Multilingual Approaches Toward English Prose
2022 Bechtel Prize Winner Shilpi Suneja’s students make language their subject. “The dominance of English is a lie we tell ourselves.”
Innovative lessons/ideas for teaching creative writing, as well as samples of student writing resulting from the lesson. See complete submission guidelines here.
2022 Bechtel Prize Winner Shilpi Suneja’s students make language their subject. “The dominance of English is a lie we tell ourselves.”
There is something about that word, voilà, at the start of the poem that generates a little magic.
Poet Ann Gengarelly shares experiences from her work in “The Poetry Studio” where students found inspiration in nature.
Poet Terry Blackhawk introduces students to Dickinson’s lack of orthodoxy, worship of nature, and independence.
In a poetry writing activity inspired by nature, students find connection and community.
This lesson plan based on “First Passion” by Mary Kinzie asks students to play with spacing and punctuation to create poetic effects.
Sometimes life is so strange we need fantastic language to describe it. Students explore the surreal in this lesson plan inspired by Joanna Fuhrmann’s poem “The Year of Yellow Butterflies.”
Aracelis Girmay’s poem “You Are Who I Love” becomes inspiration for a collaborative poem lesson plan.
I started this “poetry-mural” initiative back in the spring of 2017 while working as a writer-in-residence at PS 51 in Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan. The school building was already brimming with color and creativity, thanks in large part to the collaborative spirit of the art teacher, Shani Perez, and the principal, Nancy Sing-Bock.
Jayne Cortez’s poem “These New York City Pigeons” inspires student poems in this lesson plan from Joanna Fuhrman.