Thank you so much for joining us this month to celebrate how poetry helps us make sense of our lives and the world we live in. Let’s reflect a bit. Please respond to all or any of the questions below:
- What did you learn or discover about yourself through this experience? What was the most challenging? Satisfying?
- What did you learn about or discover about others, perhaps strangers who might help you see the world or people in a new light?
- Which poem (that you wrote) are you most “proud” or pleased with? Why?
- What were some poems (written by others) that really resonated with you in some way?
- Are you interested in coming to Winston Campus on May 17th to perform.or support others in an open mic?
- What would you say about poetry to persuade/encourage someone to try their hand at this challenge next year?
- Anything else?
- Vote your favorite inspirations.
During April, I learned more about the joy that poems can bring. I learned that writing poetry with some guidance is not about finishing a task, its about putting thought and care into what you write. I also enjoyed others poems, in which you can relate to and point out different techniques they used, and you can also compare your viewpoints to others, in different poems. To others, I would say that poetry isn’t about writing something and being done with it, its about expresses emotion towards a certain subject. I would also encourage others that poetry is also about understanding different language such as techniques and about identifying rhetoric examples of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.
When we first started writing poems, I didn’t like it and I thought of it as nightly homework that I couldn’t do all on the first day and get it over with. As it turns out, poetry isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Now, I’m not saying that poetry is my favorite, because to be honest, I still don’t like it that much, but it is better than every other type of homework. Like math homework, because unlike math, poetry is quick, easy, and I can read some of other peoples thoughts.
i used to think poems were not fun and they were boring but, i learned that i actually do like poems. i discovered that other people have different views about the world then i do, no matter what the subject is. i would say to others that if they had doubts about doing this challenge then they should ignore them and just try it. it was a way to escape and focus on something for me. i thought that it was impossible but i can tell you now that it can be done. i am lazy and i did it so you can too XD
I can relate with Leo, as I didn’t think poems were easy to create, but farther and farther we got into this, it got easier and I feel as this challenge showed me that I had the ability to write these arts of literature.
I really didn’t like poems, before I started this 30 poems challenge. I kinda thought they were boring and were for adults and really little kids. But after these 30 poems, I have grown to like poems. and found a connection with the writing style.
I have neverd like poems or any ryming things i always just like to free write my feelings down because my notebook is my bestfriend but doing most of these changellegs got me looking at things differently and me doing this learned more about other people life at our school
I have always enjoyed writing and I have felt of it as my get away from life. I can write down my emotions and such and I feel like notebooks are your best friends that listen to everything you say. (Write down.) I have learned that I actually love poetry and I think that I will be trying it more often now. i always thought it was difficult and now after 30 days of practice it is so much more easy. I also learned so much about other people and how they see life. I am definitky most proud of my first poem because I was not aware that I was capable of even writing poetry.
I have always loved to write. I write in journals at home, and I like to put my thoughts on paper. What I realized over the course of this thirty-day period is that not only my writing, but also that of all the poets, has improved substantially. We have all opened up and expressed much of our inner thoughts and feelings. What we would have once thought as being embarrassing to put down on these blogs has become a natural feeling now. We all support one another, especially with inspirational comments on a particular poet’s writing. This support enables each of us to grow and not be hindered about the worry of what should or should not be expressed.
I found the entire period to be satisfying; however time constraints were my biggest challenge. Whether it was another pile of homework to be attacked, or ideas not quite popping into my head at that particular moment, I overcame these challenges the best way I could–by just letting loose and let the words flow out of me.
My favorite type of prose is expressive free style. I enjoy rhyme schemes, but I feel that I have to concentrate in order to try to find a word to rhyme or to come as close as possible to the word at the end of that phrase. With free style poetry, the words just appear and pour out onto the screen.
Probably my two favorite poems which I wrote were “More Steps Towards My Growth Mindset” in the Mindset section and also “Pondering a Starry Night” under the Pic Perspectives blog. For the first poem, I was able to recall the feelings I had when encountering new aspects in life and the steps I had to take to work through the new adventure. In the second poem, I felt at ease when writing about Van Gogh’s Starry Night painting. I have always loved the Impressionist/Expressionist era, and Van Gogh’s oddities and self doubt made an impression on me as I learned more about him and his artist friends during this period. The Art Institute of Chicago has always been one of my favorite museums to visit, and I truly spend a lot of time learning and enjoying the artistry of these amazing painters. I also think I did a decent job of getting the image of this painting described so that the reader could visualize what I felt.
Everyone wrote something that hit me in one way or another. There were a few particularly meaningful pieces that I would like to point out. In the Mindset section, Ariana’s poem about the love and patience she continues to have for her sister, even though her sister is struggling at this point in her life, really brought forth her inner feelings. Also in Mindset, Colin B was talking about educating others about Type 1 diabetes and the love and support he has for his sister. Katie’s Mindset poem also was a deep and moving piece. Benjamin’s poem in the Courage blog really meant a lot to me, and Emma B’s writing about the meaning and characters from a book that will stay with her forever in A Moment was extremely interesting. “You Are Not Broken” wrote an extremely powerful piece in the Food blog about her struggles. It made all of us realize that food isn’t always a sensory, delicious part of our lives. It can hold torment for us as well. In the Overcoming section, Kaci, Marissa, and Sophia expressed their feelings beautifully. I had a truly wonderful and remarkable surprise when reading a piece from one of our elementary school students, Madeline, when she wrote her “Sweet Agony” piece under Imagining. She is really such an extremely good writer, and i know her future pieces are going to be even more interesting and inspirational. As I mentioned, each of you wrote something that hit home to me, and I love reading all of your works. However, my outstanding writer award goes to Jackson. His writing is pure artistry, and his comments come from the heart. Jackson, your piece under Secrets (A Confessional) will always be in my mind. I think you are an incredibly brave and unique individual, and I really admire you and your writing.
For future Ethical ELA students, enjoy the time you have opening up and expressing yourself. Writing is a totally different way of delivering your thoughts and feelings as compared to standing before a classroom. We are more incognito behind a screen, even though we put our names down. Our words flow, and there are no judgments or rebuttals from your ELA poets. So just let loose and write. There are no right or wrong things to say.
In conclusion (yes, I finally am coming to an end), we have all noticed the improvement that everyone has made from day one until now. Our inhibitions were loosened, and we were able to relax and enjoy reading others’ works. Katie, your phrase, “Practice makes progress,” will always be a part of me now. Thank you for your insight. To our teachers, thank you for allowing us to just be us and to write freely. This was definitely a memorable experience that has helped each of us.
Nice. Took a lot of *courage* to write my piece. But overall, you have shown me what true aspiration towards writing; or writing this piece, is like. I also like how you first start off with showing how these past thirty days have been for you and then transitioning into how writing has came to you in the way that it has. ??
Oops tried to put clapping and thumbs up hands lol. The ipads these days.
When I started this challenge, I started with the wrong attitude. I thought that writing a poem a day for thirty days was tedious, and annoying. Now that I have finished the challenge, I relieved how much I may miss this part of school. I have also relieved how much I can connect with everyone.
I did something harder than expected,
not super hard, but pretty hard.
It was completing 30 poems in 30 days.
I learned many things in this journey,
Like thinking about what my goals are in life.
Latly, I am really glad I contributed.
30 poems in 30 days
it sounds harder than it is,
but we learned a lot about poetry
and it made us better writers,
so I’m glad I did it
even if it was hard
These poems helped me get through the daily struggles in life and reflect on each day. They let me think out side the box and express my feeling each day. The most satisfying part is knowing that I wrote 30 poems because I have never written that many.
I learned that poems can tell a deep story,
That writing poems is very calming.
I didn’t know I was capable of writing all the poems, before me.
I now know that writing poems is a fun hobby.
Some times,
Thinking of a poem was hard and exhausting, at times,
But at least I’m not that bad at coming up with rhymes.
I learned a lot about my self from poeming. I thought a poem was just a bunch of words put together and rhymes so it sounded good. Now I realise that I can express myself with words, no matter if they rhyme or not.
I discovered that when I wrote poems
I am pretty good at it
When we started this, I thought that I was going to suck at this stuff
It turns out I’m semi-okay
I have learned a lot from myself and others
I didn’t know I had some poetry in me
some things I learned is that
we are all humans
we make mistakes
we cry
we laugh
we smile
and not everybody is perfect
I already knew this but now I know that
others think the same way and that maybe we
are not so different after all
This really helped us express and take out everything
we had in our minds and just put it out there
where people could read it
and learn something from each other
-don’t let flawed human get to you because they don’t deserve your time
just do you and stay you-
Something that I learned about myself and my peers
Over this thirty day poem challenge is that even though
We are all very different people, deep down we all
Feel the same emotions.
Sadness
Regret
grief
And Joy.
I think that ethical. Ela helped us express ourselves better
And become more comfortable with sharing our personal
Stories and opinions with one another. I definitely feel like
I am a little bit closer to my classmates now than the
beginning of this quarter because of ethical.ela.
I agree with you when you said “I think that ethicalela helped us express ourselves better,” because I’ve learned a lot about myself and my emotions in this poem challenge.
While writing 30 poems, I learned a lot about writing
I got better, and my poems got deeper, they started to have more meaning.
They are a good way to express your emotions and yourself, And it would be fun to do them next year too because they are a great way to become a better poet, and too learn more about poetry.
I agree with the part where you said you learned a lot about writing because we’ve never done something like this before.