"I Am Today" Blog Tour - 5th Stop

  Welcome to the 5th Stop on the "I Am Today" Blog Tour!  

Come join me as I chat with our amazing author,

Matt Forrest Esenwine 

Let's start out with the trailer that Matt sent me. You can find it on YouTube here.

Grown-ups say I am the Future.

But what if a child does not want to wait for the future

to stand up for what he/she believes in?

Matt Forrest Esenwine explores this  thought in a powerful children's book

that sends a strong message.

CONVERSATION WITH OUR AUTHOR

Matt, the message in your book will to both children and adults. It brings to mind that every child is unique and has a VOICE. Hopefully, it will find cozy corners in bedrooms and reading/writing stations in classrooms. There teachers, librarians, and parents will offer read alouds, discussions, and prompts to capture what it means for each child to make a difference in this world. The book offers so many possibilities for children to explore. Perhaps, they will reach beyond their surroundings to offer new solutions for environmental issues, or become leaders, service providers, or on a more personal level speak on issues dealing with kindness, friendship, and sharing. Thank you for responding to the questions I pose. 

1. Think back to the very first thought you had on writing this book. Did your own children influence your choice of topic? Did you envision this book as one that plants the seeds for children being change agents?

Last year we were in the middle of the pandemic - school was at home, playdates were via computer, vacations were halted - and many kids, including my own, felt they had no control over what was happening. Heck, we adults felt that way! So I decided I wanted to write something to help kids feel more empowered, to give them some strength or hope, and show them they had the power to make changes in a grown-up world. But how to do that? 

My first step was rather odd, to be honest: I began by trying to come up with a completely non-grammatical title. Really! I wanted something that would catch potential readers and buyers off-guard, something that made them stop and think. So I thought about it quite a bit. The phrase "I am today" eventually popped into my head, and I liked it! As I thought more about the possibilities with that title, it occurred to me that kids are always being told they are "the Future." But what if a child doesn't want to wait?

2. Can you please ask your illustrator what is the significance of the book cover drawing where the child is upside down?

I have never met the illustrator, as she was hired by the publisher (which is the norm in traditional publishing), but I can try to contact her. I would think she was striving for the symbolism of reflection, of one looking at oneself and imagining possibilities, of what lies ahead - especially since the plot of the book involves not only her future but the future of the ocean.

3. What prompted the origami piece at the end of the book? Do you have a picture of your father creating origami pieces?

Isn't that cool?? That was completely unexpected and came from the illustrator. It's interesting to note that most of my books, like FLASHLIGHT NIGHT, ONCE UPON ANOTHER TIME, and now I AM TODAY, lack a traditional narrative such as, "First Billy did this, then Sally said this, then they went someplace," etc. I prefer a more poetic form of writing, creating what I call a story skeleton - a framework by which an illustrator can tell their own story - in congruence to mine.

You'll recall that in FLASHLIGHT NIGHT, three kids go on an adventure in which everything takes place within the beam of the flashlight. However, in my text, I don't mention kids, I don't give names, I don't say anything about a tiger or a Kraken or a pirate or a hot air balloon - and I certainly don't say anything about the story taking place within the beam of the flashlight. That was all created by illustrator Fred Koehler. Likewise, the plot of I AM TODAY is about a little girl who notices that sea turtles are in danger from pollution from a nearby factory and manages to rally the town to clean up the water and save the turtles...however, NONE of that is in my text! The entire narrative of the book was created by illustrator Patricia Pessoa, based on inspiration she gleaned from my text. And I have more books coming out over the next couple of years that are written in this same way!

4. How did your children react to the book about being a change agent?

I don't think they recognized it as a 'change agent,' necessarily, but I asked them what they thought and they both were happy that the little girl was able to succeed at what she set out to do - and really, that's what I want kids to get from it, that they do have the power to make change and don't need to wait. My son knows this first-hand because he actually helped the book's publisher a couple of years ago, back when we were putting out DON'T ASK A DINOSAUR! We had all received the final .pdf of the book right before it went to print, so I showed it to him (dino expert that he is), and he found not one, but TWO mistakes - which we quickly corrected before sending it off to be printed and bound. Not many 7-year-olds can say they saved a book, but he can! And I've been telling students that story during school visits ever since DINOSAUR came out, so I'm glad I now have a book that spotlights another way kids have the ability to effect change.

5. In our present world of ifs, this book is a powerful one for children. I think this can be used by educators, librarians, and parents of children from nursery to 8th grade. Did you have a specific age audience in mind when you wrote the book?

I was thinking of my daughter while writing this, so I'd say elementary-age kids, first and foremost. Children are always my primary audience, but adults are the secondary audience; they are the ones buying, gifting, and reading the stories to the kids, so adults are always at the top of my mind, as well. I want readers, no matter how old they are, to not get bored or tired of reading my books. I told folks back when FLASHLIGHT NIGHT first came out that my greatest fear was that someone would be asked to read one of my books and they would react with, "Oh, no, not THAT one again!" Ha! But I certainly hope that schools and libraries will recognize that this book could be more than simply an enjoyable book to read and might actually help and encourage kids who are trying to find their way through this world.

  Sierra Reads  and Questions

Providing children with read alouds and mentor text at a very young age allows them to not only be delighted by the act of reading but become lifelong readers. My four-year-old granddaughter has been a fan of reading since she was younger. She loves to listen to a book being read and then spend time alone looking at the illustrations. 

"Sierra, I have a surprise for you. The author of Flashlight Night sent me a new book. Would you like to read it with me before nap time?"

"Grandma, why is the book upside down?"  - " That is a reflection in the water, Sierra."

We begin to read and Sierra quietly listened, intrigued by the storyline. Being observant she noticed the turtle in the water right away. As we moved through the book, she learned that the main character's family taught the little girl to be polite and share with others, concepts she knew about. It was on the next page that she paused and asked another question. "What does it mean to take a stand?" She carefully listened to my response and understood. 

Someday I'll be the Future. But right now...

Sierra enjoyed the book and decided to reread it before taking her nap. As I peeked inside the room after I left, I saw her quietly looking through the book again. 

Matt, from this little toddler you get a thumbs up!

   Give Away  

POW! Kids Books is offering a copy of Matt's book, I Am Today, to a lucky responder. Please leave a comment below the blog post in the comment section. A winner will be chosen Sunday after dinner. If you see the promotion on social media come back to the blog post to respond. Good Luck! Sierra and I hope you enjoy the book as much as we do. 

 Thank you:  

Thank you, Matt Forrest Esenwine, for writing this book, I am Today, with the intent of "empowering children so that with strength or hope they have the power to make changes in a grown-up world". 

Thank you Patricia Pessoa for illustrating the book with images that are delightful and beautifully rendered to enhance the story content. 

Thank you to Shannon Krieg at POW! Kids Books for providing a raffle for this stop on the blog post. 

 Please Visit Matt Forrest Esenwine 

www.MattForrest.com       Facebook      Twitter     My blog            Instagram

******************

  Thoughts from the Blogger 

Please heed the words I speak.

Children are unique,

strong thought makers,

future movers and shakers

but for now learners

and little page-turners.

Give them words to speak.

Books to read each week

so in the future, they will be

proud and strong. Do you agree?

©CV, 2021

*******************

Matt's blog post today is dedicated to his blog tour stops. Here goes mine into the social media world. I am linking up with, Michelle Kogan, the host of Poetry Friday this week. Michelle is holidazing us with her poems and illustrations.

International Women's Day_SOLSC 8

On International Women's Day 2020, 

 I pause to celebrate the Voices of all women around the globe!

It is a quiet winter morning in my neighborhood but in the outside world, there is a loud outcry. The #EachforEqual hashtag is making its way throughout social media to bring awareness of this International Women's Day. 

It is still unfathomable to me that all women around the globe are not being recognized as equal partners in society. After all, it is the 21st century and the women's movement for equality has been in the news since the 19th century. I am posing as citizens of the world, we become difference makers, united in our mission to recognize women as change agents and influential models for a younger generation. Each small effort to do so will bring us closer to understanding and promoting the Each for Equal movement.

I encourage you to take 3 minutes to view the video of the history of women's rights and spread the news that International National Women's Day should be celebrated beyond today. 

Teachers, please consider using the above video and the IWD hashtag during Women's History Month as an informed call-to-action activity.

Each year since March 2015, I engage in Two Writing Teacher's Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge. 

Slicing allows me to ponder life, literacy, and learning, capturing small moments poetically

through writing, photography, and digital art. 

Day 7 of 31 days of writing March Slice of Life 2020 Story Challenge

at Two Writing Teachers.

Write On!

GREETING
Struck by the grayness of the winter sky but bolstered by the warmth of thoughts received, I bring a message of gratitude to all those who write from their heart. As host of Poetry Friday this week, I send out thanks to the writers who are contributing to this joyful Poetry Round-up. 

POETS AS ADVOCATES
During these past weeks, many voices from the Poetry Friday community have rallied behind causes and brought joy to life through verse. Poetic words have flowed from spaces of hope, advocacy, and social justice out into the world of social media, of which I am grateful. I applaud the poetic difference makers who feel the rhythm of life's balance, the pulse beat of positivity, and the energy emanating from bringing words to life. Your voices light up the page and screen, creating a tapestry of thought in a community of trust. Write on!

SIMPLE PRACTICE
When Mother Nature sends us gray days and the world is off balance due to dissonance and tension, flip negative vibrations. Engage in a practice that allows hope to finds its way back into our lives. 

We Thank Thee
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

FOND WISHES
I wish all the writers who join this Poetry Friday round-up, peace and joy. Continue to send your voices out into the world in poetic streams. As difference makers, your words will brighten children's hearts, illustrate the beauty of living things, soften the dissonance, and turn gray days around.

heartfelt words of joy

fill spaces of life's journey

poetic wings soar

©CV, 2017

POETRY FRIDAY ROUND-UP

Joyfully submit your Poetry Friday offering below, as I will submit mine to #haikuforhealing.

Celebrating Passionate Educators

Teachers are difference makers who impact learning on a daily basis.

This week, I was fortunate to work and collaborate with a varied number of passionate educators. The energy level of the professionals made focusing on best practices to power up student-centered literacy a joyful experience. 

It all started on Sunday when I called in my NCTE 16 Roundtable team to a GHO. While the technology was a bit spotty on my end, we engaged in a lively conversation in real time. Needless to say, the team (see below) is excited to deliver a passionate presentation to teachers who will join our roundtable discussions in Atlanta, Georgia in a few weeks.

The next day, Halloween, was filled with educational treats, not tricks. I facilitated a full day of professional development for a group of teachers who created passion-filled, engaging inquiry-based lessons leading students to become "reading fit" for life. The following images were tweeted during the session to showcase the passion of educators on #CelebrateMonday. Using the hashtag, #Trendthepositive on #CelebrateMonday is a way to publicize teacher expertise, enthusiasm, and engagement.

Halloween night was filled with candy and tweeting treats. I moderated #NYEDChat that included engaged educators participating in a lively conversation with Starr Sackstein and Connie Hamilton, authors of Hacking Homework. The transcript of the convo can be accessed here.

I followed up these experiences with two more professional development sessions. Each group of teachers was a joy to work with. They dug right into ways to energize their literacy practices while promoting student voice through choice options.

Teachers engaged in a Chalk Talk experience, silent conversation on paper to be able to offer a similar experience to their students.

In order to impact teaching and learning, focus is needed. Educators who are difference makers make it a practice to focus in on ways to ignite wonder and inspire students on inquiry paths. I celebrate their passion, energy, and perseverance while focusing in on collaborative protocols to foster change. 

This post is dedicated to two enthusiastic and impassioned groups of educator blogging communities. Please join Ruth Ayres' Celebrate This Week to hear from Ruth and the community on a week of positive celebrations. I am also joining Margaret Simon at DigiLit Sunday where the topic this week is focus. Focusing on impacting teaching and learning by honing craft and amplifying voice is an important mission for me. 

 

Teachers skillfully hone craft

empowering students on,

closer toward independence.

(You can access the rest of the septercet poem I crafted here.)

The 3P Plan

What does it take to fully understand the learner and help each child succeed?  

It takes a 3P Plan.

Reflective teachers are difference makers who do not lose sight of a 3P Plan to help students become successful owners of their learning. As thoughtful coaches of students, they have patience when developing purposeful best practices. They strive to impact learning daily. In their persistence for caring for the learner, they continually hone their practice as effective deliverers of instruction. They collaborate, reflect, and journey with positivity as their guide.

Are you journeying on this path?

• Be patient - design a hook to engage your students 
• Fill your practice with relevant, passion-filled teaching
• Persistence counts - learn to read each student to impact their learning life

I join Margaret Simon for DigiLitSunday today. Her prompt below inspired me to slow down my own process of crafting lessons for my upcoming professional development sessions with teachers.

Happy journeying as a reflective teacher with a 3P plan.

This week was filled with National Day On Writing reminders on Why I Write and being inspired by nature to write. If inclined, you may wish to join the DigiLit Sunday community today to address the mantra Patience - Practice - Persistence.

Agency

As connected educators who wish to make a difference in the lives of our students, we must become guides on the side and facilitators of learning and lean in to model and promote effective classroom learning by:

• Establishing a tone of positivity from the start of the school year
• Designing student-friendly norms and protocols to create a culture of trust in our learning spaces
• Gradually releasing responsibility for learning to our students
• Embracing change that will effectively impact teaching and learning

But we cannot stand alone. 

It takes momentum and support from a community of educators and parents working together to assist students in becoming meaning makers of their own learning. 

It is our calling as educators to empower our learners to take risks, see failure as a steppingstone to success, collaborate openly, explore inquiry paths, and understand that choice leads to amplified voice. 

So what is it that we need to do immediately to transform the landscape of learning? How do we bring about positive change in a world of flux?

What road will you take to be a difference maker this year?

How will you comfortably create a culture of trust to influence students to become agents of their own learning?

As Eric Sheninger says, "Student agency is about empowering kids to own their learning (and school) through greater autonomy. It is driven by choice, voice, and advocacy." 

I have been playing with the septercet form of poetry (a poem consisting of any number of three-line stanzas, each with seven syllables) that Michelle H. Barnes encouraged writers to post at Today's Little Ditty Challenge last month. I decided to compose my thoughts on agency using the septercet form. Margaret Simon asked the #DigiLitSunday blogging community to write on this topic two weeks ago. You can access others thoughts here.

Slice of Life (#sol16) is featured at Two Writing Teachers each Tuesday. Since I am finishing the design of my Summerscapes Gallery, I will offer this piece as my thought for the week.

*************************************************

Teachers skillfully hone craft

empowering students on,

closer toward independence.

Children journey with teachers

on inquiry paths of choice

as agents of their learning.

So stamina is needed 

by learners who seek knowledge

to become meaning makers.

Charge for difference makers:

Create a culture of trust.

Positivity spreads fast.

Charge for owners of learning:

Step beyond your comfort zone

take risks and own your learning.

©CV, 2016

*************************************************

Courageous Conversation

Last week in Boston at the International Literacy Association 2016 Conference, a courageous conversation ensued and created a ripple effect with far-reaching effects. I was fortunate to be present when my educator friend, Cornelius Minor, opened an impromptu forum with three simple questions. 

Why did you come? How do you feel? How do you hope to feel?

All present were encouraged to engage in an open conversation on racial relations to help us grapple with the troubling issues of the times. As reflective educators, we listened, partnered to discuss the bystander/upstander concept, and pondered ways to bring the conversation to students on an academic level. The discussion centered on a positive perspective so that trust was built among educators from around the states. During the short time together, a community evolved. 

After the first reflective pause, Sara Ahmed's statement, "Be vigilant of our own biases," prompted me to complete a quick recheck of my past actions and how I have dealt with the issues. I reflected on the amount of racial tensions multiplying throughout the world, leading to a disregard of kindness to fellow man. I thought about the word hate and how it has led to violence and the uprooting of seeds of love. I questioned why there is general unrest and a sense of disconnectedness in the world.

Why did I come to Cornelius Minor's session at ILA 16? 

I came to hear the conversation that would push me out of my comfort zone. How did I feel? To say the least, I felt uneasy. On the other hand, I felt empowered to have a voice in a conversation with thoughtful educators. What I hoped to feel was a sense of balance when I left the room. 

During the courageous conversation, positivity flowed as we grappled with the issues and our emotions. We confronted the uncomfortable and connected as a body of collective practitioners. We provided avenues to explore, knowing that much needs to be accomplished. 

From this conversation, words started spinning in my head. A draft of a poem recording my impressions of the powerful interaction at ILA 16 evolved. I listened, wove words together, and created. Dr. Stephen Peters' words, "Courage and fear cannot co-exist," resounded with me and brought closure to my thoughts. 

From a powerful ninety-minute happening, the following thoughts were designed into a digital composition.

When I left the room, I was almost speechless. The effect of connected educators trying to make sense of the unthinkable stayed with me as a hope for future conversations with family, friends, and educators. One week later, I am still thinking and engaging in face-to-face and Twitter conversations on the issue of man's inhumanity to man. 

What can be done to stop fear from rearing its head and breaking down walls? 

Times are changing. No longer can we skirt the issues of world politics and biases that lead mankind to become involved in destructive outcomes. I believe educators stand on the precipice of change. Connected together, we can:

1. Embrace change
2. Build cultures of trust in active learning classrooms 
3. Engage students in courageous conversations, allowing all voices to be heard and all identities addressed 
4. Provide the open space for students to explore their feelings through writing 
5. Continue grappling with tough issues as a body of practitioners

It is my hope that as connected educators and colleagues, we can band together to raise our voices as a collective body of thoughtful practitioners of life. We have the power to make a difference in a world ridden with disconnect. It our voices that can be heard and our voices that will impact our students' and children's lives. We can become the difference makers that will bring about change.