“Where I’m from?” Poems
“Who am I?” is a question on the minds of many adolescents. “Where I’m from” poems get beyond aspects of identity that are often more obvious and familiar (such as ethnicity, gender and age), by focusing on other factors that shape our identities such as experiences, relationships, hopes and interests. Writing “Where I’m from” poems helps students clarify important elements of their identity. When these poems are shared they can help build peer relationships and foster a cohesive classroom community. “Where I’m from” poems can also provide a creative way for students to demonstrate what they know about historical or literary figures.
Step one: Preparation
Often students themselves are the focus of a “Where I’m from” poem. But, it is possible for other people, such as historical or literary figures, to serve as the subject of these poems. You can assign students a specific individual to represent through this poetic structure or you can allow students to choose an individual relevant to the current unit of student.
Prior to asking students to write their poems, we strongly recommend showing them an example. (See the related resources section for links to web pages that publish examples of “Where I’m from” poems written by students and poets.) Teachers have also found it is useful to write their own “Where I’m From” poem and share that with the class as a model.
Additionally, it is helpful to create a template or worksheet that students can follow when writing their “Where I’m From” poems. Click here for an example you can adapt for your own students.
Step two: Prewriting
Give students the opportunity to think about what it means to be “from” some place. Reading other “Where I’m From” poems provides an effective prompt for this conversation. Questions students can respond to in a journal or in a class discussion include:
- What does it mean to be “from” some place? How can the place we are from influence our identities (who we are)?
- Is it possible to be from more than one place? How might our identity change depending on where we are?
- Can people be from a “place” that is not an actual location, but represents a community or an idea – such as being from a family, a religious tradition or a strong interest?
After students have reflected on broad questions related to identity and place, have them brainstorm specific words and phrases that represent where they are from (or where they assigned individual is from). Here are some categories they might consider as they brainstorm:
- Names of important people related to this place (relatives, friends, etc.)
- Special foods or meals eaten in this place
- Traditions practiced in this place
- Favorite songs and stories
- Familiar phrases used in this place
- Ordinary items found in this place
- Important beliefs valued in this place
- Heroes of this place
- Significant events (happy and/or sad) that have happened in this place
- Images that represent this place
- Sounds that represent this place
- Smells that represent this place
Step three: Writing
Referring to “Where I’m Poem” examples as a guide and drawing from their brainstorming, ask students to begin writing their poems. Students should not feel limited by their prewriting. They do not need to use all of the ideas from their brainstorming and they may come up with new words and phrases to add to their poems. “Where I’m From” poems do not all follow the exact same structure, but they do begin with the phrase “I am from…..”
Step four: Sharing
Students learn a great deal about each other and/or about other people, by reading each other’s “Where I’m From” poems. There are many ways students can share their work:
- Students can read poems as a gallery walk.
- Students can share them in pairs or small groups.
- Students could read their poems to the whole class. Each reader could be assigned a “responder.” After the biopoem is read aloud, the responder has to comment about something he or she heard that was particularly interesting or surprising.
- Students can read them as a pass-around. First, have students pass their poems to their neighbor. Give time for a thorough reading. Have students silently write comments or questions in the margin. Every 3-5 minutes have students pass the poems on to the next person. Repeat as time allows. At the end of the time, students should have a poem filled with comments and questions.
Step five: Debrief
A discussion following the sharing of poems might focus on the relationship between place and identity. Prompts you might ask students to reflect on in writing and/or discussion include:
- How does where we are from influence who we are?
- What does it mean to be “from” a place? Is a “place” always a physical location or could it be something else?
- What is the connection between place and belonging? Is it possible to be from more that one place?
- How is identity affected when we move from one place to another? What might stay the same? What might change?
For an example of how this strategy has been used in a lesson plan, see lesson three of the unit Decision-making in Times of Injustice.
Additional resources:
Read the original “Where I’m From” poem, written by poet George Ella Lyon.
For more information about how to write “Where I’m From” poems, including examples of “Where I’m From” poems written by students, refer to the following websites:
http://www.studyguide.org/where_I'm_from_poem.htm
