All posts in poem

‘and then your heart will/ start to hear like a drum’: Open Mic Poems

Students wrote poems in the ‘Open Mic’ style after reading the poem by Black poet and playwright Zetta Elliot’s piece, ‘Mic Check.’ Lesson Note: Making your own work is really important. [We] made work […]

‘Because everyone has a right to…’ Because-style Poems

Students read Shirley Geok-Lin Lim’s poem ‘Learning to Love America’ before they wrote their own ‘Because’ poems. Lesson Note: Born in Malacca, Malaysia, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim was raised by her Chinese father and attended […]

‘And the tape wears off and the streamers…’: Party Poems.

Students imagined life as a party and wrote poems using that metaphor based on Jason Shinder’s poem, ‘The Party.’ Lesson Note: “Find some humility, or it will find you.”― Jason Shinder, poet Mrs. McClain, […]

‘Remember that love is free’: Poems on Memory

Students wrote memory list poems based on Joy Harjo’s poem, ‘Remember’. Lesson Note: Harjo’s work is often autobiographical, informed by the natural world, and above all preoccupied with survival and the limitations of language. […]

‘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 […]

‘Quinceañera’: Poems of Play

Students made the old-school paper game 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 for a […]

‘now find the/sign’: Table 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.’ […]

‘Attitude knows her worth and/ she don’t play’: Emotion Poems

Students talked about and then wrote poems about emotions using personification. Lesson Note: “Developing creativity in students is not a luxury.” How Social-Emotional Imagination Facilitates Deep Learning and Creativity in the Classroom  Gotlieb, Jahner, […]

‘I’m kayaking up to Sleeping Bear Dunes’: Travel Poems

We took a look at Richard Blanco’s prose/mix/hybrid poem about missed destinations, We Are Not Going to Malta. Students were then given travel brochures exhibiting lush locales (decidedly not always depicting reality), and asked to […]

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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