Those Pesky Homophones Serve a Purpose

All year, to my chagrin, we have struggled with homophone spellings. I realize it's not THAT big of a deal, in the grand scheme of writing instruction, and yet, I can't help but think of the penalty for such misspellings on college and job applications - and cringe.

But today I actually had cause to thank those pesky homophone misspellings. Enter Dakota's poem: "The Big Dream." I guess this tale requires a bit of background on Dakota. Short, wild-haired, green-eyed, full of energy. Brimming with energy. In constant motion. High comprehension, but a struggling writer. Much of that is due to low motor skills, so I let him type his work. What I've gotten from him so far has been sparse: of sentences, punctuation, details and development. Lot's of letter u's for "you" and lower case i's for "I." His work has also been chock-full of homophone misspellings such as "were" for "where" and "its" for "it's."

This week he's been working on a poem on the back computers while others hand-write their first few drafts and revisions. I spent the week conferring with students at their seats and teaching mini-lessons on precise verbs, imagery, line breaks, etc.

Today we had "Circle Share" - as I call it. It's a workshopping activity in which the students push all the desks to the margins of the room, sit on the (filthy, green) carpet in a circle, and volunteer to share their work for 10 extra credit points. The other students then offer feedback: specific things they liked about the poems, questions, or suggestions that the author can choose to heed or not. (Front-loading is important here: the kids have to know the expectations for how to speak to each other, how to mind feelings, and how to be specific and constructive in their feedback.)

So in this setting Dakota is wiggling all around, arm stick straight in the air and waiving furiously, dying to read his poem aloud. Here's the poem, as I heard it:

"The Big Dream"

My big dream was not to be forgotten;

But now that I've aged

I've forgotten my big dream.

It was big as a tangerine tree,

Like the good tangerines

That have just ripened.

But I'm sure it's lost

Somewhere in the big city.

It would be big as a banana

Or bamboo tree.

But that one big dream,

That one is lost.

I don't know where it could be;

Out there in the wild maybe,

Where all the wild things cam from.

Out in the wild.

That is my big dream

That is forgotten.

-Dakota

Uhh, either this kid's skills have skyrocketed, or he's been trying his hand at cut-and-paste on those back computers, I thought.

"Thank you, Dakota. We'll talk after class," I said.

"You don't like it?" He looked sincere; disappointed; earnest. And yet...

"Let's talk after class."

So after class I got a chance to see the poem and my first action was to google it. I typed in the title and nothing came up. I typed a few lines: nothing. I looked closer. Here's the actual poem, as it stands on paper:

"The Big Dream"

My big dream was to be not forgotten but now that

I've aged I have forgotten my big dream.

It was big as a tangerine tree, like the good tangerines that

has just been ripened.

But I'm sure its lost some were in the big city.

It would be big as a banana or bamboo tree.

But that one big dream, "that one is lost."

I don't know were it could be, out there in the wild maybe.

Where all the wild things came from out in the wild.

That is my big dream that is forgotten.

-Dakota

Notice the homophones? The jagged line breaks? The awkward syntax and colloquial grammar? I did. And I believe Dakota wrote a strange and wonderful poem all by himself.