Today we began work on the "I Am" assignment

("http://www.masters.ab.ca/bdyck/Homeless/Poetry/index.html"),

a poetry assignment where students will put themselves in the shoes of a homeless person and write a format-specific poem. I handed out the assignment sheet and rubric. They were encouraged to use a thesaurus to locate words that had "punch". The assignment is due Friday, October 17.
Students immediately got to work on the computers. I directed them to an online Thesaurus site that few had used before. ( www.dictionary.com)

Megan pointed out that a synonym for "lonely" is "homeless". Isn't that interesting!
As they wrote, the students and I discussed possible words and phrases that would communicate the "I Am" statements as effectively as possible. These students came up with some wonderful suggestions. Some examples were:

- I feel 1000 different wounds
- I am pointless and of no use
- I wonder if I will ever find a purpose in life
- I cry when I think about peoples thoughts about me
I anticipate some powerful poems from these students.