All posts in Poems

“Her confidence glows like a beautiful crystal gem”

This week, we talked about mythical creatures and symbolism. After reading “My People” by Pam Thompson, we discussed what myths and mythical creatures mean in poetry and stories. Check out some of the poetry […]

Ekphrasic Poems

This week, we learned all about ekphrastic poetry! This kind of poetry is inspired and written about a piece of art. First, we read two ekphrastic poems: one by a student poet that was […]

Sincerely, P.S., Yours Truly

For their 8th week of poetry Twain 6th graders explored various ways to communicate with one another. Our society relies heavily on technology. Some students feel only comfortable communicating through emails and texts, while […]

Magic Words

What if you could speak a word and make something magical happen? That’s the question we started this week off with, before reading an Inuit poem called Magic Words. We had a lively discussion […]

You Can Express Your Feelings

In addition to reading aloud from poetry books and watching the “We Real Cool” video produced by the Poetry Foundation, Dubois students discussed things they like and dislike about writing. Students reflected on things […]

Mixed Bag

Poems from our 16th sessions reflect a mixed bag: while 2nd graders continued to write identity poems, 3rd graders played with ideas that reflected on their trip to the zoo. Ms. Reed’s class still […]

Cool Dreaming

Last week I got to meet with Twain 5th graders for our 4th and 5th sessions. Students spent more time working on their dream poems, some of which you can read, below. Before getting […]

Strange voices at Shoesmith

For their 5th poetry session Shoesmith 5 and 6th graders explored persona poetry. I asked students to imagine seeing the world by walking in someone else’s shoes. We joked about not actually wearing someone’s […]

My People, My People

Last week, Grissom’s middle schoolers got to show love to the people most important to them. We began our time together with a brief lesson on the Harlem Renaissance before reading Langston Hughes’ poem […]

Summering Party

Sayre 7th graders recalled the key terms: imagery and line. Looking to Parneshia Jones’ “For The Basement Parties at the YMCA” they sought out rich images, striking sounds, and astute line breaks. Then, they […]

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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