I got sucked into the Netflix original 13 Reasons Why a few weeks ago, and though it was uncomfortable and nerve wrecking, I had to see it through. I knew some of the students in my class were binging just like I was, so I decided to take the opportunity to discuss bullying, the importance of standing up to it, not doing it and counteracting its effects with kindness and love.
In each class, we talked about how there are always connections to make in the world and demonstrated that interconnectedness by writing collective poems. Our examples this week, for the first time, included no published works, but collective poetry that I have experienced in group settings. I read a poem to the 6th graders that had been woven from a set of corresponding lessons I ran with four co-workers. We ended up with a suite of haiku, one for each season. To the 7th graders, I read two folding poems, both created at the birth celebration of Asanti, held before his birth. The poems, A Letter to My Daughter and A Letter to my Son are brilliant examples of what can happen when a group of strangers, even, meditate on a common idea. Since there can be quite a bit of waiting around involved in collective poetry writing, the students made anti-bullying artwork/posters/wordles to accompany this post .
To add to the world of collective poetry, the 6th graders began their tapestry poems in which each writer writes a portion of the poem and passes it to the next person. The final product results in a tapestry, woven by many writers to make a whole. They got a good start, but since a portion of their class was dedicated to a disaster drill, I will leave their completed works for next week.
The 7th graders (it was just us last week and that is Ziclaly and Anitra picture with the poem for group 1), were divided into four groups to wrote folding poems. Here, I began the poem and had a writer contribute the next line. The first line was then covered by a folded sheet. Each writer then contributes an additional line having been exposed only the last line written. After each student reads the single line and adds their own line, he/she continues the folding. The students continued to work until each student had contributed at least one line to the poem. What you will read are the four folding poems
7th grade
Inside/Outside
Sometimes life feels like being left alone in the wilderness
Sometimes life feels like your beauty isn’t good enough
So don’t hide your feelings under the criticism
Like it shine through to show the real you
To be confident no matter what
Do whatever you have to do to get over it
Don’t let anyone get in your way
Because you have a lot to say
And make sure you make their day
Do whatever you wish and just get it accomplished
Tell someone and don’t hold it in because you can hurt someone
By Jamaiyah H., Anitra J., Ziclaly D., Jackie, Aaron W., Tamara C.
Avoiding the Problem
When I saw it, I wanted to be the bigger person.
I wanted to stop it and let them know it wasn’t worth it
Don’t pick on anybody if you don’t want to get picked on
Be nice and stop bullying
Care about other’s feelings
Don’t watch the violence
Stop it before it goes any further
Stick up to the bully
Think about how it makes that person feel
Words are everything
By Raquel R., Kamarria W. Tamia R., Janiyah C. Kanyeh M.
Moving on Now
The first time you hear this you will be afraid
But you will understand the pain that drove me
to this point and your mood will change
You should now realize that I wasn’t happy
Because this ended in death
No one should go through these steps
Ignore the bullies ‘cause now it’s not worth it
There will always be people who talk
Ignore and walk the walk
It will be with you forever, my voice, my tone
But try to continue and move on
Like I did
It was hard, but it will change in the future
Briana C., Marjanay M., Aniah P., Ramon L., Marshawn M.
Untitled
We’ve been meeting in my dreams
We first me on Xbox
I invited him into a party
Then we started talking about his shoes
They kicked me out of the party five times
Then I came back and they tried to report me
They made me cry
Tyson, Pedro, Jamarie, Gemarion, Darrick, Maurice
