Empty Classrooms

On day 26 of #VerseLove, a celebration of poetry for National Poetry Month with teachers, I invited writers to try the count up or count down framework for spoken word. There are over a dozen on Ethical ELA.com, but a few of the writers accepted by nudge to record their voices by way of acknowledging that many of our students connect better to ideas through their voices rather than their hands, i.e., actual writing or typing.  And in this way, but speaking our ideas, we celebrate the benefits of multimodal writing -- text, gesture, audio, video, and space. We become proximate when we put our voices into these spaces and listen to one another.  Enjoy.

Welcome to Ethical ELA, a podcast about teaching English language arts, emphasis on language and art. I am Sarah Donovan, founder of Ethical ELA, and in this episode I talk to Iowa educator Allison Berryhill about reciprocity in writing and her experience hosting the February 5-day writing challenge. Be sure to listen all the way through to hear two poems that will fill your drive to work this Monday morning with joy and inspiration.

For more poetry ideas from Allison and to read poems written by English teachers across the country, stop by Ethicalela.com. We hope to write with you during the next 5-day challenge with Michigan teacher Jennifer Jowett, which begins March 14th.

And remember what Annie Lamott says:Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life; they feed the soul. And don’t we all need a little soul nourishment today? Be well, teacher friends.

What I Have I Lost by Allison Berryhill

I did not lose a breast.

I lost my passport.

I lost the diamond from my engagement ring.

I lost the photos of the trip to France

The summer I was 16.

The same summer I lost my friendship with Ann.

But I didn’t lose my breast.

The right one

No longer here

Tissue disposed as

Human waste

Burned in the incinerator at the University of Iowa.

It’s gone, to be sure.

But I gave it, willing sacrifice.

Not a loss

My soft and tender cup

Of motherhood,

womanhood

Identity.

Its loss (not loss!)

Is as precious to me

As the breast itself

Ever was.

In this episode, I share with you the first page of my to-read book pile. 

[e]nglish language arts teachers are generous, selfless people who dedicate all their time and energy to their students, sometimes at the cost of time with family and self-care. So much of that is due to the heavy teaching load and extra curricular expectations of teachers. What, then, happens to our own reading and writing lives? How are we to share new voices in literature and stories from our own writing lives when they are dormant during the school year? 

Well, in this podcast, I bring the literature to you. Perhaps you will meet a new author today or be reintroduced to an old friend. In any case, let these words nurture your love of story and celebrate the language and art of these authors' craft.