We Are Ourselves

We are ourselves,
Who think,
Who travel,
Who explore,
Who tell jokes,
Who teach,
Who speak,
and who
follow in
God's name.
We're ourselves,
not others.
-Cristian (2nd Grade)

I am right in the middle of my poetry unit with my second graders and every year it becomes my favorite unit to teach. My children fall in love with poetry as we learn how to read and interpret published poems and to write our own. The poems these English Language Learners write never cease to amaze me. I found the above gem while snooping through their poetry folders this morning.