Elmo Kelley, an elementary school teacher from Fontana, California, is a published poet. He guides his young students in exploring and publishing their own poetry. Photo Credit: Fontana Unified School District
There are many talented teachers who bring their artistic talents into the classroom to benefit their young students. One of these is elementary school teacher Elmo Kelley from Fontana in Southern California. He is the author of two books of poems, and he uses his expertise as a published poet to guide and inspire his young students towards writing their own volumes of poetry.
Elmo is a California native who is the son of two teachers. His wife is also an educator. He has been writing poetry ever since he discovered his passion for the art form as a college student 30 years ago.
Elmo published his first book of poems, entitled Traveling Through My Mind, Volume 1, in 2022. He published his second book, Traveling Through My Mind, Volume 2, in June, 2024. He is also a member and the moderator of the Poet Tree Press page on Facebook, and he is a member of the Invisible Poets page, also on Facebook, where he posts new poems on a regular basis. In addition, he occasionally posts work on a private group website frequented by teachers who work in the Fontana Unified School District.
Elmo teaches second graders at Cypress Elementary School in Fontana. He has been teaching there for the past 27 years. This year, he guided his students in writing poems and completing drawings about their favorite food which they titled My Favorite Foods. The finished volume was made available to Elmo’s students and their families.
“We had a lot of fun with that book,” declared Elmo. “Writing poetry is a new concept for second graders,” he continued, “so my advice to them was just to be very descriptive and write like no one really knows what the subject is about.” The experience proved to be a valuable learning experience for the neophyte poets. “Some of the kids were advanced and some struggled, but everyone was represented in the book,” Elmo concluded.
