Living Life Twice

  Book Week 2021 I had so much fun this morning with on line reading of poems- older poems from my books and some freshly minted poems from my recent notebook gatherings. I shared them with two groups of impressionable 5-7 year old  readers & writers from Rowville PS. We explored poetry's vast terrain to show all the worlds in which ideas for writing await us... Not surprisingly,  I enjoyed presenting and sharing. I hope my enthusiastic reading and sharing delivers some writing energy and confidence. Some little spark of an idea to set these young poets going... Finger's crossed. It was fun for me to be able to share a little of my experience and hopefully my love of poetry was apparent to these curious learners. Here are two of the poems I shared. Hope you like them too. Feel free to share them with other curious learners and probationary poets.

This is a message for teachers. Teachers who teach poetry, Teachers who wish to teach poetry more effectively. Take a wander through your school's library and take a closer look at the poetry collection. Have a really good look at the assembled books. Take some books from the shelves and open them and examine the poetry within the covers. If what you are seeing is a  collection of dated, unattractive titles and there doesn't appear to have been any additional texts added to the collection in over a decade -or possibly longer, then it's time to morph into a Poetry Warrior! Don't get me wrong, there may well be some great poetry hidden away within those tired looking covers. It would be sad not to bring some of that treasure to the attention of your probationary poets. However, it's time to begin agitating for more books to be added to the collection -and fast. Something contemporary. Something more relatable to the many worlds young readers inhabit. It becomes diffic...

  In this collection of stories, writers talk about the authors they revered as children; the stories and poems that  shaped their own work. A teacher I was working with as a literacy consultant, once boldly announced, ‘ I don’t want my students to know anything about my life. I am just here to teach.’  The comment disturbed me on a number of levels. It represented no sense of the need to bond with students. I had the impression the teacher was simply a forlorn imitation of a living, breathing teacher. When we make the effort to bond with students, we consciously humanize ourselves. We connect with our students more effectively when we provide insights as to how we operate as lifelong learners. In order to do this, we need to give something of ourselves and that requires an emotional commitment, not just the rolling out of curriculum. It continues to surprise me how many of my colleagues conduct secret reading and writing lives. Literate lives hidden from their students a...

My new poetry book  'What The Poemster Found' an anthology of verse for young poetry lovers is now officially available for ordering through Amazon: Follow the link to order: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1504319524/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1… 'You are the jingle in my bells  The tick in my tock  The flash in my light  The spring in my time  The whirl in my wind  The tell in my tale  You are the ever in my lasting  The ginger in my bread  The life in my boat  It has to be said.' Alan j Wright 'While living in New York City, Alan Wright often visited a busy café serving a rich and hearty winter soup that warmed him on cold winter days. In his third anthology of poetry Wright compares the flavours of that delicious soup to the blending of a variety of poetic styles and subjects to create a pleasurable collection of poems to suit the tastes all ages. Wright's poems capture real-life experiences while exploring past ...

When we read like writers we set about gathering information about writing that will form curriculum for our teaching. As teachers of writing, we must ask ourselves: What do I see the writer doing here? Why does the writer do this? Have I seen this particular craft move in other writing What can I call this craft move? How could I try this in my own writing? How could I help my student writers to try this in their writing? The more we practice reading like writers, the easier it becomes to identify elements of writing craft present in the books with which we work. It is a skill that develops with practice. It takes time and regular practice. It requires us to engage in professional conversations with our colleagues regarding a text's potential.That is why such matters should be part of teacher planning sessions. Such texts should be our ticket in. Bring a trusted author with you... In time it has the potential to change the way we read. When we learn to read like writ...

UPDATED, May 2020 As a frequent visitor to schools I have the great pleasure of working with groups of young, enthusiastic poets and their teachers. When I arrive in a classroom, young poets are often pre-loaded with questions, and most keen to have them answered.  I try to answer as many as I can, but we frequently run out of time, and the poetry caravan moves on to the next classroom. So I am here to answer some of those questions -right here, right now. So here goes: When you were little did you love writing? The short answer is yes. I have always enjoyed words and language. I can't recall a time when I wasn't doing some kind of writing. When did you write your first poetry book? I have had poems published over the years, but it wasn't until 2014 that I had an entire book of poems (an anthology) published. When I looked back through all my notebooks I realized I had hundreds of poems from which to choose. So, 'Searching For Hen's Teeth-Poetry From The ...

Food, Life and Love Yesterday after presenting a day of writing at Ascot Vale Primary School the staff graciously presented me with a book. A book that really hit the mark… I found myself looking at a ‘just right’ book. A cooking book of recipes (Cooking with Ascot Vale Primary School) with stories conceived and compiled by students and parents celebrating kids in the kitchen. The book also draws in the some of the best offerings from neighbourhood cafes and restaurants. Such a comprehensive view of food.  For this food lover and occasional cook, it was a real joy to be able to add this beautifully presented title to my ever expanding collection of cook books.  I love how modern cook books are more frequently examples of hybrid texts, presenting not just procedures for conjuring up cooking delights, but also providing the background story of how that particular recipe came to life. Sometimes there exists a rich family tradition of cooking a dish of endu...