ACE Spectrum
ACE Spectrum
Ace Spectrum is about you — the ACE Learning Centers.
It’s a quick sharing of ideas, inspiration, opinions and best practices among our continuing education organizations.
Please join the conversation.
Thor Writes Poems About Belonging to Inspire Oxford Day Academy Poets
By Thor, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot, Oxford Day Academy
Thor here. Resting after writing poems. Also resting from Spring Break. Woof. Glad to be back at school.
Hello Everyone, this is Thor once again. I was on Spring break last week and enjoyed reading your posts while away from school. During my week off, this poem kept swirling in my head, which I would like to share with you.
We belong
By Thor
We belong in a different world
Our heritage never goes wrong
Whatever we’re denied or
Embrace
For worse
Or for best
We all belong
Together
We belong
And we’re strong
We stand
With a straight face
We walk with a pace
Through the fields
Full of brown crops
Blending into one another
We stand by our mothers
We belong to our great grandmothers
We belong to the roots of trees
We belong to the crops
We belong in different societies
And they are varieties
In the end
We belong as one
We belong
To our ancestors
We belong
To the world
Poetry Workshops Inspire Poetry at San Francisco International High School
By Chupe, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot, San Francisco International High School
Poetry in the works. Here are SFIHS students writing poems during a workshop.
Hello poets near and far! Thanks to the encouraging words, woofs and meows from our ACE family, Cronos and I have successfully motivated our burgeoning poets to begin writing. Last week, we hosted our first poetry workshop. Students read some examples of inspiring poetry, began drafting their own poems and even read some pieces out loud.
Students still have two weeks to work on their own submissions before our poetry contest. I’m keeping my paws crossed that the winners will be brave enough to share their words with the entire school.
Happy Poetry Month,
Chupe (and Cronos)
P.S. Riley, everyone is talking about Poem in Your Pocket Day. I have lots of poems I want to carry around all day, but what’s a pocket?
Chupe here. Standing proud for poetry and my student pals at SFIHS.
Riley’s 5 Fun Facts About Poetry
By Riley, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot, assisted by Martha Sessums (for spelling purposes only)
“Sit.” Was that John rapping at me?
The ACE Poetry Contest Mascot posse of Chupe, Cronos, Violet and Thor are working with teachers and students to learn about poetry. But I have some fun facts to share.
1. The oldest written poem is a 4,000-year old epic about Gilgamesh, a half-god/half-man king from the ancient kingdom of Babylon. It consists of a long, narrative story, typically of awesome heroic actions. Sort of like our awesome ACE Learning Center students and teachers who are heroic daily.
2. But it’s not the longest. That’s an Indian epic poem named Mahabhrata, which is 1.8 million words, written starting in 300 BC. That’s eight times as long as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Topic is the story of India told through an 18-day Indian war. Lot of words for a short war, so the story is bigger than the battle.
3. But haiku is the shortest form of poetry, and one of the most popular. Started in Japan, it consists of 17 syllables and three lines containing five, seven and five syllables. Discipline required here. That’s why I like rap and slam. Less rules.
4. But the really shortest poem is a two-word poem called The Shortest and Sweetest of Songs by George MacDonald. It reads: “Come Home.” My buddy John is always rapping poetry to me, but typically only one word: “Stay,” “Come,” “No.”
5. You afraid of poetry? Called metrophobia. Term originated from metre, a basic structure of poetry. Usually happens because your teacher assigned you to read Mahabhrata, that really long poem, and you put off doing the homework until the night before it’s due. Now that’s scary.
Hope you are all learning cool stuff about poetry and writing great poems. Hopefully not 1.8 million words long though.
Remember to treat yourself to a poem.