All posts in DuBois

Penning the Line Between Love and Hate

Last week we met on a Tuesday. I was happy to see the students; it had been too long. They had not forgotten about poetry though, as I requested. For the day, the 6th […]

Writing in Place: City of Wind Edition

March 10, at DuBois Elementary, was an interesting day. The classes I worked with were self-contained, so I joined the 6th graders in a different classroom than our traditional meeting space (which has mobile […]

Writing in Place: Springtime Chi

When I was in 2nd grade, I competed in a poetry contest: the topic was spring. My poem was short and sweet and it rhymed. It came in second place to a list poem […]

Celebrating Love: The Evolution of a Sonnet-Finale and…

In preparation of this week’s post, I have reflected on three events that have always symbolized renewal for me. Whether you are Catholic or not, chances are, you have noticed the first – people […]

Celebrating Love: The Evolution of a Sonnet Pt. II

Last Friday, February 17, our post V-day session, I recited to my 6th grade students what may be considered to be the most widely referenced passage on love in modern times…you know the one… […]

Celebrating Love: The Evolution of a Sonnet

I started class last week asking my students, “What is happening next week?” They replied “Valentine’s Day!”, in what was pretty close to unison. It took me back to the days of staying up […]

On Dreams: Formed and Free

On the heels of Langston Hughes’ birthday, I thought we would revisit his work. I brought in two poems about dreams: One, Hughes’ The Dream Keeper and Christina Rosetti’s Mirage. We read the two […]

Definition and Memory: Where/How We Family?

Last week we read “We Family” by Haki R. Madhubuti from the collection Run Toward Fear: New Poems and a Poet’s Handbook. I removed the epigraph in order to strengthen the students’ awareness about […]

Feelin’ Myself: Invoking the Hyperbolic Self in Poetry

In our last class of 2016, I decided to tackle a subject that we are all learning more about each day: ourselves. The first step in defining oneself is to establish one’s point of […]

Dissecting Tone and Mood: Passengers on the Train of Life

Last Friday, December 9, both classes and I tackled imagery, tone and mood. The classes were heavy, hence the length of this post. Part of the gravity was due to the content of one […]

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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