Tough Boys Bragging about Poetry

Both my sixth grade class and I are at transitional times in our lives.  At such times, it's good to pause, look around, think about where we've been and where we're going.

I introduced George Ella Lyon's "Where I'm From" poem to my students the other day.  Although the language of the poem is challenging, and looks to perhaps be over the heads of most sixth graders, I believe in the power of writing "Where I'm From" poems.  One year ago, when my UWB cohort was in the early stages of getting to know each other, one of our professors gave us the assignment of writing our own "Where I'm From" poems.  I approached the assignment with great trepidation.  Me, write a poem?  Not my thing.  There was something magical about this assignment, however, and I wrote the one and only poem of my life that not only expressed deep feelings, but also sounded like poetry!

On the appointed evening, we came to class, poems in hand, ready to share.  One by one, we went around the classroom and shared our poems.  As we shared, we came to know each other.  We heard each other reveal vulnerabilities and learned of commonalities we shared.  Three of us mentioned "shoo-fly pie" in our poems.  In doing so, we recognized our mutual Pennsylvania Dutch roots.  Our cohort was transformed into a community that evening.

Having finished our big persuasive writing unit, I had just a few class periods left to devote to writing before my time in the classroom ended.  I decided to have my sixth graders write "Where I'm From" poems as both a personal exercise, and as a product that could be presented to their families upon their graduation.  The first day I read, and then we read aloud together, the original Lyon poem.  After talking over some ideas about this poem, I shared my "Where I'm From" poem that I had written for my class.  I knew that the language of my version was a little more accessible, and I also wanted the kids to see that I was willing to reveal personal details of my life.  After I'd read it, I asked what they learned about my childhood.  "You caught tadpoles!"  "You liked to go camping!"  "You had siblings!"

Next step was for the kids to get together in small groups of their choosing to brainstorm ideas for their poems.  I provided a brainstorming sheet: family sayings, favorite family foods, objects in my home, special family names, places where memories are stored and so on.  I got this idea from Linda Christiansen's lesson plan in Rethinking Schools.  Some kids filled their pages within minutes; others struggled to think of anything.  Seeing that this was the case, I called the class together, and asked students to share out what they'd written for different categories.  This proved to be so much fun!

The next day, I asked if they wanted to work in groups again, and the answer was yes.  My instructions were that they should continue to brainstorm if that was what they needed to do, and to move to writing the actual poem when they were ready.  Some kids were still struggling, while a few had begun to furiously put pen to paper.  I noticed that one of my "difficult" kids had already filled a page, so I asked whether he might be willing to share what he had written to help his classmates get started.  He readily agreed, and, when done, headed to the front of the classroom.  It was incredible.  He had written a very personal, very poetic poem.  His classmates were every bit as impressed as I was.  Here was the goofball, always in trouble, classmate, reading this amazing poem.  I complimented him and told him it almost made me cry.

After "Brian," "Alex" volunteered to read his poem.  He had taken to heart my suggestion that kids include words and phrases from their family language and culture, and his poem was full of references to special places and names from his Kazakhstan and Russian heritage.  Next "Ulysses" stepped forward and his poem alternated beautifully between references to the Pakastani and American parts of his life.  Finally, "Jacob" offered to read his poem.  His was replete with references to the outdoors, which he loves, but also the hilarious pranks and traditions in his family.  He concluded with a lovely statement about the significance of home.  All four of these boys are tough in their own way, and sometimes get more negative attention than positive.  In this poem, however, they found a way to reach into their deeper selves, and in doing so show another side to themselves.

As we transitioned to the next subject, and I gave the kids a few minutes to stretch, I happened upon a group of boys at the back of the room.  I didn't linger, but smiled inwardly as I heard snatches of comments like, "Well, she said she almost cried when she heard mine,"  "Well, she said mine did a great job of going back and forth between two cultures," and so on.  Four tough boys bragging about their poems...