Hello and Goodbye from Ms. Libby and Ms. Samira! |
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Community "Shout Out" Poem! |
Community "I wish/ I wonder/ I know" Poem |
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A Note from Your Teachers
6/30/2020
Dear Students,
I still remember the crisp, sunny morning in the Fall when I walked into your classes for our very first poetry lesson. I don't know about you but guess what, I was so excited -- but also nervous. Yes, us grown-ups feel that, too! I wanted to learn everything about you - what you think of poetry, how you would write your poems, what you would enjoy, what you would be nervous about, or whether you would find it boring.
In a letter I wrote to you before starting our class, I said, "We will read a lot of poems and write them too! You might enjoy some of them, you might not understand some of them, you might not like some of them, and you might absolutely fall in love with some of them. And all of that is okay. My wish for you, as we go forward, is that you are able to write and read poetry to understand yourself, your friends, and the world." And how true that has been throughout the year! We read poems that made us laugh, made us scared of shadows, made us think about the world through the lens of candylands and imagined monsters. And through all of that, we created so many different, new worlds.
Miss Libby and I are so proud of how far you've come with your work -- through your words, your drawings, your thoughts, you've reminded us how far our imaginations can stretch, and that we can write wonderful poems about anything as long as they matter to us -- from Wendy's fried chicken to saving the Earth.
We're wrapping up the year in the middle of this weird time, a weird new word - "Pan-de-mic" - and there might be times ahead that will be scary, or fun, or when you will miss your friends. We hope, during those times, you remember the world you have inside your mind. We hope it becomes a reason for you to smile, and hope.
Take care of yourselves and enjoy your summer!
Ms. Samira & Ms. Libby
I still remember the crisp, sunny morning in the Fall when I walked into your classes for our very first poetry lesson. I don't know about you but guess what, I was so excited -- but also nervous. Yes, us grown-ups feel that, too! I wanted to learn everything about you - what you think of poetry, how you would write your poems, what you would enjoy, what you would be nervous about, or whether you would find it boring.
In a letter I wrote to you before starting our class, I said, "We will read a lot of poems and write them too! You might enjoy some of them, you might not understand some of them, you might not like some of them, and you might absolutely fall in love with some of them. And all of that is okay. My wish for you, as we go forward, is that you are able to write and read poetry to understand yourself, your friends, and the world." And how true that has been throughout the year! We read poems that made us laugh, made us scared of shadows, made us think about the world through the lens of candylands and imagined monsters. And through all of that, we created so many different, new worlds.
Miss Libby and I are so proud of how far you've come with your work -- through your words, your drawings, your thoughts, you've reminded us how far our imaginations can stretch, and that we can write wonderful poems about anything as long as they matter to us -- from Wendy's fried chicken to saving the Earth.
We're wrapping up the year in the middle of this weird time, a weird new word - "Pan-de-mic" - and there might be times ahead that will be scary, or fun, or when you will miss your friends. We hope, during those times, you remember the world you have inside your mind. We hope it becomes a reason for you to smile, and hope.
Take care of yourselves and enjoy your summer!
Ms. Samira & Ms. Libby
Our year
This year, we learned about all the ways of unlocking our creativity -- to be able to write about whatever we want, however we want, and to imagine as widely, and as boldly as we wanted. And we came up with some amazing works of art, too! Here are all the different poetry traditions we learned about:
African-American Blues-style poem:
This is the first poem we worked on! We started by thinking about what Home means - a place we want to go to? How would we get there? We worked on it for three classes, imagining where we are now, thinking about where we want to go (i.e. what is home made of?), and how we want to get there. Using these three thoughts, we wrote a Blues poem, inspired by the African American tradition. Remember, in this three-line poem, the first line is repeated twice!
African-American Blues-style poem:
This is the first poem we worked on! We started by thinking about what Home means - a place we want to go to? How would we get there? We worked on it for three classes, imagining where we are now, thinking about where we want to go (i.e. what is home made of?), and how we want to get there. Using these three thoughts, we wrote a Blues poem, inspired by the African American tradition. Remember, in this three-line poem, the first line is repeated twice!
Brazilian-style folhetos (slideshow): This was the activity we did after we completed our field trip to Diversity Plaza in Jackson Heights. We sat there, observed our surroundings, and wrote about them. Then we created drawings and brought together our pieces as a group. After we had our group drawing, we created prints to make folheto covers to put all our poems in, inspired by the Brazillian art of "Literatura de Cordel". You can see how we made the prints in the slideshow above. |
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Delight Song 'I Am' poem:
This poem was inspired N. Scott Momaday, a Kiowa Indian poet who wrote "The Delight Song of Tsoai-talee". We used his words and inspiration to think of all the things we are -- and could be. Then we added delicious details to them to make them more real, or more fun. You can check out some of our recordings below!
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"I am a crinkled note in your locker that's missing."
"I am a sun sitting down on a red and orange sky." "I am the devil or the angel - I don't know." "I am chocolate chip cookie dough ice-cream on a breezy summer night." "I am the black wolf that lives in the shiny moon." |
"I am a tear of a dragon"
"I am a big piece of the world" "I am a painting from the 19th century that sits in the shop and never gets bought." "I am a neon green color of wax that is melted dripping in a cup that sounds satisfying." |
Shout Out poem:
This was the last poem we completed for the year! This type of poem is inspired by Sekou Sundiata, who was a poet, performer and teacher born in Harlem, New York City in 1948. He was a member of the Black Rock Coalition, an artists collective dedicated to promoting the creative freedom of Black artists and musicians. Sundiata’s works combined poetry, music and drama. His musical influences included jazz, blues, funk and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. And we wrote -- and read out -- poems in that style that you can check out on our homepage!
Thank you!
As we complete our year, we want to take a moment to say thanks to the people (our Shout Out!) without whom this would not be possible:
Teachers:
Ms. Debbie Strack-Cregan
Ms. Gabriel David
Ms. Lisa DiSunno and Ms. Paula Carney
Ms. Regina O'Connor
Ms. Giovanna Maher, Ms. Refat Kazi
& Ms. Mejia, Ms. Barnett, Ms. Ortega
City Lore:
Sahar Muradi
Madeleine Roodberg
& Team
Parents:
Thank you for making time to share our lessons and help the poets make their poetry into its best self.
Guest artists:
Alan Calpe (printmaking)
Joan Raiselis & Fred (board game)
Eldad Arad (music)
Teachers:
Ms. Debbie Strack-Cregan
Ms. Gabriel David
Ms. Lisa DiSunno and Ms. Paula Carney
Ms. Regina O'Connor
Ms. Giovanna Maher, Ms. Refat Kazi
& Ms. Mejia, Ms. Barnett, Ms. Ortega
City Lore:
Sahar Muradi
Madeleine Roodberg
& Team
Parents:
Thank you for making time to share our lessons and help the poets make their poetry into its best self.
Guest artists:
Alan Calpe (printmaking)
Joan Raiselis & Fred (board game)
Eldad Arad (music)