One of my eighth grade students came into class one day this week brandishing a poem he had written. He told everyone how much his family had liked it. He described the process of writing it, the way he sat down with kind of an ordinary idea, and then thought of something else, and soon was in full creative mode. He explained every image to us and where it had come from, and about the last lines he said that they were so good that he could hardly believe he had written them himself - he thought maybe they had come from a poem I'd read to them, and actually checked that poem to make sure he hadn't taken any words from it!
The other kids read his work and several said they thought he must have found it on the internet. He insisted that he hadn't - I could look on every site and I would never find it, he said, because he had written it!
It was wonderful to see him get so excited about something he wrote, and about the process of it, and the reaction of others to it.
2 hours ago
5 comments:
That's so cool! Do you have "poetry slams" in TECWIL? Maybe you should start one, just so he could perform this work for a larger audience :^)
It's very exciting to me to see young people realize they have a gift- or even to just realize they have a passion for something, even if it may not be their strongest suit. It sounds like your student found a little (or a BIG) part of himself- and then he had the courage to share it! That's fantastic. "The gift moves..."
Maria
You know, the poetry slam is not at all a bad idea. A former teacher had one once, and I found all kinds of stuff about it in the files. Maybe I'll try it.
Yes, Maria, this is what a teacher lives for!
So, are you going to publish the poem for us?
Anonymous, no, for three reasons.
First, I don't have permission to publish it.
Secondly, I don't want to draw attention to my blog by asking for permission.
Thirdly, it is about Tecwil and would give away my - ahem - top-secret location.
:-)
I am, however, going to encourage him to share it more widely than just the class.
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