- BY: Mayda del Valle
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This week we got to read of my favorite poems to use with students. The Quiet Machine by Ada Limon works so well with students of all ages, and it gives them a really […]
- BY: Mayda del Valle
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For class today we read “Versions of Me” by Aline Melo, a really wonderful piece that asks the reader to consider how all the different versions of us can be at peace with […]
- BY: Leslie Reese
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Brennemann 5th graders returned to their bluesy ideas from last week. While much of the blues are steeped in heartfelt sadness, some blues can make us laugh. Remembering that blues songs and poems have […]
- BY: Leslie Reese
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Last week a student expressed interest in writing haiku, so I offered Nettelhorst 2nd grade teachers the option of working on haikus or emotional creatures this week. Students in Ms. Rodriguez’s and Mrs. Barbeau’s […]
- BY: Mayda del Valle
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This week Ms Caplan’s class continued working on their golden shovels. In Ms. Murray’s class we tried something a little different. Students did a quick free write exercise and then picked a line they […]
- BY: Mayda del Valle
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This week we explored the Golden Shovel form created by Terrance Hayes. We discussed how even now, there are forms of poetry still being created and invented. Hayes was inspired by one of our […]
- BY: Madison Mae Parker
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In our 2nd to last week together at Henry Elementary, we spent our time together editing poems and talking about performance techniques in prep for our 7th grade reading! Check out some of the […]
- BY: Madison Mae Parker
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In our 2nd to last week at Social Justice High School, we watched and read the poem “Rise” by Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner and Aka Niviâna. These two poets share how climate change has and will […]
- BY: Leslie Reese
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This week Brennemann 2nd graders spent time re-visiting previous lessons, and reading their poems aloud for an audience of their classmates and teachers. Since we did not write new poems this week, I’ve chosen […]
- BY: Leslie Reese
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Last week Swift 2nd graders performed collaborative poetry and music in a special morning assembly for family and community as part of the school’s partnership with Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I was very moved to […]
- BY: Joy Young
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O-School students thought about the future for their 19th week of poetry. I asked students “What do you wish to do in the future?” We discussed how the future can sometimes be scary, we […]
- BY: Cai Sherley
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This week at Howe, we were murderous and full of sensation. On Monday, we talked about beats, stomping and clapping our way through the 5-7-5 form of the haiku. After reading haikus about racial […]
- BY: Teresa Dzieglewicz
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As the weather changes and things start to warm up, it felt like the perfect time to read “Knoxville, TN” by Nikki Giovanni. We watched a video of her reading the poem from Knoxville […]
- BY: Madison Mae Parker
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At Smyser Elementary, we learned about extended metaphors and onomatopoeias through Maya Marie Washington’s poem “Alien.” Students were tasked with writing their own extended metaphor poem where they turned into one non-human thing. Check […]
- BY: Joy Young
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Things became mythical for Twain 6th graders for our 7th week of poetry. A myth is an ancient story or legend explaining the early history of a group of people or about a natural […]
- BY: Madison Mae Parker
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This week at Henry Elementary, we learned about erasure poems and blackout poetry as an extension of this! We looked at examples from Austin Kleon and Tracy K. Smith’s “Declaration.” Poets were tasked with […]
- BY: Madison Mae Parker
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This last week at Social Justice, we read and watched a portion of Ross Gay’s “Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude.” We learned about juxtaposition and how to implement this into our writing. Check out this […]
- BY: Joy Young
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The 7th week of poetry for 5th graders involved imagining an ideal day for themselves. I asked students, “What does the perfect day look like to you?” Some students responded with ideas such as […]
- BY: Timothy David Rey
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Students used magazines and created cut-up poems! They used ‘found language’ and images to create new meaning. Lesson Note: Creative Artist guru Julia Cameron says the part of us who create art is about […]
- BY: Timothy David Rey
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Blackout Poetry: A blackout poem is created when a poet takes a marker (usually a black marker) to already established text, like that from a newspaper, and starts redacting words until a poem or […]
- BY: Noel Quinones
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Many of our 5 senses are deeply connected to memory. This week the 7th graders of Nettelhorst reflected on their favorite foods and the people, places, and things connected to them. After reading “The […]
- BY: Noel Quinones
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Metaphors allow us to transform ourselves, if just for a moment. The students of MLA asked themselves what they could become after we read “The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee” by N. Scott Momaday. Upon […]
- BY: Noel Quinones
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Sometimes words are not enough to convey what we are trying to say. The 7th graders of Clinton thought about what objects, animals, or ideas meant a lot to them before reading “Our Tree’s […]
- BY: Noel Quinones
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Sometimes words are not enough to convey what we are trying to say. The 8th graders of Clinton thought about what objects, animals, or ideas meant a lot to them before reading “Our Tree’s […]
- BY: Leslie Reese
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Last week Brennemann 5th graders talked about the blues as a feeling of sadness, and as a musical form created by African-Americans in the late 1800s. We watched video of our example blues song, […]
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“Writing poetry makes me feel like I can see myself, like I can see my reflection, but not in a mirror, in the world. I write and I know I can be reflected.”
-Oscar S.
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