I Am Back

I took some time off from blogging over the last few months. I wish I could tell you I published a book, or even wrote one, but neither is true. I have been rewriting, revising, rewriting, revising on a book I thought I finished a long time ago, but I think I will never be done with it. There will be several new posts coming at you in the next few days, weeks, and months so read and enjoy.

Bill Crawford Had Applesauce and Blood Running Out of His Nose

Like you have heard me say before, I always do the writing assignments I give my students. It gives them an example of what their final product should look like, and more importantly they see me as a writer. Poetry can be a killer for 8th graders, the boys especially. Today we wrote Cascade Poems. These poems follow a simple order. There are four three-line verses. The first line of the first verse is also the last line of the second verse. The second line of the first verse is the last line of thet hird verse. The third line of the first verse is the last line of the last verse. Simple, hug. So, today after reading an article about safety issues with hot dogs, and the alarming number of kids who choke on them (now think about some of the comments you get from 8th graders when talking about choking on hot dogs) we wrote some cascade poetry about lunch. They could write about what they eat, what they do during lunch, a favorite lunch, a memorable lunch, etc. etc. Here is one of my Efforts.


It was the grossest thing I’d ever seen
Bill Crawford had applesauce and blood running out of his nose
I have not eaten applesauce since that day

My mom said sit down and eat, your lunch is ready
Bill shoveled in the applesauce so fast it ran out his nose
It was the grossest thing I’d ever seen.

That is sick I cried and ran to the bathroom
I puked and puked as I thought about it
Bill Crawford had applesauce and blood running out of his nose.

I recovered enough to return to the kitchen
Bill was still sitting there drinking milk with blood on his chin
I have not eaten applesauce since that day.

Hansel and Gretel

In class we started a fun new unit. We are putting kids in situations where they have to look at both sides of an issue, pick one side, and defend it. Hansel and Gretel was a great opening for this unit. The kids had to pick either Gretel's side or the witch's side and defend it in a five paragraph essay. As always I wrote along with the kids. So...Here it is.

At what point is enough enough? Home ownership and taking pride in your property is an ideal we all feel strongly about. If property owners are not allowed to protect their homes in any manner they see fit we will at some point be living in total chaos. In the story Hansel and Gretel the Witch was perfectly justified in keeping the little miscreants captive.
Hansel and Gretel were openly and willingly trespassing on the witch’s property. It is true they were lost and starving, but they did not even knock on the door. They didn’t look around and ask for help, they immediately began vandalizing the witch’s house. The witch was only doing what she felt she needed to do to protect her property.
The witch provided food and shelter willingly to the children. When she caught them vandalizing her house she did not yell or scream at them, she took them inside and fed them and gave them a soft bed to sleep in. Gretel herself said Hansel was given all the food he could eat. This hardly seems to be wrong.
The witch allowed the children to work off their damages. She could have very easily called the sherrif, taken the kids to court or turned them away. She allowed Gretel to work, to help pay for the damages. The witch was old after all, she could not do the work herself.
I am the last person to advocate child abuse. Locking kids up and keeping them against their will should never be acceptable. The witch was doing none of these. She was an old lady whose house was vandalized. She was providing shelter to some lost and lonely kids. That was hardly a reason to get shoved violently into an open fire.