All posts in Poems

One more revision round!

How quickly 20 weeks flies by! We’ve come close to the end (!) of poetry sessions for Water’s 7th graders. They’ve already proven to be experienced revisers of their writing, and we’re wrapping up […]

“pero tu luz como un ángel no se esconde entre la frazada oscuridad “: Star Poems

Students read a student poem that uses personification to talk to a star before trying their hands at their poems addressing something… bigger than themselves, using words from legendary poet/teacher Kim Addonizio’s word bank […]

Memories come back like a boomerang!

For Twain 5th graders fourth week of poetry, they went back to the past using their memories as time machines. We explored how to use our five senses (touch, taste, smell, sound, and sight) […]

New Personas “pulled out of / a pile of all my / paper friends”

For our penultimate workshop, students in Ms. Smallwood and Ms. Hernandez’s classes wrote poems from the point of view of people, animals, and things other than themselves. To get us started, we read “According […]

Odes of every flavor

For our 4th week of poetry, 6th graders discovered odes. An ode is a poem that gives praise and celebrates a person, place, or object. Together we read Marcus Jackson’s poem “Ode to Kool-Aid.” […]

Monster List

Last Friday, I was reunited with Swift 2nd graders after missing them for two weeks in a row: one Friday they visited the Peggy Notebaert Museum; and the following week there was no school […]

“Look Admidst the Trees”

Last Thursday in my sessions with Brennemann 5th Graders, we talked about gardens and the value of having someone who believes in you. We viewed a video of the poet Joaquin Zihuatanejo, who talked […]

“why are there so many questions?”

My first sessions with Nettelhorst 2nd graders were a joy! Their teachers had recently concluded a poetry unit and students were excited to delve into it some more. My hat goes off to Nettelhorst […]

Differing Perspectives

This week at Social Justice High School, we looked at Aziza “Z” Barnes’ poem “Aunt Jemima.” We both listened and read the poem and talked about how you can show various viewpoints or voices […]

I Remember & Remember & Remember

One of my favorite works to teach is Joe Brainard’s 1975 book I Remember. It is a book of poetry exclusively made up of memories, personal and cultural, each beginning with “I Remember.” This […]

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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