Showing posts with label Waiting to See the Principal and Other Poems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Waiting to See the Principal and Other Poems. Show all posts

Friday, April 20, 2012

Less Than 300 Words

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so what is this photo saying? Well, what does it say about me? I love sharing poetry with an audience because I feel fully alive when I'm performing poetry. And the Monroe Community College is a fabulous place to entertain kids and adults with poems that you created.
The book in my hands is WAITING TO SEE THE PRINCIPAL AND OTHER POEMS. You can go to Amazon.com and find some wonderful book reviews there. I am proud of the text and the illustrations. Lori Aman created the illustrations. She is a talented oil painter and cartoonist.

For a number of years we both taught in the same school in Rochester, NY, the Walt Disney Elementary School. We both loved kids and teaching. Okay, you can't see "all of that" in this photo, but my eyes and lips are smiling. Can you see that?

Everyone seems to be paying attention. Can you see that? To catch everyone paying attention on film is one of the biggest challenges, especially when you entertain kids, for a photographer to capture. You hardly ever get that, even if you crop the photo. Usually you see a crowd of faces bursting with mile long smiles, and off in the corner someone is intently watching an ant crawl on the floor. Therefore, it's flattering to see all the heads leaning toward the speaker, Yours Truly, and one female face is actually smiling in the left-hand corner. I actually like to believe the faces you can't see are smiling too. I tend to be an optimist.

We don't have a thousand words here, but at least you know why I like this photo so much. To me, it's priceless.


Friday, March 9, 2012

4 New Book Reviews for WAITING TO SEE THE PRINCIPAL AND OTHER POEMS!

Here are four new book reviews that were written last month after I visited the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elementary School in Seneca Falls.


“A great book! Fun and engaging poetry for children.” Fourth grade teacher,  Michele Marconi, Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elementary School

“This book [Waiting to See the Principal and Other Poems] really hits the hearts of the young and the ‘young hearted.’” Michael Pucino, teacher, Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elementary School



“I love the poems in the book. Very kid-friendly.” Melissa Caswell, teacher, Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elementary School


“The poems were very kid-friendly, and the addition of the illustrations only adds to the poems. I like how many of the poems adds multiple perspectives in a very accurate way!” Kate Smithler, Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elementary School

Monday, February 21, 2011

If I Were in Charge of the School (Student Version)




Please check out this one minute video on You-Tube of a shy poet  reading the poem "If I Were in Charge of the School" from WAITING TO SEE THE PRINCIPAL AND OTHER POEMS written by Joe Sottile, and illustrated by Lori Aman. This is the student's version of the poem, and it's okay to laugh or giggle at the words.


This is where you can see the video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrhRv9QFcgk


Thanks for viewing!


Joe "Silly" Sottile