All posts in Poetry

‘when there’s more in the world?:’ 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.’ […]

‘I’m a handkerchief holding us through life’s storms’: Metaphor Poems

Students read the poem, ‘Metaphors’ by Sylvia Plath, and then wrote their own metaphor-based poems. “Metaphors” by Sylvia Plath I’m a riddle in nine syllables,An elephant, a ponderous house,A melon strolling on two tendrils.O […]

Looking Back Vividly

Students studied “Manhunt or Ode to First Kisses” by Elizabeth Acevedo. Asking themselves, how can poetry capture that wishing, yearning, hungering we know from being a little kid? As a class, we focused on […]

‘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 […]

‘In the lilac field it started’: Experimental Forms of Poetry

Students made the old-school paper in-class pass time 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 […]

‘be like DJ Khaled…hang out with Tupac’: Poems & Thoughts on Community and Fame

Students read Gwendolyn Brook’s poem about superstar singer and activist, ‘Paul Robeson’ and then wrote about community and fame from their viewpoint. Paul Robeson by Gwendolyn Brooks That timewe all heard it,cool and clear,cutting […]

‘Coming Home’: A Lesson in Metaphor & Values

Students read Sylvia Plath’s poem ‘Metaphors’ and then wrote their own metaphor-based poems. They also did some free writing around the topic of Values that you will see here. Lesson Note: Mrs. McClain, 7th […]

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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