Five Lakeview Middle School eighth-graders had their poetry published in a book recently thanks to poems they wrote last year in seventh grade.
During the 2010-11 school year, according to reading language arts teacher Matt Deeds, his seventh-grade classes studied a unit on figurative language arts. He talked to his students about how poetry was like music.
As a teacher, Deeds said, he tries to come up with creative ways to teach. With poetry, he used music to show how poetry are song lyrics just without the song.
Deeds said they got started by compiling a list of 50 things the students wondered about, from what it was like sitting in the grass to sitting in prison.
“There were some that were pretty deep. We narrowed it down from 50. We talked about the mood and tone of their poems,” Deeds said.
He said he didn’t know how long the project would last, and didn’t expect it to continue into this school year.
Each of his students then wrote their own poems.
One hundred thirty-two students from Lakeview submitted their poetry to a nationwide contest. Five of Deeds’ students were selected to have their poems published in “Acclaimed 2011 Poetry” for their outstanding poetry.
The students included Caleb Moore, Matt Coulter, Liz Navarro, Janely Silvestre and Layne Pass.
Moore said his poem, titled “Prison,” was a description of how prison feels.
“The Little Boy,” by Coulter, is about the actions of a boy and the consequences of those actions. The boy in the poem didn’t learn.
“He did it again,” Coulter said.
Pass couldn’t remember the exact title of his poem, but knew it was about aliens and what they would do. He had a humorous take on it, Deeds said.
Navarro’s and Silvestre’s poems were “really good,” Deeds said, and more heartfelt.
Navarro’s poem, “Why We Cry,” is about the different reasons people cry. She said English as a Second Language teacher Gloria Reichard helped her with it.
“It wasn’t just a sad one,” Deeds said of Navarro’s poem. “It hit on all the emotions when we are sad.”
“I Miss You”, Silvestre’s poem, is about people who get dumped but still like the person who dumped them. She said she was inspired by friends in similar situations.
“They’re all short poems,” Deeds said. “We stuck within 20 lines.”
The students have seen the book their poems are published in, and some have read other poems from it.
“It’s pretty good,” said Coulter. “I’ve read some of them.”
Six months after Deeds’ class, Navarro still writes poetry sometimes.
“Poetry is a way to express how you feel. I like to do it sometimes,” Navarro said.
Deeds said Pass found it to be a good way to entertain.
“Sometimes I try to write lyrics,” Pass said, for a possible performance in the school’s talent show.
