|Ourselves as Observers|

I want to take some time to talk about ourselves as observers.

Think about a time when you had driven somewhere and reached a destination. Maybe this destination was your work, the park, the grocery store, the bank, the restaurant your mom picked out for dinner… the list could go on. Okay, now let’s think again… name five very specific things or events you remember about the drive to the destination. Quick-- start listing!

Realistically I would find this very difficult. If you could name five things or events, I would be very impressed with you because I know that I do not typically remember the details of my drives, other than the stress of that one truck driving too slow or the beautiful Adele harmony that I absolutely crushed as I exited I-70. “Okay, we get it Cassidy, we don’t typically remember the details of our drives, but why is that important?”

I was greatly inspired by an excerpt from Georgia Heard’s book Awakening the Heart. She writes, “Most children study the world with the intensity of scientists, and in their seeing they help us see things we have never seen before. I simply commented “what happens?” in my copy of the book. What makes us get to the point where we don’t notice the sun playing hide-and-seek through the trees lining the busy highway? What makes us get to the point where we stop having thoughts of whimsical poems about the breeze high-fiving our fingertips as we hold our hands out the window on a warm Sunday drive? Heard continues, “This is also a poet’s job- to observe carefully and then to find words to express what we see. But we must learn to observe in detail with our eyes and our hearts; we must sharpen both our outer and inner visions.”

As teacher poets, we must hold the importance of careful observation at the highest of priorities in our classrooms. To observe in detail with our eyes and our hearts is supported by our passion and enchantment. Modeling observation with our eyes and hearts is something that I find so important to teach our students.

Some ways to promote careful observation with our eyes and hearts

Observation Poetry:

• When our students get to a point where they are no longer studying the world as intensely as scientists, it is our job to get them back to where they once were. I believe that observing small, inanimate objects is one way to do that. Georgia Heard talks about having students bring in an inanimate object that they relate to or have a deep connection with to school. If the inanimate object is too large, I would suggest having students bring in a picture of the object- whatever needs to be done to get students observing! Rather than just writing from the object, have students draw their object or picture in their writer’s notebooks. Prompt them to pay attention to the smallest details. In my backyard poem pictured above, I included labels of what certain areas reminded me of (i.e., small pebbles in the fire pit symbolizing the small area of my backyard). After using their inanimate objects to draw an image with labels, students are ready to write a poem that exhibits their scientific minds, cultivating detailed observations of seemingly inanimate objects, images, or things.

Small Adventures:

• The world is at our doorstep- or, in our case as educators, the world is at the concrete greeting us as we exit the school building. Taking students on an adventure is a great way to remind them of the beauty in observing the world around them. With writer’s notebooks and pencils in hand, take students outside with instructions to find a place to sit and be prepared to write about what is surrounding them. I think this activity could easily be done using the “Six-Room Image-Poem” style as described in Heard’s book. I have created a worksheet/handout to provide students when working with the poetic format.

After students fill in their rooms, go back inside and allow them write a poem inspired by their rooms in their writer’s notebooks. Remind students that they may arrange their rooms however they would like, eliminate rooms, words, sentences, or whatever else they feel necessary to best fit to their poem. This is intended for them to create a poem that exhibits their scientific focus and observation of the world around them.

Inspired Hearts:

• Our hearts are a gateway to inspiration. With our hearts, we find our writing territories, or areas that we find ourselves most inspired to write about. When students need a muse for their writing, have them look at their hearts. Ask students: What are some things you love? Some things you don’t love? Some things you cherish in this world? Some of your favorite things to do? Then tell students to fill out a heart with these things (this can either be with words or pictures). Use these hearts and the inspiration within to get students writing. A student may say, “I love to sing in the car,” but with this we can build on so much more to make it a detailed retelling of what it looks like to sing in the car.

Check out this link presented by Georgia Heard for more information on Heart Mapping!

Try this activity to be inspired by your own heart!

What is something you love to do?

Answer:

Write a poem describing this activity:

Poem:

Example Answer:

I love to sing in the car.

Poem:

Voices mimic

beautiful melodies

breaking out of car speakers

Thoughts of "that wasn't too bad"

filling my mind

while driving down familiar interstate roads

Smiles and giggles exchanged

with my passenger seat driver

taking one more lap around the neighborhood

To finish our last song

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So what happens? Why do children lose their intensity of scientists? I believe a big part of this is the lack of poets doing their job of using words and the world to inspire young authors. We as teachers have a huge opportunity to be those poets who inspire young authors to keep up their intense observation of the world. If you have been to a concert, you are familiar with the mass amount of cell phone flashes lighting up a stadium when the artist (finally) begins to perform. What appears to be the “capturing of memories” becomes a huge “missing the moment.” We don’t want to miss moments, big or small, nor should we want our students to miss such moments. I believe through close observation and through fostering curiosity, we can prevent students from losing their intensity, for we should always be as curious and intentional in our poetry as scientists are in their research.

Awakening the Heart, Georgia Heard

Heard, G., & Nye, N. S. (1999). Awakening the heart. Heinemann