Activity+(Jesse+Gore)

=Poems about Peer Pressure= (7th Grade)


 * Model Poem:**

We Real Cool

THE POOL PLAYERS. SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.

We real cool. We Left school. We

Lurk late. We Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We Die soon.

- Gwendolyn Brooks


 * Directions:**

Students will find a space on the floor or at their desk where they are in their own space without other people around them. The teacher will begin discussing peer pressure in middle school. He will discuss how most of us want to be liked by our peers and how we sometimes make bad decisions because of what our peers tell us to do. Students will have two minutes to write about a pressure they have recently felt from peers. It can be something good or something bad, whichever the individual student prefers.

Students will be told that while the poem we are about to read may not necessarily mean the person is being peer pressured, it has the connotation at the end that bad endings can occur if you are mixed in with the wrong crowd. We will read “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks and then students will begin to write their own version.


 * Peer Pressure Poem Format:**

Title: We Real (how does the group feel)

Skip line.

Subtitle: The (creative name of group) The (# in group) at the (group meeting place)

Subtitle is in all caps. Skip line.

Poem: Begin with title and always begin the next like with “we.” Sentences can only be three words each. In the next six sentences, write about what the group does together, making sure to discuss the pressures that you face while in the group. Every two sentences should rhyme.

Final Line: What is going to be the outcome if the group continues to follow in the path. This is abrupt at the end.


 * Teacher Example:**

We Real Tired

THE BABYSITTERS FOUR AT THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE

We Real Tired. We Are wired. We

Want sleep. We Will weep. We

Always complain. We Take blame. We

Have conspired. We Get fired.