In this article, the author relates her teaching experience with seventh and eighth graders using poetry activities, and she describes how she teaches poetry by using "published" poems and by engaging the students in classroom activities. Though students in seventh grade usually have knowledge of poetic conventions, the author takes time to review rhyme, rhythm, metaphor, simile, personification, allusion, hyperbole, alliteration, assonance, repetition, and onomatopoeia. Moreover, she uses poems written by William Carlos Williams and also includes adult poems in the discussion before letting the students in eighth grade write their own. Here, she describes her approach in teaching poetry using Williams' work and developing the students' knowledge, skills, and competencies in writing poems through meaningful experiences and instruction.