student poems | Reflections on the Teche

Posts Tagged ‘student poems’

SOLC26 Day 7: Gueydan

Posted in Chalk-a-bration, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged chalkabration, Gueydan, student poems, Teaching Artist on March 7, 2026| 14 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

Yesterday for my teaching artist program I was sent to Gueydan, pronounced gay-dahn, 46 miles west of me in New Iberia. I was so excited to be doing my very first Chalk-a-bration workshop. I was also nervous because I would be working with little kids, K, 1, and 2.

The population of Gueydan is around 1,100. Everybody knows everybody. I was surprised to find that I did not see a black face. In one pre-k class, I counted 8 of the 14 children had blue eyes, and 2 of them were red heads. I didn’t ask the question, “Where are your black people?” But I was struck by it.

My husband conjectures that perhaps it’s a town where there was, historically, no slave labor. Today it is predominantly farmers who live there. Rice and crawfish are their major industries. It is also known as the Duck Capital. There’s an annual duck festival. (Louisiana towns each have a signature festival.)

My first group of kiddos were kindergarten. They were a trip! talkative, little focus, but absolutely adorable.

For the second group, second grade, I was better prepared, and they were more responsive. They actually knew about the seasons!

I read a poem from these three books, Firefly July, Poems for Every Season, and Ten-Second Rainshowers. We talked about words and senses. What do you see in spring?

The poem was a simple form:

Spring is ________
I see _________
I hear ________
I feel _________

Spring is __________
I taste __________
I smell _________
Spring is _________

Spring is beautiful
I hear birds chirping
I see butterflies
I feel happy

When I left the school, I went to the only real restaurant in town, Cafe Veiller. I was the only customer in the place, so I struck up a conversation with the owners. They told me a little bit about the town. They were friendly and happy people who plan to buy a house in the area. They said many of the people who live there are retired because the cost of living is so much lower than other areas.

I enjoyed my adventure to Gueydan, a friendly and happy place.

Rice mill on the Main Street in Gueydan, LA.

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SOLC Day 3: Let Us March

Posted in Teaching, Writing, tagged Ascension Episcopal School, Dr. Martin Luther King, found poetry, student poems on March 3, 2026| 7 Comments »

On Friday, I taught a writing workshop around my book Were You There? A Biography of Emma Wakefield Paillet. (Click the link to find out more about the book.) I had sent out a few feelers with people I knew to get gigs around Black History Month. I was excited and a little daunted to teach a senior AP class at Ascension High School. But the kids were great! They were engaged from the start and had limited experience with poetry.

The found poem form is a wonderful form to use with students new to poetry. They have the words in front of them. It takes some higher level thinking to synthesize the words into a new text, a poem.

We were using the text of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech at Selma at the conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965. Four of the students shared their poems with me.

Untitled
by Martha O.

Our divided masses began awakening,
began uniting

to meet this threat, to follow the roots

today the state of the American dream will be transformed

Let us march
Let us march
Let us march on in honor, in struggle
and in faith

Transform dark yesterdays into
bright tomorrows

As I Stood on a Stage

By Rorie W.

As I stood on a stage,
all I can see is people.
Blacks and whites,
some young, some old.
Some shoot me angry glares with snarling lips,
some look as if I hold their fate in my hands.

As I look out into the mass,
I am filled with emotions plenty.
Fear and anger, but most importantly hope.

I hope for the day of unity, the day of peace
so, when I stand on the stage,
I don’t see only Black, only white,

All I can see is people.

The Right to Vote
By Luke H.

They revised the doctrine of white supremacy
laws of the South made it a crime to come together as equals.
That’s what happened when the South threatened to unite.
We are on the move now.
Ghettos?
Let us march!
Social and economic depression?
Let us marchLet!
Ballot boxes?
Let us march!
Until brotherhood becomes more than a meaningless word.
Let us march!

Let Us March
by Cameron A.

I want to tell the city of Selma
We are on the move now
Let us continue our triumphant march
to the realization of the American dream.

Let us march on segregated housing.
Let us march on poverty.
Let us march on ballot boxes.

We are still in for a season of suffering
in many counties of Alabama,
many areas of Mississippi,
many areas of Louisiana.

We must come to see that the end we seek
is a society at peace with itself.

That will be the day of man as man.

Please leave a comment to encourage these students.

Gator mascot greeted me at the entrance to the school. Yikes!

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Slice of Life: Dancing with a Paintbrush

Posted in Creativity, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Acadiana Center for the Arts, student poems, Teaching Artist on February 24, 2026| 9 Comments »

This morning I taught three third grade classes for the Teaching Artist Program with the Acadiana Center for the Arts. In my retirement, I found a way to teach and have fun. This is it!

The students were filled with joy and freedom while painting with watercolors. I played music to inspire their color choices. Some created abstract designs while others painted subjects they knew and loved.

After two music and painting sessions, they wrote a poem about their favorite painting.

Just look at their faces! I told them that I am happiest with a room full of kids writing.

Third grade students at Pesson Elementary

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Poetry Friday: Found Poetry from MLK, Jr’s How Long? Not Long Speech

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged Dr. Martin Luther King, found poetry, student poems on January 23, 2026| 16 Comments »

Poetry Friday is gathered today by Tabatha Yeats at The Opposite of Indifference.

Last week I had the privilege of leading a writing workshop for a class of ninth grade girls at the Academy of Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. The school is located near a pasture of horses and grove of live oaks trees. The drive itself felt sacred even though I was nervous. I have years of experience teaching elementary kids, high school is a horse of a different color. But once I got started and looked into the sweet, kind, and welcoming faces of these girls and their teacher, I felt relaxed and calm.

Using my book Were You There? A Biography of Emma Wakefield Paillet, I told portions of Emma’s story and presented a few poems. We discussed poetic elements.

I felt like found poetry would be an accessible form to share because it is less intimidating than a blank page. What was so exciting for me was each girl wrote a unique poem with a different voice even though the text was the same.

It was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, so I pulled a speech that was not as well known as the “I Have a Dream” speech. We read “How Long? Not Long” from the end of the Selma march.

Today I am sharing four of the students’ poems that they gave me permission to publish.

We Will See
by Alana

We will see
We the free-loving people
will one day see the victory
rested over their dead bodies
and where is our dignity?
where is our humanity?
when will we see?
how long?
not long
we will one day see
that will be the day of man as man
and we will all be free
We will see

Electrify our hearts for the understanding of friendship
by Zelie

When the powerful understanding 
of friendship itself comes into our lives,
and the universe wants to see us
wounded,
When society fears to live in the truth
of the dim unknown,
and when we may no longer have that passionate star that shines before us,
Let us become electrified by the majestic
face of friendship
and the confrontation of good 
and evil.
Face the danger.
Look it in the eye
and keep marching on because,
though we are tired,
our souls and hearts are rested.


We Have Walked
by Anna 

We have walked
through desolate valleys
across trying hills.

We have walked
on meandering highways
and on rocky byways.

We have walked.

“Well, aren’t you tired?”

We have walked
and our feet are tired.

We have walked 
but our souls are rested.

We have walked. 

Man as Man
by Kaylyn

My dear friends,
who have assembled here
from all over the world,

our bodies are tired

but as I stand before you
we can say,
our feet are tired,
but our souls are rested.

They told us we wouldn’t get here.

Out of this struggle,
a new idea,
more powerful than guns
was born.

It witnessed the whole community of Negroes
facing terror
and heroic courage
but, without the vote,
it was dignity
without strength.

Every race
good
and evil
generated the massive power
to turn the whole nation
to a new course.

We must come to see
not of the white man,
not of the black man,

man
as
man.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Getty images

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Slice of Life Day 29: After Billy Collins

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Billy Collins, student poems, teaching poetry, Today on March 29, 2025| 6 Comments »

On Fridays, I usually post a poem for my students to read and discuss. This week we looked at Billy Collins’s poem Today. This has been a favorite of mine for a long time. When I looked back on my blog, I found a poem I wrote after Today in 2011. (See the post here.) My students were shocked by this because none of them were even born at that time.

Today begins with a wonderful line for getting into a poem, “If ever there were a spring day so perfect,” As the poem continues with two lined stanzas, there is no end punctuation until the last line, “today is just that kind of day.” The whole poem is one sentence. I love how this works to make the poem sound more urgent and energized.

I invited my students to use these lines to create their own poems about a perfect day.

Spring 2025
after Billy Collins

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so full of bird song

that it made you want to join
with your own singing

and open your whole mouth
to the world of nature,

a day when dew drops cool grass,
and the garden roses popping

with red reflect the sun, so much light
that you feel like breathing,

releasing the grief you’ve held in
and cry real tears at the beauty

of it all, walk with light
pink and orange rising before

you, welcoming you with open arms
of rose and green and sky.

Today is that kind of day.

Margaret Simon, draft

As we head into spring, Avalyn and some other students are still dreaming about the amazing snow we had this winter. She asked if she could write about a winter day. “Of course, it’s your poem.”

If there were a winter day so perfect
so cold with icy air

Could I pretend to hunt ghosts
while drinking a warm cup of hot chocolate

Could I put on layers of clothes
and roll in the snow

Could I sit in my warm bed
watching TV and “being productive”

Could I play outside bands
performing plays

Could I read a book
my best days

Dreaming of presents can you imagine?
Well you can because today is that day.

Avalyn, 5th grade

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Slice of Life Day 28: Poetry Friday: Revision

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Progressive poem, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Fanschool, revision, student poems, triolet on March 28, 2025| 15 Comments »

If you are a blogger and would like to add a line during National Poetry Month to our Kidlit Progressive Poem, please make a comment or send me an email with a date choice and a link to your blog. Everyone is welcome to play!

The early morning school playground was covered in a sheet of fog. Avalyn and I went outside to write. This is something she often requests. There is an old oak with a picnic table in a just right spot for writing in our notebooks. I wrote about my surroundings, observations of the morning.

The fog hovers over the playground.
I hear echoes of a church bell chime.
Traffic moves beyond
carrying the day-workers.
Birds call to mates
as spring slowly wakes
sprouting on this weary morning.

Form can give us a container for our words. I looked up the triolet form. I labeled my paper with the number of lines and the rhyme scheme. The poem changed shape while still holding the mood.

Fog hovers on soft spring air,
tip-toes as a church bell chimes.
Work day traffic moves on everywhere.
Fog hovers on soft spring air.
Breeze tickles my face with hair.
Morning wakes right on time.
Fog hovers on soft spring air,
tip-toes as a church bell chimes.

(Margaret Simon, draft)

I used these two drafts to discuss revision with my students at the next school in the afternoon. I suggested they go back to a poem and revise it.

Max who is a humble poet will rarely share his poems out loud, so I asked his permission to share his revision here. He wrote it on Fanschool, and you can leave comments specifically for him there.

“Insects buzzing all around,

Bugs are feeding on the ground,

For there is no need for them to hurry,

So why should they need to worry?”

March 25th, 2025: I absolutely despise the quality of this poem. REVISE!

Insects hover in the air,

Gracefully, glide without care.

Spot a flower, beautifully white.

Harvesting energy, basking in the sunlight.

Insects, bugs, air and the ground.

Moving, flying, all around.

To hurry is not a worry, for them.

Unless by something, they’re found.

Then Scurry!

I would add something else, but this is just about it.
(Max, 6th grade)

How do you approach revision? Is it hard for you? I think students don’t usually like to revise. They like to write and move on to the next thing. Honestly until I read Max’s post, I thought the class didn’t think much of my little revision lesson. Modeling our own writing process with our students makes us vulnerable, but in the long run, shares how we all are in this together, writing side by side.

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Marcie.

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Slice of Life: Daily Poetry

Posted in Gifted Education, Photography, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged #poet, cinquain, I am From, poem, poetry, skinny poem, student poems, This is Just to Say, writing on October 8, 2024| 11 Comments »

This is Just to Say

I have forgotten
the words
to that song
you sang to me

and which
you are probably
humming in your head
while you sleep.

Forgive me:
I will sing
along with you
anyway.

Margaret Simon, after William Carlos Williams

I believe in daily poetry, but I fell off the Stanford Challenge for writing a poem a day. Lately the new book from Sarah Donovan, Mo Daley, and Maureen Young Ingram, 90 Ways of Community is helping. Each day I present one of the prompts to my students and write alongside them. They are responding so well to this daily practice. I hope you don’t mind if I share a few here. First up is a skinny poem by Grayson.

White void endless space just
waiting
wondering
no
thoughts
waiting,
I’m
tired
of
waiting
in this endless void, white space that is just too empty.

by Grayson, 5th grade

We’ve explored ourselves and written I am From poems.

I am from
crunching leaves
and windy days.

I am from
books, and books,
and even more books.

I am from the Bayou,
and I am from the
trees.
I come from murky waters
and lush green leaves
and sturdy branches.

I am from
the scratching of
a pen,
and the flick of a brush.

I am from
the smell of
cigarette smoke
and an autumn evening.

I am
from a household,
a household holding
four.
A mother of books,
a father of autumn,
a daughter of both,
and a sister
of all.

by Adelyn, 6th grade

Each week I invite my students to write to a photograph. They are free to choose their own form even as I model a form for them.

Old tree
Stays in the backyard
Is surrounded by water and ferns
Waiting outside on the porch for the sunrise
Lovely morning

by Marifaye, 5th grade

If you would like to write a poem to a photo, please join me on this blog on Wednesdays: This Photo Wants to be a Poem. I wish for you daily poetry.

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Poetry Friday: Time for Student Poetry

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged Glacier National Park, postcard poems, student poems on August 23, 2024| 20 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities.

This week was my second week of teaching this school year. We are settling into the routine. My classroom door revolves all day long with incoming and outgoing students. Nevertheless, I am establishing some routines. One of the expectations each week is “This Photo Wants to be a Poem.” On Wednesdays I post a photo here on my blog, but I also post it on our Fanschool site.

My friend Dani Burtsfield is a teacher in Kallispell, Montana. Last week she hosted poet Allan Wolf for her annual reading conference. She took Allan on a hike that she had taken me on a few years ago, so she sent pictures of them. I was wishing I could teleport and be with them, especially since our temperatures are well into the 90’s these days. If you know Allan and his poetry presentations, you know how he creates fun wherever he goes. Dani sent me some pictures.

On my students’ blog, I post my own poem as a model, and each student writes their own poem in response. One of my new students is a second grader. I taught her how to write a haiku. First we collected words. Then she spoke lines using the words. We counted syllables. I think she was pleased with her poem.

Crystal clear water
you can see mountains through it
beautiful blue lake

by Danielle, 2nd grade

Avalyn, now in 5th grade, wrote similes and used repetition. It amazes me how seemingly simple poetic elements can work together to become a beautiful poem.

Like an oversized crystal
it falls
Like the morning mist
it falls
Like a Maiden priestess
it falls
Like an opal river
it falls
by Avalyn , 5th grade

The final example I want to share made me laugh. Kailyn wrote from the perspective of the waterfall itself.

I love spitting on people,
it’s just the way I flow.
Paparazzi all around me,
trees for hair.
My life has been a sequel,
the water in me loves to go, go, go!
I can just relax and be lazy.
If you visit me, you might want to watch what you wear..
by Kailyn, 6th grade

Dani, Allan, and Randy at Virginia Falls in Glacier Park, Montana.

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Poetry Friday: Rainbow Haiku

Posted in Gifted Education, Photography, Poetry Friday, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged haiku, rainbow poems, student poems on April 26, 2024| 13 Comments »

The Poetry Friday Roundup is with Ruth at There is no such thing as a Godforsaken town.

This week is state testing week, so I did not pull my gifted students out from their regular classrooms. I’m on stand-by to help if needed. But I do get to see my youngest ones. William, first grade, was only recently placed in gifted services. His gifted brain is so full of ideas that he can barely settle on one thing. I asked him to work with me on a haiku about a rainbow. We talked about how a haiku form captures a single moment in time, usually about nature, and has 3 lines, short, long, short. We played around with word order and placement of his ideas. Then he came out with the word “surprise.” Ah yes, that’s it!

Reflex (relects) in the warter (water).
a rainbow comes out of clouds.
surprise in the sky
William’s first haiku, 1st grade

Carson in 2nd grade has been working with me all year long. He’s more independent in his writing, but still needs reassurance. I showed him a video from Mystery Science about how the rain becomes a prism to refract the white light into a colorful rainbow.

Rainbows are still a mystery to me even though I have this knowledge. When I see an actual rainbow in the sky, I often take a picture. My husband knows to stop for rainbows. If you are drawn to them, to Molly’s amazing photo, and want to add your writing to the collection, go back to this post on Wednesday.

Sunlight prism
in the water makes rainbows
arch of colors
Carson, 2nd grade

While I was checking my Fanschool post, I realized that even though Adelyn was not coming to class, she checked on our weekly “This Photo Wants to be a Poem” post and wrote. She is crazy about all things mythological. Can you tell?

The great color arc,
stretching above us.
As water vapor shimmers bright
in shining light,
Iris glows.
Adelyn, 5th grade

After a skipped day on Thursday (no worries, just busy life), Karin introduces a new character.

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Poetry Friday: Let’s Talk about Prompts

Posted in Creativity, Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged #100DaysofNotebooking, #TheStaffordChallenge, acrostic, concrete poems, Laura Shovan, student poems, washi tape on February 9, 2024| 16 Comments »

Carol Varsalona is gathering poets today at Beyond Literacy Link.

Where do your prompts come from? Are you inspired to write without them or do you need a little push? Inspiration? Motivation?

I’ve been participating in The Stafford Challenge as well as Laura Shovan’s 12th Annual February Challenge, so I should not complain about needing or wanting a prompt for writing. My complaint, I suppose, is that there are too many prompts, too many things to write about. How do I choose the one? Not to mention, how do I keep up with it all?

I am lucky to be teaching ELA to different groups of children. We begin each class time with notebook writing. My students are loving this quiet, sacred writing time. I recently bought a collection of washi tapes and throw them out on the table for their use. My students are making color-coded pages, drawing, and writing, and embracing their creativity. They inspire me every day.

My student Sadie inspired this notebook poem. She came in singing. My heart drawing became a love poem I didn’t know was inside of me. The surprise of writing is addictive.

Dreams in my heart fly over the waves crashing onto the shore of your love. I am yours. You hold me like sea glass, soft and crystal, a gem, a gift from a broken world.
Margaret Simon, draft

Here is a page from Marifaye’s notebook. I marvel at her patience to write in two colors. She loves writing acrostics. Her notebook pages are beautifully created. She inspires me. She inspires her classmates. Maybe she will inspire you.