"All this happened, more or less."

When students see the name of this activity on the board, they always seem a bit intimidated, yet intrigued. It definitely sparks interest and authentic engagement! I have played with other names, too, but this one seems to create the most buy-in. To be honest, I did not come up with the name on my own, as I had heard a colleague use “poetry deathmatch” before. As teachers do best, I adapted the activity to suit my needs, and I am happy to share my lesson in hopes that other teachers will do the same. First, I introduced (or reintroduced) students to the haiku format. We discussed the origin of this structure and the fact that, in America, haiku are usually written in 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables each. We talked about the fact that the plural of haiku is: haiku (this prevents my annoyance upon hearing “haikus”). We looked at several examples of haiku – both traditional Japanese haiku and more modern examples. Because we were already talking about the power of words in the ...

Last year, I began moving away from the formulaic TPCASTT and Somebody-Wanted-But-So methods of poetry analysis in my AP course. I still teach those methods of analysis; any tools my students have for decoding poems that serve as potential pathways toward understanding are valuable, and I want them to have as many tools as possible! However, I found that by emulating mentor texts, my students were able to find all of the poetic devices and reach a deeper understanding of the author’s work. This is simply a natural by-product of analyzing which parts of the poem – diction, syntax, theme, repetition and other devices – that they would like to mimic in their own work. My students came up with some of the most beautiful and deeply personal work I’ve ever experienced – some of which they performed at a poetry slam that they organized at the end of the year. To that end, tomorrow we will read “Forgive My Guilt” by Robert P. Tristram Coffin and “Prayer to the Living to Forgive them for B...

I read a lot of Stephen King's novels when I was young after my love of the characters in the movie Stand by Me led me to the short story it was based on, published under King's pseudonym. I quickly found what I think draws many to his work; King's characters are complex, and their thoughts, motivations, and dialogue are authentic. Recently, I returned to King's work to see how I feel about it as an adult whose favorite film is now  The Shawshank Redemption - also based on his work. When someone tells me that they don't like King's work, I often ask which books they've read. To me, that's like saying you don't like the Beatles. From which era? Which style or genre? With both iconic artists, there is simply too much variety for such blanket statements.  It is true that many of King's works - though not all - contain some dark element. He has brought us homicidal cars, vengeful prom-goers, vampires, and alcoholic fathers who attempt to murder thei...

My son turned 16 today. He didn’t get the keys to a car; that’s beyond our means right now, but he did get a pair of drumsticks and a practice pad so that he can learn to tap out rhythms. He recently joined the “School of Rock” club at his school, and though he currently plays the bass guitar in the group, he really wants to play the drums. My son at 6 months with his drum Before I get to my main point, let me back up several years. My son loved beating out rhythms since the days of his Little Tikes drum with connected plastic sticks. When he was about 5 years old, he advanced to a junior drum kit. I bet our apartment neighbors loved that! At 10, my mom gifted him with a more advanced drum set. It was still a learning model, but he had fun operating the bass drum and cymbals along with the drum heads. He began talking about signing up for band the following year, and as parents who met in high school band, we were only too happy to support his enthusiasm and musical ability. ...