Based on my book “Were You There? A biography of Emma Wakefield Paillet, students will engage with Black History through biography. Using found poetry, students will create a unique poem that can be a part of a larger biography project or a stand alone project.
TEACHING ARTIST SESSION
LA-006 Were You There? Transforming Bography into Poetry (5-8)
Margaret Simon
Margaret Simon lives on the Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana. Margaret retired this year after 38 years in elementary education. Her first book of children’s poetry was published in 2018 by UL Press, Bayou Song: Creative Explorations of the South Louisiana Landscape. Her latest book, also from UL Press, is Were You There: A Biography of Emma Wakefield Paillet co-authored by Dr. Phebe Hayes. Margaret wrote poems in Emma’s voice reflecting Emma’s emotions through trials and tribulations of Reconstruction and a Jim Crow South as she became the first African American woman in the state of Louisiana to receive a medical degree. Margaret’s poems have appeared in anthologies including The Poetry of US by National Geographic. Margaret writes a blog regularly at http://reflectionsontheteche.com.
