Though we've never met, I feel a connection with Vida Zuljevic, a librarian in Pasco, Washington, who serves Pre-K through fifth grade at Virgie Robinson Elementary. The town that Hattie Brooks homesteaded near, in real life and in my novel Hattie Big Sky, was named also named Vida (for the postmaster's daughter). Vida explained that, in her language, Vida is the female form of the word vid, meaning vision, sight. Catholics in Slavic countries in Europe celebrate St. Vid, believing that he sees everything, and he is worshiped (among other reasons) as the protector of people’s vision.I think her parents must have known what they were doing in giving this future librarian that beautiful and meaningful name! I think mint tea might be a lovely accompaniment while you read today's interview.
First, Vida, we'd like to take a peek at your past. The photos she has shared are especially poignant as they are the only ones her family saved, as they escaped the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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- Favorite school lunch as a kid: It’s believed that memories supported by our sense of smell last longest in humans. My memory of sandwiches made by my beloved grandma and the smell of her freshly baked bread are still very much alive and always bring warm feelings to my heart.
- Best friend in grade school: Edina Vejzovic-Puzic (she also lives in the United States now). I found her after about forty years of no contact via some common friends and thanks to the Internet.
- Times you were the new kid in school: Because of moving a couple of times, I went to three different elementary schools (in my country, elementary school includes grades 1-8). I remember moving from an old school, in which I started my education, to a new, experimental school where everything was modern and felt “cold” with so much glass and iron and no friends…This move was in third grade, and there was a boy who’d pick on me, teasing me because I was the tiniest girl in class, kind of shy and quiet--in short, I appeared an “easy to pick on” girl. One day at recess time, he and another boy approached me, gave me a tiny box, and said, “gift for you” with a mischievous smile on his face. I don’t know why, but I took it. And when he said, "Open it,” I did. Sure enough, a little lizard popped out, and the boys screeched trying to scare me. It was to their surprise that I got down on my knees and started chasing the little lizard, managed to catch it, and then, while holding it, I petted its back. And the lizard calmed down, feeling my gentle touch. The boys were in awe. They said that they'd never seen a girl so brave to even hold a lizard, let alone pet it. From then on, the boys never teased me again, and what's more, we became very good friends.
- Teacher who inspired you to stretch: My first grade teacher, Mr. Alikalfich. In those days, coal for heating would be delivered to the school and teachers would be asked to help unload the trucks and store the coal in the school storage. It was on a November day that the truck came, and Mr. Alikalfich called my name and said to me in front of the whole class: "Vida, you’ll be the teacher until I come back. I need to help unload the coal from the coal truck. Come sit at my desk and read this part to the class (he showed me a paragraph from the text book), and then let them talk about it to each other until I come back." He did not ask me if I could read it; he did not show even a sliver of doubt about it or about my “teaching abilities.” It really gave me confidence, and I remember truly wanting to read that passage perfectly without mistakes and with lots of expression, which I of course did not have mastered by then, but my teacher’s trust in my abilities made me stretch to my highest potential, and I made it sound really good and my classmates respected that… This incident also ignited a spark of wanting to be a teacher, a plan I realized by going to a high school for teachers first and then to teachers' college and then university. One day, as I was walking down the hall at the teachers' college I was attending at the time, I spotted a tiny figure waking toward me, and I recognized my first grade teacher. I approached him with “Hello, do you recognize me Mr. Alikalfich?" He squinted at first, then smiled: "I knew it…I knew it from the first day of first grade that you were born to be a teacher, Vida." My heart jumped for joy. He remembered not only my name but also his faith in me. He went on to share that he too was there to take classes because new regulations for elementary teachers required upgrading their degrees with endorsements in specific areas of teaching.
Vida, a mutual friend suggested I contact you because of your passion for teaching and writing poetry. Talk about the seed that planted such a passion. Have you always loved poetry?
Poetry was an essential part of the elementary school curriculum in former Yugoslavia. I liked to read, and I liked to play with words. My first poem was published in a children's magazine when I was in third grade. As a teen, I was in the school's poetry club. I published poems regularly in magazines for children throughout my schooling. The roots don't come only from my education, but also the fact that I am from a city where poetry is part of the city's culture, cherishing a tradition of great poets from this region such as Aleksa Santic, Osman Dikic, Branko Simic, Mak Dizdar, Pero Zubac and others. I lived my teenage years developing a love for reading and reciting poems by these and other great poets such as Yesenin, Prevert, Lorca, Neruda, and Lord Byron.
When I became a kindergarten teacher, I used poetry on an daily basis, whether chanting nursery rhymes, reading poems of popular children's poets, writing poems with the students in my class, or singing children’s songs. Poetry was a part of me from my early childhood; I feel it was born with me in my heart and mind, and it waited for a couple of years to let me grow and learn to talk, read and write in order to start flowing out of there and let wonderful poetry in as well.
Why do you feel it’s so important for students to read poetry? To write poetry?
Because it’s beautiful! Yes, in my opinion this is the most important role of poetry in students’ and adults' lives alike--to bring beauty of language to their attention. The other forms of writing can have such an impact too, but because of its format and language richness, poetry seems to be the most accessible well from which we can take quick or longer sips of beauty and keep coming back to it for additional sips of beauty over and over.
What can students learn from reading/writing poetry that they might not be able to learn from other forms of writing, or for that matter, other forms of art?
Poetry is so attractive, lending itself for pure enjoyment of reading it and enjoying the poetic language, rhythm, and feelings conveyed. I am sure many teachers would agree that poetry is the most suitable form of writing to introduce figurative language, develop reading fluency including expressive reading, encourage imagination, and introduce new vocabulary from different content areas in an artistic way. Its variety allows students with a wide range of reading abilities and interests to enjoy reading in a non-threatening way. I want my students to learn that poetry can feed their souls with a special “food” it offers in abundance: imagery, rhythm, music, language, play, expressions, and that it can also be a seed from which their poetic souls can rise and grow to unimaginable heights.
What books do you particularly enjoy sharing with your students? Why do you particularly enjoy sharing these titles? Can you give a few specific examples from a book or two?
When I was taking classes toward my master's degree in literacy education, I was introduced to a variety of master poets and writers. Thanks to my professors Dr. Terrell Young (for all literature and all reading classes) and Dr. Sylvia Vardell (poetry class), I was totally immersed in an enormous number of fabulous books that just swelled my soul and mind with superior writing craft and beauty of language and form. Books by Ralph Fletcher, Janet Wong, Sharon Creech, Georgia Herd, Nikki Grimes, Langston Hughes, Paul Janaczko, Douglas Florian, Jack Prelutsky, to name just a few, became a regular part of the Poetry Bag that I carry with me to school, to conferences, meetings, and teacher trainings, sharing my excitement with my students, colleagues and other audiences.
It is difficult to pull out a couple of books that I prefer over others. I can only say that Ralph Fletcher’s superior, honest, clear writing craft and his way of sharing poetic imagery through simple and yet strong word choice is the most appealing to me. When I read poetry to my students, I read from his books first, so that they can experience my connectedness to this poet's work, and I usually explain this to my students.
For example, I tell my students how I felt the first time I read the poem "Wind" from Ralph Fletcher’s book Ordinary Things: Poems from a Walk in Early Spring: It was early spring, 2007. It was just about nine years since my family had arrived to the U.S.A. Nostalgia hits hardest in the spring because of familiar things and events related to spring in my country. Fragrances of blooming herbs on the hills around my city, the fragrance of early almond tree blossoms that filled my senses with everlasting memories, the wind that was cold and felt like it did not belong to that place at that time but still felt familiar and dear…and then I came across the poem "Wind." And I read it and reread it several times and stopped only in disbelief that there was someone living in New Hampshire who somehow felt “my” spring and wind from across the ocean the same exact way I did and was able to translate these feelings into such a beautiful and powerful poem.
After I talked about this poem and the connections I made reading it, I ask my fifth graders to talk to their peers at the table about similarly strong feelings they have about something important to them and then to write a poem about it. I had wonderful creative responses such as the following one:
THE TWO SIDES
By Alejandro
5th grade
When I was little,
My mother would say,
“I wish your uncle could come!”
And she’d sigh.
“Who is my uncle,” I’d ask.
“He is a wonderful, delightful man,
she would say,
and her eyes would fill up with tears,
and her face would frown.
“Can I go to see him, I’d ask
And mom would look up and say,
“It is so far.”
“How far, “I wouldn’t give up.
It is like two sides of the world,
My brother is on one side
And we are far away
on the other side.
You’ll see him
Some other time,”
She’d whisper.
“No, I want to see him now,
My sides are both sides,”
I said, and mom looked at me.
And she knew I was going to go…
She let me go during winter break
To see my uncle because
she realized that I DO have
two equally important sides
and that I don’t give up easily.
Please describe some of the poetry activities you do with your students. Can you speak to your students’ reactions/responses to these activities?
I incorporate poetry into my teaching every day. The Poem of the Day is read after the Pledge of Allegiance is recited. Sometimes it’s related to an approaching holiday, sometimes to a season, the weather, a unit I’m teaching, or it is just so beautiful that I simply must share it. The students are invited to share their poetry or poetry they find in books that they'd like to share, as well.
I established an Annual Poetry Contest in the two schools where I worked since starting to work as a teacher in the U.S. From Nov. 1 through Nov. 30 , students are asked to turn in up to three poems (topic, format, or language of their choosing). Then, a committee of 5-6 teachers evaluates the entries, and 12 poems are chosen for the school poetry calendar. The winning poets and their families are invited to a Family Poetry night organized in their honor. The winners read their poems and their families are invited are invited to read some of the poems. It always turns into poetry celebration. The students receive a free calendar and a free poetry book, bookmarks, poetry notebooks, pencils.
Two years ago, I sent 30 poems written and illustrated by my students to the publishing company and our first poetry book named We Are Comets, We Are Poets! (Our school’s mascot is a shooting comet!) was published in spring of 2010.
Last year, out of 372 entries for the contest, in addition to the 12 poems chosen for the Poetry Calendar, 64 poems were chosen for the Poetry Quilt that is permanently displayed in our library. The winning students received their free copy of a book, a reception, and a pizza party in the library.
Also last year, during the month of April (Poetry Month), I ran a variation of Poetry Slam in our library. The students were to find and practice their favorite poem and come to the library after they eat lunch to compete in performing poetry. The activity was well attended every time and the students asked if we can continue with it after the poetry month is over.
Several colleagues at my school are poetry lovers too who incorporate poetry in their teaching on a regular basis. They and many others are supportive of what I am doing in the library and willing to help, which is very significant in showing students that we all value poetry as an important part of reading, learning, and enjoying language. Others are appreciative and willing to try when I approach them with ideas or ask them to encourage their students to read and write poetry. The students are receptive and willing to try writing or sharing poems.
Recently, my colleague and I started a Reading Blog with her second-grade class. I post a question to the second graders, and they come together as a class to answer my question. Their excitement and learning motivation are enormous. At this time, they are gathering powerful words from their reading material so that they are ready to write poetry. The students make a list of quality adjectives and strong verbs they find in the books they are reading, and then they write their poems in writing journals. Then, the students turn their poems in to the teacher, and she posts them on our blog. My colleague reports that this activity has incredibly stirred up enthusiasm for both reading and writing in all her students. And I noticed the same in the library. They dash to the shelves with poetry books; they are leaders in discussing poetic language and poets' craft; and they write fantastic poems. In all, there are endless possibilities. It only takes an enthusiastic, knowledgeable teacher who is willing to explore. And I truly believe that most of us are just that.
The activities/events above are just some of the many I incorporate into my library's everyday life.
What has been most surprising to you about incorporating poetry teaching into your curriculum?
I know that if we look through history of great poetry, male poets considerably outnumber females. Even if we add in great female poets who may have been ignored because of society's perception of "woman's place" of the time, we are still left with the fact that men showed their ability to be great poets. Despite this, it was to my surprise that boys would take on the invitation to perform poetry in front of an audience and to write poetry as easily and willingly as they did (because of the stereotype that perceives poetry as a “girly” thing). Generally, the boys start shyly, but when encouraged and given a lot of examples of wonderful poems by great poets, they loosen up and become leaders in poetry writing and performing.
What obstacles did you/do you have to overcome as you began to incorporate poetry teaching into your curriculum? For instance, I know that many adults say they are afraid of poetry; that they don’t understand it. I would imagine many students share those same feelings. If there is a student who’s hesitant, how do you make him/her comfortable?
I am happy to say that I had no obstacles incorporating poetry in my teaching. When I got my first job in the United States as a pre-school teacher in Addison, Texas, I knew, literally, a few words of English, but I had 18 years of teaching experience with young children. So, in my first few months, this multicultural group of 2-to-3-year-old children I worked with heard hundreds of poems and children’s songs in Serbo-Croatian (my native tongue), and I heard and learned from them the most popular nursery rhymes in English. Regardless of language in which it was shared, poetry had the ability to sneak in one's heart as both the children and I learned from each other. I also paired it up with puppetry and music that go very well with poetry reciting, singing, and performing, which adds excitement and motivates children to participate.
When I moved to Washington State and started my schooling here to get my U.S. A. teaching degree, I was introduced to great children's literature, including incredible poetry for children with which I absolutely fell in love. And who wouldn’t, after reading Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust, Janet Wong’s Jake and Min, Sharon Creech’s Love that Dog (all of which are outstanding novels in free verse format. These extraordinary books inspired me to try to write my own book in the same format. I Was Almost Five was published in 2010. Then, I cannot leave out other fantastic poetry books like The Rainbow Hands by Janet Wong, Ordinary Things, Moving Day, and A Writing Kind of Day by Ralph Fletcher, Thanks a Million by Nikki Grimes, Honey I Love by Eloise Greenfield, and many, many more.
At the first school, where I worked for eight years, only my first principal (who unfortunately left too soon) was very supportive of my puppetry and poetry activities with our students. After he left, I was faced with my colleagues’ and administrators’ unfamiliarity or lack of interest in what I was doing. The success with students who were involved and their families’ support was never in question, but my work was perceived by my colleagues as “Vida’s thing,” whether I was teaching poetry, collecting students' poems to send them to a contest for book publishing or publishing in the local newspaper, organizing Family Poetry Nights, or taking puppeteers to perform poetry in the community, it was always perceived as “Vida’s thing,” but it did not stop me. I knew that “Vida’s thing” was the “right thing” for our students.
My student’s essay “How a Pasco Teacher Influenced My Life,” which won the Greater Pasco Chamber of Commerce grant confirmed that.
Felichiya, 5th grader then, wrote:
"�Mrs. Zuljevic, my writing teacher and librarian, inspired me in writing, reading and of course listening to poetry. And because of that it made my life more spirited and joyful…..
…So, I am really grateful to my wonderful teacher who opened a whole new world of literature to me. Thank you so much! And I will hopefully write, read, and listen to poetry all my life. I am really thankful to you Mrs. Zuljevic for believing in me! And maybe, someday, my poems will inspire somebody!!!..."
The plaque with this essay hangs on the wall above my desk, and I look at it every day, and it energizes me and inspires me to continue doing what I am doing with the same love and passion.
At the school where I have been working for the fourth year now, I have full support of my colleagues and administrators. Many of them share their love of poetry with students, help me evaluate the Annual Poetry Contest entries, come to Poetry Nights, and provide any support I ask for. I feel truly blessed working with and being part of the greatest team of educators I’ve ever worked with.
What other resources (for example, web sites or blogs) might you recommend to other teachers and librarians who would like to follow your lead in poetry teaching?
First, I’d truly recommend to all who are interested in teaching poetry to read the book Poetry Matters by Ralph Fletcher. Five years ago when I was teaching reading and writing to 3rd, 4th and 5th grade combo class of bilingual students, I read this book chapter by chapter and my students enjoyed it tremendously, and most importantly, they understood it and were willing to explore writing poetry and integrating important writing suggestions that Fletcher shared in each particular chapter.
Another book that I highly recommend is Poetry Friday Anthology by Dr. Sylvia Vardell, professor at Texas Women’s University, and Janet Wong, acclaimed poet. This recently published book is a compilation of poems never before published uniquely like this, aligned with common core standards, sorted by grade level and accompanied by five ready-to-use activities. The extraordinary effort of two poetry bards resulted in an extraordinary book that must find a place on every teacher's/librarian's desk.
Here are also couple of blogs that I visit on a regular basis:
and many more…
If you were the Queen of Education, what would be your first decree?
If I were the Queen of Education, I’d immediately shift schools’ focus off of testing and test results and towards the true meaning of education—teaching and learning, and helping every child to love learning regardless of the difficulties they might have along the way.
What else would you like to say about poetry teaching in the classroom/library?
I’d like to share this fabulous poem with you and other educators. I think it says it all.
I Read It Because It’s Beautiful
by Karen Morrow Durica
Somehow a life without poetry seems…
Dismal
Empty
Flat—
Not much.
So each day in my classroom I read…
Sonnets
Haikus
Free verse—
And such.
An observer sat in my room one day…
Noted poem’s title
Evaluated delivery
Recorded “lesson” sequence—
Said dryly: “It seems
There’s no connection curricular-wise…
No anticipatory set
No vocabulary drill
No comprehension query—
Do they know what it means?”
I could have contrived a defense or two, but…
Spirits flowed with peaceful joy
Honesty prevailed
Simple truth explained—
“I read it because it’s beautiful,” I said.
She didn’t quite frown but recalled all the same, “We’ve…
Standards to meet
Timelines to keep
Pages to cover—
Important content to be read.”
I looked from her to my students’ gaze; they…
Had relished the words
Danced with the rhythm
Mused with the meaning—
Were richer in spirit than when we began.
I read it because it was beautiful. And beauty is…
Never superfluous
Never irrelevant
Always needed—
Always in my “lesson” plan.
by Karen Morrow Durica
Somehow a life without poetry seems…
Dismal
Empty
Flat—
Not much.
So each day in my classroom I read…
Sonnets
Haikus
Free verse—
And such.
An observer sat in my room one day…
Noted poem’s title
Evaluated delivery
Recorded “lesson” sequence—
Said dryly: “It seems
There’s no connection curricular-wise…
No anticipatory set
No vocabulary drill
No comprehension query—
Do they know what it means?”
I could have contrived a defense or two, but…
Spirits flowed with peaceful joy
Honesty prevailed
Simple truth explained—
“I read it because it’s beautiful,” I said.
She didn’t quite frown but recalled all the same, “We’ve…
Standards to meet
Timelines to keep
Pages to cover—
Important content to be read.”
I looked from her to my students’ gaze; they…
Had relished the words
Danced with the rhythm
Mused with the meaning—
Were richer in spirit than when we began.
I read it because it was beautiful. And beauty is…
Never superfluous
Never irrelevant
Always needed—
Always in my “lesson” plan.
Vida, this time with you has been completely inspiring. You made me stop and renew my awareness of the richness of language, the beauty of words, the power of poetry. My heart is lighter knowing that you, and many many wonderful librarians just like you, are opening literature's doors to children of all ages. Thank you!
