COLWICH, Kansas—Asked for a self-description, one eighth-grader from St. Mark's Elementary School says her hair looks this way: "yellow like the shining rays of the sun." Another says her unruly locks resemble "the hot, crispy curly fries at Arby's."

Verbal self-portraits are not always flattering, but they make for engaging poetry. Language arts teacher Dyane Smokorowski inspires her middle-schoolers in rural Kansas to put their best similes forward when exploring self-expression through poetry. During a poetry unit, the teacher observes, "quite often the students will discover that they not only see things differently, but they look at themselves in a new light."

Drawing on her background in technology (Smokorowski is the only Master Teacher in Kansas trained through the Intel® Teach to the Future program), she also shows students how to use digital cameras and presentation software to add more dimensions and visual imagery to their personal poems.

In one assignment, the teacher asks students to describe different aspects of themselves in each line of their poems. The last line might offer a surprise, such as in this student's poem:

My hair is like the hot, crispy curly fries at Arby's,
My eyes are like the color of robin's eggs in a cozy nest,
My freckles are cities on the U.S. map,
My ear is the size of a three-year-old child's,
My heart holds compassion that is as blue as the incredible depths of the ocean,
I live in chaos and eat constant motion.

Once the poem is down on paper, the teacher goes to work with the digital camera, "taking black-and-white photos of the characteristics mentioned in the poem or shots of the students demonstrating their emotions," she explains.

Next, students use digital software to crop the photos and place them in an electronic presentation, against a graphic background. "Their writing becomes a piece of art as well as an opportunity for them to look at themselves in a positive light," Smokorowski says.

Sometimes, students e-mail their presentation slides to electronic pen pals who live overseas. "This allows students in other countries to learn more about their American pen pal," the teacher says. Parents, too, have requested copies—suitable for framing. Smokorowski believes the incorporation of technology brings the writing to life, and allows students "to value their writing emotionally and visually."

In Colwich, a rural community outside Wichita, about 80 middle-schoolers share the K-8 school building with 220 younger students. Recently, Smokorowski posted her students' poems in a school hallway. "Teachers from the far end of the building were taking time to walk down and see what the students had created. This has never happened to me in the past," she admits, but it offered her a chance to share her infectious enthusiasm for technology in education.

A former Walt Disney Studios employee and memorabilia collector, Smokorowski has been teaching for five years. She finds middle-school-aged children to be especially appealing. "They always bring a humorous aspect to my day," she says. Perhaps she identifies with them so readily because, like Peter Pan—her favorite Disney character—"I can't fully grow up, either."