All posts in Haines

‘…when I sit in my own sea…’: Kindness Poems

Students wrote and talked about kindness before reading the poem, ‘Small Kindnesses’ by Denusha Lameris. In crafting their own poems students focused on one idea, one stanza and small ways they have been kind […]

‘This world placed into a small wooden board called/ a table’: Joy Harjo-inspired Poems

A common household object became the focus of this lesson  while studying Joy Harjo’s poem, Perhaps The World Ends Here.  The poet James Merrill once commented, ‘we understand history from the family around the table.’ […]

‘wrapped in a dress of seaweed..’ Simply Exquisite!

Students crafted visual and then poetic Exquisite Corpses! It’s a great way to work with one line at a time, which was the goal! Afterward, they were challenged to create a clay figure of […]

Cutting Up!: Collage Poems

Students used magazines and created cut-up poems! They used ‘found language’ and images to create new meaning. Lesson Note: Creative Artist guru Julia Cameron says the part of us that creates art is about […]

‘impossible….good’:Blackout Poems

Blackout Poetry: A blackout poem is created when a poet takes a marker (usually black marker) to already established text–like that from a newspaper–and starts redacting words until a poem or image is formed. […]

‘Apple.Apple.Apple.Apple.Apple.’: Concrete Poems

Students created concrete poems, which rely on their visual depiction to express meaning more clearly. Here are some of their beautiful examples of that form! Lesson Note: “Art has a way of bringing to […]

‘sometimes stare’: Self-Portrait Poems

After reading student poet Noor S.’s poem ‘Self Portrait with my Loose Hijab, ‘ students wrote self-portrait poems focusing on one aspect of themselves! Self-Portrait with my loose hijab  By Noora S.  Trying to […]

‘I’m a handkerchief holding us through life’s storms’: Metaphor Poems

Students read the poem, ‘Metaphors’ by Sylvia Plath, and then wrote their own metaphor-based poems. “Metaphors” by Sylvia Plath I’m a riddle in nine syllables,An elephant, a ponderous house,A melon strolling on two tendrils.O […]

‘In the lilac field it started’: Experimental Forms of Poetry

Students made the old-school paper in-class pass time called a ‘Cootie Catcher,’ which is a form of origami used in children’s games. Parts of the catcher are labeled with words that serve as options […]

‘A big scissor staircase and big scissor nails. ‘: Experimental Forms of Poetry

Students created Jorge Enrique Adoum imitations via his poem, ‘Development, ‘ that ‘sets the stage,’ much like the initial phases of a story or play. The poem uses descriptive language and imagination to create […]

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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