About Hands on Stanzas

Hands on Stanzas, the educational outreach program of the Poetry Center of Chicago places professional, teaching Poets in residence at Chicago Public Schools across the city. Poets teach the reading, discussion, and writing of poetry to 3 classes over the course of 20 classroom visits, typically from October through April. Students improve their reading, writing, and public speaking skills, and participating teachers report improved motivation and academic confidence. You can contact Cassie Sparkman, Director of the Hands on Stanzas program, by phone: 312.629.1665 or by email: csparkman(at)poetrycenter.org for more information.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Found poems - finding new meaning in words

We discussed the idea of a palimpsest - of writing over words, reusing text to find new meanings. Students spent ten minutes on a free write about their school and their school day. Then I asked them to use the text they had written, and only that text, to create a new poem - either a poem on anger, love or an equally strong emotion, or a poem about a strong memory.


7th grade - room 309

Jair O.
Cold

Cold killing
off everything.
Nothing but
cold. Icy
chilliness filling
in all
the space
kill grass.


Jesus U.
Love poem

My inside
is cold
I don't
feel good
you left
and I
don't laugh
I've changed

Efrain S.

Feeling happy
a lot
of leaves
look trashy
in the
morning

Estephanie B.
Memory

And yeah.
It was
brown, cold
lonely, and
full at
the same
time, it
was grass.

Glenda C.
Love poem

You made
me run
to a
freezing alley
yelling nasty
blocking the
sidewalk to
happy hearts
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