Let's Write! Poetry Writing Club
As a published poet with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing, I have a unique perspective on teaching poetry. For me, poetry is about exploration and opening our minds to new ways of creating.
What's included
1 live meeting
30 mins in-class hours per weekMastery Evaluation
1 hour per week. Students may choose to expand upon and revise what they have written in class and submit it to me for one round of feedback.Class Experience
US Grade 8 - 11
Beginner - Advanced Level
In this club, students will get the chance to write their own ideas, listen to classmates' ideas and writing, and learn from classic and contemporary works of poetry. Topics covered may include the following: poetic devices (e.g. simile, metaphor, symbols, assonance, consonance, alliteration), formal poetic elements (e.g. meter, end- and half-rhyme, rhyme scheme, line breaks, stanza breaks), rhetorical devices and elements (e.g. anaphora, epistrophe, parallel structure), tone, mood, and structure, among others. Class Structure: Warm up, discussion of a poem, writing exercise. This is a writing-based and discussion-based course. Students will not be lectured to but instead be led through explorations of poetry and writing. We will engage in standard writing-prompt style writing exercises, as well as outside-the-box exercises like X marks the spot, erasure, and writing between the lines.
Learning Goals
By the end of each club, students will have produced prewriting based on their own ideas and on what they learned from our discussion.Students will gain a deeper understanding of the uses of poetry in our lives.
Other Details
Parental Guidance
Poets are people, and people speak in different languages and have diverse identities. They may write bilingually or in dialects, they may be racial minorities, they may be multiethnic, and they may be from the LGBTQ+ community. Because of this, the poems we read will come from diverse voices and experiences. Poets often write to overcome difficulties in their lives, so this class may bring up feelings that students may want to discuss with parents after class. Topics could include loss of a loved one, exile, death, and longing. Because poetry is open to interpretation, students may also bring up topics that I have not anticipated. (This is not to say that all poems will be about difficult topics or about identity but simply that these ideas may come up.)
Supply List
A journal or notebook and a pen
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Sources
We will look at poems from https://poets.org/ and other reputable poetry sources. I will provide all readings in class.
Joined November, 2024
Teacher expertise and credentials
California Teaching Certificate in English/Language Arts
2 Degrees
Master's Degree in Education from National University
Bachelor's Degree in English Language and Literature from University of California, Santa Cruz
I have been writing poetry for over thirty years. I have been asked to do readings, submit to anthologies, give workshops, and be on panel discussions across the country. I am an experimental poet, meaning although I use some traditional devices in my work, I love experimenting with new ways of creating—this includes thinking of original writing prompts, reimagining how a poem can look, and pushing the boundaries of what a poem can do. I find that using unconventional methods can unlock ideas that writers may not have realized they were pondering. These methods can also unleash new ways of expressing meaning. Although I do not think that the reason for writing is to earn accolades, I will share that many of my students have gone on to win Scholastic Art & Writing gold key and silver awards.Reviews
Live Group Class
$16
weekly1x per week
30 min
Live video meetings
Ages: 13-17
1-12 learners per class
