Current Publishing 

During our poetry unit, we had the privilege to collaborate with graphic design students from the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Each graphic designer set out to design forms and distribute our poems in unique ways that addressed the central message of each poem. Below you can see my poem’s design by Tanner. Enjoy! 

As a class we recently finished reading the Gold Cadillac by Mildred D. Taylor. This book tells the story of a Black family during the 1950’s during the civil rights movement. These diaries were written by students from the perspective of one member of this family, either ‘lois, the youngest daughter, father, or mother as the family faces discrimination, segregation, and racism.

A Challenging Day

When I was 6 years old my  two front  teeth started to wiggle. I was so worried because I wasn’t sure how I would look or eat if they were missing! So I pretended that nothing was wrong for as long as I could, but it became more difficult as each day passed.

 Until one day, I was sitting at the dinner table and I couldn't eat because my teeth started to bleed! 

My mom asked me, “is everything okay?”

 I said, “yes, I’m not really hungry.”

 When she turned away I ran into the bathroom to rinse my mouth out with water. It seemed like nothing would stop the blood! My mom noticed I was gone for awhile so she came looking for me. I heard the bathroom door open and it was my mom looking at me with her hands on her hips. I was SHOCKED and didn’t know what to say. She said, “Jeremiah your  bleeding.” I looked down at the sink and saw the blood. My face completely changed because I knew if my mom found out my teeth were wiggly she would try to pull it out, but I had no choice but to tell her. So I said “mom my two front teeth are really wiggly and I can’t eat.” 

So my mom took a paper towel and tilted my head back and told me to open my mouth. I could feel my heart pounding as I began to say NOOOOO! My mom said if you don’t let me take out your teeth you might swallow it in your sleep. I felt my eyes popping out of my eye sockets. I definitely didn’t want to swallow my teeth, I thought. Well you can take them out but be careful, I said. Then I opened my mouth and tilted my head back  and squeezed my eyes shut. Then I heard a CREAK and a SNAP. After a few seconds I asked my mom if she was done and she said yes. See you didn’t even feel anything, I knew you were brave, she said. I smiled and grabbed the stool and jumped on it and looked into the mirror. Then I said mom what’s that in my mouth? I thought you pulled my teeth out. She said I did but when she looked again I had two front teeth already growing in its place! I didn’t know that could even happen. I couldn’t wait to go to bed. So I brushed my teeth and took a shower and put my teeth under my pillow. When I woke up the tooth fairy left me two 5 dollar bills. I guess losing two teeth at once wasn’t so bad after all.

 THE ADVENTURES THAT AWAITS YOU!

One day my mom bought me The Floor is Lava! The Floor is Lava. It is a really cool game my brother, sister and I saw on TV. You can play the game indoors and outdoors but we played the game inside of our house. In the box there were 25 colored foam stepping stones, 27 challenge cards, 1 game spinner card with an arrow and base and the instructions. I played the game with my mom, dad, sister and brother. We all worked together to set up the game. My brother helped take out everything from the box, my dad placed the stepping stones on the floor, my mom explained the game to my baby sister and I was in charge of the spinner. We started the game by screaming The Floor is Lava! We pretended the floor was hot lava and if we touched the floor we would get burned. The number one rule is to try to stay on your stepping stone. If you fall off of the stepping stone you are out of the game. Some stepping stones have a mystery question mark on it. If you stand on it you have to take a challenge. One of the challenges I remember doing is rubbing my tummy and patting my head while standing on my stone. 

Since I was in charge of the spinner I had to spin the wheel and tell everyone what color stepping stone they needed to stand on. If they couldn’t find the correct color then they still needed to stand on a stepping stone to stay in the game. If they were standing on the wrong color stepping stone then that stepping stone will be removed from the game. After playing for a while there were very few stepping stones left. We loved it so much we played for almost two hours. I liked playing the game because it was a physical game we can play inside of the house. I also like to play games that my whole family can play with me. My favorite part of the game is when there are only a few stepping stones left and my mom, sister and I tried to stand on the same stone. My strategy was   when someone one spins the wheel I would jump to the next stone as quickly as possible.That’s when the game got really difficult. Everyone was trying to beat me but I was really fast and I won the game because I had a strategy. I listened to hear the color and leaped as fast as I could. My mom said it’s important that we don’t make people feel bad when they lose. So I didn’t try to rub it in my brother's face. I just told everyone we are all winners because it’s not about who wins but the time we all spend together. My baby sister just smiled and gave me a hug. My mom said good job Jeremiah. Then I looked at her and smiled. My dad gave me a high five and my brother wanted a rematch. My hard work paid off!