Poetry Month Activity-Help students share cultural identity

Getting to Know Each Other: Celebrating Students' Cultural Heritage
Check out this lesson, inspired by George Ella Lyons' poem, 'I Am From'. The format of this poem is accessible to a range of ages and learning styles. Students can invoke ordinary sights, sounds, smells, from their lives to paint a vivid picture of their family and cultural identity.
Sharing your own writing in genres that you assign to students can build trust and show students you are willing to take the same academic risks you are asking them to take. In addition, it can be a great way to model the process, including your struggles and strategies.

Instruction begins when you, the teacher, learn from the learner; put yourself in his place so that you may understand . . . what he learns and the way he understands it. Soren Kierkegaard

http://www.scholastic.com/dreamincolor/pdfs/TeachWiththePoster.pdf

Hip-Hop, Poetry, and Social Justice!

During Poetry Month, engage students in an art form with endless possibilities!!

Check out local arts and educational organization, Kuumba Lynx.

They have a number of programs that seek to fulfill their mission of Empowerment, Health, and Creative Literacy for urban youth and their communities.

Their big upcoming event is the Half-Pint Poetics Poetry Slam for 8-14 year olds on Thursday, May 20 at UIC Forum. Plan a field trip or enter your own team. Check out their workshops, performances, and drop-in classes. Inform your students and their families of these opportunities.

Poetry can be a powerful tool for self-expression and building essential communication skills. There are myriad ways to turn youth on to this art form. Find a way to make it accessible for your students!!

Getting to Know Each Other: Celebrating Students' Cultural Heritage

Check out this lesson, inspired by George Ella Lyons' poem, 'I Am From'. The format of this poem is accessible to a range of ages and learning styles. Students can invoke ordinary sights, sounds, smells, from their lives to paint a vivid picture of their family and cultural identity.

Sharing your own writing in genres that you assign to students can build trust and show students you are willing to take the same academic risks you are asking them to take. In addition, it can be a great way to model the process, including your struggles and strategies.

Instruction begins when you, the teacher, learn from the learner; put yourself in his place so that you may understand . . . what he learns and the way he understands it. Soren Kierkegaard

http://www.scholastic.com/dreamincolor/pdfs/TeachWiththePoster.pdf