Mr. Loosveldt’s Classroom

Summer is struggling to hold on and there is a hint that Fall is creeping in, there is a chill in the early morning air. That can mean only one thing: The beginning of a new SCHOOL YEAR!!! And you thought I was going to say football, HA! This is my favorite time of year. A new beginning. New students, filled with enthusiasm for learning. Their minds are like a sponge: ready to absorb all the new information and knowledge their teachers will share with them. Insipid isn’t even in their vocabulary. I can’t wait. To help me to get to know you better, one of our first assignments is to describe your name using the five senses. Pretend your name somehow represents you. Pretend it could get up off the page and follow you around, like your shadow.I’ve written one that describes my name and I’d like to it share with you.

Mark smells like fresh brewed coffee that tantalizes the nose in the early morning light

Mark tastes like fresh baked gooy, chocolate chip chookies, the warm taste of chocolate chips lingering in your mouth

Mark sounds like the symphony of birds that greet the new day

Mark feels like the warm embrace of the sun that ensconces you on an early Fall morning

Mark looks like the starfish that cling to the coral beneath the surface of the ocean

My quote for the week: We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master. Ernst Hemingway

The blog for the week: What is the one thing you look forward to as a new school year begins?

Okay, the final countdown begins, its been 180 days since you entered room 802 and on Friday it will be the last time for many of you. Let me begin by saying I’ve had a great year, thanks to you. You have been engeretic, enthuastic, and eager to learn. I will hate to see you all go, but life goes on. Your educational journey continues. High school is on the horizon and I have no doubt you will be successful. I hate to see you go, but it’s onaward to bigger and better things. You are an intellligent, innovative, creative and hard-working goup of students. You can compete with any student in the world.

CBC’s production of A Comedy of Errors was a smashing success! And the 8th grade was a great auidence. I’m proud of you. Get ready for a double douse of Shakespeare. Next up, Macbeth, to be performed by H3MS’ own young actors and actresses. It’s going to be good.

Oh, I almost forgot, I have a surprise for everyone on Monday!

Carpia Diem.

Can you believe it?!?! Over six weeks since my last post and so much has happened. The poetry slams have beeen a HUGH SUCCESS!! I’ve been so impressed with the depth of emotion expressed by our poet participants. You have touched the hearts of the auidences who have attended our poetry slams. The poetry slam finals are Tuesday, May 15th in Thompson and Moody’s room. It promises to be another half hour wordsmithing heart-touching entertainment. I’d like your thoughts on the poetry slams and your suggestions on how we can make them better in the futrue.

Moving on, Monster has really been a fast paced entertaining read. The key question: Can Steve Harmmon be trusted as a narrator? I thought it would be interesting for you aspiring writers to try the craft of screenwriting. We’ll do a series of activities to help you unleash your creative juices. Shoes on the Highway is a perfect place for inspiration.

Carpia Diem!

I hope this spring break as been a fun and restful one for everyone. I hope you come back rejuvenated. I’ve spent my time working around the house and reading, a lot! I’m reading the Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Each page is full of sensory language intensifed by figurative language; it’s hard to put down. Anyway, fourth quarter will bring some changes to room 802. First of all I’ve arranged the desks into a semicircle to facilate our sharing of poetry. The back wall will feature a poetry wall for young aspiring writers to spin their words of wisdom. We’ll be writing a lot of poems to start fourth quarter. I found a great websiteful of poetry ideas. We’ll be using some of the poetry ideas from this website in class. The site is called writefix, check it out. WriteFix.

Magnetic Poetry is also a fun cite to “Play with Words” and use your imagination to create a creatived poem.

Enjoy the rest of your spring break!

Okay, now it’s time for you to express your opinions and viewpoint on Darfur. Use the information you’ve learned about the conflict in Darfur to help you write your blog. Speak out so others may be informed.

Wow! What a week. My first and second period classes are reading To Kill A Mockingbird and are at the critical point in the story where Tom Robinson is on trail for the rape of Mayella Ewell. Thank you for all the volunteers who have helped me put this important section of the book “on its feet”. Once again, Atticus shows grace under pressure. He faces an uphill task of proving Tom’s innocence to an all white jury, many of whom are racist. Third and fifth period we have read and studied about the atrocities and genocide in Darfur and what happens when intolerance and racism is allowed to happen while the rest of the world turns a blind eye. All this discussion has got Max wondering if white people are the only ones capable of being racist? An interesting question. Once again, if you’d like to respond, remember to be appropriate and sensitive to our audience.

On the literary front, Our popular book, Under the Mask is now in its second printing. The books will go on sale Monday.  I think it would be cool for the authors to autograph their narratives and poems in the book. Speaking of poems, I’m so impressed with the poems many of you shared with us on the blog. I think its time to bring back Open Mike Fridays. I’d also like to invite you to respond to the poems that have been shared on the blog and to invite the rest of you to share a poem that might brighten the day of someone who needs it or provide them with a good laugh. All authors appreciate good positive feed back.

Have a great week!

Well, it’s the second week of March and it definately feels like spring. The weather is warm, nature’s colors are starting to awaken with the longer days. It won’t be long before we’re awash in color. Spring, my favorite time of year. I hope everyone had a restful, relaxing weekend and you’re rejuvenated. The topic of the week is brought to us by Cole. He thinks students should be allowed to chew gum in class. He says it helps him concentrate. Chewing gum in class didn’t use to bug me; however, over the years, after finding gum on my classroom carpet, under the desk and in the sink, I’ve come to the relalization that too many students are irresponsible when it comes to chewing gum and depositing it in the garabage when the gum has lost its flavor. So, I’m against gum in school. I advocate using Listerine PocketPacks, they give your mouth a burst of cool mint flavor.

I’d like your feed back on a poem I wrote this weekend after watching some quail frolic in my yard. I love quail and hope my poem paints this picture for the reader in the canavas of his/her mind. Enjoy!

Sweat cleaves to my shirt

The early morning breeze cools my flush face

I sprint the last 20 yards to my house

I FREEZE

wanting not to disturb the scene that unfolds before my eyes

Quail   Skittish     weary   of the slightest intrusion on their fragile existence

Heads bopping like a jack-in-the-box

Strutandpeckstrutandpeck on the bird seed

Laid out the night before to coax their presence

The male always the gentleman, wearily stands guard as his mate feeds

I reluctantly slip inside the house thankful for this sight of civility and love

A BIG SHOUT OUT to Tanner for sharing his poem about friendship. I think Tanner’s metaphor of a tree to represent friendship is an effective one. A tree takes years to grow and mature so do friendships that are often times forged through many years of trials and tribulations. If you get a chance give Tanner some props for his poem. Authors love feedback about their writing. Any other authors out there who would like to share???

I want to end this blog by once again apologizing to Tanner for not getting his poem in Under The Mask. If we have a second addition, I’ll make sure to include his poem.

Okay, over the past four weeks, you’ve expressed your opinons on H3MS’ dress code and black lipstick. I have to admit, I was surprised at the response. I never anticipated when I started this blog to receive so many posts. Needless to say, I was ecstatic! What better way to show the power of writing and its ability to influence thinking and generate healthy debate. Many of you have accepted my offer to submit topics for our blog. This week’s topic comes from Kelsey and has to do with stereotypes at H3MS. We’ve been reading Freedom Writers Diary and witness  the challenges Ms. Gruwell faces everyday in her classroom trying to educate her students on the dangers of stereotypes and racism.

Do you think the stereotypes at H3MS are as prevelant as the school where Ms. Gruwell teaches? Do we have a problem with cliques at H3MS? Remember, your auidence when you blog and be appropriate.

Blog on!

I hope everyone had a restful and rejuvenated weekend. My wife and I went to Pullman this weekend to visit our daughter and watch the Cougars beat the Trojans of USC. It was a thrilling game that went into two overtimes before the Cougars pulled it out. 

 The 8th grade should be proud! Because of your support we’ve sold 100 copies of Under the Mask and raised close to $150 for Second Harvest. If there is a demand for additional copies of the book, I’ll order more. I was thinking it would be a good idea to post some of your poems and narratives from Under the Mask on our blog. What a wonderful way to share your writing and get positive feedback, what do you think? I know your writing has caused a ripple throughout the community of H3MS. Many people have come up to me and expressed how heart-felt and emotional the narratives and poems are.

 Speaking of books, we have the pleasure of having an author come to H3MS and visit our class on Thursday, March 15th. Her name is Maureen McQuerry and she is a local author from Richland. Ms. McQuerry is a former teacher. Her latest novel is a fantasy book called WolfProof. Ms. McQuerry will be giving a workshop on writing poetry and possibly some fiction. I can’t wait!