One of my favorite poetry prompts is the I Am From... poem, created by George Ella Lyon.
http://georgeellalyon.com/where.html
It is a powerful tool to get to know oneself. It makes you think of how you came to be you. Since it is in list form, it is easy to create. I think every student should write at least one I Am From poem. Middle school is a great time to write one but younger students can do it as well. There is no wrong way to create this poem. It just takes some thinking and remembering. Digital storytelling is a wonderful medium for students to use to create these poems. They can be as creative as they want. There is power in narrating their poem and hearing their own voice, as well as finding images or photos. Here is my attempt at the I Am From Poem. Try one with your students!
Carla, this poem made me laugh and brought me back in time to appreciate Breck shampoo, Jean Nate, I Love Lucy, and Saturday morning Looney Tunes. It also made me cry because my mother used to remind me about having a dime in my pocket and to never leave the house without clean underwear on. Oh how I miss those days!!! You did a wonderful job and made me experience every emotion (I even thought for a moment I smelled Jean Nate). Thank you for bringing me back.
ReplyDeleteCarla, your story is powerful. I got the goosebumps watching the video. Your poetic voice is beautiful, and the selected images add to the power of the rendition. What a beautiful poem about who you are. I hope you can get students to write poems about who they are and where they come from, and then set their stories to videos, finding the perfect images, as you have.
ReplyDeleteCarla that was amazing! I agree with Judy about your poetic voice; you're the librarian I would want my children to have. You must have spent a lot of time with your picture choice because they matched your narration perfectly. The filmed on location part was funny at the end; beautiful mentor text for I am from poems.
ReplyDeleteWow! This is incredible. I absolutely love how you incorporated pictures to match your narration. This is something I would like to try with my students. We just worked on creating "I Am" poems so this would be another great poem for students to write, now making it very personal rather than focusing on a character. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWe create I Am From poems every year and this would be a great way to publish our work! Students typically type up their poems to publish them, but it would so much more powerful to attach a voice and some photos to the words. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful story! You did a fantastic job of mixing serious notes with humorous ones. The result was a truly moving story. I love how you used digital storytelling as a tool to bring your poem to life. I have not done these poems before with my students, but after viewing your story, I certainly will. Bravo Carla!
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