I Am From

Do you want to watch something amazing? Watch the US Open right now (or at least when I am writing this). There is a fifteen year old American girl playing. Fifteen. I cannot imagine being on ESPN and in front of thousands people playing tennis when I was fifteen. Young people can do amazing things. We saw this in class today when we asked the class to write I Am From poems.

I first heard about I Am From poems when I was getting my master's degree with the Ohio Writing Project. The lesson involves looking at the poem "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon. Then you create a poem that talks about where you are from.

We shared this poem with the class today but Ms. Cavallaro and myself also shared our I Am From poems.  Here is the one that Ms. Cavallaro shared with the class:

I Am From

I am from two homes but loving them the same

time spent at Moms and time spent at Dads

I am from two Thanksgiving dinners and two Christmas Days

two birthdays and double the presents

I am from a family of animal lovers

From moms cat obsession to dads dogs-are-a-mans-best-friend

I am from piercing meows

of Tee, Elbee & Casey begging for another treat

I am from leash pulling lengthy walks with Hershey & Smokey

looking for any chance to cool off in the pond

I am from growing up playing outside

making tree houses, catching fireflies

neighborhood tag and 25 cent lemonade stands

I am from muddy and worn out cleats

grass staining my socks and shirts

I am from soccer and lacrosse practice and games

loud cheers from the sidelines

the anticipation of what would happen next

I am from matching colors and outfits

shoes, socks, dresses, pink hair bow and all

I am from the constant questions

are you Krissy or are you Kelley?

she is my twin sister

but also my best friend

It is amazing. Here is my I Am From poem that we also shared with the class:

I am From

I am from the dirt of a thousand ball fields

The sun stained asphalt of tennis court after tennis court

I am from the chlorine of countless swimming pools

The grass stains of all the soccer parks

I am from city after city

state after state

country after country

finally settling down to find a home

I am from a teacher

and a pilot,

I'm from the plains of Oklahoma mixed

with the sun of Florida

I am from a pair made for

each other

I am from a mother who taught

who always had the food on the table

who woke before the sun to get me to morning practice

I am from a father who never

missed a point, a game, a set, a match

who always made the time

in the middle of a busy schedule

I am from the streets of the suburbs

flash-light tag, bikes with baseball cards in the spokes and backyard football

I am from the heart of it all

the Icky Shuffle, the wire to wire Reds, and hit number 4,192

I am from a house of quiet

but always surrounded with love

I am from the shade of the Black Oak

with a view where the Deer Run

As we were looking at the two poems we asked the class to do two different tasks. First they had to figure out which poem belonged to which teacher. The class did an excellent job of figuring it out. I was more impressed how they were able to go back into the poems and find multiple pieces of evidence to support their claim that the poem belonged to that teacher. Second we asked them to tell us what they noticed. A question that we seem to ask a lot...what do you notice? The class was quickly able to tell us what we had done to create our poems.

Then we let the class write and the results were amazing. Students told us all about where they are from. What makes them who they are right now. I hope you get a chance to read these poems. They are in the writer's notebooks and a lot of them will give you chills.

Our students our amazing authors and when you give them a chance to write they will amaze you.

I hope you are all having a great week.