All posts in Kristen Jeré

Ideal Day Poems @ Peterson 7th Grade

Last week, 7th graders at Peterson wrote poems on what their ideal day would look like based off the concept of reclaiming their identities. For their anchor poem, we read “After God Herself” by […]

Rising Up @ Peterson 7th Grade

Last week at Peterson, we read “And Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou and discussed what it is that Maya Angelou was rising up from and what does it mean to continue “rising” for […]

Self-portraits with words @ Peterson 7th Grade

The other week at Peterson 7th Grade, we read “self-portrait with dirty hair” by Safia Elhillo, a Sudanese-American poet from Maryland. As a class, we talked about what makes a self-portrait and how we […]

When Feelings Come Alive @ Peterson 7th Grade

The other week at Peterson, we read and watched a performance of “Explaining my Depression to my Mother” by Sabrina Benaim. As we discussed what makes spoken word different than written poetry, we also […]

Daddy’s Forehead & Other Jokes @ Peterson 7th Grade

Right after the winter break, we warmed up with a humorous yet heartfelt poem called “Daddy Dozens”. Written by the Chicago namesake, Jamila Woods, students used “Daddy Dozens” as an anchor poem to write […]

Survival Songs @ Peterson 7th Grade

Last week, we learned about stanzas and repetition through the reading of a “Litany for Survival” by feminist, activist writer, Audre Lorde. Students wrote their own poem on survival from the perspective of the […]

In love with veggies @ Peterson 7th Grade

Last week, we learned about dialect and line breaks using feminist playwright and author Ntozoke Shange’s poem “okra to greens/”. Students wrote their own poem comparing and contrasting two different foods while we talked […]

You do not have to be good @ Peterson 7th Grade

Last week, we wrote poems inspired by Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese” starting with the line “you do not have to be good” to explore the idea of goodness, and having agency over ones’ own […]

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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