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Poetry
~ Lesson Ideas
Here
are some lesson ideas to support your creativity as a
teacher. You, of course, know your own class's learning
styles, needs and interests better than anyone, so please
use what is helpful and modify or disregard the rest.
Depending on your teaching style and your students' pace
of learning, each lesson step could last one or several
days. In "Download Options" you can
find a downloadable version of this unit and sample student
handouts.
Part
I: Poetic Preparation Before the Field Trip
If
you are planning to use your field trip as a
springboard for students' poetic development, it is advisable
to cover some of the basic poetry writing concepts before you even go to
Hidden Villa. In this way students will be ready to keep
their minds open for poetic images during their trip and
to jump into transforming their experiences into poems on
returning to the classroom. Choose
from the following lessons or do them all. Expand them into
longer
lessons or shorten them to fit into your schedule.
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Before: Select and compile in a packet a variety of poems that demonstrate the aspect(s) of poetry you want to focus on during the lesson. (I prefer to start my poetry
unit with "free-form" poems that do not follow
a strict pattern or style.) Model: Give
an interactive demonstration on how to recite
a poem
with
expression.
Then
think aloud what exactly interested you about this poem.
Support: In pairs, students
read through the packet of poems out loud and discuss what
they think about each. Together
they choose their favorite 2-3 poems and prepare an explanation
for their choices. They choose one of these favorite poems and practice reading it together, for a class recital. Share: Students
read their favorite poems out loud to the class and share
what, exactly, they liked about it. Guide your students to reflect on the patterns they noticed in the poems. If your students
don't realize it on their own, explain that poetry is a genre
that facilitates the expression of feelings. Record all their ideas on a chart. You can add to thie list as you progress through the unit. |
Step #1a |
Your
students are likely to mention the use of descriptive
language in poems. Explain that in poems
it is important
to describe places, people, actions and feelings
precisely and in an interesting way. Review the definitions of nouns,
verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs; write them on a class chart.
Model: Read aloud a poem
from the packet and pick out at least one noun, verb,
adjective, and adverb you found interesting,
unique or beautiful. Explain why you chose each and list
them beneath the corresponding definition. Support: In
pairs, students look back through their poem packets and generate
their own lists of descriptive language. They should justify
to each other why they chose each word. Share: Have
students pick their favorite word from their lists to share
and add to the class chart. |
Step #2
(descriptive language)
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Before: Gather a few pictures of a place your students
would be familiar with, such as a local park or even your
school's own play yard. Model: Hold up the picture and ask
students what things they see. Guide them to be specific:
not flower - marigold, not ball - basketball. Make a chart
with the headings: nouns and adjectives, verbs and adverbs. Record students' responses, then ask them
to describe each noun with an interesting adjective. Ask them to describe each verb with an interesting adverb. Remind students that because it is
a still photo, they need to use their imagination and past
experience to think of verbs. Next, model how to use these
words to write interesting descriptions of the picture. Support: Students copy the class list in their notebooks and work in pairs to continue each list. Then they write interesting
descriptions together. Independent: If you want your students
to practice further, you could put up another photo; or take
students outside to independently assemble their own lists and descriptions for local places. |
Step #3 |
Repeat
lesson #1 with a different packet of poems. You may
want to specifically select poems that include a wide range of figurative language. |
Step #3a |
Point out the use of comparison and poetic imagery, if your students did not mention these in their lists of observations. Introduce or review the definition
of metaphor, simile and personification. Model: On
your class chart, write a definition of each type of figurative
language. Find an example of each (in the packet of poems) and write it beneath the definition. Have the class think aloud what they believe the poetic image means and why it works in the poem. Support: In
pairs, students return to their poem packets to look for examples
of metaphors,
similes and the use of personification. Share: Students
share the examples they found. Guide a class conversation about the successful use of figurative language in each poem (when it is used, why, how, etc.). |
Step #4
(writing figurative
language)
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Before
the lesson, gather together different posters, calendar
pictures, internet images or photographs of different habitats.
In the 4th grade I use examples from each of the 4 regions
of California. This idea could be adapted to the social studies
focus of 3rd or 5th grade as well. Model: Review
the definition of the figurative language styles your class
is studying.
Choose a picture and model your thinking as you propse
an example of each type of figurative language for the picture.
Write these examples on your class chart beneath each definition.
Then, hold up another picture and guide your class in coming
up with ideas for each type of poetic image. (Emphasize that
the use of metaphors, similes and personification needs
to add to the meaning of what is being described. For example,
if you say the rose is "as red as blood." you need to have a reason why you want the reader to think of blood. How does
blood fit in with way you feel about the rose?) Support: In
pairs, students use metaphors, similes and personification
to describe different pictures. Individual: Students could
continue writing from pictures as a particular class activity or a homework assignment. Share: Allow
time for students to share their poetic images. |
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Throughout our poetry study, I encourage students to read poetry selections, repeating the above lesson several times, each time focusing on a different poetic tool. If it is your students
first exposure to figurative language, for example, you might
want to break down your introduction into three separate
days. Or expand into focusing on poets' use of sensory details,
internal rhythm or physical space on the page. |
Part II: The Field Trip
Be
sure to inform the Hidden Villa staff that your students
will need time to write in their journals at several points
during the field trip. Tell your students
to purposefully keep their
minds open to interesting poetic images or strong feelings. Some
students may want to write their entire poems in their notebooks
at Hidden Villa; however, the emphasis should be on gathering
ideas. They will have much more time and support in class to
craft their ideas into poems than they have during the field
trip.
Part
III: Inspiring Poems
If you plan to use your students' Hidden Villa
experiences to inspire and motivate a unit on poetry,
I
recommend that you dedicate the morning following your field
trip to reflective writing. During the first 40-60 minutes,
follow the instructions
for "validate" that can be found under the explanation
of the classroom teacher's role in the Hidden Villa field trip.
Then,
spend the next 40 minutes to 2 hrs focused on poetry. Students
can quietly work on their writing while you circulate to assist,
prompt and inspire your students. This is a large allotment of time; however, the morning after a field trip is by far the most valuable moment for capturing and fostering the strong feelings and memories necessary for writing authentic poetry. This doesn't mean that they will necessarily
write their best poems on this day; but your students will begin
to reflect on their experiences in a poetic way, which will be
support them throughout the poetry unit.
Here are some teaching lessons that you can use to help students
shape their experiences into poems. These worked well in my classroom. Between each of these lessons
we spent several writing periods simply focused on writing
and
revising
poetry.
I have found that,
more
than
with
any
other writing
genre,
a lot
of my teaching comes during the stage of revision. Some of
the most powerful learning for my students took place during
repeated lessons while I modeled and guided the the class in revising
their poems. Ideas for
teaching
poem revision can be found in Part IV. I would
encourage you to use these teaching lessons only as a starting
point for the deeper work of writing and revising poems.
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You
Will Need: Bring
in an object that all of your students probably learned
about at Hidden Villa (e.g. a bay laurel leaf, feather, piece of wook, river rock, etc.). Model: As a class, have the students make a quick web about all their information and experiences relating to this object. Thinking of the object as the subject of a poem, guide your students to offer metaphors, similes, personifications, and strong descriptions of the object or of memories the object invokes. (Come prepared with a few of your own descriptions, so that you can model this step.) Record the suggestions on chart paper and, thinking aloud, choose a few of the images and descriptions. Weave them together into a rough draft of a poem. Support: Individually
or in pairs, student write their own poem rough drafts using
the ideas
from the
class web as inspiration. Share: Come
together and share what students came up with. |
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Support:
Devide the class into small groups and give each group a different object that represents part of the Hidden Villa field trip. Have each group go through the same steps you modeled for the class.
- Make
a web
of information or related experiences.
- Brainstorm
poetic descriptions.
- Brainstorm
poetic images (figurative language).
- Weave
ideas into a rough
draft poem.
Individual: After groups have had sufficient time to
work together, have students work alone on their
own
poem rough
drafts. |
Idea #2
(New
Perspectives)
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In
this lesson, students are encouraged to explore the imagined
perspective of animals and plants. Read selections from Byrd Baylor's book Desert Voices, as exemplary models
of this type of poem. Guide students in noticing patterns
in her poems from animals' perspectives. For a longer lesson, first analyze this style of poetry as a class, then hand out copies of different poems and have pairs of students study them. Students can recite their
assigned poem to the class and discuss how Byrd Baylor got
the listener to think and feel within the animal's character.
(If you don't have access to this book, find other poems
that use the perspective
of animals
or plants - for example, my student Cindy's poem "The
Tree." ) |
Idea #2a |
Model: Instruct each student to choose a special animal or plant that s/he remembered from the Hidden Villa field trup and to write a poem from the being's perspective. Students work in pairs, with one student playing hte part of the animal/plant and the other working through as guide and scribe. With a student volunteer, demonstrate to the class how to guide a partner through a "visualization." You could give the students a script:
- Close
your eyes and imagine
that you have become the ___________.
- Where
are you? What
does that place look like to you?
- What
are you doing? How
are you doing it?
- What
are you thinking about?
- How
do you feel about...?
Demonstrate how to ask follow-up questions and write down your partner's most important ideas or words on chart paper. Guide your student volunteer - and the class- to use the main ideas and images you jotted down to write a rough draft of a poem.
Support: In pairs, students
choose their animal or plant and take
turns being the guide. (I recommend setting up pair beforehand, as this is a challenging lesson which requires students to take risks and stay on task.) Students help each other or work individually to use their recorded images to create a poem rough draft. Share: Choose a few students, who seemed particularly successful, to share their poems with the class; or have students share their poems with each other in small groups. |
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As you progress further into the poetry unit you might find that students' initial inspiration begins to diminish. To rekindle creativity, this is the time to bring out photographs from the field trip. (if you do not have any, you may find a few under "Download Options.") Put several at each table and let students choose where they want to sit and write. My students are always excited to see photos and enjoy the freedom of choice. I have found that using these pictures offers students different perspectives on their Hidden Villa experiences and can inspire poems they otherwise would not have written. |
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Different poetic styles can help to structure the development of students' poetic voice. As you get deeper into the poetry unti, expose students to a variety of different forms and let them notice and discover patterns for themselves. If you want to teach a particular form, choose a representative selection of poems in this style and guide students through reading them, as in Part I. Have your students choose their favorite poems, practce reading them, and notice the patterns the poet used. This facilitates students "owning" the poetic form and helps them later on in molding their poetic voice to form. |
Part
IV: Transforming Ideas into Poems through Revision
I give my students an initial working definition: Poems are streamlined images that convey feelings. (Of course, some poems also convey histry, carry on traditions, and relate stories, but I do not address these purposes until after my students have developed as stong relationship to the genre.) I often tell my students that this is the one writing form in which they will not have to constantly think about writing complete sentences. Many students start with good ideas, but surround them with excess words and explanations. Before working on expanding poetic image, teach students how to eliminate unnecessary works.
Using the poetry revision guide below, model many times as a whole class lesson what to look of listen for while revising a poem. Bit by bit students will develop this skill themselves. You could start by using one student poem as an example for the class - recording revision ideas on chart paper, having the student present his/her revision process to the class and inviting class input. Keep the guide posted in your class, or make photocopies for students to keep in their writer's notebooks.
POETRY REVISION GUIDE |
STEP #1 |
Does the poem have a good core? Is it based on a strong
feeling, unique image, special experience or important value? |
Students sometimes get confused about what is a poem and what is not. Some believe that if they follow a certain poetic form of arrange their words on a page in a poetic way that they have a poem. Step #1 questions address this misconception. |
STEP #2 |
How
many filler words or weak phrases can I take out? |
Most of the words in a poem shoudl relate directly to the poem's "core." Some common weak words are phrases that can usually be eliminated are: because, that, was, and, were, there. |
STEP #3 |
Are the essential words of my poem interesting, powerful
or beautiful? Could I use a more descriptive synonym or poetic
image? |
You can involve the class in this step of poem revision. Find an image that could use a bit more description (e.g. "the green plant"). Elicit ideas to enhance this image (in think-pair-share). The poet may or may not decide to use the suggestions, but the exercise will most certainly inspire creativity in the poet and in other students. (I discourgage my students from using the thesaurus while writing poetry. Poems should come from the child's own words, heart, and ideas. Howerver, if a student is really stuck and super motivated to find a better synonym, I will let her get out the thesaurus on the condition that she truly understands the word before she uses it.) |
STEP #4 |
Does my poem include everything I want to say about this
topic? Should I add more supporting images or ideas? |
Good poems include just enough images and ideas to successfully convey the poet's feelings and thoughts. Sometimes this can be done in a few well-chosen words. There are also many poets who use many more words to express themselves. A poem is not determined by length - short or long. Remind students to be thorough, while staying on topic. |
Part V: Venturing into New Subjects
Shared experiences at Hidden Villa provide students an incredible opportunity to learn the art of the poetic form. Once they have developed a basic set of skills and a budding poetic voice, extend the poetry unti into other subjects. Encourage students to write poems about other aspects of their lives. Remind them that poetry is a great vehicle to express ALL of life's emotions, not just the happy ones.
Examples from my experience: A few weeks after our Hidden Villa field trip, there was a huge rain storm, complete with thunder, lightning, and power outage. Instead of striving ahead with our daily schedule, we gave ourselves over to the storm and used the excitement to inspire rainy day poems. Later in the year, during our "Social Justice Allies" literature study, my students really connected to the Holocaust stories we read. At the conclustion of the unit, students wrote peoms from the point of view of characters chosen from the stories.
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Revision
Example
Here is an example of the revision process for one student's poem. Sometimes we talked through her ideas together and sometiems she worked independently, using the revision guide.
This
was Cindy's first poem draft:
The trees have strings
tied around them and
there are signs that
tell us that these
trees will be cut down
next week.
I think about these trees
and all the birds
that will loose
their homes.
I think about the tree
and how much it will hurt.
POETRY
REVISION GUIDE
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STEP
#1
|
Does
the poem have a good core? Is it based on a strong
feeling, unique image, special experience or important
value? |
Yes,
Cindy had a very real emotional reaction to our "logging
simulation" at Hidden Villa. After two years of coming
to love the forest of Hidden Villa, the idea that someone
would cut these trees down came as a shock for her.
Throughout our many field trips and Hidden Villa projects Cindy
has learned a lot about the habitat of the tree and
the animals that live there. Some of this feeling comes
through in her original rough draft. However, in my
role as revision advisor it was also very helpful to
know this student so well.
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STEP
#2
|
How
many filler words or weak phrases can I take out? |
The words highlighted in purple are words
identified as "filler" or "weak" words or phrases:
BEFORE |
AFTER |
The trees
have strings
tied around them and
there are signs that
tell us that these
trees will be cut down
next week.
I think about these trees
and all the birds
that will lose
their homes.
I think about the tree
and how much it will hurt.
|
Trees
are tied with
strings and signs that
tell us these
trees will be cut down.
I think about these trees
all the birds
will loose
their homes.
I think about the tree –
how much it will hurt.
|
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STEP
#3
|
Are
the essential words of my poem interesting, powerful
or beautiful? Could I use a more descriptive synonym
or poetic image? |
The
words highlighted in purple are words or phrases needing
a stronger replacement or more description. In revising
these highlighted words, Cindy also decided to rearrange
other parts of her poem.
BEFORE
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AFTER
|
Trees
are tied with
strings and signs that
tell us these
trees will be cut down.
I think about these trees
all the birds
will loose
their homes.
I think about the tree –
how much it will hurt.
|
Trees are tangled
with strings with signs
that say
we will
cut these trees
down.
I imagine:
a
big, strong
tree
home to an owl
a woodpecker, a squirrel
screaming,
hurt
asking for help.
|
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STEP
#4
|
Does
my poem include everything I want to say about this
topic? Should I add more supporting images or ideas? |
After
our revision conference, Cindy still didn't feel like
her poem was done. Her additional image was the final
punch needed to transform her original idea into an
incredibly powerful poem.
BEFORE
|
AFTER
|
Trees
are tangled
with strings with signs
that say
we will
cut these trees
down.
I imagine:
a
big, strong
tree
home to an owl
a woodpecker, a squirrel
screaming,
hurt
asking for help.
|
Trees are tangled
with strings with signs
that say
we will
cut these trees
down.
I imagine:
a
big, strong
tree
home to an owl
a woodpecker, a squirrel
screaming,
hurt
asking for help.
And then
a huge, quiet
silence.
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