| Subject Areas |
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Literature and Language Arts
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Poetry |
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| Time Required |
| | Lesson 1: 2-3 class periods for group preparation; 1 class period for student performances
Lesson 2: 2-3 class periods for group preparation; 1 class period for student performances
Lesson 3: 1-2 class periods for students to present the assignment and write a poem
Lesson 4: As each group already has its performance prepared, time required will vary depending on the scope of the program the students present.
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| Skills |
| | poetry writing
poetry appreciation
poetry analysis
performance
collaboration |
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| Date Posted |
| | 4/8/2002 |
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Writing Poetry Like Pros
"I taught reading poetry and writing poetry as one subject. I brought them together
by means of 'poetry ideas,' which were suggestions I would give to the children
for writing poems of their own in some way like the poems they were studying.
We would read the adult poem in class, discuss it, and then they would write.
Afterward, they or I would read aloud the poems they had written.
"When
we read Blake's 'The Tyger,' I asked my students to write a poem in which they
were asking questions of a mysterious and beautiful creature."
-- Kenneth
Koch, American Academy of Poets,
Excerpts from Rose, Where Did You Get That
Red?
Introduction
Poems, classic and contemporary, make good company
for your students. They can also serve as the inspiration for some terrific writing.
Using poems available through EDSITEment resources, you can make poetry an exciting
teaching and learning tool in your classroom.
Learning Objectives
After completing the lessons in this unit, students
will be able to: - Name classic and contemporary American poets and at
least one poem by each.
- Explain one poetry idea at work in a classic or
contemporary poem.
- Explain the poetry idea at work in one of their own
poems.
Guiding Questions: How can
a poetry idea in a poem inspire a new poem? Who are some "classic" American poets
who can inspire student writing? Who are some contemporary poets who can inspire
student writing?
Preparing to Teach this Lesson
- Review each lesson in this unit and any poems
you choose to use with your class. Prepare copies of poems and assignments as
appropriate for your group.
- The first two lessons are complementary
and are structured in the same way. In Lesson
1, students prepare a performance/reading of one or more published poems,
learn a little about a classic American poet, and then use the assigned poem as
a model for their own work. In Lesson
2, students work with contemporary poems. The poems vary in level of difficulty;
you might want to take this into account when assigning poems for performance.
Feel free to use one section or both as best suits your curriculum. Any of the
writing assignments could also stand alone.
There are six poetry selections
in Lesson 1 and
five in Lesson 2,
allowing for as many as eleven student groups. The variety and number of writing
assignments allows you to be flexible — for example, eleven groups can work
simultaneously, or five groups can be assigned both a classic and a contemporary
poet to study.
In Lesson
3, students attempt the assignments other groups undertook. Group presentations
can be adapted to create a class poetry reading in Lesson
4.
- You can locate a poetry idea in any poem you use, and
the poetry idea can be the basis of student poems. Every poem has the potential
to lead to a writing assignment.
- Poems, both student-written
and professionally published, should always be the focus of this unit. However,
information about a poet's life will resonate more with students when they are
interacting with the poet's work through their own performance and writing.
- If students are beginners at poetry writing, it's best to emphasize each poem's
strengths when giving feedback. Encourage students to share, and after each reading,
try to point to something in the poem that worked. Rather than saying, "That was
very good," offer more specific comments that show you did a close reading of
the work. You might say, "I could really picture the guinea pig when you described
how...." Such comments show respect for the work, and that's important to model
for the class. Additionally, you will begin to see students looking for the same
elements you praise and attempting to include similar elements in their own work.
A group can perform a poem simply by dividing the reading among group members.
Alternatives include: using a combination of group and individual voices, having
one or more group members read while others act out the poem as it is read or
strike appropriate poses to demonstrate specific lines or images. Works of art
such as paintings and photographs can also be incorporated into performances.
Some delightful examples of choral performance of poetry (with complete instructions)
may be found in Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
by Sid Fleischman. Consider doing some of these as the students prepare to design
their own readings. (And, if you study insects as part of your curriculum, it's
also a great source of poems you can use!)
- Consider putting some
classic, contemporary and student-written poems on big charts. It will make them
easier for the class as a whole to see. It would also be fun to have the poems
on long butcher paper rolls placed in the halls. Students could read the poems
as they walk back and forth to their classrooms. Feature a poem a week on a bulletin
board or elsewhere.
- Be on the lookout for opportunities to use
poems in other content areas. Poems can help establish an anticipatory set. Before
your first lesson on weather, for example, read aloud Eve Merriam's Weather,
available on the EDSITEment-reviewed website of the Academy
of American Poets. Poems have content that can motivate discussion. For example,
read brief selections from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Paul
Revere's Ride, also available on the Academy
of American Poets website, and ask students to analyze how well the lines
relate historical fact.
- Specific sources of information on each
poet are listed within the lessons below. In addition, the EDSITEment-reviewed
website Internet Public Library
offers links to reference books with general biographical information on individual
poets. You can also locate websites for many poets through Author's
Websites, a link from Internet
Public Library.
- Obtain background information on poetry for
children and on finding a poetry idea for classroom discussion or a potential
assignment by visiting these areas on the EDSITEment resource Academy
of American Poets:
- Some of the poems listed below have accompanying
video and/or audio links. You will need RealPlayer software to utilize the video/audio
files. Before the lesson, check to be sure you have the most recent version of
RealPlayer and that the files work on your computer. You can download
RealPlayer Basic free of charge from Real Networks.
- Refer
to the complementary EDSITEment unit All
Together Now, designed for students in grades K-2. In that unit, poetry ideas
serve to inspire collaborative poems. Much of that unit can be adapted for older
students.
Suggested ActivitiesLesson 1: Interacting
with Classic Poetry: Five Classic Poems
Lesson
2: Interacting with Contemporary Poems
Lesson
3: You Can Do It, Too
Lesson
4: Hey, We Can Put on a Show!
Extending
the Lesson
Lesson 1 Interacting with Classic
Poetry: Five Classic Poems
Divide your class into small groups
selected to balance the talents of the students within each group. Assign each
group a dramatic reading of a poem (in which every group member should take part
in some way) and a writing assignment modeled on the poem, to be completed by
each student. When introducing its reading, the group should share some information
about the poet. At least one poem written by a member of the group should also
be performed. Groups can include in their reading additional student work or more
of the assigned poet's work as the teacher permits. (Note: The instructions below
are directed to students.)
Group 1
To
J.Q. (page 11), by Paul Dunbar, available on the EDSITEment resource American
Verse Project. - Performing the Poem
This poem is a series of questions and answers; you should communicate that structure
in your performance. For example, the whole group could read the questions together
while individuals could recite the answers.
- Poetry
Assignment
Write a poem that is a series of questions and answers.
If you like, make the questions (and/or the answers) fantastical. Don't worry
about making the poem rhyme, but do make sure that no line has more than about
10 syllables.
- Sources of Information
on Paul Dunbar
Group 2
Birches,
by Robert Frost, available on the EDSITEment resource Academy
of American Poets - Performing the Poem
Help the listener understand the parts of the poem that tell how to swing on a
birch tree.
- Poetry Assignment
Write a poem about something you like to do. Feel free to end the poem with, "One
could do worse than be a... (rider of bikes, climber of trees, etc.)." Make sure
you give the details about what you like to do. For example, tell where you ride
your bike and what you do when you're riding. Pay more attention to describing
exactly what you do, than to telling how you feel when you're doing it. Don't
worry about making the poem rhyme, but do make sure that no line has more than
about 10 syllables.
- Sources of Information
on Robert Frost
- Video/Audio
of a Poem by Robert Frost
Stopping
By Woods, available on Favorite
Poem Project, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library Group 3
The
Negro Speaks of Rivers, by Langston Hughes, available on the EDSITEment resource
Academy of American
Poets - Performing the Poem
Make
sure your performance acknowledges the names of rivers in the poem.
- Poetry Assignment
Write a poem that tells
about many places you dream of going. Make sure you, like Hughes, name the place
and tell what you "did" or would do there ("I built my hut near the Congo and
it lulled me to sleep."). Don't worry about making the poem rhyme, but do make
sure that no line has more than about 10 syllables.
- Sources
of Information on Langston Hughes
- Video/Audio of Poems
by Langston Hughes
Group 4
Paul
Revere's Ride, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, available on the EDSITEment
resource Academy
of American Poets - Performing the Poem
Remember that this poem tells a story. Help the listeners understand what happens.
- Poetry Assignment
Write a poem that tells
a story, especially a story from history. Feel free to begin with, "Listen my
children and ..." as in this example about Rosa Parks:
Listen
my children and we will discuss
Someone who refused the back of the bus. Feel
free to let the poem rhyme or not rhyme, but keep the poetry lines short!
- Sources of Information on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Group 5
The
Donkey, by Theodore Roethke, available on the EDSITEment resource Academy
of American Poets - Performing the Poem
Make sure your performance helps the listener understand what's funny about the
poem.
- Poetry Assignment
Write a poem about an animal you have, had or wish you had. Feel free to begin
the poem with "I had a _______, that was __________." Try to make the whole poem
be four lines long with the first and second lines rhyming and then the third
and fourth lines rhyming.
- Sources of
Information on Theodore Roethke
- Video/Audio
of Poems by Theodore Roethke
Video/Audio
of "The Sloth" (text and/or video reading), available on Favorite
Poem Project, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library Group 6
I
Hear America Singing, by Walt Whitman, available on the EDSITEment resource
Academy of American
Poets - Performing the Poem
Whitman
writes that many of the individuals in the poem are "singing." Help the listeners
understand the difference between, for example, the way the carpenter or the shoemaker
"sings."
- Poetry Assignment
Write a poem in which you imagine many people in different places engaged in activities
all at the same moment. Make sure that, like Whitman, you tell exactly what each
person is doing (The carpenter ... measures his plank or beam / The shoemaker
... sits on his bench). Feel free, instead of professions, to identify people
by name. They could be celebrities or people you know (if you have permission
to include them). What is each doing at four o'clock in the afternoon, for example?
- Sources of Information on Walt Whitman
- Video/Audio
of a Poem by Walt Whitman
From
Song of Myself, available on Favorite
Poem Project, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library
Lesson 2 Interacting with Contemporary
Poetry: Five Contemporary Poems
As in Lesson
1, divide the class into small groups selected to balance the talents of the
students within each group. Assign each group a dramatic reading of a poem, in
which everyone should take part in some way, and a writing assignment modeled
on the poem, to be completed by each student. When introducing its reading, the
group should share some information about the poet. At least one poem written
by a member of the group should also be performed. Groups can include in their
reading additional student work or more of the assigned poet's work as the teacher
permits. (Note: The instructions below are directed to students.)
Group 1
What
Will You Be?, by Dennis Lee, available on the EDSITEment resource Academy
of American Poets - Performing the Poem
Help the listeners appreciate what makes the poem funny.
- Poetry
Assignment
Write a poem in which every line begins with, "When I grow
up I'm going to be a...." It's okay if what you're going to be is silly. Rhyming
is fine for this poem.
- Sources of Information
on Dennis Lee
Group 2
Catch
a Little Rhyme, by Eve Merriam, available on the EDSITEment resource Academy
of American Poets - Performing the Poem
Help the listeners appreciate the rhymes in this poem.
- Poetry
Assignment
Write a poem in which each pair of lines rhymes (rhyming
couplets) while telling a silly story where one event leads to another. Feel free
to start the first line with, "Once upon a time I..." and the second line with
"but..." You can continue the, "I... but..." pattern through the whole poem if
you like. End the poem with a pair of rhyming lines that begins with, "In the
end..."
- Sources of Information on Eve
Merriam
Group 3
Last
Night I Dreamed of Chickens, by Jack Prelutsky, available on the EDSITEment
resource Academy
of American Poets - Performing the Poem
Help the listeners appreciate all the things the chickens were doing during the
dream and the surprise when the dreamer awoke.
- Poetry
Assignment
Write a poem that tells about a dream (real or imagined)
you had. Feel free to begin with, "Last night I dreamed of ________. There were
________ everywhere." Then follow with many lines beginning with the same word,
such as "they" or "I."
- Sources of Information
on Jack Prelutsky
Group 4
Jumping
Rope, by Shel Silverstein, available on New
York Times Online, a link from the EDSITEment resource American
Academy of Poets (Note: New York Times Online requires free registration.)
- Performing the Poem
Bring some of
the rhythm of a jump rope into your performance.
- Poetry
Assignment
Write a poem about something of yours that got broken or
changed in some way. The poem can be rhymed or unrhymed. Feel free to begin with,
"This started out..." such as: "Dad Parked the Car on My Bike"
This started out as my bike
Now it can be whatever you like.
This bike
is now a mess of metal.
Somewhere in the middle, you'll find a pedal.
This bike is now kaput, retired.
Underneath that wire, you'll find a tire.
Though I would not ride it on the turnpike
This hunk of junk was once
my bike. Or, you can repeat the line as Silverstein does. (Note:
If you're artistic, you might want to include a drawing like Silverstein's that
helps the reader appreciate the humor.)
- Sources
of Information on Shel Silverstein
Group 5
Fifteen,
Maybe Sixteen Things to Worry About, by Judith Viorst, available on the EDSITEment
resource American Academy of
Poets (Note: New York Times Online requires free registration.) - Performing
the Poem
Everyone has worries. Help the listeners appreciate the worries
in the poem. Then surprise them with the ending. What was the real purpose of
spending all that time listing worries?
- Poetry
Assignment
Write a poem that is a list. It can be a list of worries,
or complaints, or excuses, or anything. Don't worry about making the poem rhyme.
Try to write a last line that says something about the whole list. Maybe you can
even surprise the reader like Judith Viorst did.
- Sources
of Information on Judith Viorst
Lesson 3 You Can Do It, Too
At this point, everyone in the class is an "expert" on a particular poetry
idea, having written and performed a poem using that idea. Now give all student
groups the opportunity to hear about the various other group assignments and to
try their hand at some. Have students explain the poetry idea and share some poems
that use it.
Now there are even more poems to share and perform!
Lesson 4 Hey, We Can Put on a Show!
Each student group prepared a performance of a poem and shared at least
one student-written poem. All of the readings combined can make a poetry reading.
As a class, find ways to tie together the different group readings and to
develop appropriate transitions between performances. Consider having groups include
poems from non-group members — written in Lesson
3 — in their performance. Add other poems and performances as desired.
The students should prepare a handout, letter or some other kind of advertisement
to distribute to other classes to heighten interest in having your class bring
its performance to them.
Extending the Lesson - Have your students create individual
poetry anthologies including students' original work, favorite published poems
and illustrations. With technically savvy classes, consider having students build
a Web page for their poetry using an HTML editor rather than composing a paper
book.
- Incorporate poetry into your curriculum by encouraging
some cultural explorations based on poems. For example, what elements of African-American
history and culture can students find in work by Langston Hughes or Paul Dunbar?
How does New England as a place or setting come through in "Birches" and "Paul
Revere's Ride"? Some kind of investigation along these lines might work well for
advanced students or in developing an interdisciplinary unit.
- Students
can consider the poetry ideas in song lyrics. Through the Children's
Music Web, a link from the EDSITEment resource Internet
Public Library, students can locate lyrics to children's songs. Students may
want to bring some of their favorite song lyrics to class to share (with the teacher's
permission).
- Now that students have experience with the concept
of poetry ideas, challenge them to find poems on their own that embody specific
poetry ideas and to create their own poems based on the idea. The published poem
and student-written poem can then serve as models for other students who might
want to try the assignment.
- Invite a local poet to come into
your classroom to share with the students and listen to their work. Thanks to
Kenneth Koch, poet-in-the-classroom programs are widespread.
- Look
for ways to use poetry throughout the curriculum. For example, do you do any science
lessons on ecology and the problem of waste disposal? Then Shel Silverstein's
"Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out" might be a good starting
point for discussion.
- Once your students are experienced poets,
consider a field trip to a local art museum. Give students the opportunity to
react to art with poetry.
- Students can complete further research
on the lives of the poets referenced in this lesson.
Selected EDSITEment Websites -
Academy of American Poets
http://www.poets.org/
-
New York Times Online
http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/05/16/specials/silverstein.2.html
- American Memory
Project
http://memory.loc.gov/
-
The Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/
-
American Verse Project
http://www.hti.umich.edu/english/amverse/
- The Internet Public Library
(kid-friendly, not searchable)
http://www.ipl.org
-
Author's Websites
http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/lausd/offices/instruct/itb/libserv/book1.htm
- The
Bookhive
http://www.bookhive.org/
-
Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Page
http://www.carolhurst.com/profsubjects/poetrybooks.html
- Children's
Music Web
http://www.childrensmusic.org/
-
Favorite Poem Project
http://www.favoritepoem.org/favoritepoem/
-
Shel Silverstein
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/silverstein.htm
Other Resources:
Recommended
reading from the American
Academy of Poets - Carr, Jan, Beatrice Schenk deRegniers, Eva Moore,
and Mary M. White, editors. Sing a Song of Popcorn:
Every Child's Book of Poems. Scholastic, 1988. (Grades K-5; 160 pages)
- Dakos,
Kalli. If You're Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand:
Poems About School. Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. Simon & Schuster, 1990.
(Grades 1-8; 64 pages)
- Greenfield, Eloise. Honey,
I Love. Illustrated by Diane and Leo Dillon. HarperCollins, 1976. (Preschool-Grade
3; 42 pages)
- Hoberman, Mary Ann. A House Is
a House for Me. Illustrated by Betty Fraser. Viking, 1978. (Preschool-Grade
4; 44 pages)
- Lansky, Bruce, editor. Kids Pick
the Funniest Poems. Illustrated by Stephen Carpen. Meadowbrook, 1991. (Grades
K-8; 105 pages)
- Lee, Dennis. The Ice Cream
Store. Illustrated by David McPhail. Scholastic, 1991. (Preschool-Grade
2; 56 pages)
- Prelutsky, Jack. The New Kid
on the Block. Illustrated by James Stevenson. Greenwillow, 1984. (Grades
K-4; 160 pages)
- Prelutsky, Jack, editor. The
Random House Book of Poetry for Children. Illustrated by Arnold Lobel.
Random House, 1983. (Grades K-5; 248 pages)
- Schwartz, Alvin. And
the Green Grass Grew All Around: Folk Poetry from Everyone. Illustrated
by Sue Truesdell. HarperCollins, 1992. (Grades K-4; 148 pages)
- Service,
Robert W. The Cremation of Sam McGee. Illustrated
by Ted Harrison. Greenwillow, 1987. (Grade 4+; 30 pages)
- Silverstein,
Shel. Where the Sidewalk Ends. HarperCollins,
1974. (Grades K-8; 166 pages)
- Taylor, Clark. The
House That Crack Built. Chronicle, 1992. (Grade 4+; 30 pages)
- Thayer,
Ernest L. Casey at the Bat. Illustrated by
Barry Moser. Godine, 1988. (Grade 4; 32 pages)
- Viorst, Judith. If
I Were in Charge of the World and Other Worries. Atheneum, 1981. (Grade
3+; 56 pages)
- Westcot, Nadine Bernard, editor and illustrator. Never
Take a Pig to Lunch and Other Poems About the Fun of Food. Orchard, 1994.
(Grades K-4; 62 pages)
Recommended reading from The
Bookhive, a link from Internet
Public Library - Fleischman, Sid. Joyful
Noise: Poems for Two Voices. Illustrated by Eric Beddows. Harper & Row,
1988. (Grades 4-6)
Recommended reading from Carol
Hurst's Children's Literature Page, a link from Internet
Public Library - Bryan, Ashley. ABC of
African-American Poetry. Atheneum, 1997. (ISBN 0689812094)
- Foster,
John. Another First Poetry Book. Oxford, 1988.
(ISBN 019917119X)
- Foster, John. Another Second
Poetry Book. Oxford, 1988. (ISBN 0199162298)
- Foster, John. Another
Fourth Poetry Book. Oxford, 1989. (ISBN 0199171254)
- Janeczko, Paul
B. The Place My Words Are Looking For: What Poets
Say About and Through Their Work. Atheneum, 1990. (ISBN 0027476715; Grades
4+)
- McCord, David. One at a Time. Little
Brown, 1986. (ISBN 0316555169; Currently out of print, but available in many libraries.)
- Merriam,
Eve. Fresh Paint. Macmillan, 1986. (ISBN 0027668606;
Currently out of print, but available in many libraries.)
- Worth, Valerie.
All the Small Poems and Fourteen More. Illustrated
by Natalie Babbitt. Farrar, 1994. (ISBN 0374302111)
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