by Robert Hirschfield Teaching artist Karen Fitzgerald describes what it’s like collaborating with Richard Lewis. “He never says no to an idea. I don’t think he knows the word no. If you have an idea that’s out there, he’s totally willing to explore it. He tries to figure out how it can work with what…
by Robert Hirschfield Picking at the soil grains of my childhood play a little longer Richard Lewis, 83, left his door open for me. It is on the fourth floor of a strange old office building in Astoria, Queens that houses three funeral parlors and a museum. Short,…
My Night Song by Jonathan V. (2nd grade) I hear my brother snoring It scares me I hear my dog bark all day long I can’t stand it I hear the moon singing jazz While it goes down I hear the dirt flow through the wind My Morning Poem by Mikaela W. (2nd grade)…
by Erika Luckert At the end of most T&W programs, we hold a celebration that launches an anthology of student work and features performances of poems by a selection of student readers. While not every student will perform their work onstage, it’s important to me as an educator that every student feels a part of…
by Erika Luckert We rarely think of sports as a subject for poetry, and yet, when I speak to devoted sports fans or athletes about their passions, they invariably wax poetic. I recently taught a residency at a middle school where one of the most impressive poems was written by an avid sports fan, Julio….
During the 2011–2012 school year, Teachers & Writers Collaborative partnered with Children First Network 534—a Bronx-based grouping of 33 public schools—to provide twelve writing programs in eight middle schools in Queens and the Bronx. With generous support from the New York Community Trust’s “Beyond Teaching to the Test” initiative, T&W writers taught fiction, poetry, and…
Self Portrait as Book by Mikaela (8th grade) I am an open book. I am a figure of my author’s imagination or a special memory. I am full of pages and pages of written adventure. Thrilling, fun, freedom are printed on each page. I am unique. My story is unlike any others. I know the…
by Erika Luckert Last year, I facilitated a roundtable discussion on plagiarism and intertextuality in poetry, where a group of teachers and writers talked about the way we use other texts to inspire and fuel our writing. As we talked, we realized that what might be called plagiarism in a formal essay is sometimes a…
Haiku of Peace by Peter E. (6th grade) A bark for a bite. Just a bullet for a life. A hug ends it all. Helpful Haiku by Aydin A. (6th grade) Here is a haiku There’s seven syllables here And there is five here Earth by Eleanor F. (6th grade) The cold moon…
by Harriet Riley “Why is the berry red?” “Why is the bark gone on this side of the tree?” “Where do the squirrels go at night?” “Why is the path all dug up?” “If he could talk, what would the turtle say to me?” City kids have a lot of questions when they experience a…