as a whisper?

If I were to ask the man on the
moon why he is so silent
would he answer?

Why do I say what I write in my
head as I write it?

Why Is the world so complex
yet so simple?

What trigered the big bang?

What is Luck?

Why does the human race
have such a major sweet-tooth?

Why is the human race never
satisfied nor content?

Why does the earth grieve
when the sun goes down and dawns
its black cloak?

Why do people get sick?

Why is it when I ask
a question I get the answer no,
more than yes?

Pretty amazing, right?

So, since I moved and set up my professional life in the town called Creativity, I’ve never looked back. Actually, that’s not quite true. I have looked back and when I do, I know I made the right choice when I got out of Job City. I’m doing something I believe in, that has purpose and meaning and, I love it. I’ll roar about it to anyone who’ll listen.

Quandries about the Common Core Follow-Up

As those of you who read our newsletter have seen, our January focus was on the Common Core. We appreciate the responses we've received and are happy that one of our parents has allowed us to repost her response to continue this dialogue on making our educational structure stronger for our children (original wording of the newsletter is below the response).

As an educator expert on Common Core, I couldn't help but respond.

The standards do emphasize higher order thinking skills and rich content learning through non-fiction. That said, the narrative is an essential form that is still strongly represented in the standards and actually the sentiment that you relay below is a bit of a "myth" about the Core.

As a secondary teacher for over 15 years I saw so many student(s) come to me as teenagers with a deep knowledge of narrative structures and storytelling and able to write persuasively from the "I" point of view. However, they woefully lacked the ability to learn from informational text and did not have robust background knowledge in science, history, art, etc. They could read the words on the page but were not able to apply a critical lens to what they read or comprehend. The data also is clear that we have big gaps in college and career readiness - so the goal of the Core is to focus teachers on college and career readiness so we can reduce our large rates of college remediation. Moreover, many elementary schools use basal readers and almost exclusively teach narrative structures k-5. This has been a big issue for middle and high school teachers as the demands (turn) from learning to read to reading to learn.

I do agree that we need a balance but I also think that the negative  conversation about the reduction of narrative outlined by the Core is misguided and narrow - my opinion. Nowhere in the standards does it say that nonfiction is more rigorous than fiction. If you can find it, let me know. In fact the appendices of the Core are RICH with narrative examples - we are being asked to push students in new ways with what they do with them!

Here is a link to my blog post on the subject:

http://ask-education.org/2012/05/30/will-the-common-core-state-standards-kill-stories/

Respectfully,

Sasha Kirkman

***************************

Heard a lot of talk lately about “The Common Core"? As you may know, it's a set of national educational standards adopted by nearly every state. The Common Core mandates what public school students should know by the end of every academic year (In California, the standards were adopted in August 2010, but it takes several years to implement - the timeline the Department of Education published goes through 2015). Public schools have been adjusting their curricula to meet these new requirements and there are some heated debates going on among parents, bloggers, and educators about them.

One of the debates is over the new emphasis on analytic and critical thinking. The Common Core focuses less on self-expression, and much more on persuasive, argumentative and analytical writing.

We must admit, we're biased. We don't think that writing about non-fiction texts is somehow more rigorous than reading and writing poetry, short stories or novels, and that writing explanatory or argumentative essays is more worthwhile than creative writing. Isn't there room for both? The Common Core stresses analytic, critical thinking-based writing, but what about the thinking-outside-the-box, imaginative approach to writing? What about the beauty of being able to write something that is not considered “right” or “wrong?”

At “Take My Word For It!” we will continue to celebrate creative writing - inviting our students to take literary adventures, while at the same time, teaching them about the craft. While we respect the aim and importance of the Common Core Standards, we will continue to offer kids the chance to grab a pencil and let their imaginations run wild.

-Sondra Hall Founder and Director

Words from Our Young Authors at Park Day, Grades 2-3

This session’s curriculum has been Poetry Palooza! Students have thrown themselves headlong into odes, alliterative poems, free-form poems, riddle poems, nature poems and more. Students have sharpened their metaphors, honed their personifications and written through all five senses. The results speak for themselves.  From: On Turning Ten, an examination of the free-form poem by Billy Collins

On Turning Ten

On turning ten I hope to still be able to Still play imaginary games Still want to learn about Greek Mythology Still have time to go swimming and ride my bike

What scares me about growing up is that I might not be able to imagine the same thoughts I am thinking right now ever

-Zoe K

From: Imitation of the poem “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me At All” by Maya Angelou

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Snakes slithering on the ground Spiders creeping up the wall Darkness in the sky Clowns with red noses Sharks swimming through water They don’t frighten me at all

-Zoe M

From: Poetry with a rhyme scheme

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Lightning strikes the highest peak Sometimes it makes a little leak You fall from so high in the air Sometimes you give me a little scare

-Dolci

From: Odes to things

Cookie

Sweet Yummy You are crunchy You make me happy and excited when I bite into you Lovely Awesome Appreciated

-Meera

From: Odes to things

Snow Leopard

I see you pounce around the forest missing, jumping, getting food Oh dear snow leopard why so prancy? why so pretty, why so dancy?

I see you try to climb trees high I see you fall, I see you cry. In the snow I see you eat I see you kill, I see you eat meat.

Oh dear snow leopard why so prancy why so pretty, why so dancy?

-Aidan

From: Odes to things and experiments with the 2^nd person

Light

Sunny colors orange and yellow you help me see in the dark your light can change every part of my day at daybreak you’re up and lighting up my day at dusk your light is dark orange and the skies are purple, blue and pink people celebrate your light in Alaska

-Meilin

From: Odes to things and experiments with the 2^nd person

Monkeys

O Monkeys swinging through the sunny trees O screeching, so ever can be I hear rustling through the leaves I see you through the greenish grass I watch you from my windowsill, playing

-Anonymous

From: A letter poem

Dear painting,

I am very glad you are here to excite my simplicity to add your color to my blank white surface And just so you know, my best color is orange So please can I have orange?

Sincerely, Canvas

-Ellie

From: A letter poem

Dear Wasabi

Dear Wasabi,

I like the spiciness you give to me. I like when you swim in the soy sauce.

Sincerely, Sushi

-Max

Words from Our Young Authors at Commodore Sloat Elementary

This session at Sloat we are exploring the elements of a good mystery. The kids have been crafting mystery stories and learning all about creative writing techniques, from character and plot development to using concrete details and the five senses to tell a story. We’ve been having a great time. Here are some teasers...  

From: Explore motive with the following scenario: an old man comes up to you, hands you a package, says “Don’t let anything happen to this” and then sprints down the street. 

One night I got a package from an old man. He said to protect it. I didn’t get a good look at him, but I opened it anyway. Inside there was another box that was black. When I got home, I opened that box and found nothing. “Stupid old man, gave me nothing,” I muttered, but he had given me the greatest gift of all, a dragon egg.

-Declan

From: Explore motive with the following scenario: an old man comes up to you, hands you a package, says “Don’t let anything happen to this” and then sprints down the street. 

Today an old guy ran into me while I was walking to school. He shoved a black box into my hands and said don’t let this out of your sight. Instinctually I dropped it and ran the rest of the way. Stranger danger, right? As soon as I got to school I kept quiet. During lunch I pulled over Grover, my best friend, to talk about the old man. He said I shouldn’t worry but I couldn’t be so sure. After school got out I ran home.

-Grace

From: Explore motive with the following scenario: an old man comes up to you, hands you a package, says “Don’t let anything happen to this” and then sprints down the street.

One day I was walking down the street and a strange man handed me a package and said “Don’t let anything happen to this” and ran away. I ran after him. Suddenly I lost him. I looked at the package. It was brown with white tape. I shook it and heard a loud shake.

-Julia

From: How to organize a mystery around Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? using the prompt “It was missing.”

This morning when I woke up I was about to walk my puppy, but it had disappeared. I was horrified. I asked my sister to help me find her but we couldn’t. Our mom told me to go to school and that after school we can find her.

-Emily

From: Describe a setting and mood with the five senses. 

Hello, my name is Bradly. I’m 10 and in the fifth grade. I’m coming up to ghost town for the weekend. The town used to be called San Francisco. The date is March 7, 3519.

-Colby

From: Explore motive with the following scenario: an old man comes up to you, hands you a package, says “Don’t let anything happen to this” and then sprints down the street.

The memory was horrible. It was late at night when it happened, but then, I can only tell you the beginning. So then, it came , that evil memory came. Well, I was walking home from Nuvema town on that chilly night. My Pikachu shivered in the cold night wind. Professor Juniper was checking my status. I, Linzy, had been a professional Pokemon trainer for 8 years.

-Olivia

From: Explore motive with the following scenario: an old man comes up to you, hands you a package, says “Don’t let anything happen to this” and then sprints down the street. 

I was walking down Blackberry Drive when I saw a man with black glasses and a black detective coat. He walked up to me and handed me a package. Then he said, “Whatever you do don’t let anybody touch this.” He ran down the street and left me standing there with no idea what happened. I woke with a start.

-Katie Rose

From: How to organize a mystery around Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? using the prompt “It was missing." 

My teddy bear is missing. His name is Robinhood. I was taking him on a biking trip. He was sitting in the basket in the back. My name is Lilly. It was a nice sunny day in London. Robinhood was riding with me in the park. When I got to the top of the hill I checked on Robinhood but he was not there. I looked down to see if he fell out but no. So I rode home.

-Clara G.

From: Explore motive with the following scenario: an old man comes up to you, hands you a package, says “Don’t let anything happen to this” and then sprints down the street.

I was walking down Giva Drive when I ran into a strange man with a peculiar large gray beard, a rough heavy coat, and large detective glasses. He handed me a medium size package and said to me, “Whatever you do, don’t let anything happen to this.” Then he looked both ways and ran away into the distance. I quickly ran home. When I got home I put the package on my desk and wrapped it and put it in a box, like it was a fragile china porcelain bowl then put it in the way back of my closet.

-Hannah

From: Explore motive with the following scenario: an old man comes up to you, hands you a package, says “Don’t let anything happen to this” and then sprints down the street.

One night I went for a walk. There was no one outside. Then I saw an old man appear. He said “Don’t let anything happen to this” and disappeared leaving a bag in my hands. I took the bag home and opened it.

-Sam

From: Explore motive with the following scenario: an old man comes up to you, hands you a package, says “Don’t let anything happen to this” and then sprints down the street.

One day I was walking down the street when a man handed me a package and told me not to let anything happen to it...After he left I opened the package. Inside it was an old book. The book had all kinds of facts about magical creatures. All of a sudden a man started chasing me! I’m sure he wants the book. I remember he said not to let anything happen to the book so I started to run away from him.

-Michelle

From: Explore motive with the following scenario: an old man comes up to you, hands you a package, says “Don’t let anything happen to this” and then sprints down the street.

It was a lovely sunny day. Stephanie and I were walking down the street. There was an old guy who had a box that looked strange. And he said “Don’t let anything happen to this!” and he ran away from us. We were kind of scared and nervous, because we didn’t have any idea. But we kept walking down the street with the strange box.

-Clara K.

From: Describe a setting and mood with the five senses.

The planet smells like free pie and the sound when you walk is a crunch sound and it felt smooth and it tastes like pie so they plan to take over the pie planet.

-Michael

From: Explore motive with the following scenario: an old man comes up to you, hands you a package, says “Don’t let anything happen to this” and then sprints down the street.

I was walking down the street one night. A homeless man jumped out of the shadows and stuffed a package into my hands. “Don’t let any harm come to this,” he muttered. Then he bolted around the corner. I tried to follow him, but he had disappeared.

-Sophia

Why Not Write Wednesdays? Creative Writing Prompts for Kids!

Every Wednesday our creative writing prompt challenges you to pick up your pen and indulge your author self! Take a look at the image below and write a story about what comes next...

Words from Our Young Authors at Joaquin Miller

Our curriculum this session at Joaquin Miller was "It’s a Mystery!", and we worked on character development, crafting setting, creating tension, and using concrete details. See some of our favorite excerpts below!

From: The most valuable _______ in the world was stolen!

The Chip

It all started on a very hot, humid day: April 24th at 5am. Joe felt a sharp, heated pain n his face, and suddenly he was engulfed in total darkness. A silent scream emerged from the brown burlap sack. "Be quiet in there," said a gruff and hostile voice. Joe didn't want to get hurt, he kept his words to himself.

Joe woke up in a rusty, dirty building. With his head throbbing in pain, he let out a small groan. It was accompanied by a sharp pain in his chest. "Where am I?" he groaned. "That doesn't matter. What matters is that you give me the potato chip," said the hostile voice. "What chip?" said Joe. "Har har," said the voice, "Give me the potato chip!" "Okay," said Joe, and he pulled out a small, crisp, yellow chip that smelled great. "On one condition," Joe said. "Oh," said the voice, "What is that?" Joe smiled and said, "That you give me a cookie." To be continued...

-Hunter

From: Mystery Prompts: This is the story I’ve never told

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This is the story I've never told. I am dead, or at least I was dead, and the only people who know this story are my parents. If it hadn't been for my best friend Juliet, I wouldn't be here today. It all started when I was five. I had a disease that made me not able to run. I kept it a secret, knowing that people would make fun of me. I had tests done plenty of times, but nothing like this: I was at school when I felt someone pushing my back, but it wasn't someone -- it was something, my bones to be exact. I decided to ignore it and keep playing, but it got worse. It started to feel like someone was kicking me in the back. I decided to tell a teacher, and that was when I started to scream I was in so much pain. The next thing I knew I was lying on a hospital bed, drinking cool sips of water and trying to sit up but it hurt too much. I would later learn that my muscle had turned halfway in the middle of my back. My dad told me that I might die. Later, Juliet came and held my hand, and somehow I stayed alive. Just like magic, though if you want to the doctor's version I made an incredible breakthrough.

-Julia

From: It Was Missing! writing prompt

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It was missing... Where is it? Where could it be? Help! Where am I? It is so dark and creepy. Oh... I'm in my room with the lights off doing a puzzle. But it's missing, I have to find it. I've looked everywhere. I turn on a light. The scene is going black and white. A few hours later I see something and pick it up with my very strong fingers. Just as I thought, it's a pig hair. Wait, do pigs even have hair? It's Dr. Dumpling, the stuffed pig. But suddenly, there is a THUD! I look outside and see a big ball of homework, my worst nightmare, coming towards me. To be continued...

-Marco

From: Creating an unexpected setting (a haunted house that’s safe and fun, a park that’s spooky and scary, etc)

An Unexpected Farm

When Little Jimmy was going to his cabin in Tahoe, he passed a farm that had a blue barn and smelled like rotten hay. Suddenly, as if by coincidence, the car stopped.

"Oh god," Papa Joe said, "The engine blew! Well, I guess I've to fix it. Go play with the chickens, Jimmy."

"Okay," said Jimmy.

Jimmy walked toward the barn. The air tasted wet from mildew. He went inside and heard the sound of horses, sheep, and all the things that were supposed to be on a farm. But when he went further in to investigate, the barn was empty. There was nothing.

"What?" Jimmy asked himself.

To be continued...

-Jordan

From … : Creating an unexpected setting (a haunted house that’s safe and fun, a park that’s spooky and scary, etc)

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There was a creepy old medieval castle covered in spider webs with eyeballs dangling in them, and spikes and dark horses inside. I was afraid to go inside, but then in front of my face I beheld the most amazing things: a pink unicorn, round bunnies, fluffy pandas, and a large golden dumpling.

-Gavin

From: Creating an unexpected setting (a haunted house that’s safe and fun, a park that’s spooky and scary, etc)

The Circus

When you think of a circus, you think of clowns, tents, shows, and elephants. But not this circus. This circus is different. The clowns wore only black costumes. You can smell heavy smoke, and the tents are full of dirt and bugs. The only food is vegetables, and that tastes like mud. There are no clean bathrooms, only port-a-potties that look like little abandoned jails. The sky is a dark shade of gray. This circus has the best, happiest name in the world, so a lot of people want to visit it. But right as they come in the gate, they leave. The children think it might be a joke, but the parents all say "Get out of there! It's dangerous!" The word spreads, and the circus tries to advertise all of the good things about it. But the advertising backfires. People complain and complain. Eventually it should shut down, but the circus has a secret that no one knows...

-Morgan

 

From: Mystery Prompts: Deep in the woods

A Wild Question

Deep in the woods of all woods there lived a mouse. Just an ordinary mouse. She was finishing middle school when she discovered that she was incredibly strong. Over the summer she practiced throwing twigs and could even set her own records. The first record she ever made wasn't very strong, it was four inches. She did six inches the next day. In the morning, she got up at 7am and jumped into a stream to rinse off. She dries off while eating breakfast, usually two blackberries and a pine nut, then she runs to the pond and back. Then she throws a mound of pebbles, until there is only dirt where the pebbles were. To be continued...

-Marley

From: Broken Fairytales (retelling fairytales to create tension)

Cinderella: A Broken Tale

In a closeby land lived a hideous guy... or was it a girl? Anyway, there was an upcoming hideous pageant and the winner would earn a hideous prince or princess. But the competition was big. Cinderella's ugly, digusting, pimple-faced stepsisters were so hideous they had bought 50 rags with their prize money from last year's pageant. Cinderella wanted to make the worst impression, so she ran a mile in her filthy rags until they had yellow sweat rings. But it wasn't enough. She wondered if she could ever go to the pageant. Then, all of a sudden, her hideous fairy-dead-mother appeared to grant her three wishes with her magic. The first was to make her ugly. The second was to have the most hideous ride to pageant, and the third was to win it all. The fairy-dead-mother warned her to be back by 4pm. Off Cinderella went, but she forgot about the deadline to return. To be continued...

-Samantha

From: The most valuable _________ in the world was missing

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The most valuable person in the world was kidnapped. He was either stolen by Dr. DuckBunnie or the evil society called The Kids. The one thing we know is this: it happened at 5:30am in his underground mansion. But Mr. Pebble was on the case. Mr. Pebble was a fat man with a pudgy nose. He had no hair, and his arms and legs were too short for his body. But best of all, he had a power that made him turn into a pebble so he could dodge bullets and disguise himself. Mr. Pebble went to Dr. DuckBunnie's lair to investigate. It was an old shack covered in mildew. When he in, it transformed into an underground mansion. He checked all of the rooms, except one. When he went into the last one, there was a pressure plate, but fortunately he leapt out of the house just before it exploded. Next, Mr. Pebble went to The Kids' society in Austin, Texas. He walked in expecting nobody, but The Kids were waiting for him. They tied him up in a chair. The rope was old and super tight across his fat stomach. Mr. Pebble quickly turned into a small yellow pebble and hopped under the chair. Then he realized what had happened: Dr. Duckbunnie and The Kids had teamed up to kidnap the most valuable person in the world! To be continued...

-Luke

From: Broken Fairytales (retelling fairytales to create tension)

The Two Little Pigs... and the Sassy One

There were these three little pigs who needed houses. One pig said, "My house will be made of dirt." The other pig said, "Mine will be made out of rocks." The two pigs came across another house that was made of steel. They stared and stared at it, and they wanted to steal it. But they couldn't think of how, so they went home to watch the Cinderella Talk Show. In the meantime, Sally the Sassy Pig took over the steel house and placed a flag at the top. When the first two pigs returned, the wandered inside the house and saw Sally sitting on the couch. "Sally!" they cried, "This is our house!" But Sally ignored them.

In another part of town, Wolf was asking himself what he should steal that afternoon. He happened to go by the pig's house and saw the steel. A light bulb went off: "I can steal the steel!" Wolf thought to himself. To be continued...

-DJ