During a visit to Room 604, pencils danced across the page, ambulances yelled at taxis, and basketballs kissed the net. Welcome to Class 5 Humanities, where the students recently embarked on a lively poetry lesson that explored personification, an evocative and relatable literary device.
Defining the term on the board – “giving an object human behaviors, actions or thoughts” – Middle School Associate Teacher Augie Sherman asked for volunteers to help her bring a few more examples to life.
Instructed to play the part of a pencil who was jealous of a pen, one student said these lines: “It must be nice to make your mark on every page you meet, to permanently stick to paper is such an admirable feat.” Addressing a banana, another dramatized the role of a jealous (but confident) apple: “All those things are great, but you don’t have that brilliant, magic crisp. Because in the end, there’s a reason they call me golden delicious.”
After brainstorming characteristics of pencils (“erasable, sharp, long, yellow”) and pens (“ink, multi-colored, lots of styles, skinny”), the class was next tasked with writing their own personification poems about jealousy. First, they chose two objects in the same general family, listing each one’s unique qualities on a paper chart.
When this preliminary step was approved, Ms. Sherman and Humanities Teacher Jenet Dibble handed the students a poetry outline on which they were to fill in their original verses. Following the format of the earlier demonstration, the poems would begin with the line “it must be nice to…” and end with “All those things are great, but…” (Nisa Wheatley’s Class 5 sections participated in this lesson at a different time.)
“I want you to have rich imagery in your poem,” said Ms. Sherman as the students buzzed about constructing their lists, conferring with one another, and testing out ideas with their teachers. Working at clusters of desks, they spent a chunk of uninterrupted time immersed in the beauty and possibility of language.
The students picked a wide variety of objects to infuse with jealous feelings, including ice cream and gelato; a book and an iPhone; a Christmas tree and a jack-o-lantern; canvas and a paintbrush; New York City and Paris; a frog hat and a frog piggy bank and many others.
Ms. Sherman and Ms. Dibble circulated, giving words of encouragement to each student, asking clarifying questions, and, in one case, offering the help of a rhyming dictionary. “Can you add another adjective here?” wondered Ms. Sherman. “I like your dichotomy,” praised Ms. Dibble. “Oh, I just love that!” exclaimed Ms. Sherman.
There was no shortage of energy or imagination in the bright classroom as these young poets focused on writing and revising their work. Although the assignment was indeed challenging, they seemed to relish the opportunity to flex their creative muscles and to have fun with the process. With time running out, the students finished up and got ready for the last part of the lesson. “Please bring your poems to the circle,” said Ms. Sherman.
Sitting cross-legged on the rug, the students were given the option to share with the group, ask a teacher to read their poem, or to simply listen. “There should be no side conversations,” cautioned Ms. Dibble. “People are sharing with their heart, which means they are vulnerable.”
On this particular morning, most, but not all, of the students decided to read aloud. With soft voices, they recited their poems, which were at turns silly, charming, funny, clever and profound. After each one, their classmates and teachers applauded. “These are wonderful,” said Ms. Sherman. “I’m so impressed.”
Pasted into their Humanities notebooks, the students’ personification poems will serve as reminders of their accomplishments during this engaging lesson as well as building blocks for Class 5’s ongoing poetry studies.
