Poetry:
Inside Out and Outside In 
(learning
to read and write poetry by thinking like a poet...a complete systematic approach)
(reading
the way good readers do)
we would love to hear from you.
"Our final study in English class was poetry. In the beginning of this section I thought poetry was totally pointless, but by the end of the section I realized that poetry is the best way to express your feeling, thoughts, and emotions. Still after the month or so of doing the poetry section, I still haven’t improved on my poetry writing but I feel that if I keep trying to write poetry one day it will come really easy to me."
"Poetry is another thing we learned this year. We read and sighted our own poems. I learned that poems bring out our thoughts and feelings, memories and effects. When people write poems it is usually to show their feelings. I’ve learned how to put a poem together with my feelings and the world around me."
"This year we analyzed everything and it was pretty cool. I never knew you could get so much out of so little. The unit that we studied poems, I never knew poems were so deep. I guess this year in English brought me closer to myself and my values."
"I am a person who really enjoys a good poem and I would like to think I can write a good poem when I set myself to it. I always took poems for how they were on the outside not for the potential meaning that lies within. I would look for a good rhyme and a steady rhythm or a catchy beat. But when we did the poems “inside and out” I really began to understand it, I could really see what Mr. Ingraham was talking about and now I can’t read a poem without pulling it apart. This capability helps me understand the poem and take it for its fullest and not just its shell."
"I think it has changed me in a more positive way, because I never used to care about anything like reading books and writing poems was not my thing. I’m glad that we were pushed this year to read and write poems or I would probably be stuck where I was before this class started. I now feel that if something you have to say makes you happy, sad, mad, or whatever else you should write it down. You never know, you may turn out to really like it."
"Poems are now a sort of way for me to get away, perhaps when I’m upset or angry at someone or something, I know I can always write a poem about how I’m feeling. That always makes me feel better, I can express those exact feelings with my work, no matter what the feelings may be."
"I feel that through the process of writing journals, etc. for The Cage, Hiroshima, In Country, and my reading for pleasure book I have become able to get more from what I read because I now have a better idea of what to look for while I am reading (picking out themes, making connections to my life and other things I know, and making predictions as to what will happen next)."
"The skill that I polished up a lot was the skill of reading. I have a really hard time reading. I am a fast reader, so this usually makes me forget what I already read and gets me really confused. When I had to read books in previous years, we would have to finish the book and then we would be given an assignment. This assignment would be hard for me because by the time I finished the book I would forget who the characters were and I would forget exactly what happened. This year, though, the way the assignments were given really helped me. While reading The Cage, we had to do book logs for every couple of chapters that we read. Since I remember what I read in short intervals, this was really easy for me to do. I would read 3 chapters and then I would write a journal about the characters and the plot. Then, when I finished the book I had the journals to look back on so that I would remember what was going on and who was who. This made reading books more enjoyable. When I read Fallen Angels I would write down little notes about what I read so I would remember it. Also, we had book groups and when we all sat down to talk it gave me a better understanding of the book because I got other people’s opinions. This newly acquired reading skill is the one that is the most important to me. When I go to college I am going to have to read lots of books and be able to understand them. After this year I know that in order for me to really understand a book I need to keep journals of that book and I will be all set. I am not as nervous for this part of college anymore and that makes me really happy."