Just When Things Seemed Impossible

• Review the meaning of simile (a comparison of two things using the words like or as).
• Direct students to read the title and study the poem illustration. Invite them to make a prediction about what the poem is about.  
• Ask volunteers to read aloud the Up Close box and the blue bubble for the class.

Read the poem aloud, or play our Author Read-Aloud with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.

For fluency practice, have students take turns reading the poem aloud in pairs.

Ask students to underline words or phrases from the poem that they enjoy or havequestions about. Invite your students to share what they underlined and why in small groups or in a whole-group discussion.

Discuss the poem as a class, using the questions that follow as prompts.

1. Think about the title of the poem. Why does the poet include the word seemed in the title? How do you usually respond to a situation that feels impossible? (text features) The poet includes the word seemed to emphasize the difference between something that actually is impossible and something that only feels that way. Answers will vary for the second question. 
2. Read lines 1-4. What does the poet compare second chances to? (figurative language) The poet compares second chances to a pen that allows us to create different and better outcomes, to try again. 
3. The poet tells us that “the book life gives us to write in isn’t blank.” What is in this book? (interpreting text) The book is the story of each of our lives so far. It’s made up of everything that’s happened, including all the things we’ve done, said, felt, and thought.
4. In the first line of the second stanza, the poet writes “And now the pen is yours.” What’s important about this line? How does it create a change in the poem? (text structure) This line is important because it tells us that we get to write what comes next. We have a second chance to do things better if we choose to do so. The line creates a change in the poem from the past (“all the life that’s come before”) to the future (“what happens next”).
5. What do you think the poet means when she writes “This moment, now, is your page”? (figurative language) The poet means that the present moment is like a new page in the stories of our lives. Through our decisions and actions, we’re writing our stories at the same time we’re living them.
6. What message does the poet want us to take from her poem, especially when we feel that things are impossible? (theme) The poet wants us to feel hopeful and empowered about our lives. We can’t change the past, but we’re given the chance to affect what comes next—by doing a better job with our choices as we grow and change.

Distribute or digitally assign the Poetry Kit, which will take students on a deep dive into the poem and offer opportunities for students to connect the poem with other stories in the issue.