The Mindset List, aka the “always/never” list, is a compilation of key points about incoming college students. Created at Beloit College in 1998 to reflect the world view of entering first year students—and to help faculty understand incoming classes—the list started with the members of the class of 2002, born in 1980. In 2019, the … Continue reading Introducing! The Class of 2025!
Last week, Brad Osbourne, the poet laureate of WordPress at commonsensiblyspeaking, shared a style of poetry known as a Diamante poem, as part of his weekly Whittled Words series. Here is the format of such a poem: A diamante poem is a 7-line poem that looks like a diamond. It can be used to describe … Continue reading Am I As Creative as a Kindergarten Student?
Elfchen An Elfchen (also known as an elevenie) is a short poem with a given pattern. It contains eleven words which are arranged in a specified order over five rows. The typical structure of an elfchen is as follows: Row Words Content 1 1 A thought, an object, a color, a smell, or the like … Continue reading Poetry in Numbers
I've been wanting to try my hand at writing a tautogram poem for a couple of months. I first learned about this style of poem thanks to the Nobel laureate of WordPress, Brad Osborne. Brad is a talented writer and poet, somehow managing to come up with an original poem every day and share his … Continue reading Jury Judges Jaywalking Jim
I didn't want to write another haiku, but what can I say - it's International Haiku Poetry Day. Thank you to Beth at I Didn't Have My Glasses On for letting me know about this holiday. Observed annually on April 17, it's a day that encourages everyone to try their hand in creativity. For those … Continue reading It’s International Haiku Poetry Day!
This is my first attempt at writing a limerick, at least one that isn't crude. I'll thank the wonderful poet, Brad, for encouraging me to try some poetry on occasion; I think three-line haikus and five-line limericks are about as far as I'll wander into the world of poetry. I don't want to defile such … Continue reading A Limerick About Blogging (and Stats)
Last week I wrote a post, "The Power of Poetry", and referenced John Paul Lederach, a Mennonite conflict mediator who likes to write meeting notes and trip reports in haiku form. He believes that the act of distilling information to a five-seven-five syllable format is a way to “capture the wonder of the human experience … Continue reading Haikus About Blogging
I'll admit that I wasn't much into poetry growing up. In school, it seemed as if poetry was used as the vehicle to enhance our memorization skills, and that was fine with me. I found memorizing poems easy; understanding what the poet was trying to say, impossible. So once I finished high school, I probably … Continue reading The Power of Poetry
For whatever reason, the title of this blog, which is a line from a poem I read more than 50 years ago, has always stuck with me. I don't remember any of the context or anything else about the poem, but that image of a crane, going through the same motions over and over without … Continue reading “And Habit Like a Crane”
I have found TED-Ed to be a great source of educational lessons presented in an easy to use set of animated videos. If you are not familiar with TED-Ed, here is a description from its web site: TED-Ed is TED’s youth and education initiative. TED-Ed’s mission is to spark and celebrate the ideas of teachers … Continue reading There’s a Poem for That
Borden's Blather 