National Poetry Month 2018
Railway Station
This week my students and I read an article in the Scope Scholastic magazine about the Kindertransport. Jewish families paid for their children to board a train to Great Britain where a group of people welcomed and fostered these children escaping the dangers in Germany in 1939. The article focused on the story of one girl, Lore. For some of my students, this was their first exposure to the horrors of the Holocaust. They became fascinated and touched by the terror these children had to go through.
Amy VanDerwater is writing a poem everyday on her blog and featuring one of the methods in her book Poems are Teachers. I am using this prompt daily. Added bonus: my students are learning about Orion because Amy is writing about one topic, Orion, 30 ways.
On day 2, she used story structure. I thought this prompt paired well as a response to the Scope article. As a follow up, my students created videos in Animoto with their poems.
Today, I am sharing my poem as well as a powerful video from my student, Erin.
Kindertransport
Alone with a suitcase,
a photograph,
an accordion,
Lore waited at the station
to be saved.Hitler fanned the flames of hatred.
Terror washed over her.
Why did her parents send her away?
To be saved.The only way they knew how,
they sent her away
to live with strangers
to learn a new language,
to find new friends,to be saved.
–Margaret Simon (c) 2018
Reflections on the Teche 