Heartwork

 “I do not want to pass the time.  I want to grab hold of it and leave my mark upon the world.”       --Libba Bray, THE SWEET FAR THING

Miss Rumphius figured out how to make her mark on the world, leaving it a more beautiful place.

Dr. Patricia Stohr-Hunt is a blogger (about poetry and nonfiction) who calls this the “Miss Rumphius Effect”.  I love it!  How perfect that Dr. Stohr-Hunt connected MISS RUMPHIUS, one of my most beloved picture books of all time, to one of my favorite teacher-authors and influences in teaching:  Georgia Heard.

I first read about Georgia’s work in NYC’s public schools back in the early 1990s… I think it was in Lucy Calkins’s book, THE ART OF TEACHING WRITING, or maybe it was in of Shelley Harwayne’s LASTING IMPRESSIONS… or both!

In reading about Georgia’s work with students, I wished to BE her student.  I have always felt that she was leaning over my shoulder, whispering in my ear, generously guiding my thinking with students.  I embraced the wonder of her teaching voice and yearned to find ways to make it my own.

And then I discovered Georgia’s book, FOR THE GOOD OF THE EARTH AND SUN, in Heinemann’s catalog.  It was exactly what I was looking for to help me bring poetry into my students’ lives, helping poetry to leave a mark upon their world and to show them “where poetry hides” to help them leave their own marks upon the world—via writing.  Georgia gently taught me strategies about creating a safe classroom environment for readers and writers through poetry.  Similar in spirit to Jane Yolen’s TAKE JOY:  A BOOK FOR WRITERS, Georgia’s book helped me to figure out some rituals and important points for teaching poetry well—with love of the genre and with respect for my first grade writers.

Next came one of my all-time favorite professional books in the history of the world: AWAKENING THE HEART:  EXPLORING POETRY IN ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL.  My copy of this book, autographed by Georgia at one of her workshops with our All Write!!! Consortium group, is getting tattered after all these years… though it is lovingly highlighted and even tabbed with labels including:  Tribes, Poetry Museum, Poetry Study Centers, Classroom Environment, Reading Layers, Performing, and many more!  Not bad for 140 pages.

In the foreword, Naomi Shihab Nye sums it up, “AWAKENING THE HEART is a stirring personal reminder that encourages children to discover the words and images of their own lives as we discover our own, is a crucial devotion.  We all need such
books as lanterns and guides.  No matter how long we have been working in similar ways, there will be dim days.  There will be clutter and swirling waters and an occasional dip.  Our spirits and pencils need tender encouragement to keep breathing.”

In addition to her own poetry books for children, Georgia recently added a book on bringing wonder back into children’s lives, especially in the educational world of high-stakes tests, standardization, and a hurry-up-and-grow-up curriculum.  This book,  A PLACE FOR WONDER:  READING AND WRITING NONFICTION IN THE PRIMARY GRADES also struck a chord with me, as Georgia opens with discussion of watching joy and wonder draining from her own child and his classmates once he entered kindergarten.  One has to wonder how we can expect children to “leave a mark upon the world” if we drain their wonder, their joy.

Georgia’s response to this phenomenon was to team with a teacher and literacy coach, Jennifer McDonough, to develop ways to explore wonder through inquiry based in nonfiction.  Not only does their thinking permeate the Common Core Standards, but it can support children to BE children--to feel supported in their wonders as they love the world--while learning.  Linda Hoyt’s wonderful work with nonfiction is another resource that I use to leave a mark in my students’ world as I support wonder.

Recently, after a poetry class a teacher said to me, “They have so much in their hearts, and you bring it out in them.”  I replied, “No… it’s all of the learning they have done up to this very day, along with great ideas from Georgia that has brought it out in them.  I just provided the time and encouragement to wonder.”

What are your go-to resources and ideas for approaching teaching while encouraging wonder in a way that will “leave a mark upon the world” ?  How will you find your significance as a teacher while leading students to find theirs as learners?

--Work of the eyes is done now; go and do heartwork…”  --Rainer Maria Rilke