Where+I'm+From+MLP

My unit plan theme is on perseverance We are reading the book //The Land// which focuses heavily on setting and geography. I thought that a poem which focuses on setting would be great to go along with this unit as the students think about the setting in the novel and how their lives might connect.
 * Prompt **** : **

1) Think about where you came from? Is there something special about your house, family, grandparents, or where you are from/born? Create a list of specific images. 2) Think about what you wrote down and construct your own Where I'm From poem.
 * Pre-wrtiting: **

1) Every stanza must begin with "I am from" 2) In the sucessive lines, add in some of the specifc images you brainstormed eariler. Group them together into different stanzas depending on the image (people, food, places, feelings) 3) Your poem has to be at least 12 lines long. 4) Make sure you title your poem (you can make one up or simply use the title of the published poem, I would like for you to be original) and do not forget to put your name on your paper.
 * Drafting: **


 * Published Poem: **

Where I'm From
I am from clothespins,

from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.

I am from the dirt under the back porch.

(Black, glistening,

it tasted like beets.)

I am from the forsythia bush

the Dutch elm

whose long-gone limbs I remember

as if they were my own. I'm from fudge and eyeglasses,

 from Imogene and Alafair.

I'm from the know-it-alls

 and the pass-it-ons,

from Perk up! and Pipe down!

I'm from He restoreth my soul

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;"> with a cottonball lamb

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;"> and ten verses I can say myself. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;">I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch,

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;">fried corn and strong coffee.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;">From the finger my grandfather lost

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;"> to the auger,

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;">the eye my father shut to keep his sight. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;">Under my bed was a dress box

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;">spilling old pictures,

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;">a sift of lost faces

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;">to drift beneath my dreams.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;">I am from those moments--

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;">snapped before I budded --

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Microsoft Sans Serif',Arial,Tahoma,'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,Baskerville,'Gill Sans MT',Futura; font-size: 14px;">leaf-fall from the family tree.

Where I'm From by Michelle Parker
 * Model Poem **:

I am from lazy sundays late lunches and reading the paper naps in the recliner with the cat who sleeps on a snoring dad

I am from southern cooking corn bread and butter beans black eyed peas on new years and wedding cake made with love

I am from moving boxes christmas parties and easter sundays in air planes friends who pack up with their families and parents who are gone to far away places

I am from a family two loving parents and two hateful brothers bonded together as a whole no matter what