How to use the written word to highlight, and counteract, social boundaries.
Who: Everyone who loves words
What: The free expression of poetry to communicate the power of boundary-crossing
When: All month long
Website: Poets.org [1]
Did you know...
Student Voices
When I Feel Left Out
When I feel left out
I feel like dirty old trout.
I played by myself without any help.
When the day was over I fell over
but no kids cared to come over.After the bad day I had
I hope the next day isn't this bad.
Today's a new day
I'm not sad
I hope this day isn't bad.
-- Third-grader Lauren GarafanoBad Guys Finish Last
Bad guys finish last.
They bully others because of their past.
They don't care about the pain they cause.They don't stop to think, or put the situation on pause.
They snatch and smack and push and punch.
They take away your money for lunch.They tease and torment, but the whole time they smile.
Not caring if you're 15 or just a small child.
You think you can't win, no matter how much time you spend
Trying to rise up, for you are pushed down again.Never lose sight of the goals you've set,
For no matter what you go through, they cannot make you forget.
Keep standing; keep demanding to be left alone.Although it seems hard, you don't have to do it alone.
Don't be ashamed to ask others for help,
For there are some cases where you can't win by yourself.
-- Middle school student Kevaughn Griffith
Discussion Questions
Activity Ideas
Books in the Mix
Poems to Dream Together/Poemas para sonar juntos ($16.95) includes 17 short poems in English and Spanish. Each dream poem reflects day and night dreaming about topics that include the hopes and aspirations of children, their families, and people throughout the world.
(Grades PreK-3) Lee & Low Books; ISBN# 158430233X (bilingual edition)
In Wordsworth the Poet ($10.95), a mouse named Wordsworth is unlike any other mouse in the Hawaiian Islands. He sees holiday lights in raindrops and rows of dancing brides in white cresting waves. And when he sees his friends being teased, he uses poetry to describe how that feels.
(Grades K-5) Watermark Publishing; ISBN# 0-9742672-0-1
A Slam Poetry Manual: How to Produce a Poetry Slam and Succeed as a Slam Poet ($8) is an easy-to-use 32-page manual with all the steps needed to create a poetry slam.
(Grades 7-12) American Library Association; Item# 5183
Links:
[1] http://www.poets.org