All posts in Poems

Personification

The first step to building empathy is putting ourselves in the experiences of another, especially if that other can’t speak. The 7th graders of Nettlehorst asked themselves what inanimate objects, animals, or fictional characters […]

The Power of Revision (8th Grade)

All the best poets know that a writer is not judged by their writing alone, but by their ability to rewrite. The 8th graders of Clinton reflected on the power of revision as we […]

The Power of Revision (7th Grade)

All the best poets know that a writer is not judged by their writing alone, but by their ability to rewrite. The 7th graders of Clinton reflected on the power of revision as we […]

‘Lilac/ Dreams’: Making Poems from a Game!

Students made the old-school paper game called a ‘Cootie Catcher,’, which is a form of origami used in children’s games. Parts of the catcher are labeled with words that serve as options for a […]

Ready… Set… Rewrite!

Twain 5th graders are so close to the end of our poetry residency. For week nine, students prepared to reach the finish line. Together we read the poem ” “The Finish Line,” by Laura […]

Cooking Poems & Illustrations

Today, Brennemann 2nd Graders in Ms. Richter‘s class worked collaboratively to create a recipe for how to cook a poem: “How to Cook a Wonderful Poem”by the Class First: get pencils, papers, and erasersfrom […]

“Pencils are wild, magical, and so cool”

On the last day of our 2nd grade poetry residency at Swift – we looked at Carl Sandburg‘s poem “Pencils,” in which I omitted a number of words and lines. Students came up with […]

“…misty water-colored memories”

For our last session, Brennemann 5th graders talked about the different ways that “freedom” is experienced as they move from being younger to older. They talked about not having homework, chores, or responsibilities, and […]

“Poetry is many things that inspire people…”

To bring our terrific 6-week poetry residency with 2nd graders to a close, we talked about (1) things that poetry is: “many things that inspire people;” “imaginative;” “an art;” “its own world;” “art & […]

Zines!

At our final week at Social Justice, we explored how to make zines and the deep and rich community that zine culture creates. We shared both digital and in-person communities around zine making from […]

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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