Here’s a site with all kinds of resources of how to use poetry in your classroom! One to reference throughout the year and incorporate some new ideas into your teaching! Check it out…’10 Ways to Use Poetry in Your Classroom’ click here
“Much has been said in educational texts about inquiry learning. From my own experiences, however, I find that students are naturally inquisitive, and there’s not much more we need to do but focus on their natural curiosity. Poetry can do this!”
Any time I don’t understand something
Or feel unhappy with the way things are going,
Anger steps up, ‘us me; let me help’
And I used to give Anger a lot of free rein,
Till I noticed Anger wasn’t all that useful
And generally tended to only make things worse.
Now I try to rely more on ‘Patience’
As Patience doesn’t keep clicking that counter,
Adding up every resentment of the hour.
Besides, I can look straight into Patience’s face
And not have one clue what Patience is thinking of.
You know, Anger could learn something from that.
Patti Masterman ‘Anger & Patience’
Last week I rolled out a lesson for our forth Unit, “A Change of Scene” for my yearly observation. At the beginning of the Springboard lesson it opens with a visual prompt and caption from ‘The Story of My Life’ by Helen Keller…“Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, When it seemed as if a tangible White darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding-line, and had no way of knowing how near the harbour was.”
The visual prompt states and asks, “a change of scene on the stage can involve a new set, new lighting, and new characters. How does that compare to a change of scene you might undergo in your own life?”
It’s an interesting way to set the tone for a unit that’s focused on poetry and in thinking about our current situation in the world.
Our lesson on Thursday focused on the Limericks of Edward Lear, understanding the format of a limerick, the syllables the number of lines and the purpose of creating a mood (feeling or vibe) that is funny, silly, and playful. Our next goal with the activity was was to create our own Limericks and due to the current change of events that’s put that on hold. However, for students that are interested in a fun activity, I extend this invitation to (1) write your own original limerick and send it in via email or social media with (2) a visual sketch. You can share this limerick either through email mrleebooks@gmail.com or ltrhyane@episd.org or through your own choice of social media with parent permission including, TikTok, which I know many students utilize. We’re going to turn this into a contest and we’ll take some time to vote as well. The deadline for the limerick sketch is as soon as I at least receive ten entries. This contest will be specifically for our Cobras, but if you’re a student that would like to join into the joy of limericks or even a teacher, please do! I plan to compose my own as well. We’ll showcase the entries on the blog and on my social media at twitter.com/mrleebooks. Below is a fun St. Patrick’s Day video of how to compose a limerick and a link that highlights the formatting:
How to write a limerick: click here
Also for students that enjoyed Edward Lear’s work in class, you can actually read his entire Book of Nonsense at the following link: click here
My favorite one so far from the ones I read is about the old man with the flute and the “sarpint”. What’s yours?
To celebrate poetry, the contest winners, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place will receive prizes in the form of books or writing supplies. I’ll have the prizes figured out soon! Thank you and look forward to reading your limericks!
“…So I got a pair of glasses,
And straight to work I went,
And never stopped till I could read
The hymns and Testament.
Then I got a little cabin-
A place to call my own-
And I felt as independent
As the queen upon her throne.”
-Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
A poem by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 1872. She was a child of free African-American parents. She attended the Academy for Negro Youth until she was 13 years old. She helped slaves escape through the Underground Railroad and wrote for anti-slavery newspapers.
Each week, we find time to share a #PoemADay either from world renowned poets like Frances Harper or our wonderful poets in the classroom, students and teachers.
Ever since entering the classroom, and even before working with youth, I’ve listened to the disinterest of some for reading, at times even their vocalized hatred and boredom for reading. Reading and knowing about literary heroines like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper and the anti-literacy laws that impacted generations of African Americans in the United States, it’s distressing to listen to young people and adults alike treat reading as if its a disposable, meaningless activity. To know there was a time an individual in this country could lose their life learning to read and write, and therefore had to fight and risk everything for us to enjoy the wonders of knowledge makes me hope that if more students realize this history…perhaps they’ll think twice about allowing themselves to take such an important form of learning for granted. For Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, we’re thankful for her words and contribution to our why as readers and book lovers. Please listen to her poem above titled “Learning to Read”.
“In August of 1945, Hughes wrote about the type of peace he wanted to come out of World War II.”
Give Us Our Peace
by Langston Hughes
Give us a peace equal to the war
Or else our souls will be unsatisfied,
And we will wonder what we have fought for
And why the many died.
Give us a peace of accepting every challenge –
The challenge of the poor, the black, of all denied,
The challenge of the vast colonial world
That long has had so little justice by its side.
Give us a peace that dares us to be wise.
Give us a peace that dares us to be strong.
Give us a peace that dares us still uphold
Throughout the peace our battle against wrong.
Give us a peace that is not cheaply used,
A peace that is no clever scheme,
A people’s peace for which men can enthuse,
A peace that brings reality to our dream.
Give us a peace that will produce great schools –
As the war produced great armament,
A peace that will wipe out our slums –
As war wiped out our foes on evil bent.
Give us a peace that will enlist
A mighty army serving human kind,
Not just an army geared to kill,
But trained to help the living mind.
An army trained to shape our common good
And bring about a world of brotherhood.
The quote above and the poem were discovered at the following webpage: click here
I’m inspired to start an award to celebrate poetry performance at our school after reading about the Langston Hughes award being offered in his hometown of Lawrence. He is pictured above in Lawrence 1914 during his adolescent years. Read the article titled “New Langston Hughes award to celebrate poetry performance” click here.
“Poetry is an art that is meant to be heard, says Lawrence poet Eric McHentry. And now that audible art form will be recognized with a special local award. As part of the annual Langston Hughes Creative Writing Awards, Lawrence Magazine is funding a new prize to celebrate the performance side of poetry. The Langston Hughes Spoken Word Poetry Prize contest will judge the best spoken-word poetry performance of high school students in Douglas County. Sunflower Publishing, which produces Lawrence Magazine, shares a parent company with the Journal-World.
+ “Interested students may submit an audio or video file no longer than seven minutes of a performance of either an original piece or a Langston Hughes poem…”
Here are some highlights from the Patrick Kiger article “The Human Brain is Hardwired for Poetry”. Its important to activate these parts of your mind students! As Piri Thomas said “every child is born a poet!” And as this article says, “every human being is an unconscious poet”.
This article provides evidence of the benefits of poetry as a vitamin for literary awareness.
You can read the full article at the following link: click here
“…there’s something about reading or hearing a great poem that stimulates our minds, moving us to ponder the world from a new angle.” Patrick Kiger
“…contemplating poetic imagery and the multiple layers of meanings in poems activates specific areas of the brain – some of the same areas, in fact, that help us interpret our everyday reality.”
“Poetry appears to be “built in,” it is like a profound intuition, every human being is an unconscious poet.” Guillaume Thierry, Bangor Psychology Professor
“The same mental skills that we exercise in struggling to understand poetry, flexible thinking and the ability to ponder multiple meanings, also help us to navigate unpredictable events and make choices in our everyday lives.”
“The calling into activation of literary awareness may have a significant effect in challening our default mind-set…if more people read poetry and got accustomed to pondering meaning, it would make a difference to their capacity to think with more alertness to excite surprise and change.” Phillip Davis, Institute of Psychology, Health & Society Professor & Director
“The artist is in a sense a neuroscientist exploring the potentials and capacities of the brain though with different tools…” #neuroaesthetics Samir Zeki
After school let out last year I got the chance to reflect on how I felt about what I was learning from my colleagues about Cobra Tech Academy’s New Tech program. The poem below is what I wrote at the time going into my first year as a New Tech teacher. Here’s to everything I’ve experienced since then. Shout out to all our Cobras at Canyon Hills! This one’s for you!
What will your child be?
What kind of plan have WE
created for them to succeed?
In New Tech young Cobras
will be introduced to a new way
of LEARNING…EARNING their way
as a life long student TURNING
the keys of understanding
how to work TOGETHER
empathetic to be BETTER
people…
and while technology
continues to shape our
world it is your child’s creativity
and innovation that will
make it MOVE…
this program is a chance to PROVE
that they can realize their dreams
in real time…no matter the challenge
or difficulties that may seem to ARISE
Cobra Tech is your child’s
chance to SHINE!
by Mr. Lee
This week schools celebrated Red Ribbon Week which promotes drug prevention efforts with a special focus on the well-being of youth. This year’s theme is “Your future is key, so stay drug free.” At the start of each week we begin class with what I call Monday Motivation. I was inspired by the social media hashtag from Edutopia of the same name which focuses on inspirational quotes for teachers. Our Monday Motivation is aimed at inspiring and educating students by shining a light on voices from our community who are making an impact on society. This also includes our own students and teachers and their impact in our classrooms, school, and community. In recognition of Red Ribbon Week, our Monday Motivation came from a poem by Ruth Rivas titled ‘Make Wise Choices’. I recorded the poem several years ago. The instrumental included with the song was produced by one of my former students when I volunteered as a poetry teacher at a juvenile prison in New Mexico. Ruth Rivas is a speaker and educator from El Paso and founder of Spice is Not Nice, a non-profit organization dedicated to raise awareness and educate the public about the dangers of spice and other synthetic drugs. On June 20, 2012, her son, Adam Hernandez who was in the Navy at the time lost his life after using spice. This poem was written in memory of her son and as a cautionary tale to encourage young people to live a drug free lifestyle.
“Our choices take us to our destiny…” – Ruth Rivas
