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.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Welcome to Alcott's Hands on Stanzas weblog! Here we'll be posting poems written by the students of Ms. Pinter's 3rd grade class, Mr. Lavares' 8th grade class, and Ms. Billingham's 6th grade class.

Last week, students in 6th and 8th grade each contributed one line to collaborative poems. These lines are self reflections inspired by details in a variety of photographs and paintings.


Some things we are

from the 8th grade:


A place out of nowhere, these colors I am
Joyful like the beautiful lake
Like the claws of the waves, I am reaching for everything
A lonely time, with a single cup of tea
I am bored like the girl standing away from the other children
I am not a dull person like the color of the sky
A table of oddities pointed at a window, full of sail
Loud like the kid playing the trumpet
Joyful, warm summer air while walking in the grass
I am not happy as the people within this painting
I am sad and alone as the lady on the left, standing solo in her long brown and white dress
I feel lonely like this white stripe
Energetic like the old ducks dancing
I am bored and never happy
Like the picture, quiet like the pumpkins, or energetic like the fire
I'm like the flower in this picture, the black means how I feel inside sometimes (mad) and the
outside of the flower (orange) means I feel sweet
These birds from Peru are very colorful and happy so to explain me in this picture I am happy and fun to be around and very active
The sweet cider hid from the pumpkins and fire
In my own words, don't jock what you can't rock, and your opinion is not needed
I flow with my dreams like the flow of water
I feel like I get kicked around like a rock and a kid
Some times I feel like I get swept away like a sand castle getting swept away by the ocean
Let midnight take over the deep blue sea
Deep. I am a very deep person I keep all my feelings to myself as if they were at the bottom of a deep blue sea hidden forever
Guitar. playing I don't give a... attitude, I'm tired, don't wanna be here person, a smoker with a blue soul, for passion and gratitude stepped on the little man to get to the top. Probably lived a cinderella story life. Burnt edge picture gives away an indication that parts of a life are missing not telling how mine is
The silence is as quiet as the clearing of rain
I cannot see my future as she cannot see a rainbow
I feed them what they need, yet only I can feed myself
I want to be free to fly, like the butterflies blazing in the sun
I am soaring high like the planes in the sky
Lost in the middle of black and white, in the middle of nowhere
I am like the wind, moving fast through my life
The champion is ready as his battle will begin, but in the heart of this fighter, he knows he will win
Like the sly fox who searches to find the string
Free spirit in my mind
Drama and pain is what I live through but in my mind I can dream about whatever and be happy
I will never ever get on a boat because it might sink


from the 6th grade:


I'm as fierce as the wave on the left
I'm sexy just like the man that is coming from a boxing match
My eyes are as colorful as the Macaws' colorful feathers
I'm hungrier than these foxes in this picture
This flower line is horizontal
I feel plain like the trees in the background with no leaves
I am the dog in the picture followed by the chickens, but that doesn't mean I can't be a leader
I am strong like David Lachappelle
I feel alone like the lady in the yellow hat sitting at the table inside the diner
I see a karlsruhe in the zoo
I feel like the green shoe on the left because I like green
I am happy like the kid playing the trumpet
I feel like a bee who is going to land on a flower any second

1 comment:

Esteban said...

I like this poems people wrote