Spoon River Anthology

I had said that I was going to write about something good that happened, and now I'm keeping to it.

Last Wednesday, I took my honors and AP students through Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology. It's one of my favorite collections of poems, especially American poetry, and I was so glad to get to share it. I made some very ugly tombstone cut-outs from black foam core and adhered a poem from the collection on it. We had six tombstones in our little graveyard.

The students walked around the room, read the poems, and wrote comments on pieces of paper near them. I had Mozart's Requiem going in the background. It was so wonderful to watch the students get into the poems. I love it when that happens, especially when it's a work or set of works that I myself am passionate about.

We had excellent discussion in all three classes, and I heard several students say they wanted to read more of them. That was a very good day. I don't know if any of them went and read more of the poems or not, but just the fact that they had that interest, even if it was only for 55 minutes, made me feel like I had accomplished something. If I can continue to give them those moments, maybe I can do something that lasts.

BTW, if you've never read Spoon River Anthology, check it out here.