Tinikling Between Two Wor(l)ds

Reflection

This poem shows how special my friend, Eduardo, means to me. If I can describe him with one word it will be: loyal.

Prompt

Create a poem about your friend and show him/her.

Reflection

This poem captures how I was feeling exhausted, numb, and especially tired. Lately, I've been acting like a zombie--having no energy to keep up in class. So, when we were writing our poems, I decided to write about how I've been feeling by sharing the effects that caused my sleepiness.

Prompt

This week you can write about how you have been feeling and share the effects on it. For example, write down what caused your happiness, sadness, or angriness [anger]. Like, for mine, what causes my tiredness is the silence.

Reflection

This poem was inspired by one of my favorite shows, called JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. In this poem, where I write from Emporio's perspective, I tried to capture how I think he would feel finally coming to conclusions with himself about Jolyne's passing. As you can see, it's kind of a bittersweet moment with everything serving as a reminder of Jolyne; however, he accepts it and is able to move on peacefully.

Prompt

Both of these poems were inspired by some of my interests. I've already talked about the first one, but the next poem was inspired by the movie Alice in Wonderland. Therefore, I want to challenge you to create a poem trying to act like one of your own favorite characters. Maybe your character has a secret crush on someone and you could reenact how they would write a love poem. Or, maybe your character has experienced something traumatic or sad. Whatever it is, try to capture their feelings and emotions in the ongoing moment. Remember to keep it in character as if the original creator made it.

Reflection

Growing up, the child of an immigrant, meant I had to be twice as perfect as anyone else. Many of us had to learn two different languages to communicate with our families and get a good education. I spent most of my childhood being too stubborn to truly see what my parents sacrificed for me and my sisters even though it was all around me. When writing this poem, I wanted to represent the both political and common struggles of Mexican-Americans experienced both past and presently.

Prompt

For this week, I want you to focus on your identity. It can be your religion, ethnicity, role. Anything that is important to you. That represents you. It can even be a moment that made you the way you are.

Reflection

When writing this poem, I wanted to write something that I experienced, which is loneliness. Ever since my dog died, I have felt lonelier than usual.

Prompt

Now, I want you to write a poem about when you felt lonely and if you remember what caused it.

Reflection

This poem, I expressed my feelings and thoughts. Every topic I wrote is very important to me because, without it, you can't describe me. If you notice, all of my poems are acrostic because, while learning how to create one, I knew it was my style. In fact, those were my first acrostic poems I have ever made.

Prompt

Create a poem about your thoughts of something that is very important to you, like I did. Use your creativity for this activity.

Reflection

My reflection will be from my first poem. This poem shows how I have struggled with friendship and trust. I had a friend. I thought she was my BFFE (Best Friends For Eternity), but, this year, it broke me that she started avoiding me. As my poem says, "Why did you stop seeing me the way you used to?" I felt--and still am--broken inside...

Prompt

Now create a poem about how you feel about school, family, friends... It'll get a bit of the stress off your shoulders. Be glad you have a way to express yourself: POETRY

Reflection

Every year, I attempt to include at least a few poetry lessons so that all students can explore a writing medium that I feel is more accessible. Since everyone has a story and everyone has emotions, they have the basic ingredients to make a poem. Keep in mind: poems do not have to rhyme and do not have to be long, so this genre gives all students an access point where grammar and rules are not obstacles.

What I find interesting is that each group tends to gravitate towards a specific genre or form despite exposing them to several options. For instance, the majority of students this year really ran with acrostics while last year's class focused more on descriptive poetry. In fact, this poem was inspired by Victoria, one of my former students, after a brainstorming session that focused on the five senses. She wrote about her grandfather and wanted to share it with the class. When she began to cry midway through her reading, I was reminded why poetry is powerful.

That said, I feel this poem was the best way to start Season 2. Unfortunately, as of now, I have not finished Season 1. Hopefully, I will return to it in the future because I have a vision of what the remaining 11 episodes would be. The most important part was creating a sample to help guide my students through this process. My goal is that this season will be the beginning of a tradition within my classroom because every student has a voice that deserves to be heard.

Prompt

For those listening, thank you for your time and know that your words also matter. I want you to grab a pen and get ready. Your challenge: write about how someone young inspired you to do something new or better than what you are used to. You can try writing a letter, an acrostic, or even a shape poem--to really think outside the box. Although the youth is our future, they don't have to wait to make a difference.

For today, I want you to think about the most important life lesson you learned. It could be from experience, an elder, a friend, a teacher, or anything in between. It could be about friendship, money, love, failure, death, hope, or countless other themes. Share your insight, wisdom, and values. I hope to learn from you.

Now, let's take a moment of silence.

In fact, let that be our focus this week. Sit with silence. Reflect on a time when you had to be silent. Was the moment uncomfortable, peaceful, painful, hostile, or a mixture of emotions? Was it ceremonious, voluntary, or forced? Was it political, religious, personal, or accidental? Were you alone? Some moments with tension and silence revolve around death, goodbyes, longings. Explore wherever the silence leads you.