All posts in Poems

Monster List

Last Friday, I was reunited with Swift 2nd graders after missing them for two weeks in a row: one Friday they visited the Peggy Notebaert Museum; and the following week there was no school […]

“Look Amidst the Trees”

Last Thursday in my sessions with Brennemann 5th Graders, we talked about gardens and the value of having someone who believes in you. We viewed a video of the poet Joaquin Zihuatanejo, who talked […]

“why are there so many questions?”

My first sessions with Nettelhorst 2nd graders were a joy! Their teachers had recently concluded a poetry unit and students were excited to delve into it some more. My hat goes off to Nettelhorst […]

Differing Perspectives

This week at Social Justice High School, we looked at Aziza “Z” Barnes’ poem “Aunt Jemima.” We both listened and read the poem and talked about how you can show various viewpoints or voices […]

I Remember & Remember & Remember

One of my favorite works to teach is Joe Brainard’s 1975 book I Remember. It is a book of poetry exclusively made up of memories, personal and cultural, each beginning with “I Remember.” This […]

I’m grateful for my beautiful life…

This week we read a beautiful poem called prayer by Jorge Argueta, where he expressed gratitude for may simple things we take for granted on a daily basis. Students worked on a brainstorm exercise […]

Where We’re From

Where we’re from is never just the geographic place we call home. This week, the students of MLA explored how place impacts their sense of self. After reading George Ella Lyon’s “Where I’m From” […]

Sounds We Hate, Sounds We Love (8th Grade)

We all have sounds we adore and sounds that make us cringe. The 8th graders of Clinton asked themselves what these sounds were for them before we read “Sweet Like a Crow” by Michael […]

Sounds We Hate, Sounds We Love (7th Grade)

We all have sounds we adore and sounds that make us cringe. The 7th graders of Clinton asked themselves what these sounds were for them before we read “Sweet Like a Crow” by Michael […]

A poem for those we admire

This week at Smyser Elementary, we learned about performance poetry and watched a poem by Sarah Kay titled “Mrs. Ribeiro.” Students learned about similes and practiced writing our own while thinking about a person […]

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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