On Turning Ten..and further

We discussed the Billy Collins' poem "On Turning Ten" last week in my creative drama class.  The students were inspired by this poem and understood very well what he was talking about.  Growing up is not easy to do, and it causes a lot of concern and anxiety and complex emotions.  Here is the poem that they wrote collaboratively after they discussed "On Turning Ten".

                                                                         CHILDHOOD

Full of happiness

At one.

Start to walk

At two.

At three

Joyous as can be

All the while

Innocent as a newborn

At four

Cute as can be

And then School.

Everything Changed.

Meet friends

on the bus.

Wrong Ones.

Blow to the face.

Broken nose,

Cower in fear.

At eight,

I escape

I lose my faith

At nine,

Stress Explosion.

End of elementary

Now you are

in the middle

So big I could

get lost

New friends

New teachers

Fresh start.

The end

Is my beginning.  

I was more than impressed..then we had poems from them individually, like these that I will now post. Enough said. Happy Thanksgiving and see you next week!!!

Bedtime

The time has come get the popcorn,

get the butter popcorn done

put the movie in

let's watch star wars

                what?

where's the drinks no one knows,

we found them too late bedtime.

        next night

get home from basketball practice too late to watch tv bedtime. Bed time is so frustrating thinking in my head on the bed. next day got home early I had time but home work came first 

The Ride

By Sylvain MacGovern

What happened?

One second

A five year old

Careless

Imaginative

Not a care in the world

Free

But then

The dreaded

Big yellow bus

Huge kids

I mean

Third graders

What is this nonsense?

I try to back out

But the bus doors

Have already shut

The bus driver is looking at me

Telling me to find a seat

I look at him

Then decide I have no choice

I sit

And look out the window

Watching my parents wave me goodbye

The bus

Turns a corner

And seals my fate

Twenty minutes

Of fretful waiting

For the time

To meet my teacher

Who knows if

She’ll be mean

Or skinny

Or old?

Then

The horrible

Squeaking

Of the doors

Opening

Letting me

Out of the bus

I leave

I see another door

Opening

Letting me

Into

The school

That I have been dreading

Fearing

What do I do

I take a deep breath

And step through

The

School

Doors.

  

   Track & Field      

By Colin Monsen                                                    

Started in 2010

still doing it in 2015

wasn’t as good in 2010

as I am now but made it

to States

made it to State the next

5 years sprinting around

the track waiting for the

gun to go off

high jumping over the

bar waiting anxiously

for my name to

be called jumping over

hurdles sprinting then

jumping into the

long jump pit

so many track meets

all the times I

had to go against older kids

in my events always push myself

to be better that worked out

pretty well speaking that I got

first or second

in all my events

high jump record

5 feet long jump

record 13 feet and

10 inches hurdle record

14.67 seconds all

my personal best

got first, second, and sixth

out of the whole State of Maine

the only thing slowing you

down is yourself

keep pushing yourself.