All posts in Joy Young

Heros and Heroines

In their seventeenth virtual lesson Haugan students explored the meaning of heroism. They were asked, “What characteristics make someone a hero?” Many students mentioned bravery, selflessness, intelligence, and kindness. Together we watched a YouTube […]

Does every question need an answer?

For their fifth virtual lesson with Dubois students, we experimented with questions. They were asked “Why do people ask questions?” and “Does every question have to have an answer?” As humans we are naturally […]

Poets Become Artists @ Shoesmith 5th & 6th Grade

For our thirteenth virtual lesson Shoesmith 5th and 6th graders became artists. We explored Ekphrastic poetry, poems inspired by famous works of art. Together students read the poem “River Song,” by Warren Woessner, which […]

Opposites

For our sixteenth virtual lesson Haugan 8th graders explored mirror poetry, poems all about opposite perspectives. The world is filled with opposites such as heads or tails, ying and yang, and good and evil. […]

Origin Myths

For my fourth virtual lesson with Dubois students, we explored myths. A myth is an ancient story or legend explaining the early history of a group of people or about a natural phenomenon. Myths […]

Humorous Hyperboles @ Shoesmith 5th & 6th Grade

For their twelfth virtual lesson Shoesmith 5th and 6th graders learned to laugh at themselves. Together we read and discussed the poem, “I Finished My Homework,” by children’s poet Kenn Nesbitt. In poem the […]

Once the world was perfect

For their fifteenth virtual lesson Haugan 8th graders explored myths. A myth is an ancient story or legend explaining the early history of a group of people or about a natural phenomenon. Myths involve […]

Making mistakes with haikus

During my third week working virtually with Dubois Students, we experimented with haikus. Haiku is a short Japanese three-line poem written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. Students read the poem “Haiku for How to […]

Mic Check @ Shoesmith 5th and 6th Grade

For their eleventh virtual poetry lesson Shoesmith 5th and 6th graders revisited some of their old poems they wrote since the beginning of our residency. Our lesson objective was to revise and edit poems […]

Can I ask you a question?

For their fourteenth poetry lesson Haugan 8th graders experimented with question poetry, where poets ask a series of questions as a form of self-reflection and deeper meaning. They were asked “Why do people ask […]

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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