All posts in Deneen

”I’m such a fool to not see life is cool”: Gwendolyn Brooks-Inspired Poems

Students read Gwendolyn Brooks’ classic poem, ‘We Real Cool’ before crafting their own ‘cool’ poems using their own words and ideas for what is cool, rhyme, repetition, and the short form. We Real Cool […]

‘We made it for sick people and the world/ so we can continue living’: Potion Poems

Students read the poem, ‘Truth Serum’ by Naomi Shihab Nye before writing their own potion-themed poems. Lesson Note: “I respect anyone who’s pulled an idea out of their brain and fully brought it to […]

‘remember that’: Small Kindnesses Poems

Students wrote and talked about kindness before reading the poem, ‘Small Kindnesses’ by Denusha Lameris. In crafting their own poems, students focused on one idea, one stanza, and small ways they have been kind […]

‘To fight the night become the light. ‘: Odes

Students read ‘Ode To My Shoes’ by Francisco X. Alacron before penning their own odes. Below are some of their wonderful poems. Lesson Note: “Go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are […]

‘and dad/ and mom/and people/ and pool/’: Food and Memory Poems

Nikki Giovanni is a well-known African-American poet who spent summers with her grandparents in Knoxville, Tennessee, when she was a little girl, doing many of the same things kids like to do during the […]

‘When I go to the water …’: Exquisite Corpse-Style Group Poems

Working on poetic lines, students crafted visual and then poetic Exquisite Corpses! Afterward, they were challenged to create a clay figure of one of their collective group drawings! Below are some images and some […]

‘To my brother/best friend’: Night Poems

Students thought about what occurs at night, the concept of home, and short forms before penning their own very modern poems inspired by Li Bai’s, ‘Quiet Night Thoughts.’ Quiet Night Thought At the foot […]

Cut Up Poems: Parting Action Shots

For a final project, students used magazines and created cut-up poems! They used ‘found language’ and images to create new meanings. Here are some ‘in action’ shots of student hands working away! Lesson Note: […]

“I saw happiness /not emptiness I felt loved/ not only.”: Meditation and Blackout Poems

Younger students made Blackout Poems, and older students participated in a short meditation and breathing exercise. I read them I Close My Eyes by David Ignatow. After the meditation, they were asked to write […]

“I can hear the seafood bubbling” & “My voice is rain to the sky”: Food & Voice Themed Performance Poems!

Younger students wrote food-inspired poems after reading a Nikki Giovanni poem about food! Nikki Giovanni is a well-known African-American poet who used to spend summers with her grandparents in Knoxville, Tennessee, when she was […]

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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