The theme of this lesson at PS/MS 279 Afterschool was “Where I’m from”. Students were given a prompt for a quick free-write to begin to explore ideas about the things that they consider to be parts of their identity. The class read “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon and completed a template based on the poem.
Below is an example of Kevin’s free-write and poem. He is definitely exemplifying use of creativity and emotional intelligence. We were proud of both how much he was willing to share about himself and volunteering to read and rap who he had written. Kevin was able to successfully build upon what he had originally written to make the writing more poetic and richer.
Below, Kayla uses creativity by adding in rhyme and sensory details, such as, “under shadow cover”. She is emotionally expressive and takes risk by writing about the “ghetto role.” Her writing is rich and beautiful, and she was willing to take bigs risks on the page. She didn’t want to share the poem with the class and explained to the Teaching Artists, Elizabeth and Sarah, that she doesn’t want to play the “ghetto role,”. The TA’s were especially proud that she didn’t shy away from writing what she was afraid to say aloud.
