Past projects 2
The Poet X
Funded Sep 3, 2022As we embark on our poetry unit, 9th graders at Archimedes have begun to follow Xiomara's journey in finding her own voice as they find new ways to express their own voices in writing. The Poet X is unique in that it teaches a variety of poetic techniques (repetition, tone, figurative language), while developing themes that are relevant to the lives of young people. It teaches them that a text can be literary without being antiquated.
We have been reading the Poet X together as a class, chunking sections of the book, while listening to the audio, which is read by Elizabeth Acevedo herself. After reading each grouping of poems, students choose one to analyze, using the poetic technique we are discussing that week. Sometimes we pair one of Acevedo's poems with another text to compare themes or poetic techniques in both poems, which exposes students to a variety of poets.
Many students have been excited to read ahead in this novel-in-verse. Some have already finished the books, weeks ahead of our in-class reading. I've heard students say, "It's poetry, but like, you can understand it." Even the most reluctant readers have been engaged with this text.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Dahna
Classroom Printer
Funded Sep 11, 2022Thank you for helping to provide a classroom printer for my creative writing class. This printer will allow students to print copies of their work for classmates to read, which helps make the workshop model possible. The notebooks will also help students in this course to have a space to collect their work that feels special and different from where they typically take class notes.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Dahna