A Glimpse Inside their Minds

Over the next few months my middle school English students will be working on the revision and editing processes. One of their regular assignments is to choose one of their favorite journal entries, to edit and revise the content to the best of their ability, and to submit their finished project to the editor (me) on a regular basis.

Every couple of weeks I will select a few of these entries to publish on my blog. Why? Well, because I want to honor my student's hard work, and because I want to share their work with you, my friends, family, and supporters. I am so proud of these students! Their imaginations are so creative, and their writing is improving ever so much.

I hope you will enjoy these periodic glimpses into my students' imaginations.

God bless,

~Michelle~

January Journals

6th Grade

Poems

by Mallory

These are three of my favorite poems. The first one I wrote for my grandmothers, the second for anyone who looks at the stars, the third to my classmates in study hall.

Grandmothers

Grandmothers are the nicest people you meet,

Whether at home or out on the street.

While everyone imagines them just sitting and knitting,

Nothing on earth could be more unfitting!

Grandmothers are perhaps busier than anyone,

For all of their work adds to a ton.

Their work does not require great strength or fast pace,

‘Since its simply to put a smile on your face.

Their work has ensured them that they’ve not a foe,

And the list of their friends, why, on and on it does go.

Grandmothers are the nicest people you meet,

Whether at home or out on the street.

Stars

Little lights looking

Like heavens little lanterns

Lighting up the sky

Study Hall

While sitting at a study hall I got a little bored,

And choosing that it not be known that in my sleep I snored,

I wrote this poem just for you,

‘Since there was nothing else to do!

* * * * * * *

Heaven

by Matthew

I always thought that to get to heaven you have to have a ticket, and that ticket was your soul. One day, or rather dream, I needed it.

I opened my eyes, it was all white. I couldn’t see anything. After a while I noticed that I was going up. Then I heard beautiful music. I saw something in the clouds…whoa. I have never seen anything like it! Everyone was dancing and worshiping God. But before I went into heaven, there were two queues (lines of people). I noticed that one went to heaven and the other went to hell. It was sad that there were more in the line to hell. Finally my turn! I was so happy I felt like dancing and singing. The angel was huge and amazing. He said, “Ticket please?” I smiled at him and he smiled back. I looked at him and said, “Sorry, I don’t have any ticket.” Then he said. “Heaven awaits you. You have a ticket. You didn’t know?” He reached towards my heart and carefully took it. I looked at it and it said, “You don’t deserve heaven, but it is your reward because of your faith in ME.” The angel gave it back and said. ”But you shall wait.”

Well I guess it wasn’t that bad going back to earth.

Suddenly I jerked awake as if someone shot me. It was a dream. I felt something in my hand. Could it be?

THE END

* * * * * * *

7th grade

. . . Really, Mom & Dad?

by Heidi

While I was at school, my parents decided to glue my bed upside-down to the ceiling. They said they wanted me to be 'more creative.' I would have to get into my bed by turning the anti-gravity on. “That is an excellent idea!” my parents said. In the morning I woke up... on my dresser with a huge headache. Someone turned the anti- gravity off. Oh no! What was I going to do? So I will have to either tape down the button with duct tape or duct tape my sister to her bed in order to keep her from turning off the anti-gravity off. I think I'll duct tape the anti-gravity button. So, I tried, and I woke up on my desk this time with twice the headache. Well, let's try something new. I'll duct tape myself to my bed. So, I tried it. I woke up this morning, and I was on my bed! But, Ewwwww... there was drool all over my room. Well, back to the drawing board.

* * * * * * *

8th grade

Swimming

by Lauren

I am swimming in the sea. I can touch the oxygen tank on my back, but I feel almost absolutely weightless in the waters. As I kick my flippered feet and move with my hands, I jet forward. My hair waves in the water, just like it would in the wind, The amazing multicolored fish swim in a dazzling coral reef next to me. I can see the sparkling light shed on everything in the sea. I can see my tiny air bubbles floating towards the surface of the crashing waves. I look at the air gauge.

. . . I am almost out of air!

I swim to the top of the liquid mass in time.

* * * * * * *

Little Nudges of Confirmation

Do you ever need to be reminded that God has a plan for your life?

Sometimes I forget that not only does God have a plan, but His plan for my life is good. In Jeremiah God reminds his chosen people, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). In Paul's letter to the Romans he reiterates this point by declaring, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).

I make a point to look out my window every night. I live on the top floor of a 6 story building. Prague isn't entirely flat, and my window allows me to see for miles. Eventually I wrench myself away from the window and force myself to crawl into bed. Yet, my mind always wanders to the beautiful cityscape around me.

I'm left in total wonder that I'm living in Prague. . . I'm left in wonder that a city this beautiful can be so broken.

How did I get here? . . . God planned for me to be here. Am I really making a difference? The fact that I'm here says that God is using me. Am I sure? Yes. How?

. . . it's in moments when I ask myself how i'm sure that God sends me little reminders. "Daughter, I know the plans I have for you. Trust me. Keep on walking in my will."

2 nights ago I picked up a new book. It's a novella by George Elliot called The Lifted Veil. Confession: I didn't pick this book up because i'm most interested in it, or because i've heard wonderful things about it. In fact I've never heard of it. Here's the horrible part: I picked it up because it's a novella. It's short. (I've had hardly any time to read for pleasure lately. I know that anything longer would have been a burden for me!)

I flippantly read through the first couple of pages. (It's hard to get yourself excited about a new book when your life is busy.) Several pages in I saw the word Prague. As I continued, I realized that several pages were about Prague. In fact, the main character's visions of Prague comprise a major part of my book! Several pages describe the historic Charles Bridge that I've walked across so many times!

. . . Is it really a coincidence? How many books have such lengthy descriptions of the city I'm growing to love so much?

No. This is just another little nudge of confirmation. "I want you here. Walk in my ways. I know the plans I have for you."

I want to share a passage from this novella with you. It isn't the most optimistic recounting of Prague that exists, but it does pass on a good picture of the city's history. Remember, this is not only a selection of beautiful phrases describing my city . . . It's more than a coincidence. It's a reminder of His plan for my life. May each of us dwell fully in the land God has placed us in. May we remember that He has a plan for each and every one of our lives-- And, better yet, his plan is always for the good of those who love him.

From George Eliot's "The Lifted Veil"

"My father was called away before he had finished his sentence, and he left my mind resting on the word Prague, with a strange sense that a new and wondrous scene was breaking upon me: a city under the broad sunshine, that seemed to me as if it were the summer sunshine of a long-past century arrested in its course-- unrefreshed for ages by the dews of night or the rushing rain-cloud; scorching the dusty, weary, time-eaten grandeur of a people doomed to live on in the stale repetition of memories, like deposed and superannuated kings in their regal gold-inwoven tatters. The city looked so thirsty that the broad river seemed to me like a sheet of metal; and the blackened statues, as I passed under their blank gaze, along the unending bridge, with their ancient garments and their saintly crowns, seemed to me the real inhabitants and owners of the place, while the busy, trivial men and women, hurrying to and fro, were a swarm of ephemeral visitants infesting it for a day. It is such grim, stony beings as these, I thought, who are the fathers of ancient faded children, in those tanned time-fretted dwellings that crowd the steep before me; who pay their court in the worn and crumbling pomp of the palace which stretches its monotonous length on the height; who worship wearily in the stifling air of the churches, urged by no fear or hope, but compelled by their doom to be ever old and undying, to live on in the rigidity of habit, as they live on in perpetual mid-day, without the repose of night or the new birth of morning."

(Charles' Bridge, built in 1357-- The statues primarily represent different stations of the cross. Even in the mid 1800's George Eliot thought this bridge was a marvel of history . . . )