All posts in Timothy David Rey

“But I haven’t got one yet”: Name Poems

‘I celebrate and sing myself…’-Walt Whitman Students explored names through a series of prompts, beginning with a reading of a girl named jack by Jaqueline Woodson and Name That Means Holy in Greek by […]

“it’s cool like we get in the pool” & ” An F- feels like two winters”: Gwendolyn Brooks & Comparison Poems

Younger students wrote comparison poems and the older students read Gwendolyn Brooks’ classic poem, ‘We Real Cool’ before crafting their own ‘cool’ poems using their own words and ideas for what is cool, rhyme […]

“The background should be es grande y brilliosa como un sol “: Portrait Poems

Students drew their faces with closed eyes, talked about portraits, and read Instructions to the Artist by Billy Collins before crafting their own portrait-inspired poems. Lesson Note: According to findings by the leading researcher […]

“We lit/ we finna dip”: Gwendolyn Brooks and The Art of Cool

Students read Gwendolyn Brooks’ classic poem, ‘We Real Cool’ before crafting their own ‘cool’ poems using their own words and ideas for what is cool, rhyme repetition, and the short form. We Real Cool […]

“Picking up anything it devours”: Video-Inspired Poems

Students watched a bear cam video similar to the one described in the poem we studied, ‘There was this bear cam’ by critic and poet, Sandra Simonds. Sandra Simonds charts the formations and deformations […]

“singing various Taylor Swift songs”: Memory Poems

Students conjured up memories from school and elsewhere to place in a short-form poem. How can our memories, with all their details, fit so nicely into a minimalist poem? Check out the student’s work […]

“my mom said it means Love from the sea.”: The Sound & Name Game

‘I celebrate and sing myself…’-Walt Whitman Students explored sounds and names through a series of prompts. What is in a sound… and in a name? We talked about both! 3rd graders came up with […]

“Hoping for 24 hours my Mom has to say yes to everything”: Night Poems

Students thought about what occurs at night, the concept of home, and short forms before penning their own poems inspired by Li Bai’s, ‘Quiet Night Thoughts.’ Quiet Night Thought At the foot of my […]

“I look at the sky. Then back at it”: Time of Day Poems

Students read Peggy Trojan’s deceptively simple poem, Noon Hour, We talked about the two-word title, the two-stanza poem, short lines, putting big ideas into small containers, empathy, marginalized characters, and the one period at […]

“You sizzle and burn out but you never fold from the pressure.” Star Search

Students read a student poem that used personification to talk to a star before trying their hands at their own poems addressing something… bigger than themselves while using words from legendary poet/teacher Kim Addonizio’s […]

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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