Poetry Corner: Weekly Poetry Club for Middle School Students

This ongoing course meets once a week to give students a space to read, discuss, and write poems.  Each week, we will start the class by reading an engaging poem together.  I will guide the students through a discussion of the poem as we examine the poet's style, and look for writing lessons that can be gleaned from the weekly poem.  After discussing the weekly poem, students will be given a writing prompt based on that week's poem.  They will have the choice of using the provided writing prompt, or of working on their own poem.  Time will be provided at the end of the class for students to share what they have written.

Week of 11/15-11/20: "Autobiography in Five Short Chapters" by Portia Nelson
Week of 11/22-11/27: "Shoplifting Poetry" by Martin Steingesser
Week of 11/29-12/4:  "A Hot Property" by Ronald Wallace
Week of 12/6-12/11: "After Watching Peter Pan Again" by Marley Witham
Week of 12/13-12/18: "On Turning Ten" by Billy Collins
Week of 12/20-12/25: No Classes 
Week of 12/27-1/1: No Classes
Week of 1/3-1/8: "Abandoned Farmhouse" by Ted Kooser
Week of 1/10-1/15: "Valentine for Ernest Mann" by Naomi Shihab Nye
Week of 1/17-1/22: "Dreams" by Langston Hughes
Week of 1/24-1/29: "I Once Knew a Girl" by Nora Bradford
Week of 1/31-2/5: "Foul Shot" by Edwin A. Hoey
Week of 2/7-2/12: "Rescued" by Carl Johanson
Week of 2/14-2/19: "Summertime Sharing" by Nikki Grimes
Week of 2/21-2/26 : "Ode to Family Photographs" by Gary Soto
Week of 2/28-3/4: "The Pond" by Marnie Briggs
Week of 3/7-3/12: "What's Not to Like?" by Michael Conley Carter
Week of 3/14-3/19: "Introduction to Poetry" by Billy Collins
Week of 3/21-3/26: "The Bowl" by Carl Johanson

The weekly poems focus on topics that are relevant to middle school students such as friendship, family, growing up, being creative, forming identities, and having fun.  The lessons are not sequential.  Students are welcome to drop in and out of the class as their schedule allows.