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Grades level iconsGrades 7–12
Session time icon1.5 Hours
Genre information iconPoetry
Resource type icon

Where I’m From Poems

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Meghan Dove McAfee, 826 Digital Educator Leader
Inspired by George Ella Lyon’s original poem, this lesson guides students through naming the people, places, and things that have shaped them.
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What Your Students Will Learn

Your students will learn how to analyze, and gain inspiration from, a well-known poem.

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What Your Students Will Produce

Your students will produce a memory map and a poem inspired by those details.

What You Will Do

The phrase “Where I’m from” is usually followed by a place—a city, a state, or a country—but in this lesson, students will think more about how their experiences and memories have lifted them up.

How to Begin

Share with students that, today, they will be reading a well-known poem called “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon. They will then analyze the poem’s structure and learn how to write a similar poem.

STEP 1 (15 minutes)

Open the audio link to George Ella Lyon reading her original “Where I’m From” poem and project the poem’s text from page 1 of “Where I’m From—Mentor Texts.” Ask students to close their eyes, listen to the audio, and visualize the images that are being shared. Encourage them to not get stuck on words or names they might not know and focus on the overall picture that’s being painted.

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