Today I Love Nostalgia...Slice of Life 15 of 31

Today I love nostalgia. Dictionary.com says that nostalgia is "a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time", among other things.  It's so interesting to think about nostalgia when being an educator.  Our version of "a former place or time" is so very different from our students'.  When I think of nostalgia, I go back in my mind 25, 30, (gasp!) even 40 years to times and places that are as crisp and clear to me as they were then.  For our students, nostalgia may mean just last weekend!  

  As I told you all a while back, several of the teachers at my school went to the Dublin Literacy Conference a few weeks ago, where we heard author Ralph Fletcher.  Mr. Fletcher allowed us to be the students that day as he gave us an example of his own poetic and nostalgic style of writing and asked us to try putting our own spin on it.  Mr. Fletcher's memory poem began like this:  

Sometimes I still remember 
    the good old days
When we...

    and it finished with:
       
I still can't imagine
    anything better than that.

His memory included the wonderful details of a Saturday night, the family preparing for church the next morning by getting all nine children bathed, bedtime cookies and kisses distributed, and each one tucked into bed.   

Well, I did put my spin on that pattern, remembering the times when my own family would all pile into the station wagon headed for the drive in movie theater.  Sleeping bags in the back and big brown buttery bag of popcorn to share in the dusky summer evening.  This week I turned around and fed that pattern to my own students, asking them to try their hand at nostalgia. The results were fantastic!

I've typed too long already and missed my deadline, but here are just a few of their lines that you won't want to miss:

Sometimes I remember
   the good old days
When we all pile in the car 
    and drive to my mom's store
Euro Delicatessen
    First I go to the candy section
Later I have a sweet tooth
    next is the chocolate section
Chocolate on my chin
    the sausages and cheeses are last
We take some salami and gouda
    finally my mom would close the store
Goodnight Euro Delicatessen
    waiting for the next day to come
I still can't imagine 
     anything better than that.

Tim S.
~ ~ ~ ~ 


Sometimes I remember
   the good old days
When we swam until we were prunes
   Trying not to get our hair wet
Listening to the silliest music
    Eating ice cream until it melted in the grass
Swooshing in the sand volleyball courts
    Going on roller coasters
Seeing each other everyday
    Wishing summer could last forever
I still can't imagine
     Anything better than that.

Ally G.
~ ~ ~ ~

There were others that remembered "back in the day" before iphones.  Some remembered building forts down by the creek, visiting grandparents after church on Sundays, and taking walks in the park with their family.  Some  remembered low gas prices.  Some remembered earlier in this very school year, when the end of the year didn't seem so close and friends weren't thinking about not seeing each other anymore, and life seemed simpler.  

Isn't it amazing, how we all have that sentimental yearning for a former time or place...even if that time or place is just yesterday? 

I still can't imagine 
     anything better than that.