This week we tried something a little different. Instead of bringing in a poem to read and discuss, I gave students some time for a free writing exercise. We started off with a quick warmup where you write down one thing you saw, heard, smelled, tasted and touched during your day. Then students took ten minutes to just write whatever was on their heart and mind, stream of consciousness style. It’s always interesting to see how this exercise lands for students. For some students it’s much more difficult and they notice that it’s easier to have a structured exercise to work with. Other students end up really surprised with how much they are able to generate just relying on instinct and imagination.
Then we went through students poetry folders and took inventory of all the work they have created during our time together. Everyone picked one poem, that was unpublished and took some time to edit and improve their pieces. They could fix spelling, punctuation, or even add on to a piece they felt they hadn’t gotten enough time with. We’re nearing the end of our time together and next week is our final session where we’ll celebrate by having a classroom open mic, where everyone will share a poem they wrote during our workshops. For now enjoy this week’s published poems and congratulations to our poets!
I’m learning to be joyful
because when I go to Wrigley field,
it’s just fantastic in the dugout
and on the field and centerfield
it’s a dream.
Where I come from I see people
from different ethnicities walking
in my neighborhood, I smell the
delicious steak tacos, and chicken from the
restaurants around, or the elotes from the
elotero mom selling them outside.
