Following up on the family poems we wrote in our last class, this week we read Pesto in August by contemporary poet, Katrina Vandenberg. Students were asked if they had ever eaten pesto before, and many realized they had, even if they hadn't known the name before now!

This week's poem was My Mother, by Jane Kenyon.

With the presidential election happening yesterday, we read Denise Duhamel and Maureen Seaton's collaboratively written poem, Exquisite Candidate, which was composed using a technique called trailing. We briefly discussed how exaggeration was used in the poem, as well as its voice.

Alden Nowlan has long been one of my favorite poets, so I was excited to bring to classes today one of his best known works, The Bull Moose. This narrative poem describes what happens when man and nature collide in provincial Canada. Students ardently discussed the plot of the poem, and the motivations of its characters. When finished, they wrote animal poems of their own.

American poet and novelist, Richard Brautigan was the inspiration for this week's writing. We read his short poem, Poker Star, and discussed its meaning―the central image of the poem, as well as what may have inspired Brautigan to write it. Students were then given one playing card apiece face down.

Monday was the first day of Autumn, so this week, we read Faiz Ahmed Faiz's beautiful poem, When Autumn Came.

Today was the first day of poetry class for the new year at Shields! I introduced the residency to students in seven classrooms, including many who had prior experience with a poet in 3rd grade. Everyone was very excited, and it was a pleasure for me to be back.

In 2007/2008, Poets-in-Residence Rachel Javellana, Lindsay Bell, and Larry O. Dean worked with student writers at Shields Elementary. Their poems were published to the Shields Elementary Poetry Blog. Please enjoy until the new crop of students starts being showcased here!