Valentines Poetry Project

Readers of this blog know that I have been making good use of the variety of paper that I bought back after Christmas.  I used the glittery cardstock to make Epiphany stars, and I used all the variety of papers for my Valentine's making event for my neighborhood and for my Confirmation class last week.  I still had a lot of paper left.

I had thought about requiring all of my English 102 students to make Valentines this week, but I decided to make it an optional extra credit daily writing grade.  They could use as much paper as they wanted, and they had to include 4 lines of poetry.  The poetry could be theirs or someone else's.

Some of my students responded with delight and took so much paper that I worried I might run out.  I needn't have worried--not everyone had the same level of enthusiasm.   So far, I've seen a variety of approaches.  One student took some red construction paper, drew some hearts, and wrote a few lines of poetry composed in class.  One student made an elaborate folded envelope for the Valentine inside that contained an original poem.  It was not this envelope, but more like an origami envelope.

I only had the presence of mind to take photos of one of the responses.

I made this Facebook post:  "Because I have extra paper, and because my students are often asking for extra credit, I gave them the opportunity to make a Valentine that has at least four lines of poetry in it. It doesn't have to be their poem. I am blown away by the work of the first student to take me up on this challenge."

I got to my afternoon class to discover that the English teacher before me had also brought art supplies.  The students were making posterboard infographic kinds of projects.  I thought about past places I've worked, places with people who would have sneered at these approaches, who wouldn't understand how these creative approaches can lead to richer writing.  I am so glad to be at a place where people react with delight when we develop creative approaches.