All posts in Rachel Javellana

Fear

“We were afraid of everything,” begins the poem “Fear” by Dorianne Laux. I asked students to describe the fears of teenagers and compiled a selection of lines into a collaborative poem.   FEAR Manley […]

praise

We read “homage to my hair” by Lucille Clifton. I encouraged the students to choose something they loved about themselves and write a poem in praise of that. 4th period praise for my speed […]

Mirror Persona

Sylvia Plath’s poem “Mirror” explores the imagined persona of a mirror hanging in a house. What would your mirror say if it could talk? 4th period Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall Karmelle S. I […]

Haiku, you.

Richard Wright is better known for his novels, but he also wrote thousands of haiku poems towards the end of his life, 400-some of which he selected to be published in a book released […]

What it’s like

We read “What it’s Like to Be a Black Girl (for those of you who aren’t)” by Patricia Smith and talked about identity, both in the poem and in our own lives. Patricia Smith […]

Change is Constant

We’re back! I took this week’s writing idea from Kenneth Koch’s landmark book about teaching poetry, “Wishes, Lies and Dreams.” We reflected on change, metaphor and imagery, then wrote our own poems about before […]

What are you?

Today we read “Woman” by Nikki Giovanni and “Litany” by Billy Collins, two very different poems that employ a similar device: comparing people to seemingly unrelated things, like places, inanimate objects and elements of […]

First Day: In Colors

I’ll be visiting three freshman classrooms at Manley Career Academy High School this school year. I’m really excited to work with these students and their teacher, Ms. O’Neal. We read Marge Piercy’s “Colors Passing […]

despierto (awake)

So many of our students speak a second language, or at least have experience with a language other than English. In “[Let Us Gather in a Flourishing Way],” Juan Felipe Herrera delivers his message […]

Dada!

We focused on collaboration for this session using a game that originates in the Dada art movement. When writing an “Exquisite Corpse,” students work in pairs and trade off writing two lines per turn. […]

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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