Thursday, May 4, 2017

A Celebration of Poetry!

Students in our relatively newly formed poetry club have been excited to share their passion with others since the group's formation. I thought that Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 27 provided a great opportunity to connect this group with others, both outside and inside DPMS, who share a common passion.

Upon entering school on April 27, random students were greeted with inspirational and wise poems posted to their lockers. Poetry Club members spent weeks scouring the web, searching for poems that they felt would speak to the student body. Most students enjoyed this fun surprise. I especially enjoyed hearing stories throughout the day about students who personally connected with the randomly placed poems. Poetry has power to speak to everyone in different and meaningful ways!


During the day, Poetry Club members also had the opportunity to do what they loved the most: share their poems with others who enjoyed poetry equally as much. I set-up two Google Hangouts with middle schoolers from Vero Beach, FL and Mayville, WI. After brief introductions, students took turns reading their original poems. Time for Q&A afterward gave students a chance to talk about music, books, video games, and school activities.



During both sessions, DPMS students begged to "Hangout" with these students again. Despite geographical distance, poetry has the power to connect even the most diverse groups of people.