student poetry | Reflections on the Teche

Posts Tagged ‘student poetry’

Slice of Life: How to Be Poems

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged animal poems, How to be poems, student poetry, teaching of writing, Things to Do Poem on December 17, 2024| 8 Comments »

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

I am a teacher who writes alongside my students. I show them my draft, the messy one in the notebook. We are writers together. This is my teaching philosophy and has been for years. Because it works for us all! I get time to write, and my students see themselves as part of a writing community.

I’ve been working my way through Ethical ELA’s new book 90 Ways of Community. Many of the prompts are tried and true. “How to Be” was posted by Sheri Vasinda. Her directions originated with Barry Lane’s Reviser’s Toolbox. I found the exercise to be similar to the “Things to Do” poem form. The prompt started us off making a list of 6-10 facts.

This way into a poem encourages us to think about and research the ways a chosen animal lives in the world. I asked myself and my students to push beyond just a list of facts, but to see how they could figuratively be applied to humans. How can you be like the animal?

I was reminded of my poem “Things to Do if You’re a Snapping Turtle” from my book Bayou Song. The poem and the prompt can be found here.

Yesterday I was thinking about owls. Owls are common here on the bayou. A friendly neighborhood one starts hooting before the sun goes down.

How to be an Owl

Lift your beak to the world
Whhhooot in the dimming light of winter
This is your time to fly–quiet and with intention
Sharpen your sight
Swallow whole
Spit out what you don’t need
Be a goddess of reason
Make wisdom your home

by Margaret Simon, draft

This was a fun prompt to start off our last week before the holiday break. Kailyn took her poem to a hilarious place. Here’s to a funny poem!

How to be a Capybara

Gain 150 pounds

Be the largest living rodent.

Be present in social gatherings.

Become committed to eating your droppings.

Have a jolly 10 years of living.

When swimming, look very pleasant.

Stick with the diet of plants.

When you see a Guinea Pig,

Give them a hug because you are family.

When you are a Capybara,

Don’t end up in a chimichanga.

by Kailyn, 6th grade (To leave comments for Kailyn, click here.)

Read Full Post »

Poetry Friday: My Place in the World

Posted in being mamére, Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged "my place in the world" poem, #bayoulife, #beingmamére, student poetry on November 23, 2024| 11 Comments »

Poetry Friday is gathered by Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town.

My students and I are reading Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. In the book, there is a poem “On the Road with Arley” that begins with line “Here’s the way I figure it, my place in the world is at the piano.” It’s been fun to find music of the time period and write alongside it. My students worked hard to create poems using this beginning line. I asked them to use imagery to create a tone. I wrote a model poem about my place in the world.

In a Canoe

Here’s the way I figure it,
my place in the world is
on the bayou
lazing about in a canoe
with you.

I’m just a mamere
wanting the best time
to be outside
watching for eagles
slipping through slow current
listening for Mr. Owl
to cook-cook-for-you!

My place is in open toes
among cypress knees
sniffing catfish air
hearing cicadas buzz
when the sun goes down.

Here’s the way I figure it,
my place in the world
is in a canoe with you.

Margaret Simon, draft

Photo by Nitin Arya on Pexels.com

Here’s the way I figure it,
my place in the world is
out of it.

My place is in a different place,
far away from here.
In a mythical world,
or one that is crumbling
even more than mine is.

With my favorite characters
I venture
for escape.
Escape.
My feet will beat the ground,

in my head a pound,
and then I settle down.
In a bed or a chair,
I wind

wind

wind

down.

I read, and I am free.

Here’s the way I figure it,
my place in the world is
seeking distraction from it.

Adelyn, 6th grade

Where is your place in the world?

Read Full Post »

Poetry Friday: NPM 23 Day 14: Do You Like What I Like?

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Kimberly Taylor, Mary Lee Hahn, Pattern Poetry, student poetry on April 14, 2023| 12 Comments »

Today’s Poetry Friday Round up is with Jone, a gentle creative who always holds others up on her strong shoulders. Today she is gathering classic found poems. I forgot to do one. I have a good excuse. I’m presenting today at the Fay B. Kaigler Book Festival in Hattiesburg, MS with my friend and fellow children’s book author Leslie Helakoski. But I don’t like missing out, so I may try to get to it sometime this weekend. At Mary Lee’s post, I found a link to a poem video done by Jone’s student, Kimberly Taylor. It’s an amazingly powerful interpretation of Mary Lee’s poem Dandelions.

Leslie wrote a book entitled “Are Your Stars Like My Stars?” It’s a beautiful book about diversity in perspective using a patterned phrase i.e.”Is your blue like my blue?” I read the book to my students and had them write their own poem based on the pattern. Using blank books, they turned their poems into books. I’ll be sharing these with our session participants today. I wanted to feature Adelyn’s poem today. When she wrote it, it brought tears to my eyes because at such a young age of 10, she sees with more wisdom than many adults. And this gives me hope. Poetry gives me hope. Children’s book authors give me hope. You give me hope.

Do You Like What I Like?

Staring at the stars in cozy blankets, porch bound.
Are your stars like mine?
A fluff in my arms, a fuzz in my head.
Do you sleep like me?

Hugging them tight, don’t want to let go.
Do you love like I do?

When you’re sitting down, about to eat your food,
whether it’s makizushi, chimichurri or gumbo.
Think, do I do what you do?

I have trouble counting by eights but love doing equations.
Do you do math like I do?

I read some advanced books and read lots of chapter books.
Do you read like I do?

Sometimes when I get yelled at
or I try to tell someone something and they don’t listen,
I get overwhelmed and sometimes cry.
Are your feelings like my feelings?

I have dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and freckles.
Are your features like my features?

I like the winter but summer not that much.
Do you like seasons like I do?

When you lay down in bed,
getting ready to sleep,
do you ever think of these things like I do?

Do you ever think about how different other people could be
and think about how different you are from others?

We are all different and that’s okay.
As long as you are,
YOURSELF
by Adelyn, 4th grade

The Progressive Poem is with Janice Scully today at Salt City Verse.

Read Full Post »

Poetry Friday: Poems Hide

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged ars poetica, Awakening the Heart, Georgia Heard, Naomi Shihab Nye, student poetry on May 13, 2022| 11 Comments »

Design by Linda Mitchell
Poetry Friday round up is with Rose today at Imagine the Possibilities

Awakening the Heart by Georgia Heard is a go-to book for me. I recently came back to it to find an inspiring poetry lesson (page 48) around a stanza of Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem Valentine for Ernest Mann.

We watched this video of Naomi reading it and telling the story of its inception. Then we borrowed the words poems hide for our own poems. Avalyn says it’s the best poem she’s ever written (in her year of writing poetry with me.)

I was reminded of a resident at my parents’ retirement home. When my father was ill, I stayed with my mother in her apartment and got to know many of her friends. This is a true story about Angel, but after I gave her a copy of the poem, she had to correct me that the cats do trust her and let her pet them.

Poems Hide
in an Instagram image
of sunrise
a small songbird
the trickle of water
over a streambed.
Poems hide
in the calico that lost its tail
in the woman named Angel
who sits on the ground
to feed the lonely cat,
her hand out, longing for trust.
Angel laughs in poetry.
She gives me a Styrofoam cup
of cut roses aflame in her hand.
I find poetry
in the things I touch
and in your forever love.
Margaret Simon, all rights reserved

Poetry Hides
by Avalyn, 2nd grade

poetry hides
in talent,

poetry hides
in your favorite stuffed toy

poetry hides
in the beautiful Robin you saw hurt on the ground

poetry hides
in yourself and all beings

poetry hides
in magnolia flowers

poetry hides
in the things you love most

poetry hides
in the ones that helped you get awards and medals

poetry hides
in the lost and found shared memories

poetry hides
in your life and soul

poetry hides
in the book of quotes that helps you feel grateful

poetry hides

Read Full Post »

Slice of Life: Prequel Poems

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Chloe, Emily Callahan, prequel poems, student poetry, The Poem Farm on May 10, 2022| 6 Comments »

On Poetry Friday, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater posted on The Poem Farm a slide show created by teacher/author Emily Callahan. Her 4th graders have been writing proverb poems after Amy’s. I shared the slide show with my student Chloe. She was inspired to write a prequel to Ms. Callahan’s students’ prequel poems. Here is her Fanschool page, Prequel Crazy.

Here it sits
covered from the rain a chess board
broken into pieces.
I allow access to
the board.
He has found a new home.
I glue it,
I wash it,
I rinse it,
I dry it,
I wrap it up
and drive along a bumpy road
the perfect gift
to my daughter
She asks, ” Where did you dig this up from?”
“One man’s trash is another mans treasure
Maybe you can do the same
Like with a blanket?”
Chloe, 6th grade

I wrote alongside Chloe. A poem about my sister’s plan to create a quilt from my father’s shirts. I left the last line blank so I could make it a prequel to Chloe’s. We enjoyed this playful poem making. Thanks, Amy and Emily!

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”
The girl sees patterns,
pictures in her father’s shirts,
gathered,
sorted,
cut,
stitched
into a quilt of many colors,
into a memory of many hugs,
into a dream of everlasting rest.
She sees more than anyone
a life lived as a husband, a father,
a doctor, an artist, a friend.
She touches every day what he wore,
a treasure in her hands.
Maybe you could do the same.
Maybe with a chess board.
Margaret Simon, draft

Read Full Post »

NPM #9: Festivals and Forms

Posted in Poetry, Teaching, Writing, tagged crochet canopy installation, dodoitsu, Lao New Year, New Iberia travel, Spanish Festival, student poetry on April 9, 2022| 2 Comments »

It’s festival season and most of them are back from a long Covid break. All week I introduced different poetry forms to my students. They could choose their own topics. Coincidentally two chose to write about upcoming festivals using the dodoitsu form. Dodoitsu is a Japanese form that uses the syllable count of 7,7,7,5. Avalyn, 2nd grade, wrote about the Lao New Year Festival. Avalyn’s family belongs to the Buddhist Temple located in Coteau, a suburb of New Iberia. In the 70’s Laotian immigrants were aided by Catholic Services to purchase land to build a temple. Every year around Easter, the community celebrates the Lao New Year. Avalyn is looking forward to it with enthusiasm. She wrote a cherita here. I’m sharing her dodoitsu.

My Lao New Year
First we go inside to pray
next we go outside to play
food and fun and lots of joy
spend money on toys
Avalyn, 2nd grade

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lao_New_Year,_flour_throwing.jpg

The Spanish Festival queen is a substitute teacher at our school, so she and her cohort visited the school to promote the Spanish Festival happening this weekend in New Iberia. This beautiful crocheted canopy is on display downtown.

Chloe was prompted by the queen’s visit to write her dodoitsu about the Spanish festival.

Spanish Festival
Crochet ceiling, knit till dark
staying up with family
Everyone’s culture matters
As dawn sets down day
Chloe, 6th grade

Read Full Post »

Slice of Life: Jump Day

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged #techeproject, Bayou Teche, Jump Day!, student poetry, wood duck nesting box, wood ducks on April 5, 2022| 6 Comments »

Thirty-four days. Our wood duck hen sat for thirty-four days. We were losing hope, afraid the freeze back in March did it. On Sunday morning I got a text from a bayou neighbor, “Today is jump day for one of our houses!”

“Our duck has been sitting for 34 days. No hatching yet. I’m not sure we should keep waiting.”

“Mine sat for longer than usual.”

So I flipped over to our RIng app. Did I hear cheeping? Mother hen was eating a shell. They were hatching!

You probably want to know how many, but it’s nearly impossible to count when they are little blurry black blobs wiggling.

Monday was Jump Day. It was also a school/work day. We had to rely on the camera. Jeff set up a new Ring camera outside of the house in order to record the jump. Around 10:00, I checked the cameras. Gone. All the ducks had jumped. I missed it, but the camera did not.

As I showed the video to my student, Avalyn, she named the little ducklings. “Come on, Tiffany, you can do it!” she urged as one of the babies hesitated to jump. Avalyn also wrote a poem-song (impromptu) to celebrate Jump Day!

Wood duck, wood duck
open your shell.
Come out, come out, come out now!
Little duck, little duck,
quack with your snout.
Little duck little duck, little duck
don’t you frown
Come play in the bayou
and make no sound.
Avalyn, 2nd grade

Jump Day, 2022: Watch the lower right corner to see Momma Duck come back to get a wayward duckling.

Read Full Post »

Poetry Friday: Spring Triolet

Posted in Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Irene Latham, student poetry, triolet on March 18, 2022| 10 Comments »

My drive to my schools changes with the seasons. In fall, the sugarcane is tall and takes my attention. In spring, these fields are fallow, and some become meadows of golden wildflowers. Horses roam. I wish I had taken a picture, but I’m usually on a strict time schedule.

Last week my student Chloe and I played with the triolet form, inspired by this Irene Latham poem, Triolet for Planting Day. It was a more challenging form than I thought it would be.

Triolet for Field and Breeze
When Field awakens to glimmering gold,
Breeze gallops upon green waves.
An ember mare nuzzles her foal
when Field awakens to glimmering gold,
and readies itself for a front of cold,
with frolics over winter’s graves.
When field awakens to glimmering gold,
Breeze gallops upon green waves.
Margaret Simon, draft

Spring Triolet
Spring colors over winter’s greed.
The rain fills all the holes.
Marshy areas buy blankets of reed.
And spring colors over winter’s greed.
Birds come home, now flight freed.
Out comes the little moles.
When spring covers winter’s greed,
The rain fills all the holes.
Chloe, 6th grade

The Progressive Poem Schedule is Complete. Click here to grab the schedule.

Read Full Post »

More Deeper Wisdom Poems

Posted in Poetry, Writing, tagged Deep Wisdom Poems, Fanschool, hurricane, student poetry on August 28, 2021| 9 Comments »

What the Hurricane Knows

Hot August oceans churn.
Tornadoes internally spurn
a meteorologist’s concern.

This is what the hurricane knows.
With strength beyond a whale’s tail,
swallow waves into booming gale,
loosen nature’s grip and WAIL!
Margaret Simon, draft

On Friday, I wrote wisdom poems with my students. I couldn’t focus on much except Hurricane Ida heading our way. They also wrote some wonderful wisdom poems linked below.

#SOL2021: Day 25 Collage to Poem Inspiration

Posted in Creativity, Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged art collage, student poetry, The Artist's Way on March 25, 2021| 6 Comments »

I have been playing with collage in my notebook. One day Chloe saw one of my pages and said, “I want to try that.” So I loaded her up with some magazines to take home. She came back the next day not only with a beautiful collage but a poem inspired by it. I interviewed her about the process and recorded it. The Soundcloud recording below is our conversation.

I love what Chloe said about how an image that she put in her collage became surprising images in her poem. The process of cutting is meditative. It can work both ways, too. Creating a collage after a poem can help you process and make connections in a visual way.

I’ve been working through the book The Artist’s Way. Julia Cameron encourages self-discovery and self-nurturing through creativity. She offers affirmations to write and rewrite and say to yourself, questions that move you to letting go and letting spiritual blessings of creativity in. In the margin of a page, I wrote “How is my creativity a blessing to others?” I think I found my answer.

Masterpiece
The silhouette of spinning
monkeys swinging on
peacock feathers,
Turtles following dogs on
beaches waving at the waves
As the pig and bird guard their
treasure found at sea,
and the mother and
daughter watch the
world they live on
on the beach shore.
Chloe, 5th grade