I Need a Ti-shoe

It's my last teaching day at Northfield Elementary. I'll be back in a few weeks for the third grade's Poetry Celebration, but I'll miss working with the kids on their poems.

Maryland State Arts Council Artists-in-Education get to spend several days working with students. The children get to know and trust me. They're willing to take creative chances, have fun, and view their poems as poems -- rather than writing assignments.

Here's the last crop of shoe odes (lesson here). Kids often capture an energy in their poems that's rare in the adult poetry world. I love the rhythm of Ryan's poem.

Poet: Ryan L. Ode to Nike Shoes Old Nike shoes. Your words: Dart IV. WOW, do you smell! You’re made in Vietnam. Such a long travel as a bird flies migration. Extremely fast like a jet. Old Nike shoes. Elementary schoolers aren't accustomed to working with similes, but they're great at it. We warm up first with the infamous baby powder exercise (see the description here). I told the students to use whatever similes popped into their minds, however wild. Peyton took me up on it!

Poet: Peyton L. Ode to Peyton’s Shoe My shoe looks like A green grape ready to be eaten. Caves waiting to be filled with People. Rocks that go in curvy paths, Mazes you can never get out of. Holes the size of the moon. Words that Mean crazy things. Smells like rotten cheese. They protect my feet From everything. I love my shoes.

See you tomorrow for Poetry Friday.