All posts in Skinner West

Poetry Is…

We had our concluding classes of the 2nd grade residencies this week. First, we read Bill Yarrow‘s poem, “Laundry List.” Many students initially focused on its playful final line—“Do the left thing”—and interpreted it […]

What’s New?

Late in December, during the last week of classes before the holiday break, we read Jimmy Santiago Baca‘s “It would be neat if with the New Year.” Students immediately noticed that this poem looked […]

All Quiet on the Skinner Front

Last week, we read “The House Was Quiet and the World Was Calm” by Wallace Stevens. The students really liked this poem, and the first thing I asked was why is there so much […]

Bless You

In his poem, “A Blessing,” James Wright tells the relatively simple story of two people and their encounter with a pair of ponies. What is really interesting is how little actual information the writer […]

Food for Thought

Before Thanksgiving break, we read Elizabeth Alexander‘s “Butter.” The first thing I asked was how many times did the speaker in the poem use the title word? We counted fourteen, so I asked why, […]

Day for Night

The recent conclusion of daylight savings time inspired this week’s poem for discussion, “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas. After reading it aloud, students noticed the repetition of not […]

Mirror, Mirror

This week’s poem was “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath. After reading it, I asked who was speaking in the poem, and a majority of students thought it was the mirror in the title. I told […]

Scary as…

Before reading and discussing this week’s poem by Richard Brautigan, I spoke to students about simile, a figure of speech that compares two things, using like or as, and said to be on the […]

Feeling Antsy

This week we read Tim Seibles‘ poem, “Magnifying Glass.” Many students initially thought it was confusing, but even if that was the case they still liked the poem, and as we discussed it certain […]

The Title of This Poem Is…

This week I am back at Skinner West, for a residency in all the 2nd grade classrooms. It was great to meet the new students and get (re)acquainted with the teachers; everyone was excited […]

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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