All posts in Joy Young

Write A Poem for Someone

We only have a few weeks left in our residency, so for their 8th week of poetry Twain 5th graders thought about writing poems for someone else. Together we read and discussed the poem, […]

Future Goals

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 […]

Myths from long ago . . .

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 […]

The Perfect Day

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 […]

I remember . . . .

For our week 18 of poetry, O-School students explored ideas about memories. We discussed the importance of remembering. Whether it’s remembering happy moments such as birthday parties or family vacation, or sad memories like […]

Poets Become Mind readers

Twain 6th graders became mind readers for their 6th week of poetry. I asked students, if you could look inside someone’s head, what interesting things would you find? Most students wished they knew what […]

Poetry Out Loud 2025 National Champion !!!!

This year marks Poetry Out Loud’s 20th Anniversary and there is much to celebrate. On Thursday May 8, 2025, Isavel Mendoza, a 12th-grade student at Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts in […]

Personas that make us laugh

Twain 5th students became comedians for their 6th week of poetry. Poetry can help us make fun of ourselves and the world around us. Sharing jokes and laughter connects people. Together we read Lesléa […]

Poems and Paintbrushes

As we get closer to the end of our residency, I wanted to have have a colorful theme. For their 17th week, O-School students learned about Ekphrastic poetry. Ekphrastic poetry is poetry that is […]

Ask me any question

For our 5th poetry session, the theme was questions. Twain 6th graders were asked, Why do people ask questions? Most students mentioned how people ask questions because they want to gain knowledge and know […]

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I’M FROM THE CITY LIGHTS / STREAMING OUT IN THE NIGHT / AND HUGE SKYSCRAPERS / TOWERING OVER THE LAKE – MELISSA E., 7TH GRADE POET