“It has been my pleasure to work with students at The Pacific School this year.
In our time together, we learned how to use simile and metaphor with exuberance, we learned about personification, speaking directly to January, we wrestled with how to express conflict in writing, and we played with onomatopoeia, splish splash sploshing our way through fall, winter and spring. We expressed gratitude to the people in our lives, as well as expressing many other emotions with specific and vivid words that became more and more precise as the year progressed. We studied and wrote about art. We asked questions of the world around us and created recipes to explore the inside of seasons and feelings. We read poems together, discussing meaning, tone and word choice and word arrangement. We moved our bodies and opened our mouths, exploring the connection between language, sound and movement. We sang! We also laughed – a lot – and learned what it means to work collaboratively on a piece of art.
I want to thank Principal Yolanda Ramirez and participating teachers, Ms. Crowther, Ms. McKenzie, and Ms. Segers for welcoming me into your classrooms and providing support. I am continually inspired by the work teachers do every day in classrooms.
I am more than proud of what we’ve accomplished together this year – I am delighted. Thank you and congratulations to all of the participating students. Actor David Carradine said, “If you cannot be a poet, be the poem.” Onward, friends. Be poets and poems.”
Amina Henry, Teaching Artist
Teachers & Writers Magazine is published by Teachers & Writers Collaborative as a resource for teaching the art of writing to people of all ages. The online magazine presents a wide range of ideas and approaches, as well as lively explorations of T&W’s mission to celebrate the imagination and create greater equity in and through the literary arts.
