About Hands on Stanzas

Hands on Stanzas, the educational outreach program of the Poetry Center of Chicago places professional, teaching Poets in residence at Chicago Public Schools across the city. Poets teach the reading, discussion, and writing of poetry to 3 classes over the course of 20 classroom visits, typically from October through April. Students improve their reading, writing, and public speaking skills, and participating teachers report improved motivation and academic confidence. You can contact Cassie Sparkman, Director of the Hands on Stanzas program, by phone: 312.629.1665 or by email: csparkman(at)poetrycenter.org for more information.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

P.S.--This is my fear (Room 203, 8th grade)

I was amazed by the sheer volume of clown fears in this one. They crop up in nearly every class so far, but this outdoes them all in clown terror.

I was impressed by how several of the students found representative images for their fears ("the grade F on the paper in front of me," "mascara on her face," the idea of rage "yelling out," and many others...)

This version is from Mr. Balcazar's 8th grade class in room 203.



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P.S. This is my fear
Room 203, Mr. Balcazar's 8th grade class at Lee School and Rachel Javellana



I fear losing the ones I love that are close to me.
I fear the dark in the basement, hearing a voice.
I fear going into the dark by myself when I’m all alone. You’ll never know when you might run into something unexpectable.
I fear the darkness.
I fear the dark. It’s like a hole in the world.
I fear the rage inside me when it yells out.
I fear my mom when she has her mascara on her face
I fear the grade F on the paper in front of me.
I fear being stranded in the middle of nowhere.
I fear scary movies.
I fear falling in love with the wrong person, because they’ll just let you fall.
I fear that my grandpa always comes out with a baseball bat.
I fear the dark.
I fear dying.
I fear the white painted face of the big red nose along with the freakishly worn costume by the
hideous clowns.
I fear poisonous snakes.
I fear the painted face that tries to make you laugh but instead cry and run.
I fear spiders.
I fear not waking up the next day to see people I care for.
I fear snakes.
I fear dolls.
I fear my beloved Mickey Mouse finding someone else.
I fear clowns.
I fear the smile in people’s faces which may not even be true.
I fear that I might lose someone I really love.
I fear the day the world will fall apart and say goodbye to all its wonders.
I fear heights.
I fear heights when I’m on top of a building and feel like I’m about to fall.
I fear that I might get shot.
I fear clowns who tried to make you laugh but instead cry.
I fear clowns with their huge smiles even when they are sad, always laughing for no reason.
I fear mimicks, being in a room with mimicks everywhere. Thinking they might torture me to death.
I fear the spider.
I fear the man with a gun in his hands.
I fear the red nose that is near the creepy smile.
I fear dying and not knowing what life is about.
I fear heights.
I fear shadows.
I fear my life becoming short from being diagnosed with a disease.
I fear not knowing what my future holds in store for me.
I fear dying.
I fear the monsters.
I fear waking up in the middle of the night.
I fear small places.
I fear a scary movie because it may happen in my dream.
I fear clowns.
I fear being apart from those I love.
I fear getting jumped.
I fear I will die.
I fear spiders, eight legs, and so scary-looking.
I fear the person I might become or that I am.
I fear the day my parents will leave us and not come back.
I fear ghosts lurking in my house watching my every move.
I fear clowns. They frighten me, thinking deep inside of them they want to kill me.
I fear death.
I fear getting shot.
I fear the number 10.
I fear that somebody is going to die, someone in my family.
I fear heights that take you up and you get butterflies in your stomach.
One thing I will never fear is Death. I have encountered death numerous times. If I die then I die. My time is up and it’s Game Over for me.
I fear that I will die.
I fear many scary things, like the clown “It.”
I fear death.
I fear clowns.
I fear clowns.
I fear snakes.
I fear getting raped. I have heard of a lot of girls being raped.
I fear heights.
I fear losing my best friend.

This is my fear.
P.S. I fear getting a shot or taking out blood. It’s scary.

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