Seventh-grade students interviewed people who impact their lives beyond school and, with consent, posted the interviews on our class blog to share. They focused on what being 13 was like in different decades and different places in the world. Our stories span the globe. Everyone …
Congratulations! We have shared this virtual space for 30 days — 30 days of words, phrases, images, and lines borrowed from lives lived and imagined. Inspiration Patched poems borrow lines from our community of poems to create something new while honoring the lines that have …
Thank you for being with us this month as a reader, as a poet, as a poetry lover! Here is a slide with hyperlinks to every day’s inspiration and poems. We invite you to look back at the way our poem-ing has invited inquiry into …
Inspiration Spring is here! Time for new life, growth and renewal. Think of the cycle of life (plant or animal), from its beginnings as a seed to full bloom to death. Imagery is literally the representation of one thing by another. Look at the poem …
Today we welcome author Aida Salazar to #verselove2019, our celebration of all that poetry can do for our hearts and minds this National Poetry Month. Aida Salazar is a writer, arts advocate, and homeschooling mother whose writings explore issues of identity and social justice. She …
Inspiration Make your own lyrics. Sometimes nothing can be more inspiring than something we already love–in this case, substituting new lyrics to a popular song. Process I’ve always loved playing with song lyrics of my own (and have even written the lyrics for a couple …
Inspiration Memory poem. It’s time to get personal. Our own memories can inspire our current selves, and sometimes remembering what it was like to be the student sitting in class can bridge the gap between adult and child or teen. Process Dive into your own …
Inspiration Found words poetry. It can be particularly satisfying to create something beautiful out of something not-so-beautiful. Process Find a news article (anywhere online or in print) and select ten words to highlight. Use as many of those words as you can as you create …
Inspiration Historical figure poetry. Inspiring figures from the past can just as easily inspire us today. Poetry provides the perfect medium for capturing voices from the past. Process I’ve seen more and more teachers reaching across the ELA and Social Studies curricula for lessons that …
This week we welcome Kip Wilson to Ethical ELA. Her new historical novel in verse, White Rose, was released earlier this month, and she has been traveling with Kwame Alexander to launch the new imprint, Versify. We are so happy to have her with us …