- BY: Leslie Reese
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My fourth session with Swift 3rd graders was dreamy. We talked about many kinds of dreams and nightmares. Then we read the poem “D is for Daydreaming,” which ends with the following stanza:“Try to […]
- BY: Timothy David Rey
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Students wrote Odes, using personification, after reading Francisco X. Alarcon’s poem, ‘Ode to My Shoes.’ Lesson Note: “If it were up to me, everything I love would have a poem in praise of it. […]
- BY: Mayda del Valle
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Do all questions have an answer? This question was our jumping-off point for this week’s lesson as we read excerpts from Pablo Neruda’s Book Of Questions. After a lively discussion about the nature of […]
- BY: Cai Sherley
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This past week Hyde Park Academy High School’s poetry club spoke their names. They discussed their origins, the power of each nickname, and what their names mean to them. These are two of those […]
- BY: Joy Young
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This past Tuesday, I started my afterschool residency at the Gary Comer Center and met a great group of 8th graders. The theme for our first poetry session on was self-portraits. Artists create self-portrait […]
- BY: Mayda del Valle
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What does a perfect weekend look like to you? This week we read Pat Mora’s “To Do List” and came up with our own poems using the structure of a list poem. In her […]
- BY: Cai Sherley
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This week Lawndale’s 6th graders explored dreams, with everything from mystery men to goats. Enjoy! Ms. Barker 6th Grade Señor by Anonymous En mi sueño había un señor escalofrianteque me seguía y me había […]
- BY: Joy Young
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For our sixth session of poetry, the O School Group A and B students were asked to transform into different objects, animals, or people using metaphors. Metaphors are direct comparisons, saying that one thing […]
- BY: Josie Levin
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This week in class we read “Glossary of Terms” by Franny Choi and discussed how form affects poetry with a new and unique form. Students filled in their own categories for Choi’s terms as […]
- BY: Larry Dean
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This week we read “Burning the Old Year” by Naomi Shihab Nye. As the titles suggests, the poem is about the New Year celebration, though it focuses on its subject obliquely, through a central […]
- BY: Ola Faleti
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Ah, the joys of revision! As every great poet knows, much of the “work” of poetry takes place through the revision process. With Waters 6th graders, we talked about some different ways to make […]
- BY: Ola Faleti
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Ah, the joys of revision! As every great poet knows, much of the “work” of poetry takes place through the revision process. For Waters 7th graders eighth week, we talked about some different ways […]
- BY: Russell Price
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This week the young viking writers were eager to try their hand at love poems–a topic they have been excited to write for weeks. They read and thoroughly enjoyed Matthew Olzmann’s “Mountain Dew Commercial […]
- BY: Russell Price
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This week the young vikings explored prose poetry. They read Hanif Abdurraqib’s “When I Say That Loving Me Is Kind Of Like Being a Chicago Bulls Fan” and “The Fight in the Meadow” by […]
- BY: Timothy David Rey
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Students read ‘Along the East River and in the Bronx Young Men Were Singing‘ by Ariel Francisco, in a nod to the opening lines of Fredrico Lorca’s ode to Walt Whitman, ‘ By the […]
- BY: Leslie Reese
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For our 3rd sessions Swift 2nd graders talked about comparisons. We tried to look at pairs of very different things to find similarities in color, texture, shape, size, and feeling. After examining similes written […]
- BY: Timothy David Rey
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‘I celebrate and sing myself…’-Walt Whitman Students explored names through a series of prompts, which began with a reading of ‘a girl named jack’ by Jaqueline Woodson. What occurs when someone or something is […]
- BY: Poetry Center
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Our silent auction is open for bids! We’re excited to be auctioning dozens of great bundles ranging in interest, all generously donated by staff, board members, and board alums! A few highlights: These are […]
- BY: Cai Sherley
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This week Lawndale’s 6th grade workshop was all about rhythm. After a lively game of “The Clap Heard Around The World” they read Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” and used her work as inspiration […]
- BY: Leslie Reese
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For my second meeting with Swift 2nd graders, we discussed things we experience using our sense(s) of sight, taste, smell, sound, and touch. We also talked about the seasons, and some of the changes […]
- BY: Josie Levin
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This week in Ms. Smallwood’s 6th grade class and Ms. Hernandez’s 7th grade class we took a crack at concrete poems. We read “Spew Machine” by John Grandits and discussed the logistics of a […]
- BY: Ola Faleti
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Oh, nostalgia. It’s a powerful feeling, and one that 7th graders at Waters explored with the Aimee Nezhukumatathil poem “When I Was 6”. Before we read the poem, I asked students to think back […]
- BY: Ola Faleti
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Oh, nostalgia. It’s a powerful feeling, and one that 6th graders at Waters explored with the Aimee Nezhukumatathil poem “When I Was 6”. Before we read the poem, I asked students to think back […]
- BY: Timothy David Rey
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Students wrote ‘Where I’m From’ poems investigating the real and fantastical in poetry. Lesson Note: “What I like about this exercise is that it asks poets to look at what we think and think […]
- BY: Cai Sherley
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This past Thursday at Hyde Park Academy, a group of students came into the 4th floor art room for pizza and an open mic. What they got was a poetry workshop and an audience […]
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“Writing poetry makes me feel like I can see myself, like I can see my reflection, but not in a mirror, in the world. I write and I know I can be reflected.”
-Oscar S.
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“Writing poetry is like your best friend.”
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