Where I'm From
[An Original]
I am from giant mugs of coffee But I am
first thing in the morning. and always will be from:
Researching here and there, backyard garden spaces,
with him late, late night movie places,
without him. popcorn bought in bulk,
I'm from playful sunny afternoons never the proper shampoo to
and teary dreary conditioner ratio,
rainy days. kitchen floor turned into salon chair,
I'm from little houses old car squeaks and roars,
cramped and shared never enough,
dirty and never quite clean enough. but always plenty to go around,
I'm from big meals cookies for the neighbors,
with lots of loved ones inside decorations galore,
laughing and full of joy. very warm,
I'm from dance recitals and performances yet still freezing,
that are dearly missed as I hardworking,
reminisce. and trouble resting,
I'm soon to be from a big wedding but most importantly,
transitioning to another new, I'm from big,
small living space. deep,
I'm soon to be from furry kisses overflowing,
and every night sleepovers. overwhelming,
always forgiving,
Love.
**Pictured above are the images of my original draft of this poem. I made no edits to it other than spacing and placement of words on the screen. There is something sentimental about not editing a piece of writing -- of leaving it like it is.
This poem has been inspired by my readings this week in Layla's Happiness by Mariahdessa Ekere Tallie (pictured below to the left) and illustrated by Ashleigh Corrin (pictured below to the right). Layla's Happiness is about a young girl, Layla who describes all the things, places, and people in her life that embody the word happiness to her. Layla acknowledges that these things she lists are things that make her happy and at the end of the story she invites the reader to think of the things that make them happy within their own life.
Throughout the story with words and illustrations, Layla discusses some of the places and things within those places that are happiness to her. One of the places she focuses on in the story is "night" which in a sense is a place in the sky, the place where the moon lives. Layla is also fond of her home where her parents are where they create forts and where she eats food the way she wants to. Even the place where her dad grew up is happiness to her. Layla also heavily focuses on shared community spaces where her neighbors and friends and their parents gather to support each other in gardening, farmers' markets, and dancing.
These details embrace thoughts from myself and a student that I worked with. We cultivated and created a list of things that made us happy which translated into a poem describing where we are from. I believe the poems that can be written and the stories that can be created form this book go hand in hand. I wrote a "Where I'm From" poem while my student wrote a poem describing his happiness.
During this little mini-lesson and writing activity I noticed my student was eager to list off some things that made him happy. The reluctance came with the question, "How many things do I have to list?" To his delight, I answered him with an, "As many as you want! Just let me know when you can't think of anything else." After his list making was complete, he felt courageous enough to tell me his poem, and word for word, I typed his poem onto the screen, changing almost nothing about his verbal wording. I also encouraged this student to use as many of the things on his list as he pleased, but he was not required to describe all of the listed things. When writing his poem, I encouraged this student to give me more, to give me just one reason why they loved the item they described. **This is a great way for students to begin using adjectives and providing details in their writing!
When his poem came to a conclusion, I asked him to read it back to me. He had written so much he was intimidated by his own poem's length! After I explained that it was everything he had just told me, he felt enough peace to read his poem aloud. He was elated. He had written this poem! I asked him afterwards if he wanted me to read him a poem (the poem featured above) that I had written, inspired from this same story, he gave an enthusiastic yes! After I read my poem, to my surprise he gave a gentle, "I like that." My assumption had led me to believe that this third grade student would not find interest in my very personal poem, but he enjoyed my work, he enjoyed hearing about my life and my experiences. He explained to me that he related to and found joy in the coffee and the staying up late portions of my poem. This led to further questions and discussion about my life experiences and the relations he could make in his own life. It was truly a pleasant experience. I am glad to have had this session to put this story and writing prompts into practice!
(**I didn't think about it until our session had ended, but once I have his permission, I will anonymously share his poem!)
One of the readings from this week was from Mentor Texts Teaching Writing Through Children's Literature, K-6 Second Edition. I read through Chapter 2, entitled "Digging for Treasure: Discovering Personal Stories by Connecting with Literature." Something that stuck with me from this chapter in particular is when the author discusses reading aloud to children,
"Reading aloud is inseparably linked with learning to write. If elementary school teachers fail to read aloud to their students often, regularly, and for reasonably long periods of time, those students are going to be severely handicapped in learning to write."
Along with this quote, this chapter mentions reading aloud portions of texts that is meant for adults who can comprehend the work -- mind you this does not include mature or inappropriate content -- but works from famous authors or works by authors such as Thoreau. I have always felt a deep compassion and sense of urgency for reading children works that are far above their comprehension level. It may not peak all students' interest but it gives them something to chew on, something to think about. This actually sparked a writer's notebook prompt for myself:
There are so many ways we can engage children in the practice of writing. But a great writer stems from being a great reader. Therefore, we must never cease the practice of reading to our students aloud, texts that are on their level and texts that will make them think and ponder and speak great things we hadn't even thought about before. Students can learn to write from making simple lists and from memory chains and even from reading literature. Putting the idea on paper is merely the first step.
I can't wait to continue putting into practice all that I will learn about little hands making greater works than I can dream! How exciting!!
-- With love,
Keep on learning friends.
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