Poetry: Amor Maternal

This was another week of more fun doing poetry with students. At this point in their work students have started to look at the poems they like the most for their anthology, focus on a topic, and looking at different ways of exploring the topic. One day this week we had students bring an artifact that they thought was special so that they could play with emotions in poetry. My CT and I made our own poems to demonstrate, and we shared a picture as well. Mine was of my daughter playing inside of a train statue.

Amor Maternal

Es incondicional,

E incomparable,

A otros sentimientos.

 

Es una esperanza

De empezar

Nuevas tradiciones.

Días de imaginación

Donde los chucu, chucus

De estatua,

Tienen vida.

 

Donde no se puede

Volar alto

Pero si se puede

Volar muy rápido.

 

Corazón lindo

Ternura,

Azúcar pura,

Mi Mina.

 

Poetry: Clase de poesía al aire libre

To start out the unit on poetry my CT had students listen to us read as many poems as possible. She also expose students to as many poetry books as they could get their hands on. She suggested reading and reading some more…

This week students started to write their own. I am so amazed at the enthusiasm of the students to write their own poems. Some students have started to fill pages and pages of poems.

On one of the sunny days we had this week she thought it would be a great idea to start the lesson outside. By taking student outside she made the lesson of capturing ordinary moments and making them extraordinary, a very real experience.

This is what we wrote on a little board outside at the top of a hill:

Parjarito pajarito pio pio pio

Abeja, abeja bzz bzz bzz

Arboles, arboles swoosh swoosh

Gusano, gusano ______

Los arboles verdes

Como el pasto en que camino

Hojas secas

En el pasto

Quemadas por el sol ardiente

Where I’m From

Where I’m From

I am from stuffed closets

from rocking chair and artwork.

I am from Ana Cultiva Manzanas/Apple Farmer Annie

teddy bears and dolls.

I am from spring bounce horse and cars.

I am from portraits and salsas,

from tazas and laundry.

I am from cd’s and vhs,

From guitars, pianos, saxophones.

I am from singers.

I am from borders

from overcrowded city y la Basilica

I am from every tree covered in moss,

from plum, and apple trees

that have served as play toys.

I am from rivers,

from endless corn fields and la casa azul.

from mountains,

coyotes and birds singing.

I am from mis abuelitos y el loco de tu Papa

from the co-op candles and lots of tea.

I am from sis, bebe, and la mina.

I am from if you can’t say something nice then don’t say it at all

from No hay mal que por bien no venga

and Viejos los cerros y reverdecen.

I am from diaries

from dinners, videos

and pictures that I refuse to stop taking.

I am from storytellers

that connects our story to the present.

-Oriss Acevedo

From Linda Chirstensen, 2001 “Where I’m From. Inviting Students’ Lives Into the Classroom.” Rethinking our Classrooms. Teaching for equality and Justice. Vol 2.