On Friday, we were fortunate enough to have award-winning poet Holly Thompson visit our Grade 8 class to talk about her favourite type of poetry: poetry that tells a story.

The 90-minute session began with several intriguing poems written by other authors, followed by some examples of Holly’s own poems.  Students were especially interested to hear about what had inspired Holly to write her poems and she discussed a few of the many different real-life sources from which poets can draw inspiration (a turning point, a close call, a first experience…).

Students were then given time to write their own poems.  Through insisting on silence and reminding the students that no one would ever need to see their first draft of a poem, Holly helped alleviate many of the pressures that students sometimes feel when faced with a challenging creative task such as writing a poem.

The visit couldn’t have been timed better as we are currently in the midst of our Poetry 180 unit.  The quality of the students’ poetry presentations was definitely enhanced by Holly’s visit and several students even referred directly to the visit, calling it “inspirational” and “uplifting.”