The first day of my 10 week residency at Taft with their 8th Grade classroom was filled with energy! The students were eagerly brilliant and so we dug right in to examine William Carlos William’s minimalist Imagist style poem, The Locust Tree in Flower. This poem is inspired by William’s interest in minimal / abstract art of the day (1930s).
Lesson Note: I like using this poem as a starter. As students juggle words and grammar line by line to describe an object, their attention is turned ‘inside the box’ of a simple poetic form. How do we describe something using minimal words/language. What words do we use/make up?
Here are some of their wonderful examples.
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period One
Clouds
Oliva P.
blue
lively
dancing
above
soft
fluffy
glittery
flowing
Wind
Frank K.
slowly
calm
passive
collective
cool
Untitled
Alana R.
Peeking
Above
Clouds
Sun
Emerging
Dog
Victor B.
House
On
fast thinker
Quickly
Lazy
Under
Loyal
Next-to
slowly
Happy-sleeper
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period Two
The Hospital
Jacob S.
Near
the
sickers
dark
Hospital
hide
grass
Ian K.
grass
quietly
sits
green
contently
onground
sometimes
muddy
walkedon
always
The Yellow FieldGoal
Emanuel C.
Fieldgoal
Near
Above
Beneath
Stands
Sits
Faded
Dead
Calm
The Grass
Sona S.
Green
Messily
Spikes
Throughout
Lifeland
Jaded
Dimly
Irritation
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period Three
Us
Sam A.
nearly
naïve
notion
The People I See
Hope Z.
tired
slowworking
on
slowly
trudging
dreadful
Traffic
Bethany B.
Cars
Speeding
Vronk
Tires
Squiiring
Tired
Air
Slowly
Peprollow
Carefully
Snow
Allyson C.
Calm
Gently beneath our feet
Eager
Icy
Instantly
Innocent
Beautiful
Down to the ground
Throughout
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period Six
Rush
Franky W.
People rushing
lives separate
make their ways swiftly to work
mindthrough the haze
Rainy Day
Kenijah T.
Gloomy
Sleepy
Pool Floor
Vedikak V.
slimy
cold
wet
hairy
disgustingly
nearly
easily
lazily
pool
floor
keploosh
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period Seven
Window
Lauren B.
cloudy
ice
frosty
Inside
Against
door
Catherine G.
City Silhouettes (buildings)
Among
towering
brikkering
dancing
Fallen Pole
Sebastian F.
Falling
Crushing
Roughly
Intensely
Scarefully
Broken
Fence
Intercepting
Polecrash
The Fallen Pole
