All posts in Taft

‘An po, to mrove my love…’ : Creative Syntax in Poetry

Students were given nonsense words and asked to create their own pronunciations and definitions, before delving into Kevin Young’s poem of altered cliché’s, Errata. ‘Errata’ means an error in a text. Lesson Note: ‘There […]

‘do what Wonder Woman does.’: We Could Be Heroes

What makes a hero (both real or imagined)? And how can we learn from them (even the villains) and the inner- hero inside of us? We explored these concepts and more in What I […]

On Repeat

We explored the powerful device of in Phil Kaye’s poem Repetition of the same name. Some poems in our workshop are ‘after’ Kaye’s work. Lesson Note: Writer/Performer Anna Deavere Smith who interviews people and […]

‘Is it-conta-gious? No-one-real-ly knows’: The Shakespearean Sonnet

In this class we focused on the Shakespearean Sonnet and iambic pentameter. In his Sonnet #127, William Shakespeare muses on beauty and its perception as a ‘currency’ in the modern world: ‘In the old […]

‘I am a pattern of the wild’: Emily Dickenson Etc…

We began this class with an exercise from writer and researcher Dr. Brene Brown’s book: Braving the Wilderness. In it, she asks a group of 8th Grade students the difference between the terms Belonging […]

Chicken Curry for the Soul: Food & Memory

Free Verse and Narrative Style poetry were explored through Latino-American, Gary Soto’s, poem Oranges. 8th Grade students explored the idea of food, memory and nostalgia, then were asked to create small group improvisational performance […]

‘Walkedon’: William Carlos Williams Revisited

The first day of my 10 week residency at Taft with their 8th Grade classroom was filled with energy! The students were eagerly brilliant and so we dug right in to examine William Carlos […]

[love is a peace that won’t let rest]: Parting Words at Taft (#2)

As I wrap up my residency at Taft High School with their 8th Grade students, I have tremendous hope for our future. Surprised? Don’t be. 8 weeks ago, I entered a room of squirly […]

Mixed Media #2: The Big Ask

We began class with a few rounds of Rapid Fire Questions, where one student was timed for 30 seconds and asked to respond to a string of random questions about themselves with the first […]

Mixed Media #1: Headline Poems

Extra! Extra! In this lesson we looked at Headline poems, and discussed mash up vs. cut up poems–finding poetry in the oddest places. We then turned our attention to the headline poem, ‘Rock Singer […]

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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