Autobiographia Literaria

Miss Pointy loves to give us poetry every few days. She never really makes us do anything with them and a lot of my classmates just throw them away. However, I really enjoy the poems. They kind of speak to me and I enjoy looking at their formats! They express emotions and thoughts in ways I do not think I’ve seen English could be organized. My favorite was Autobiographia Literaria by Frank O’Hara. I love that he is able to say his life story in such a short amount of words. The poem is so rhythmic, it almost reminds me of church. I want to find a way to go to my “Somewhere Else,” and escape to a magical place. I like to repeat the words of the poem to myself, almost like a spell so that maybe someday it will come true. I trust poets and Miss Pointy but not a lot of other people do.

One person who really does not enjoy poetry is Darrell. He says poetry is for punks, whom are people with money. Miss Pointy’s response was utterly perfect towards his remark:

“Then you should love poets because the know the value of a word the way a banker knows the value of a dollar. A poem is a small economy of words. Each word is worth its weight in gold.”

Peaches came in to take Darrell out of class for Special Ed and Miss Pointy lied. She said his mother refused pullout services. Miss Pointy lied so that she could keep Darrell in our class? I don’t know why anyone would do that…but I guess you never really know with Miss Pointy. She even got Darrell to laugh! Once the bell rang, I put a copy of Autobiographia Literaria on his chair. Then Miss Pointy called my name! I thought I was in trouble, maybe she saw me put the poem on his chair!! So to avoid that I told her I read his journal! Oh goodness I thought she would be so mad at me!! But she told me not to get caught! Wow, Miss Pointy is the best.

The best part of today was that Miss Pointy gave me a sticker! She said she “saw my talent” and my writing was extraordinary! I could not contain my excitement. A gold star- FOR ME!! This was the day I was waiting for the whole marking period!! I showed everyone at recess and they were so happy for me too!

Miss Pointy visits my house!

I was so mad when Freddie gave me and Rachel the stomach flu! It’s a good thing because apparently you’re still contagious for three more days! I looked at this website to find some ways to help with the stomach virus: Stomach Flu I was finally getting used to Miss Pointy and being in the regular education 5th grade classroom! All the stuff we do is so cool and I get mad when I have to miss anything! Me and Rachel were starting to get bored too. We had been watching cartoons for hours and we could barely eat anything either! Ugh, this day is the worst. My mom told me to read- the time moved more quickly with my book friends than with my real friends.

All of a sudden the doorbell rang and Miss Pointy was in my living room! I was still embarrassed after stealing Luz’s sticker and I thought she came to yell at me! It was so scary I almost tried to hide! But my mom called me over to greet her. Miss Pointy was only there to bring me my homework but she ended up staying for Marble cake that my mom offered. I wondered what they would talk about.

I hid behind the kitchen to try and eavesdrop about what they were saying. Mom asked Miss Pointy if she was having any luck with me this year. But I heard Miss Pointy say that she doesn’t read records. She doesn’t read them until the end so she can see if other people think she is right or wrong. She thinks that if a child is slow or wild, that it will show with time. Mom asked what she sees in me and Miss Pointy said “she is going to be a writer… when she starts to write she will be a writer.” She told mom to read to me a lot and leave a lot of paper and pencils for me to write around the house.

I didn’t really hear the rest of the conversation because I went in my room to do the assignment that she gave for us the day that I stole the sticker from Luz’s journal. I wrote a LOT about where I live. It was not just one or two sentences but a long paper that I put a lot of thought into. I didn’t want to take my pen off the paper; ideas just kept flowing from my brain and I wanted to show Miss Pointy that I can write the ideas I think about. I showed it to Rachel and she was so impressed. I guess Rachel can finally see that the dream I have about being a writer can come true!

 

I needed time to feel comfortable enough to share my talent with my teacher. Hopefully she understands!

Buildings & Descriptions

Miss Pointy always has a way with words. No matter what she talks about, it sounds like something magical. She talks about architecture like it is a person, or something built from the inside out. We had to use straws to construct the skeletons of skyscrapers look like. She talks about other famous buildings like the arch in Paris or the dome in Italy. Miss Pointy’s descriptions bring me to “Somewhere Else.” She inspires me to use fancy words that express a way for people to envision what I am talking about. I like that she even included pictures of buildings in our own city of Chicago. She showed us pictures of the skyline of Navy Pier at night and other scenic places that allowed us to really picture the environment and I could even hear the roar of machinery. Her descriptions allowed me to dream about other things.

We were assigned to finish our structures for homework. We all do our homework because we want gold stickers! Luz has a bunch of stickers on her journal and I thought it might make her journal heavy but she said its okay! Luz’s papers always have stickers on them because even though she doesn’t write the best stuff, she always tries her best. I don’t even have a sticker yet 😦

Miss Pointy’s responses to my writing also confuse me. Like, kid v. nature, kid v. kid, words that don’t mean much, and know how to tell who’s the main character. I usually just stare at her words but the one that always stands out is “a writer writes.” I just always want to know what she was thinking when she wrote it and it makes me want to keep trying.

Well, I also know that Miss Pointy would be disappointed in me. She accidentally handed out the wrong journals to everyone, and I took a sticker off of Luz’s journal. I mean, she really doesn’t need the thousands of stickers that she has been given and one missing cannot be that bad right? But someone knows that I took it and I hope they don’t tell on me. All I want is one sticker to allow me to know that I am important too!

Darrell’s Mom is scary

Miss Pointy was in the middle of talking about George Washington and we were going to write in our journals when all of a sudden Darrell’s mother comes barging in. We all jumped and could not believe she was just yelling at our teacher. Darrell’s mother thought Miss Pointy called Darrell a jackass in front of our whole class. Miss Pointy asked us to back her up and you bet we did! I couldn’t believe that Sakiah had the courage to talk to Darrell’s mother and say that Darrell is always calling Miss Pointy names and disrupting class. She had to be really embarrassed because Darrell had been telling her lies about his teacher. These types of interruptions really make it hard for everyone to learn. I wonder what will happen to Darrell after this?

Darrell’s mom should read this

Miss Pointy’s Crazy Stories

Miss Pointy tells some great stories. Although a lot of them seem silly, they usually have a point to them. A lot of them deal with different animals: foxes, crows, dogs, storks. Then Miss Point will ask us about what the lesson of the story is. Everyone in the class gives answers that Miss Pointy wants us to keep adding more detail to. Just like a good writer does, always adding more detail! She talks about Aesop and how he wrote about people by using animals. Animals were given qualities of people to teach morals. I love how Miss Pointy explains stories and lessons. I loved when she used the story of the lion trapped in a net who is chewed out to freedom by a little mouse. Paris gave a great answer: It doesn’t matter is someone is different, they can be your friend and help you when you need it most.

The best part of giving good answers to Miss Pointy is her Happy Box. Those stickers were the crown jewels of the class. I really want to impress her so that I can get a sticker. The sticker shows everyone that I had a great idea and that I am smart. One day I will say something that will blow her away.

The best part of this day was that after everyone handed in the journals, I peeked into Darrell’s journal and it was an angry message about Miss Pointy. I really do not know what his problem is. I hope that someday soon he can be happy in school. I am finding out that fifth grade really is not too bad after all.

Funny teacher stories

I don’t know how she does it

I have never met a teacher that puts up with Darrell as well as Miss Pointy does. Although some of the things she does to react to his crazy antics can be a little extreme, the fact that she keeps trying to put up with him shows him that she cares. Darrell always has to say sly comments to Miss Pointy while she is teaching but I wish he didn’t. Because then she takes the time out of class to deal with him instead of teaching us all of the interesting subjects she has planned for us! The other day, Darrell thought Miss Pointy called him a Barrel and Miss Pointy said “Please stop talking crazy.” He replied “You always calling me crazy,” and she said, “you’re always acting crazy!” I couldn’t believe that after that he kicked her desk. She then kicked his desk and she said “Did kicking a desk work for you? It’s not working for me.” And then she kicked it HARDER. We all learned that we shouldn’t out crazy a crazy!”

 

Troubles Basket

I like how Miss Pointy cares about her class. She wants us to come into class without any troubles and to throw them into a basket so that we can start our day on a clean slate and we can work. I don’t know where she gets her crazy ideas, but I do like her a lot. She says that our troubles are invisible to the eye but they are heavy! I think she could break her back holding all of these troubles. She will ask if anyone wants their troubles back but nobody has ever done that. I wonder what other peoples’ troubles could be. Does anyone have the same issues that I do?

First day of school

Mom tried to give me a pep talk before the first day of school which really wasn’t very encouraging. She told me that it was a shame that I read so much and have no work to show for it. So, I decided to show her and I left the house by myself! Ha, she can think about THAT!

I entered my new classroom and I was really nervous. I sat in the back, just like I always do. The back row isn’t for everyone, but it is definitely for me! I hope someone tall will sit in front of me and hide me.

As I looked around the class, I saw a few girls I remembered from Double Dutch and I even saw Darrell! NO WAY! But what was really strange was the fact that the teacher was not there in the beginning. Apparently she was from “somewhere else.” That sounded mysterious.

I wish I were from Somewhere else…a place that inspired you to write long sentences about the shapes of clouds and the smell of things growing.”

The best part of my first day was meeting Miss Pointy. She is just exquisite. Her hair was copper like a lucky penny but when the light hit it a certain way, it seemed almost green. She had dragonfly barrettes. She was pale but also had a colorful complexion, almost as if she was Puerto Rican? She had lipstick as purple as eggplant and a yellow dress that reminded me of tissue paper. She almost looked like a punk rocker. She is definitely like Miss Frizzle from the Magic School Bus. The first thing she did was place her flowers on the desk. They were absolutely beautiful and every move she made was fascinating. Nobody made a peep. When she told me her name was “Miss Pointy” I giggled inside my head. I couldn’t even think for too long because Darrell opened his mouth again by making fun of her name. She did handle his nonsense well.

 

She is unlike any teachers I have seen before. We went over “Yes” rules together. Like Yes looking, Yes listening, and Yes consideration. Then we talked about subjects we would be doing this year. I have never heard of Puzzling, Time Travel and World Exploring, Mad Science, and all the different forms of reading. Nobody knew what these meant.

What was even cooler is she gave each of us a journal. No teacher before has given me an outlet to write creatively about things I want to write about. A safe zone to express myself and ask questions, and I can even put a P with a slash so she has to skip over those sections. I think I may like Miss Pointy.

Miss Pointy shot from the hip and she used big words. She was a real person and she knew exactly how to handle Darrell. Other teachers just sent him to the principal when he talked back, but Miss Pointy didn’t seem threatened by him. Someone said the word boring and she threw her textbook on the desk. She even made us start writing on the first day of class! I got my journal and was at a loss for words. I was supposed to tell her all about me, but the only thing I could write is “I am a writer.” I hope that was enough for the first day of class. I do not know how to feel about Miss Pointy yet!

My Happy Place

Saturday mornings are my favorite. While mom works at the restaurant, I am able to go to the place that understands me the most. It is a place I can escape to and find comfort in. The librarians say hello and smile but they do not start a conversation; sometimes that is okay with me. They have an ordinary conversation with me. The library is a safe place. I can write my life story and be at peace or I can read the Ramona books by Beverly Clearly. When I read these books, it is like the whole world melts away. I am able to become entwined with the books. Even thought the story never changes, I like the consistency of the endings. There is a happy ending and it remains a happy ever after, unlike my life which can sometimes end in tricky situations. I wonder what it might be like to be in a story that never changes and to always know what will come next?

When I write my own book, I cannot wait to have my picture placed on the inside cover so that people can read my description and get to know a little bit more about who I am. Someday my book will talk and they can see the world through my eyes.

What worried me one time is that a girl almost found my pieces of writing in section 904 of the library! She came with her brothers and even though she usually goes to the arts and crafts section, she has been poking around my section about faraway places. What is different about us is that she is very organized and she even places a pencil in the spot where she takes out a book so that she can put it back in the same place.

She said she remembered me! People at the library usually do not come up to me and tell me things like this, so I got a little nervous. This girl was very nice though and she told me her name is Paris! I thought it might be like the city! But she laughed and said “no. the girl! I wanted to tell her my name is Sahara and ask her all about who she was but of course I got nervous again and did not say anything. Oh well, at least it was a start!

Rachel

My cousin Rachel is my best friend. Even though she is a year younger than me, we always have a lot of fun when we are together. She did move away for a while with her family, at the same time my dad left, but she came back. That is the number one reason that she is my best friend. I guess a lot of people think Rachel is stuck up because she can be shy sometimes. But I know first hand that shy girls care a lot about what other people think. I know that even playing double-dutch that I usually have to get her to play with us. But that is yet another reason that she is my best friend- I enjoy taking care of other people and watching out for her. The last reason that she is my best friend is because she knows and understands my true ambition: that I want to be a writer. Recently we were looking in a crystal ball and “seeing into our futures” like fortune tellers and I told her that I saw that I was going to be a writer. At first she didn’t believe me. She wasn’t sure if I could be like a real author who writes books. I told her my dreams of writing about interesting things, everyday things. Anything just so that I can express my ideas, my visions, my dreams. I love writing so much and I just want to have the courage to share my dreams with other people. I am going to be the youngest writer to ever have a book in the library! I think she began to believe me cause I probably rambled about it for a good twenty minutes. She then had the nerve to tell me that I better get a good teacher next year. Who says that? It’s like she doesn’t believe in me. One day Rachel and everyone else in the school will believe in me! Sometimes when people don’t believe in me, I get a little discouraged so I listen to songs like “Somewhere over the Rainbow” to get through the rough patches. Somewhere over the Rainbow