All posts in Skinner West

Shhh!

Library Lovers Day coincides with another, more famous holiday, so this week we read “In the Library” by Charles Simic. The poem starts, “There’s a book called / ‘A Dictionary of Angels,’” and one […]

Ask the Dust

This week, we read Julia Alvarez‘s poem, “Dusting.” I asked the students who was speaking, and when they said a little girl, I responded how did they know? If the poem didn’t have the […]

Articles and Incorporation

Last week, I began my residency with the 4th graders. I had many of these students in 2nd grade, and it was interesting to see what a difference two years can make! I recognized […]

Poetry Is…

Last week, we had our final (?!?) poetry classes of the residency. Students had asked me over the ten weeks to share some of my own work, so I brought in a few poems […]

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Before spring break, we had our penultimate classes, reading and discussing Alberto Ríos‘ “Don’t Go in the Library.” The poem starts, claiming, “The library is dangerous,” and Ríos repeats that same line toward the […]

Know Your Arches!

Patricia Lockwood‘s poem called “The Arch” made for interesting discussions last week. After hearing it read aloud, I asked who was speaking—the poet, or someone/something else? Is personification being used here? We examined the […]

Feed the Meter

Quiet different from last week’s poem was this week’s selection, by Edna St. Vincent Millay, called “Afternoon on a Hill.” While straightforward, with relatively ‘simple’ language, it’s nonetheless rather multilayered and deep. We discussed […]

Yes Ifs

Last week we read “Chateau If” by Peter Gizzi. After hearing it, the students’ initial reaction was “that’s a lot of ifs!” so I asked them to count how many are in the poem. […]

Elemental

Rhyme is one of the most immediately recognizable features of “The Armadillo,” by Elizabeth Bishop, we discussed this week. Not all of its rhymes are perfect, and I asked how that affected our appreciation […]

Uncommon Sense

“Paradoxes and Oxymorons” is the title of this week’s poem, by the late American poet John Ashbery. After hearing it read aloud by student volunteers, we considered how it was different from the other […]

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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