"I Remember", collaboration, 6th grade

I've been wanting to have the kids work collaboratively for a while, but after working individually for so long, I wasn't sure how they would respond. They rose to the challenge admirably. I gave them a time limit and their "I Remember" litanies from before, and they turned out beautiful work.


Mrs. Hernandez, Rm. 109, 6th grade

Our Rememberings
Daisy, Vanessa, Alex, Joey

I remember when the snow
came and it was so icy
cold.
I remember when I started
school.
I remember that I got in
a fight in school.
I remember when I got in
trouble.
I remember my best test
grade.
I remember when I got
out of school.
I remember when I fell
and broke my tooth.
I remember when the waves
were so strong and scary.
I just Remember.


I Remember
Miguel G., Chris R., Miguel A., Cesar L.

I remember my friend when I was one year old.

I remember a dancing monkey in my car.

I remember the drunken fans.

I remember when I was short.

I remember eating 14 sugar cookies in a row.

I remember my weird teacher.

I remember the train ride.

I remember when my parents would
argue while I played with my car.

I remember falling off a horse.


Remembering
Christian H., Miguel C., Andres F.

I remember running around naked
when I was a baby.

I remember getting punished for
running naked.

I remember changing the dirty
diaper.

I remember eating Gerber.

I remember crying, screaming, yelling,
and kicking.

I remember getting ready for my first
day of school.

I remember pulling hair.

I remember when I met Mickey Mouse.

I remember my first detention.

I remember the first few friends
I made.

I remember the first time I burped.

I remember the first time I was scared.

I remember we finished our poem.


I Remember
Paola, Monse, Jailene, Jocelyn, Lizzet

I remember when
my mind was
sent free
creativity flowing
around my find
listening to me
not to someone else
creating something
new no one else could
think of
finding me
self surrounded
by ideas
looking at
them thinking
them twice
I remember
my mind never
getting locked

I remember

I remember when
my mind was sent
free
I remember a hand
popping out of a bird
I remember looking
at a lonely girl
sitting by herself
I remember my
soul being taken
away
I remember my
dreams falling down
I remember my
dreams coming back

"I Remember:" Litany, 6th grade

The writer Joe Brainard created a book-length poem of lines that all start with the phrase "I remember." We read a selection and talked about his use of concrete image and how it conveyed the particular time he grew up in. I asked them to try their own "I remember" poems, writing in a free style, starting each new line with "I remember," and writing without stopping during the time set.


Mrs. Hernandez, Rm. 109, 6th grade

Remember
?

I remember my
Grandpa's voice
and his face,
telling the story of
God, laying there
day by day smiling
and saying hi to
my friends who
come and play.
I wish to see
him again one
more time, hear
his voice and face.
I wish


I Remember
Chris R.

I remember when I started to see dead people.
I remember when my brother got killed.
I remember a house with lights.
I remember a dancing monkey on my car.
I remember a talking book telling me what to do.
I remember getting Fs on my report card.
I remember my teacher talking about aliens.
I remember when my friend broke my back window.
I remember when I saw an elephant driving a motorcycle.
I remember when I got in trouble.
I remember some boy getting kicked in the face by a horse.


I Remember
Yaneliz R.

I remember dancing while people watched me.
I remember walking and a truck hitting me on my side.
I remember running because I was playing ding dong ditch.
I remember two bulldogs in back of me and I was on my bike crashing into a tree.
I remember running around the park with my uncle.
I remember moving into a new house.
I remember coming to my new school and not knowing anyone.
I remember walking to my house and being scared.

My Words, 6th grade

In "My Poems" by Nita Penfold, the speaker describes her poems as mischievous women who tell her secrets, who are "not polite ladies." She says, "I like their red-rough hands." This poem provides ready lessons in metaphor, personification, and image, plus it's short! And by this point, I knew that many of the students had begun to identify as poets and nearly all had a large enough body of work that they could speak with some confidence about what their poems are like. Penfold's poem also "wraps" the title into the poem--uses the title as the first line--and I asked them to try that, while writing a piece about what their poems are like (or their words, as an alternative). Their responses were extraordinarily playful; they owned this one.


Mrs. Hernandez, Rm. 109, 6th grade

My Poems
Daisy A.

Heart
My poems touch my heart
with phrases and words
and when the politeness occurs
and the mood and the tone
so much to say but too little
to speak.

My poem says
classmates are cool
who talk and talk
but not too much. Some
who play sports
and some who
draw. They help others
that's why they're so cool.

My poems say
Vanessa is nice
She makes me giggle
and laugh.
When I need help
she helps me. Ooh
Vanessa what would
we do without you.


My Poems
Paola Monse A.

People say to me, "Que pasa contigo"
with happy mouths
I hate it when people tell me that
will still be sad
sad moods on my computer
keep a secret to myself
have to run away from the darkness
go to the light
you always say no to everything I say
but you'll always be in my head to stay


My Poems
Lizzet B.

are like clouds that fade away
they run free
and help me understand.
I forget and they remember.
They are calm and peaceful
but can be mean.
They are mine and only mine.


My Words
Adalberto S.

come to me like a fierce
tordado blowing with
no meaning for life
Will destroy anything
in mind to be concentrated.
They just blow up
burdting out my secret
without reason
So please tornado control
my mind


My Poems
Jacqueline S.

They are like the
clouds going away,
and coming back.
When they come they
go, when they go they
come. Clouds, clouds,
please come back and
stay, you make me
laugh out loud.
Please please come back!


My Poems
Vanessa A.

come to me with a twist
with loud meaning
they are all over my paper
will be silly all around
they run through my paper
like little kids
I like how they sound
they make me so happy
I want to cry
they way they take
words right out of your mouth
can't stop crying
until the night when they are fast asleep

Haikuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Oh, how exciting it was to work on these haiku poems. These kids were intent and intense. We started with a freewriting exercise last week to get warmed up to the idea--and generate some material--and this week we used that material to craft some lovely gems, some razor-sharp moments, some crystal snapshots, pictured below.

I was especially impressed with the students' willingness to mess with conventional sentence structure, and toy with how they articulated their original images and ideas in order to fit the haiku structure.


###


Mrs. Hernandez, Rm. 109, 6th grade


Haiku
Samuel N.

The birds are chirping.
The wind is blowing like a
freezer in a store.

My dogs are barking.
Also the clouds are flowing.
They’re going away.


Haiku
Chris R.

School I do and write
I blush in embarrassment
I laugh while I laugh


Haiku
Briana D.

It’s very dark outside,
soon will be time to sleep.
Dark, outside I’m scared.


Haiku
Miguel G.

staring at the sky
daydreaming about many things
that the bell can ring


Haiku
Daisy A.

I am in a class
where desks move like blue and white
rumbling water

Tomatoes are brown.
My face blushes in the cold.
Trees are calm and cold.

Aunt cooking a pie.
The sour blueberry pie.
My aunt, a berry pie.