All posts in Timothy David Rey

“La la la la la la la la Cupid melody stuck in my head”: Meditation Poems

Students participated in a short meditation and breathing exercise. I read them I Close My Eyes by David Ignatow. After the meditation, they were asked to write whatever came to mind. Classwork was conducted […]

“3. I want my shirt to be yellow. 6.Have my dog in there 7. Put my dog in a yellow shirt:” Instructions to the Artist Poems

Young students wrote dream-themed poems and the older students read Instructions to the Artist by Billy Collins before crafting their own portrait-inspired poems. Lesson Note: According to findings by the leading researcher on the […]

“My name means a country”: Name Dropping

‘I celebrate and sing myself…’-Walt Whitman Students explored names through a series of prompts which began with a reading a a girl named jack by Jaqueline Woodson, What occurs in the naming of someone […]

“you overthink /and you overdrink the thoughts”: School Woes & Blues Poems

Students wrote ‘School Subject Woes’ with end-rhymes after watching a teen recite their original poem, ‘Mathematical Blues’. Lesson Note: “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I […]

“Phillip/ Philips/ Philippians”: Short Name Poems

‘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 in the naming of someone […]

“Kind heart. We/ Are smart. We”: Gwendolyn Brooks-style Poems

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 […]

“The amount of tears it/ holds. The memories of food it held.” : Turning Tables

Younger students read a poem by Langston Hughes called ‘April Rain Song‘ before making their own Springtime poems. For older students, a common household object became the focus of this lesson while studying Joy […]

Too Cool For School: Gwendolyn Brooks-inspired Poems

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 […]

“My voice is stronger than Mike Tyson./ My voice will knock you out with kindness.”: Voice-activated.

Students wrote ‘My Voice” poems after watching a slam poetry team perform on the same theme! Lesson Note: “To be nobody-but-yourself — in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to […]

“And my hair as long as Rapunzel’s”: Self Portrait Poems

Students read Instructions to the Artist by Billy Collins before crafting their own portrait-inspired poems. Lesson Note: According to findings by the leading researcher on the power of writing and journaling for healing purposes, […]

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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