Inspiration One of my favorite poems to teach is “An Echo Sonnet: To An Empty Page” by Robert Pack. (Scroll to page 2 for the complete poem.) The poem appeared on the 2011 AP Lit and Comp exam in the free-response section, tasking students with …
December 2/5-Day Writing Challenge
Inspiration Fib (Fibonacci poem): A Fib poem marries math and poetry. Gregory K. Pincus created the Fib to commemorate National Poetry Month in 2006. From that first post, a Fib movement began. Fibs are based on the Fibonacci sequence, according to this post from the …
December 1/5-Day Writing Challenge
Inspiration Golden Shovel: Inspiration for our poems comes from many places. Terrance Hayes created the Golden Shovel poetry form from Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool.” Hayes named his poem “The Golden Shovel,” and if we look at the last word in each line of …
October: 5/5-Day Writing Challenge
A special thank you to Andy Schoenborn for his compassion and support during this month’s writing challenge. We so appreciate the time Andy took to develop these meaningful writing opportunities and to nurture our community. As we look toward November, please continue to invite colleagues …
October: 4/5-Day Writing Challenge
Inspiration In her work, Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, Natalie Goldberg reminds writers that “sometimes a simple idea, such as the idea of leaving, can inspire profound writing” (p. 27). Let’s try tackling the emotion that can bubble up from the idea …
October: 3/5-Day Writing Challenge
Inspiration For children play and imagination transform the world into a place they long to be. It seems, as adults, we can lose sight of the importance of play. The month of October, however, invites adults to reconnect with imaginative play especially during Halloween. It …
October: 2/5-Day Writing Challenge
Inspiration Life comes at us fast. Without a doubt there are hills, valleys, and plateaus. On occasion these moments make for a memorable (if not defining) experience – one that is remembered throughout a person’s life. For many, the senior year of high school is …
October: 1/5-Day Writing Challenge
Inspiration As the leaves fall from the trees in vibrant yellows, radiant reds, and brilliant oranges, October is a month worth celebrating with words. Let’s peruse our camera rolls or snap a picture of something beautiful this month. Using the photo of your choice, let’s …
September: 4/5-Day Writing Challenge
A Spine Poem Today, consider “spine” as a pun, a word with multiple meanings that work in the same setting. Millions of men and women of Hispanic heritage have served as the “spine” or backbone of our nation by assuming the backbreaking and back bending …
September: 3/5-Day Writing Challenge
Inspired by an Artist A native of Detroit, Michigan, I learned early about the art of muralist Diego Rivera, whose magnificent paintings of Motor City history grace the walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). We had school trips to view the Rivera frescos, …