Poetry Workshops for K-12 Students

David A. Romero is a first-year Poet-Teacher with California Poets in the Schools and a five-year guest poet for the Ontario-Montclair School District, providing performances and workshops for school assemblies and classroom visits.

Romero teaches lessons on poetic devices:

- Alliteration

- Rhyme

- Metaphor

- Simile

- Personification

- Onomatopoeia

Romero teaches basic poetic structures:

- Acrostic

- Concrete

- Diamante

- Cinquain

Romero also encourages the students to write in free verse, with prompts developed by himself and poets he has observed and worked with, prompts that ask the students to write about their five senses, the meaning of their names, their self-esteem and responses to bullying, the love they have for their families, and many more!

Example sessions at:

(Coming soon)

Romero has presented K-12 poetry workshops at Serrano Middle School, Del Norte Elementary School, Vina Danks Middle School, Euclid Elementary School, Sultana Elementary School, El Camino Elementary School, Kingsley Elementary School, Serrano Middle School, De Anza Middle School, Buena Vista Arts-Integrated Magnet School, Moreno Elementary School, Berlyn Elementary School, Mariposa Elementary School, Linda Vista Elementary School, Central Language Academy, and more!

Romero has also presented workshops for kids at numerous other elementary, middle/junior, and high schools throughout southern California.

Rates of classroom visits depend on Romero's availability, the school's location, the duration of the visit, etc. Typical residencies last five days.

Romero can also Zoom into your classroom(s) or use your preferred video conferencing service.

To inquire about scheduling classroom or virtual visits from Romero, please contact davidaromero@gmail.com

California Poets in the Schools

California Poets in the Schools is one of the nation’s largest writers-in-residence programs. We reach more than 22,000 K-12 students each year in public, private and alternative schools, after-school programs, juvenile detention, hospitals, and other community settings.

CalPoets was established in 1964 as part of San Francisco State University’s Pegasus Program and is now a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, with support from the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, foundations, corporations, and generous individuals.

CalPoets reaches students statewide, holds an annual conference publishes an anthology of the year’s best student poetry, and sponsors local readings and performances.

https://www.californiapoets.org/ and

https://www.californiapoets.org/post/new-poet-teacher-highlight-david-a-romero-los-angeles-county

Poems written during Romero's workshop on metaphors and similes:

Tacos

by Anonymous

My grandma is a taco.

But she is more

Than a taco to me.

Both are soft like

Her tacos are

And always will be.

But my grandma

Is not a taco.

(from lesson on metaphors and similes)

Tattooed Ranchera Song

by Eddie Arellano & Angel Alvarez

My grandpa is ranchera music,

His cousin is a tattoo.

They both stand out.

And both have a certain meaning.

Our family is

A Tattooed Ranchera Song.

But, they are also not.

Our families are the same.