Friday, November 29, 2013

Oops! THANKU Round-up and Happy Poetry Friday!


Howdy, Campers!
Today we mark the end of TeachingAuthors' annual Two Weeks of Thanks-Giving!--AND Poetry Friday!

http://carolwscorner.blogspot.com/
Thank you, Carol, for hosting today!

Oops.  I fell asleep during class this week...

So...you'll be posting Wednesday AND Friday this week...got that, April? .
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I forgot I was scheduled to post twice this week; instead, I mistakenly combined them into one post this Wednesday!  One post was to have been Alexis O'Neill's Wednesday Writing Workout...right, did that...

...while the other (um...THIS one...) was to be the last post in TeachingAuthors' annual Two Weeks of Thanks-Giving, which began with Esther’s post launching the Thanku, a haiku which thanks someone. 

This year we've been posting about someone who makes a difference in ensuring others receive a quality education.

Today, in hopes that you'll forgive me, I'm repeating my Thanku, and also adding links to two blogs that joined in this year's celebration.

My Thanku is for the amazing teachers whose classes I've taken through UCLA Extension's Writers Program, where I now teach.  This is "the largest open-enrollment creative writing and screenwriting program in the nation." I appreciate all those author/teachers who set aside their own work and made time to teach me in my writing infancy. They include Ruth Lercher Bornstein, Susan Rubin, Myra Cohn Livingston, Sonia Levitin, and many, many others.
.
Actually, I'd like to include all the TeachingAuthors we've ever interviewed too--each of them takes more time then you may realize to answer our interview questions and offer writing exercises. Thank you to:
Authors who hold a
light and slow their pace so we
may walk beside you.
from morguefile.com     http://mrg.bz/v2aE2o
Also grateful, here are links to two fab writers who posted Thankus on their own blogs:
  • Jan Godown Annino offers two...one giving thanks for Florida hills and dales, another reflecting gratitude for a grade schooler's drawing;
  •  Michelle Heidenrich Barnes writes an acrostic thank you to a long-ago teacher who enCOURAGEd her.
Here are our six posts giving thanks this year (and if you have time, be sure to read the comments, which include many our readers' own fabulous Thankus!)
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And always, always we are grateful to those of you who follow this blog and join in the conversation ~

 posted by April Halprin Wayland with help from Monkey, seen here relaxing with a hot cuppa tea.

11 comments:

Margaret Simon said...

Love the light shining from authors. I had my students do thanku poems for chalk-a-bration so I will post tomorrow. Thanks for encouraging us struggling teacher/writers every day.

Carol said...

I love the idea of thanku's-- what a great way to celebrate the holiday season. I also love that you are using them to encourage teachers- such a hard job right now, mostly because there is so little encouragement! Thank you!

Linda B said...

Sorry I missed the 'thankus'-such a wonderful idea, but NCTE got in the way. Thank you all for your inspiration all through the year!

Tara @ A Teaching Life said...

What a great idea! Like Carol, I'm making a note to myself for next year to do this. Thanks for sharing, this Poetry Friday!

GatheringBooks said...

That's a beautiful thanku - I like the idea of great poets/writers slowing down their pace so students can walk beside them. that's beautiful. :)

April Halprin Wayland said...

Margaret--be sure to come back and post your link of your students' thanku poems for chalk-a-bration--please!

Carol--yes,teachers need thankus...but everywhere I look people need/want/deserve thankus, don't you think? Baristas at coffee houses, mail carriers, my vet's receptionist, the person listed in the credits at the very end of an animated film that no one stays to acknowledge (Stay! There's often a pay-off at the end--there is at the end of Frozen...) So many to thank...

Linda, I caught occasional comments from you about NCTE re: Jane Yolen and more--what a blast!

Tara--we'd love this Thanku idea to build--thanks for planning to join us next year ~

Myra ~ your comment made my day. :-)

Tabatha said...

OK, it's early, but:

A thank-u a day
keeps the existential angst
away. Thanks, April!

April Halprin Wayland said...

Tabatha! You could start the "Thanku-A-Day" movement: even better with an apple!

jan godown annino said...

Tabatha, that WAS early - I looked at your time!
But so fun.

The hands & heart artwork in the column is fabulous.

Lovely to be introduced this way to Michelle.

truly, ThankU to Teaching Authors

April Halprin Wayland said...

Jan ~ Yes, isn't the hands and heart art wonderful?

It is from MorgueFile.com ... I think I just searched for "heart."

It looks like it's part of a mural.

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes said...

What a beautiful thanku, April. I meant to do a thanku...really. Don't ask me how I ended up with an acrostic, because I couldn't tell you. Still, it was an honor taking part in your Two Weeks of Thanks-Giving. Thanks for the opportunity!