IT’S NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!!!!!!! Yayyyyy!!! :D :D :D :D

In honor of National Poetry Month, I am asking you to write a poem a day for the entire month of April. (Yes, that is 30 poems!) They do not have to be long. You can write about whatever you would like however you would like, or you could follow these 30 prompts.

For English 11- This will be worth one bonus test grade for the 4th marking period.
For CEP 12-  This will be worth one bonus in-class essay grade for the 4th marking period. 

1. Grab the closest book. Go to page 29. Write down 10 words that catch your eye. Use 7 of words in a poem.

2. Write about a poem about a superhero coming to your house and confronting you about something. Somewhere in the poem, you have to state what your superpower is.

3. Write an anti-love letter to someone or something. Be creative with it!

4. Make a list of seven words that have the same vowel sounds (like bee, treat, pepperoni, eagle) and use them in a repetitive way throughout a poem.

5. Write a poem about a weird fact or several odd facts that you know.

6. Write a poem in two sections about two completely different things. Have the title link both items today in a surprising way.

7. Write a poem about your favorite food.

8. Think about your favorite type of weather. Write a poem about what this type of weather makes you feel.

9. Write a poem about how awesome you are.

10. Think of a time when you were a little kid. Write a poem about it.

11. Write a poem that begins with the last thing you can remember someone saying to you today or yesterday. See if you can use that line two or three times.

12. Write a poem inspired by your favorite song or artist.

13. Write a poem as an ode to an object near you. (An ode is a poem praising a single person or item.)

14. Think of the nicest thing someone ever said to you. Write a poem about a rainy day and something flooding. End the poem with the good thing someone said.

15. Write a poem that describes your hair.

16. Make a list of ten images of things you have seen in the last 24 hours. Use all of them in a poem.

17. Write a poem that includes the word pigarlik, which is 16th century word for a bald head, which apparently resembled peeled garlic.

18. Write a poem about something small that is only 5 lines long.

19. Close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you. If the sounds are peaceful, write a poem with a violent word as the title. If the sounds are loud, write a poem with a kind word as the title.

20. Write a poem about your shoes.

21. Write a poem with the opposite hand that you write with or if you type your poems on the computer, use only one hand to type.

22. Write a poem that only had five syllables in each line. Give the poem a long title.

23. Write a poem where the last word of the first line begins with the first letter of your name, and the last word of the second line begins with the second letter of your name until you have spelled out your first and/or your last name.

24. Write a poem that has the word “love” hidden in it somewhere. You cannot use the word “love” by itself, it must be hidden (such as in the word “glove” or in two words like “halo venom”).

25. Write a poem where a literary figure shows up and tells you something and/or gives you something.

26. Write a poem to your future self, but do not say it is to your future self, address the poem to a president or rockstar.

27. Write a poem through the voice of five-year-old you.

28. Make a list of your favorite words today. Write a poem that uses 90% of the words you wrote down.

29. Write a poem about a building that is of some significance to you.

30. Write a poem giving thanks to a poet or to writing a poem a day. Use a line from one of the poems you wrote this month to either begin or end it.

Y'all are waaaaay too kind.

I hesitantly shared my quest for new books on my personal Facebook, and the response has been overwhelming. 

Yes, I will definitely accept books that are not on my list, or used books that you have laying around the house gathering dust. 

If you are in the central New Jersey area (aka Middlesex or Somerset county), talk to me, and we can arrange a pick up.

Otherwise, you can send the books to:

Kailynn Barbour
c/o Franklin High School
500 Elizabeth Avenue
Somerset, NJ 08873

If you don't want to send it to my school, again, send me an email. 

If you want more information about what I'm doing, please, check out my original post.

Thank you all so, so much!!!! <3

Hello there,

As some of you have already established, my birthday is coming up. I'm turning 25 on January 26th, and, instead of celebrating with my friends or asking for gifts I don't want, I'm asking for something for my students:

Books for our rolling class library.

As per DoSomething.org, here are some facts about literacy in America:

1. -2/3 of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of 4th grade will end up in jail or on welfare. Over 70% of America’s inmates cannot read above a 4th grade level.
2. -1 in 4 children in America grow up without learning how to read.
3. -Kids who don't read proficiently by 4th grade are 4 times likelier to drop out of school. Start a badass book club to keep your peers reading. Sign up for Banned Books Club.
4. -As of 2011, America was the only free-market OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) country where the current generation was less well educated than the previous.
5. -Nearly 85% of the juveniles who face trial in the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate, proving that there is a close relationship between illiteracy and crime. More than 60% of all inmates are functionally illiterate.
6. -53% of 4th graders admitted to reading recreationally “almost every day,” while only 20% of 8th graders could say the same.
7. -75% of Americans who receive food stamps perform at the lowest 2 levels of literacy, and 90% of high school dropouts are on welfare.
8. -Teenage girls ages 16 to 19 who live at or below the poverty level and have below average literacy skills are 6 times more likely to have children out of wedlock than the girls their age who can read proficiently.
9. -Reports show that low literacy directly costs the healthcare industry over $70 million every year.

You-- and all teenagers-- deserve better than this. I want you to read. I want you to succeed. I want you to prove anyone who has ever doubted you wrong, and I want you to do well in life.

I know you can. This isn't just wistful thinking. I believe in you.

I've created a wish list of books on Amazon that I want to add to my rolling class library. (You haven't seen it yet, but I got an awesomely pink rolling trunk to act as a rolling library in my 3 classrooms.) Ideally, 25 of the books on my list will be gifted to us and we'll be able to work some sustained silent reading time into our busy class schedule.  If you have any you want me to add to the list, send me an email at mskbarbour@gmail.com or talk to me in class.

So, when you're on your phones and instagramming/ tweeting/ Facebooking/ anything-else-ing, share the link to this blog post or my Amazon wish list. Use the #MsBarbours25th hashtag on social media, please.

Thank you!

See you in class!
Ms. Barbour

This is sort of last minute, but...

If you are a 10th or 11th grade female student you can enter this poetry contest for a chance to win $200!

The deadline is today so get moving!!!

Click here to enter!!

Are you secretly (or not-so-secretly) a literary nerd?

Do you enjoy dressing up for Halloween? (Or Comic Con?)

Prestwick House, a publishing company, is apparently holding a literary costume contest!

So... who will join me in getting their literary nerd on??

Happy Rosh Hashanah, folks! Enjoy your long weekend!!!

I wanted to take a quick moment to thank all of you for starting the year off right!

Regardless if you showed up to class on time the first or second day, you still made it. You stepped into the classroom doors, and you introduced yourselves. Then, you made the decision to visit this website.

You took the first few steps towards furthering your education.

For this, I am grateful. 

It is an honor to be your teacher this year, whether it be in my World Literature 11 or 11 Honors courses, or in my Poetry Today course.

I noticed quite a few of my students reading Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell last year so I decided to give it a shot this summer.

Eleanor & Park is built around finding common grounds between people of different backgrounds. It actually reminded me a bit of the 1986 film, Sixteen Candles, but with more of a focus on music and comic books than socio-economic class. It definitely tells a sweet, honest, sometimes painfully truthful tale of teen romance without making the story built on first love and relationships.

I really enjoyed this book, and it ended up breaking my heart a little bit at some points.

Definitely give this one a try!