All posts in Timothy David Rey

‘the/Girl with the maroon dress/And as she said yes…’: Narrative & Memory

This week’s lesson was sparked by Gary Soto’s wonderful poem ‘Oranges’ which details a pre-teen couple’s date on a cold December day. This served as the class’s jumping off point to write their own […]

A Tree Grows at Washington!

My first day at Washington began in a roomful of expectant students: Mrs. Nazimek’s 8th Grade classroom. After introductions, and some votes on ‘Who reads poetry?’ (Among the ‘yeses’ and ‘no’s’ there were also […]

[love is a peace that won’t let rest]: Parting Words at Taft (#2)

As I wrap up my residency at Taft High School with their 8th Grade students, I have tremendous hope for our future. Surprised? Don’t be. 8 weeks ago, I entered a room of squirly […]

Mixed Media #2: The Big Ask

We began class with a few rounds of Rapid Fire Questions, where one student was timed for 30 seconds and asked to respond to a string of random questions about themselves with the first […]

Mixed Media #1: Headline Poems

Extra! Extra! In this lesson we looked at Headline poems, and discussed mash up vs. cut up poems–finding poetry in the oddest places. We then turned our attention to the headline poem, ‘Rock Singer […]

‘If the bird is being blue or singing,’ Shakespearean Sonnets at Taft

A long time ago , in a galaxy, NOT so far away…Shakespeare! This was our week to wrestle with The Bard, and it was a bold crew of pre-Spring Break and exhausted- from- testing […]

Why? Because.

Because of testing some classes ran long and some short, but that didn’t stop Taft 8th Graders from penning their own ‘Because’ poem using Yannis Ritsos’ List Poem, ‘Because’ as a jumping off point. […]

‘/unhappy with tranquility/’: Emily Dickenson visits Taft

For a first poem with rhyme, Ms. Taylor’s 8th Graders took a look at ‘I’m Nobody! Who are you?’ by Emily Dickenson. We talked about the internal rhyme, to whom and of whom the […]

‘Like a coconut in a bank vault’ : Group Similes at Taft

To address Simile (made up of the Tenor and the Vehicle) and the senses, I read the 8th Graders, Sweet Like A Crow by Michael Ondaatje. Before that, students took a stab at putting […]

‘Deep Dish Love’: Food & Memory at Taft

My second poetry workshop with Ms. Taylor’s 8th Grade class, had us busy, busy, busy. We read the Narrative Poem, Oranges by Mexican-American, poet, Gary Soto, then discussed the poem’s wonderful metaphors, sense images, […]

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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