Dreams

As we have been digging into our poetry unit in writing, we have been examining ways poets get ideas for their writing.  Our final lesson on generating ideas came today, the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech.  We discussed how poets (and writers, in general) can draw from struggles, conflict, and issues that matter in their lives for ideas for their writing.  We read some of Dr. King's speech and discussed his use of sensory details, especially imagery, to get his message across.  We also looked closely at his use of metaphor, strong and powerful verbs, and repetition to drive home his points.  Some students took notes on their desks:

We then read the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, a poem about persevering in life through struggles and conflicts.  Hughes uses metaphor in conjunction with vivid sensory details to share his message with the reader.  In our workshop time, students dug into their own writing putting poems on the page.  Keli wrote a poem inspired by Dr. King's speech, which she will share on the announcements today.

"Light and Hope"
by Keli
Use hope to dream big
even when times are a struggle
we still have light and hope.
Bring hope and light into other people's
eyes
to see that there's
more than just light and hope.
There's love.

What a beautiful way to commemorate this special day and message.