Here is brief overview of my planned poetry sequence for the week: Monday: Introduce what poetry is and establish a base knowledge of poetry itself. Ask students what they already know about poetry. Share/read poetry books: Making Friends with Frankenstein by Colin McNaughton Little Dog Poems by Kristine O’Connell George Selected poems from Kids Poems … Continue reading Poetry Sequence & Lessons →

This week I am teaching a class of first graders about poetry. They have never been introduced to poetry before so I aim to give them a positive first impression. We are going to work on looking at mentor texts for inspiration and modeling, experiencing different forms of poetry and topics, and looking at the … Continue reading Teaching Poetry →

In working on my self-portrait anthology this week, I decided to write a poem for two voices. There have been a few phrases that I feel like I have heard constantly throughout my life, and my mind usually comes up with a sassy answer. I never say what I think out loud and people usually … Continue reading Revision in Poetry →

This week's post serves to feature another blog in my class. The Book Berry is written by Jessica Krpejs who is another graduate student at ASU. I really enjoy reading her blog every week because it is colorful, personal, thoughtful, and always relates back to teaching. The biggest thing that stands out to me about … Continue reading Blog Highlight →

In researching poetry books at a couple of libraries, I definitely found some gems that I would love to use in my future classroom. I chose this first book because of its simplicity. I was looking for poetry models for kindergarten-level students, and I loved the idea of just two worded stanzas. This book is … Continue reading (willingness + guidance) x fun = poetry →

In reading Awakening the Heart, I found so many exciting ideas that I couldn't wait to try out with some real live students. One of those ideas was the Living Anthology Project (Heard, 1999, pp. 21-27). This idea originated from the Poetry in Motion Project that displayed poetry in the subways of New York in … Continue reading Look Around →

"One of the reasons to invite poetry into our lives and into the lives of our students is to meet our invisible guests- grief, joy, anger, doubt, and confusion. We read poetry from this deep hunger to know ourselves and the world," (Heard, 1999). Poetry for me lives in the space between my feelings about … Continue reading (patience + silence) x inspiration = poetry →

This is a unit I created with two other graduate students to launch a writer's notebook in a hypothetical small group, third grade class. Included below are a rationale, standards, mentor texts, Your Turn lessons, and examples of my own modeled writing. This is a detailed, fully laid out plan that can be adapted for … Continue reading Launching a Writer’s Notebook →

Creating a Physical Description of a Character: I chose this strategy for my story because I wanted to challenge myself. My short story is about a long hike to the top of a mountain, and though there were several people with me in it, almost none of them are important to my memory of this … Continue reading Revision of Narrative Work →

Using the Mentor Texts format, I have designed a lesson that addresses narrative writing craft. Building Content Through Showing, Not Telling Hook: Use the mentor texts The Witches and Matilda by Roald Dahl to show character's emotions and descriptions. In The Witches, the main character reacts with fear when he discovers that the nice ladies on the … Continue reading Your Turn Lesson →