"If there was no poetry...there would be an intolerable hunger." --Muriel Rukeyser

So I was pleasantly surprised this year to not get the typical 7th grade response to poetry which involves muffled moans and groans and looks of despair.  If anyone was cringing inwardly, they have quickly proved that they are poets, they just didn't know it!  Once students' inner poets are set free, they usually find that writing poetry is not so bad or even difficult.   As time goes forth and poems unfurl from their pencil points, most even find that they want to write poems--maybe even more than what I ask them to write.  They begin to know the hunger of life without poetic language, without the sounds, images, emotions, humor and revelations that can feed their minds and spirits.

This week, students will conference their poems with a partner to gain the benefit of fresh eyes and ears to help them revise.  They will also pool their creative genius in small groups by turning "bad poems" into good ones.  As they delve deeper into descriptive language, they will use their skills and creativity to write group poems about an unseen object.  The goal is to describe the object so well that others in the class can guess what it is by hearing the poem.







Homework:

Monday:  Final drafts of mood/memory poem and acrostic poem due tomorrow.

Tuesday:  Find a poem (in a book, online) to read aloud to someone at home.  After reading it, point out to your listener the descriptive words and devices that help convey imagery and the subject of the poem.

Happy Spring Break!

After all the teasing winter handed us, spring has finally sprung!  I look forward to this break to enjoy the outdoors, clean up our gardens, and refresh my spirit for the sprint to the end of the school year.  I wished students a wonderful vacation week with the hope that they, too, will get outdoors--to play, to chill, maybe even to read or write a poem or two!

This past week, students were inspired by a music video and poem, "A Listening Air", to write their own poems.  They could choose one of two inspirations, either the mood of "A Listening Air" or a memory of summer.  After doing some brainstorming (organizer attached), they began drafting in class today.  

Their goal as poets is to turn inward to listen to the music of words in their hearts and minds, and to make the reader/listener see their subject matter in a whole new way.  They're being encouraged to take the expected and make it unexpected; to turn an ordinary line on its head to recast its shape and meaning; to distill language to its most essential words that offer the reader/listener sensory images that plunge him/her into experiencing the poem. While it's fun to dispose of the rules of standard written English, they are making deliberate choices about vocabulary, punctuation, and format that help convey the meaning and subject of the poem.

Attached is a copy of "A Listening Air", the brainstorming organizer, and the criteria for every poem written (students have these in their binders).

Happy spring, happy vacation to all!

Homework due Monday 4/24:

Draft (hard copy) of poem for peer/teacher conferencing.

"A Listening Air"

Brainstorming Organizer

Poetry Criteria

"Poetry is as precise a thing as geometry." --Gustave Flaubert

Wow!  Ah-ha!  Hmm...interesting…  I can relate!   I wonder… These were just some of the “nonfiction moments” students experienced while reading and interacting with a nonfiction book of their choice.  They wrapped up their reading and analysis with splashy slideshow presentations--what fun to hear about a slew of subjects! Topics included biographies of Hank Aaron and Maya Angelou; compilations by chefs, soldiers, and survivors of wars; pet care and babysitting; the solar system and larger universe; chemistry and writing; and one student even read about her ancestor who was accused of being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials!  

Apropos to the month of April, national poetry month, students are diving into poetry writing and reading.  They will be inspired by music, video, art, the natural world and their own inner landscape of thoughts and emotions to create poems in different forms.  We hope to celebrate in early May with a Poetry Cafe--keep an eye out for an invitation!  

Homework:

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Nonfiction book cover due by Thursday

Wednesday: Finish Mr. Vercellin's exit ticket for Friday

Wrapping Up...

We will be wrapping up the nonfiction unit by preparing slide show presentations.  This will be a fun way for students to hear about each other's books--and it might inspire them to read another!  On a more creative note, they will design and illustrate book covers for their texts.

Students are prepared for the MCAS ELA test which they will take on Tuesday and Wednesday morning.  Please remind them to go to bed early and eat a good breakfast so that they are fully charged to do their best work!

Homework:

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday:  work on slide show

Create a Book Cover

Nonfiction Book Talk