I Am a Pencil A Teacher, His Kids, and Their World of Stories

by Swope, Sam

• ISBN13: 9780805078510
• ISBN10: 0805078517
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-01
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Summary

n 1995, writer Sam Swope gave a workshop to a third-grade class in a Queens school bursting at the seams with kids from around the world. So enchanted was he with his twenty-eight students that he 'adopted' the class for three years, teaching them to write stories and poems. I Am a Pencil is the story of his years with this very special group of students. It is as funny, warm, heartbreaking, and hopeful as the children themselves. Swope follows his colorful troop of resilient writers from grades three to five, coaxing out their stories, watching talents blossom, explode, and sometimes fizzle. We meet Cindy (whose mom was a Taoist priestess), Brian (who cannot seem to tell the truth), and Lourdes (a wacky Dominican chatterbox). Preparing his students for a world of adult dangers, Swope is astonished by their courage, their humanity, and most of all, their strength. I Am a Pencil is a book about the power and magic of imagination, providing a unique window on the immigrant experience as seen through the lives of children.

Author Biography

Sam Swope is the author of several very well-received children's books, including The Araboolies of Liberty Street, The Krazees, and Gotta Go! Gotta Go!, and of the soon-to-be published Jack and the Seven Deadly Giants. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

PREFACE
The Blackbird Is Flying	3	(20)
GRADE THREE: THE BOX PROJECT
Becoming Mr. Swope	23	(4)
Mrs. Duncan	27	(1)
Write a Story, Any Story	28	(5)
Which One Is Su Jung?	33	(4)
I Do! I Do Believe in Fairies!	37	(7)
Hunting for Stories	44	(4)
The Christmas Spirit	48	(4)
Courage	52	(5)
How to Kill the Parents	57	(6)
Your Child Is Wonderful	63	(5)
You Don't Got No Friends	68	(3)
The Little Liar	71	(9)
All That Glitters Is Not Gold	80	(5)
Sugar Plum Saves the Day	85	(4)
Kindness and Doom	89	(5)
A World without Story	94	(7)
GRADE FOUR: THE ISLAND PROJECT
All about Me	101	(5)
Mr. Swope Redefined	106	(2)
Poetry 101	108	(7)
The Animal in Miguel	115	(5)
Surprise!	120	(2)
The Queen Mother of the West	122	(6)
The Fantastic Binomial	128	(5)
The Great Tribulation	133	(5)
The Case of the Missing Report Cards	138	(7)
La Vieja	145	(4)
They Go All the Way Down	149	(4)
The Island Project	153	(4)
Blubber Island	157	(3)
Whose Story Is It, Anyway?	160	(5)
Miguel's Island	165	(3)
The Ludicrous Girl	168	(5)
The Black Plain	173	(5)
Party Island	178	(5)
GRADE FIVE: THE TREE PROJECT
A Tree Is	183	(9)
Dear Tree	192	(5)
The Park	197	(8)
The Middle School Problem	205	(5)
Max in Control	210	(5)
Afros, Chinos, and Skittles	215	(5)
The Willow Tree	220	(8)
How to Draw a Tree	228	(4)
Night Writing	232	(4)
The McDonald's Conferences	236	(6)
The Stalwart Boy	242	(5)
Emotion Recollected in Tranquillity	247	(5)
Snow Poems	252	(2)
The Bud Lesson	254	(8)
Epithalamium	262	(2)
The Story Trees	264	(3)
The Mountain Climber	267	(8)
A Spring Surprise	275	(4)
Who Is Su Jung?	279	(4)
Loose Ends	283	(6)
Good-bye and Good Luck	289	(6)
EPILOGUE	295	(4)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	299