All posts in Poems

“a lot to come for my future”

At Henry Elementary, I visited two new classrooms with Mrs. Carrion! We read Clint Smith’s “Counting Descents” and discussed imagery, enjambment, and the use of repetition and counting in Smith’s poem! Student were tasked […]

5th grade sound machines

For our third week, Twain 5th graders explored sound effects in poetry. Poets often use Onomatopoeia, words that intimate sounds from everyday life to emphasis the images and actions occurring in a poem. We […]

“I am so sunny, you need sunglasses to see me”

For our third week of poetry, Twain 6th graders explored ideas about weather. They were asked the question “What type of weather describes your own personalities? We discussed how the weather and seasons can […]

Recipes & Hand Games

This week was quite the variety show! For 6th grade, inspired by Leslie Reese’s “How to Write A Recipe” workshop and Shoesmith student Kamya J.’s poem “Recipe for A Great Summer”, we wrote our […]

“a poem like no other poet as written or rewritten before.”

I can’t believe O-School students are halfway through their 20-week poetry residency. For week 14, we revisit poems we have written together throughout our residency. We read and discussed the poem “Dear Poet,” by […]

Figures of Speech

For our penultimate sessions, we read and discussed Vievee Francis’ “Clarity.” As kind of a ‘greatest hits’ literary device-wise, we examined the poet’s use of simile, personification, and in particular blank space, as well […]

“We use tools”

For our 2nd sessions, I showed up in Brennemann 5th grade classrooms all set to introduce them to the Gwendolyn Brooks poem, “We Real Cool,” but they were already familiar with it from a […]

Not home, not yet

Spring is here, which means summer isn’t too far behind. Last week, Waters 7th graders pondered things to look forward to (big and small) before reading Rita Dove’s vacation. After discussing the astute people […]

Roses that like to play tag: odes & personification

Oh, odes. An homage to the things we hold close. Last week, Waters 6th graders were inspired by Francisco X. Alarcon’s Ode to my Shoes/ Oda a mis zapatos, an ode that delightfully indulges […]

‘Being alone but feeling accompanied’: ‘If I were…’ Poems

After reading Michael Salinger’s poem ‘ If I Were A Gear, ‘ students experimented with metaphors and extended metaphors. Lesson Note: “The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It […]

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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