All posts in Poems

Group Poems (7th Grade)

What can writing with a partner accomplish that can’t be done alone? This is the question the 7th graders of Clinton reflected on after watching “Cat Poem” by the Get Lit Los Angeles BNV […]

Write A Poem for Someone

We only have a few weeks left in our residency, so for their 8th week of poetry Twain 5th graders thought about writing poems for someone else. Together we read and discussed the poem, […]

Personification (8th Grade)

The first step to building empathy is putting ourselves in the experiences of another, especially if that other can’t speak. The 8th graders of MLA asked themselves what inanimate objects, animals, or fictional characters […]

What Has Wronged You? (High School)

Addressing what has wronged you can be healing, a way to clear the air. The high schoolers of MLA asked themselves what they liked and what they wanted to change about their school before […]

A Cut Above: Cut-Up & Collage Poems

Students used magazines and created cut-up poems! They used ‘found language’ and images to create new meaning.  Lesson Note: Creative Artist guru Julia Cameron says the part of us who creates art is about […]

Letters To Self

As we come to the end of our workshop, I like to share more informal writing exercises with students that they can use on their own if they wish. A basic building block of […]

Tools of the Trade

This week was a departure from our usual read a poem, discuss a poem, write a poem format. When I’m able to, like to share some of the resources I use as a writer […]

Dreams

This week we read “Eating Dinner Alone at the 163rd Street Mall” by Ariel Francisco for both our English class and after school poetry club. Sometimes students shift around from different classes at LYHS, […]

That’s what makes me human…

Mario Benedetti’s poem, No Te Rindas has been a great addition to the curriculum arsenal. It’s always great when a poem can work across age groups because the message is so strong. For English […]

Like you I want the world to be a better place…

Today we introduced the concept of the list poem. Which is exactly what it sounds like! We read Pat Mora’s “To Do List” a silly poem about a student who imagines their perfect weekend, […]

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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