Poetry Break with a Difficult Subject in Children’s Lives

Poetry Break with “New Brothers” by Eloise Greenfield

Greenfield, Eloise. 2009. Brothers & Sisters: Family Poems. Ill. by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. New York: Amistad, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Introduction: Ask students to think of a time in their lives when things weren’t going too well. Talk to your students about a difficult time in your own life (they love to hear about you, too). Let them know that everyone experiences hard times every now and then, and that you would like to read a poem about two “brothers”. Read “New Brothers”.

New Brothers

We had to get used to each other.
Just because my mother
married his father, it didn’t mean
we were a perfect pair.
I eyed him and he eyed me,
trying to find out
which one wanted to be
the most important, the smartest,
the funniest, the best.
It was a tie.
Now, we’re okay
and pretty much into
this brother thing.

Extension: Ask if anyone would like to share a difficult time he/she has gone through (if anyone will, it is good for children to know that others have problems just as they do). Have the students write a paragraph about their experience, and then work with each to put it into poetry form. This can include rewriting; weeding out unnecessary wording; finding a good place for the ends of lines and white space, etc. The students can share the poems if desired, or just paste them into their personal journals.