Where I'm From

As an introductory lesson with my 10th grade students we read George Ella Lyon's poem Where I'm From. After reading and analyzing the poem, students were assigned the homework of creating their own Where I'm From poem. The poems they turned in were truly amazing, especially for a non-native speaker.
As a side project, I went through each student's poem for a line or two that I thought stood out. Then I pieced them back together to create one class poem. This is what we came up with.

Where I’m From

I am from the smile of friends as they smile having seen me.

I am from the infinite “what if?”

and the countless nights without sleep.

I am on my own yet never alone.

I am from the symbols of good and the smiles of conformity.

I am from all my hopes and disappointments.

I am from the balls of my father and the womb of my mother,

from anything you likes.

All the paradoxes and decisive acts,

which are actually uncertain thoughts.

I am from the sound of wind

and the leaf that the wind brings

I am from a Lego figure between plastic bricks.

I am both missing and thinking.

The clock sounds tik tok tik tok all the time, never stops.

However the day will come that everything is lost.

I am from deep beneath the ground.

I am from a happy good-bye.

By Mrs W 10^th Grade class

I have mentioned before that my students are fantastic and I wanted to share a little bit of them with you.

You can find the original and more information at http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html.