Alphabetical Order

For the last few years I have assigned abecedarian poems to my students.

Pronounced A-B-C-darian, it is an ancient poetic form guided by alphabetical order. Generally each line or stanza begins with the first letter of the alphabet and is followed by the successive letter, until the final letter is reached. The form was frequently used in many cultures for sacred compositions, such as prayers, hymns, and psalms.

Some 20th century abecedarians are The Gashleycrumb Tinies, by Edward Gorey, and Alligators All Around by Maurice Sendak, both of which are works my brother and sister and I enjoyed when we were teens.

For their assignment, the students are only asked to compose something beautiful: sometimes they make sense; sometimes they are thematic; sometimes they are silly and random. This year, though, like everything the kids have written during our distance learning, the images they chose are revealing.

Here is a mashup of their poems, each line sampled from a different poet:

A is for Amsterdam a city on stilts
B is for Baker's Wife, Be More Chill and Bye Bye Birdie
C is for cool mornings and warm afternoons
D is for Dad that I wish I had
E is for eeeeeeew that’s nasty
F is for fire that lights the night
G is for good boy I am a good boy
H is for hugs lots of people love hugs
I’s for igloo as cold as ice
J’s for jumpy just like mice
K is for kids who play all day
L is for llama, the one that spits
M is for masterminds (I’m talking about you!)
N is for night dark and mysterious
O is for outside where I don’t want to go
P is for pick a card, any card
Q is for quarantine
R is for the common robin, who just had her eggs in my backyard.
S is for school because I am looking forward to going back
T is for toaster strudel
U is for us, we are animals
V is for viral
W is for waltzing silently
X’s for Xmas, that makes me laugh like a silly clown!
Y’s for yorkie, a small, but feisty little dog 🐕
Z is for Zoe who writes poetry

The poems are also a prewriting activity for the May Writing Challenge which is Alphabiography-- stay tuned for more on those soon!

I am On It, On It, On It

My students wrote Praise Poems today. This was the third year for the assignment, and as always, I explained that Praise Poems come from Western Africa and celebrate an individual's identity. They are often call and response, with the audience chanting a chorus between lines.

The formula I give my students is to write six lines and a chorus. The first line is your name, the second about your place of birth or ethnicity, the third about your family, the fourth and fifth compare you to natural elements or entities, and the last chooses a positive, defining quality about you and repeats it three times. The chorus is an expression of what they hope might be said of them by their community, and so it is written in third person.

When teachers of other disciplines talk about teaching English they often express relief and envy– they are glad that they don't have to read all that student writing, but sorry that they don't get the insight into our students that you get from reading all that writing. I was reminded of that this evening when I read the following:

I am D
Life is so messed up
Police have more power than laws.
Life is so messed up
Dad's on the road my mom is at home.
Life is so messed up
I am the strength of an erupting volcano,
Life is so messed up
The speed of a trash bags in the air,
Life is so messed up
But I'm super super bored

To teach this boy every day, you would never have an inkling of any such turmoil and dismay; he seems soooo steady and studious. But since he went ahead and published his feelings, we have a place to start a conversation.

And we will.

Inspiring Poetry

Today the students shared some of the riddle poems they wrote yesterday so that their classmates might guess the answers.

There were some easy ones,

I look like a lion.
I speak like a human.
You can find me in Egypt.
Speaking in riddles
To those who wish to pass me by.
What am I?

(xnihpS)

some very clever ones,

First think of the sound from an animal with a lot of wool,
That would make a basket very full.
Then think of something you say that scares,
And when you hear it you always glare.
Last think of the start of never,
The middle of Denver,
And is nowhere in lover.

Then string them together and wonder this,
What mammal would you never miss

(noobaB)

some lovely ones,

You can never touch me,
but you can see me.
I am in every classroom.
I am at the head of an arrow.
I am in the crust of pizza.
You could say very little without me.
I come in the afternoon of every day,
in the center of every place.
I am the beginning of all things.
I am on every planet.
I am in space.
What am I?

('A' rettel ehT)

and some confusing ones, too.

I wear glasses
I sound very sweet,
but I think of myself as evil, I dont know why.
You'll find me in one of your classes.
I have short hair,
I am very sweet,
i feel as human skin.

Who am i?

That last one had us stumped, and when we asked the poet for the answer, she gave me an exasperated look.

"It's you!"

Rule of Three

My students wrote Praise Poems yesterday. This was the second year for the assignment, and like last time, I explained that Praise Poems come from Western Africa and celebrate an individual's identity. They are often call and response, with the audience chanting a chorus between lines.

The formula I gave my students was to write six lines and a chorus. The first line is your name, the second about your place of birth or ethnicity, the third about your family, the fourth and fifth compare you to natural elements or entities, and the last chooses a positive, defining quality about you and repeats it three times. The chorus is an expression of what they hope might be said of them by their community, and so it is written in third person.

There is something about the writing that kids do for this assignment that is just so moving to me, especially the last lines of their poems. So often the defining quality they choose is stunning-- surprising but perfect.

Here are some of their words:

I am the force of a tornado
but I am steady, steady, steady

I change like the seasons
I am energetic, energetic, energetic

As silent as a hurricane,
but I am loving, loving, loving

I have the speed of a snail,
but I am happy, happy, happy

I am the crashing of a storm,
but I am wise, wise, wise

Determined as the cheetah,
I am daunting, daunting, daunting

I have the strength of a rhino,
but I am kind, kind, kind

I keep peace as the dove does--
I am cooperative, cooperative, cooperative

Praise Poems

The poetry challenge today was a form of praise poem. Praise Poems come from Western Africa and celebrate an individual's identity. They are often call and response, with the audience chanting a chorus between lines.

The formula I gave my students was to write six lines and a chorus. The first line is your name, the second about your place of birth or ethnicity, the third about your family, the fourth and fifth compare you to natural elements or entities, and the last chooses a positive, defining quality about you and repeats it three times. The chorus is an expression of what they hope might be said of them by their community, and so it is written in third person.

Once again, I am really wowed by the kids' writing. I got goosebumps reading a couple of them. One boy ended his poem with the line, I am ready, ready, ready. Another student wrote as her chorus, Everyone counts.

Here's my praise poem:

I am Tracey,
Teaching is in her heart.
born within the watch of Freedom,
Teaching is in her heart.
oldest child of flight and persuasion, sister of law and empowerment.
Teaching is in her heart.
I am warm granite ledges
Teaching is in her heart.
and quiet snowfall,
Teaching is in her heart.
and I am patient, patient, patient.
Teaching is in her heart.

Ode to the Ode

I had a guest poet scheduled to visit my class yesterday. The timing was perfect-- poetry and Valentine's Day?-- and this particular poet and I have worked together for the last 4 years. Even so, I still had a nagging feeling that something was going to go wrong.

Later when I told the story, a colleague of mine said, "I'm going to start asking you for lottery numbers! You were right about this; you're usually right about the snow..." and she continued with a list of other accurate predictions I've made over the years. I liked that. I like thinking I have a little bit of a sixth sense, but as far as the lottery goes? I predict I'm not going to win it anytime soon.

At any rate, prescience is of no value unless you act upon it, and in this particular case, I did not. 8:15 AM found me desperately texting my poet buddy while making small talk with my first period class about how great our visiting artist was going to be. At 8:20 I kicked into emergency mode and began improvising a lesson about odes. Who knows where that came from? It certainly helped that I own a copy of Neruda's Odes to Common Things, and the Valentine's Day angle made things easier, too, but I truly believe that the key ingredient to what turned out to be a very successful activity was our collective focus on the positive.

For me this has been a tough year with a challenging group of kids, so the opportunity for each of us to express our appreciation for those things, both large and small, that make us happy, that make our lives a little easier, was priceless. Yesterday was a very good day.

Post Script: The poet overslept. He called at 9:30 to apologize profusely, and we rescheduled for tomorrow. I do have a back-up plan, but I don't think I'll need it.