Student Poetry and Reflection

"Some people just dream of meeting their favorite authors and artists- I teach mine" -The internetz

I have been a high school English teacher in urban schools for 6 years. Which seems strange now- it feels like I got my degree 3 seconds ago, but it also feels like maybe I got it back when man was carving their fertility gods into stone. I have always worked in schools with populations that leaned heavily Latinx- and no, after multiple years in Spanish classes, I still can't say much more than "me gusta". That's probably not even conjugated correctly. Don't mind my terrible Spanish though, that's not what we are here for. Over the years, I have been collecting my favorite pieces created by my students, and thought I'd share some with all of you.

Carlos dropped out a few years ago- I was super sad about it, because he was absurdly talented. Not only as an artist, as you can see above, but also just naturally intelligent. He was reading at a college level in 10th grade, super reflective, could analyze a piece of literature like he was getting paid for it. I don't know where he's at now, but I hope he is doing well. I kept this piece because I loved it, not realizing all the gang symbolism in it. The crown and the numbers are related to gangs, and there is some drug paraphenalia pictured as well. It's heartbreaking to see kids be blocked from their potential based on the situations that they were born into.

Amador created this piece for extra credit based on the book Night by Elie Wiesel. He put a lot of thought into this- the unfinished figures in the background and the bodies on the ground are a comment on the dehumanization that took place in the concentration camps. The more complete figure in the foreground is the author, Elie, trying to pull his father up out off the ground after his father wanted to give up. Amador has a lot of talent too, and I'm excited to see him continue to work on his skills.

These are from two different artists. The year that I had Randy, we did a project where the kids did research into their names and wrote a paper about them. Randy was very surprised to learn that his name could also be used to mean "sexually aroused". So that was fun to explain to a 16-year-old. I liked his happy little-mustachioed apple. Alex drew the mushroom and the star based on my love for Mario- which he learned when my phone went off during class and played the Mario theme song.

The last piece that I wanted to share was a poem by Brayan. He wrote this for an independent reading book project- the kids have to complete one at least once a month on a book of their choice.

"Jail" Inspired by the book Locked Down, Locked Out

Being in jail is lonely at night.
it's waiting for letters
that no one will write.
It's depending on people
who you thought were your friends
when they fail to come through
again and again.

It's sitting around
with nothing to do
trying to figure out
who is who.
Only to find out that hearts
are made of stone
and realizing you're all alone.

It's waiting for visits
that will never take place,
from so-called friends
who've forgotten your face.
Wondering why time seems
to move so slow
night after night.

The day will come when I am free
then it will be my turn
to forget those
who forgot me.

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Art and Poetry property of the stated students. Reflections are mine