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Poem in Your Pocket




Today was Poem in Your Pocket day (PiYP) day. I have started calling it PIMP (poem in my pocket) in my every day life. Last night I tried to decide on one poem and ended up with three (one by Rumi, one by Mary Oliver, and "Keep a Poem in Your Pocket"). Since I put all three on one sheet of paper, I think it's legit. The day went fabulous! Only three of my students forgot their poems (97+% damn good). After polling teachers, it seems like this was close to the average across the building. They were excited to share their poems in my class and other classes. At lunch we made a wall of all the poems. Some students didn't want to give up their poem which was endearing. Eighth graders (students from last year) were approaching me showing me that they had a poem in their pocket. At the of the day, I even had teachers come to me disappointed that no one had asked for their poem. One even e-mailed, so I knew she had one in her pocket all day. My principal also stopped to see how it went and stated that we should do it again next year!

If it wasn't for the literacy blog challenge, I wouldn't know about LH's blog nor would I know about PiYP. Thanks KC for this fabulous experience. Thanks Lee for your blog and wonderful ideas. I will continue to follow you after this challenge. What's your next literacy idea? Maybe I can steal it.

April Book Blog
The truth is I only read five pages in my book today. I was so excited reading the staff's responses about PiYP (PIMP) that I read e-mails during my reading advisory. I did come up with an activity for their reading and had read enough to use my book for an example. The idea comes from a book, Six-Word Memoirs, I read some time ago. Students had to write the title of the book and six words that explained what they read today plus give today's reading a score of one to five.

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present.
unfair, unequal, crazy attitudes needed changed +3

Comments

KC said…
Wow - I love that wall idea!! I might try that for next year.

The literacy challenge has really been terrific.

Some of my kids were very hesitant to do my activity, too, because in a Give One Get One, you have to let go of your poem for awhile. This was met with skepticism, and I thought that was cute.

Great job, Mary!!
8:25 PM
LH said…
I too love the wall. I'm going to copy this next year. We had about 50% of the classes carrying poems.
8:39 PM
Anonymous said…
Not usre if you got my last post but I'm so glad this all worked out so nicely on short notice too. Reminds you why you got into teaching to begin with and helps give meaning. Yeah Mary!
12:21 PM
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