Week 5: Persona Poems

This week, I had students read Craig Raine's poem "A Martian Sends a Postcard Home." I used the poem both as an entre into understanding the idea of writing a poem in a voice other than your own (persona) and as a means of eliciting creative description. As the title suggests, the poem is essentially a portrait of humanity through the eyes of a Martian. So, for my writing prompt, I asked them to imagine that they were aliens making a visit to Shields school. Their "mission" was to describe as much of the school as possible so their fellow aliens back home might be able to imagine what this strange, alien landscape looked like! I made sure to mention that an alien might not know the specific names for a lot of commonplace objects in the school - like clock or blackboard or drinking fountain. So, their challenge was to use their senses to describe the objects, as though making riddles. They turned out some really excellent work! I selected one poem from each of my six classes to share below:

Mr. K. (205)
3rd Grade

"Martian"
by Celina S.

Have you ever seen a girl that
looks like a blue bubble with
the letter G? And I see a
box with laser to drink.
I've never seen that. And I
see something that makes
your eyes burn if you use
it too much. I smell something
that is round but with something
stringy. I see something round
it can free the time. I see
someone that looks like he is
in charge.

Ms. Sandoval-Johnson (001)
3rd Grade

A Waterfall
Sarai B.

A waterfall
is when you
push a button
and a waterfall
comes out of
a hard box
you can drink
the water it
does not sound
clean to me
but it does
sound very
loudly in
the waterfall
is falling down in a
circle on the
bottom of
the waterfall
it is going
away when
I don't
press the
button
I think something lives in it.

Ms. Marfise (002)
3rd Grade

Aliens Visiting Shields School
Denise B.

I come from Mercury. There
are 30 ghosts on this strange
planet. There are some other aliens
that came. There are the ghosts'
plans. There are the other aliens'
ships. There are some green stars.
The other aliens are taking
over this school.

Ms. McCormick (214)
3rd Grade

Wandering Around
Kiara M.

I am on a mission
to examine Shields School
I see a circle thing
with numbers and lines I
wonder what it is
I see a tall woman
with a bunch of
shorter people behind
her
I am wandering down
these dark halls
The tall people don't
seem to be afraid.

Mrs. Rodriguez (401)
5th Grade

Trip to Shields School
Emmanuel M.

Hello my friends in Mars. My mission to
Shields School is a success, what I see here
is a circle moving thing that sends air to you.
I also saw four little wooded legs, and a little
platform on top, and you can put your back on it. I also
saw a thing they call "book" - it has small looseleaf
paper in it. This thing I will right now talk to you about
this thing looks like wood but smells like water, and it
has different colors. I also saw a magic thing
that reminded me of old times, they call it
"pictures."

Ms. Breen (201)
3rd Grade

Alien at Shields
Julie G.

A circle with
black marks and
hands
Some squares with
feet
A tall thing
in a square
A number 4
on cement
A ball with
bright colors
that spins
to look for
places
A box with
plastic
Some ghosts
doing stuff
Some ghosts
making
letters
A big square
with little
squares scribbles
A big shiny
thing to carry birds
with wings
A pink thing
that makes things
disappear
A tall human
is a principal.