Endings

The only thing harder than starting a poem is ending one. My students and other new writers often make the mistake of ending a poem the way one might end an essay – with a conclusion; something along the lines of,  “And that’s what I think about that.” On the other side are those who just [...]

Tune In To Poetry

This morning I made an appearance on “The  Mo Show” on Valley Free Radio. I was there to talk about … what else? Poetry, of course. Rather than write about it (especially because I’m a little sleepy now, having gotten up at some ungodly hour to arrive at the recording studio on time), I’ll invite you [...]

H’s Haiku in Sound

H. missed our big poetry reading, the one she’d practiced and practiced for. That surprised me. Her love of poetry is no secret around our school. On the other hand, I realized she might have stayed home out of fear. H. is militantly shy. Getting her to speak in class was one hurdle her other [...]

Annabel Lee and a Lesson in Existential Angst

I entered the classroom on a hot, humid Monday morning, after a hot, humid weekend. Before even saying hello to the dozen or so teen mothers seated at their desks, I began to recite:
“It was many and many a year ago …” and continued through all six stanzas of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic poem, “Annabel [...]

A Singular Sloth

Details, I tell my students, bring the poem to life. Recently I saw how details bring life to me.
On my recent trip to Costa Rica, I met Millie, an orphaned sloth. Since she was not raised by her mother, Millie can’t return to the jungle, and thus lives a quiet life swinging from a wicker [...]

With Apologies to the Rainforest

In my classroom my students think twice about asking me for an extra piece of paper unless they’ve filled both sides of their first piece, or a clean, new sticky note. They know my tirades.
 
Example: I keep a box of used sticky notes handy, so that if a student wants a note with which [...]

Poetry or Bust

In my afternoon class we are reflecting on poetry, what it means to us, and why it should (or shouldn’t) be taught in school. Students have been interviewing one another on this topic. Among the questions they are asking each other are these:
 Should people write and learn about poetry in school? Why or why not?
 H. [...]

Vocabulary Lesson II

A teacher in my school, hearing about my latest efforts to increase our students’ vocabularies, shared with me how she is trying to crack down on swearing in her classroom. She told her students they can’t use the word B**ch anymore.
 ”That’s great,” I told her.
 ”Except now they’re all just calling each other female dogs,” she [...]

Vocabulary Lesson

As I was introducing a poetry lesson this week, S. was calling across the aisle to C., who was removing the foil from the shish kabob she’d bought (but not eaten) during her lunch break. Another student was working on an assignment for her next class, and still others were passing notes and whispering loudly.
“Ladies, [...]

Poetry Diet

Today was my first day of poetry class with a new group of students. As I always do, I started by asking the class to brainstorm possible benefits of writing poetry. Usually we come up with the usual suspects: Telling their stories in their own words, stress relief, practice reading and writing which will help [...]