Week 1 - TEAM Englewood - The Chicago Poetry Center

Week 1 – TEAM Englewood

I’m teaching to three 9th grade English classes in Ms. Dube’s room every Tuesday. The first week I wanted to tie poetry to the book they are reading (Your Food is Fooling You) by showing them former Chicago poet Idris Goodwin’s poem “What is they feeding our kids?” as featured on HBO’s Def Poetry. I then had them write about what they hate as a way to show them that poetry can be as much about social change as it is about feelings and instrospection.

Ms. Dube 9th Grade

Jerale C.

I hate writing
I hate poems
I hate poetry
I hate essays
I hate to fail.

I hate writing.
When people ask me to write
I can’t do it.
Writing is just not me.
I can’t express myself
through writing.

I hate Ciaira J.

I hate school lunch
we eat it at 10 so it’s like brunch
school lunch don’t know what it is
but you take it still
it’s not even a healthy meal
school lunch I hate it still
it’s not even a good meal
I hate school lunch
for real.

I hate when people lie Tatyanna B.

I hate when people lie because what’s the point
you act like someone going to do something to you
if you tell the truth
this is why I hate when people lie.