"Where I'm From" Poetry

When I was first tasked with teaching our Creative Writing class, I had no idea what direction to take it. Writing creatively is something I personally have struggled with -- as an English major, I always felt confident in my ability to write expository essays and analysis papers, but short stories and poetry was a little more difficult for me, and I knew the same would be true for many of my students.

Working with high schoolers means it's imperative to show them the purpose and the benefit of each concept you teach, and truth be told... many of my students will never need to write a work of fiction again in their life. Of course, there are a few students who actually LOVE writing and took the class because they wanted to, but majority of my students took it either because they thought it would be "easy" or because it was the only elective that would fit in their schedule to meet their graduation requirement. Therefore, showing them the benefit of how they would "use this in their life" is always a challenge.

So I set out to make the class purposeful and meaningful, even for my most reluctant writers, and I knew that self reflection and using creative writing as an outlet for emotions would be my best bet.

I first came across the idea of using the "Where I'm From" poem when I was searching for fun writing activities for students and stumbled across this article. Once reading more about it, I thought it would be a great introductory assignment for the class. Not only would it get my students writing and thinking right away, but it would encourage them to be creative without making stuff up from scratch because they have to pull from their own experiences... plus it would be a great way to get to know my students better. It also gives students the opportunity to go as in depth and to get as personal as they choose, while also allowing students to remain surface level if that's what they want to do.

Then not long after creating this assignment, I was reading Matthew McConaughey's book Greenlights and came across the following excerpt:

I come from a loving family. We may not have always liked each other, but we always loved each other. We hug and kiss and wrestle and fight. We don’t hold a grudge.

I come from a long line of rule breakers. Outlaw libertarians who vote red down the line because they believe it’ll keep fewer outlaws from trespassing on their territory.

I come from a family of disciplinarians where you better follow the rules, until you’re man enough to break 'em. Where you did what Mom and Dad said “because I said so” and if you didn’t, you didn’t get grounded, you got the belt or a backhand “because it gets your attention quicker and doesn’t take away from your most precious resource, time.”

I come from a family who took you across town to your favorite cheeseburger-and-milkshake joint to celebrate your lesson learned immediately following your corporal correction.

I come from a family that might penalize you for breaking the rules, but definitely punished you for getting caught. Slightly calloused on the surface, we know that what tickles us often bruises others - because we deal with or deny it, we’re the last to cry uncle to bad luck.

It’s a philosophy that has made me hustle in both senses of the word. I work hard and I like to grift. It’s a philosophy that’s also led to some great stories.

I knew immediately that I needed to add this to my introduction for the Where I'm From assignment, so I put together the assignment with some examples for students to look at. You can get the sheet from my TPT store here.

How I Incorporate it into my Class

I first introduce the assignment by explaining how it began and going over some examples with them (both ones that are on the site and ones by previous students). I also play this NPR episode for them so they can hear the imagery used in the poem they read.

At first, I wasn't sure how students would do with this assignment. I thought they might keep their poems really brief and not take them seriously or give them much thought (which is true for some), but since using it in class I've gotten some AMAZING results... poems that bring me to tears in my classroom and open my eyes to a new side of my students I never knew existed. They make my heart so happy and sad at the same time: happy that they felt safe enough to share this side of their lives with me and sad that this is the reality many of our students face.

I love having the conversations with students about how proud I am of them for sharing and for speaking about their past experiences. We talk about how creative writing can be used as an outlet and as a form of therapy to work through past traumas, and it's something I hope they continue long after they leave my class as well.

I've shared one of the examples I got this week below, and I encourage you to try this with your students. It's actually something I've considered doing with ALL of my classes, but for now, I think I'll keep it strictly in my Creative Writing class with my juniors and seniors.

Let me know if you try it! I can't wait to hear from you!

Until next time,

Paige