POETIC POWER PLUGS

Grade: 7

Objective: Imagery involves mental stimulation of all of the senses and the kinesthetic body, higher-level thinking skills, cognitive information to be processed, and a chance to respond emotionally as well as intellectually. Imagery tends to reduce student stress and allows them to write in a more relaxed atmosphere.

Directions: Tell students that they will be completing an activity called “Memory Writing.”

Tell them to close their eyes and try to visualize what you ask them to “see.”

Slowly say to the students, “Think back to when you were five or six years old. Picture your bedroom in your mind. Stand in the doorway to your bedroom, and start picturing what I ask...Can you see your bed? Do you have a comforter or blanket on your bed? What patterns and colors do you see? Do you have curtains in your room? What do they look like? Do you have pictures on the wall? What do they look like? Do you have a dresser in your room? Do you have a mirror in your room? Do you have a rug on the floor and/or carpeting? What color(s) do you see? Go toward your closet and open the door? Is it an organized closet or is it a mess? Do you have things other then clothes in that closet? What items? Now....find yourself in the doorway of your kindergarten classroom. Can you see the teacher’s desk? Can you see the tables and chairs? Was there a play area? Can you see the colors? Can you hear the noise in the room? Do you see any people in that class? Were there windows? Was there an art area? Was there a cloak room? Was there a bathroom? Was there a bulletin board? See the details of the room. Try to picture the details of color, pattern, and shape. Try to see the faces of the teacher and the students. When I count to three, open your eyes 1 2 3.”

Distribute plain white paper to each student.

Tell the students, “Choose one room that was clearer than the other, and draw the room on a piece of paper. Make sure that the drawing has at least ten items (things and/or people).”

After the students have completed their drawing (approximately 20 minutes), have them show and tell some things about the room that they have chosen. The drawings “show” better if you allow time for the students to color their room items.

Procedures:
After students have shared their room with the class, say, “Number four of the areas that are very clear to you. After you number them, describe each area on a sheet of paper. Remember to try to include all of your senses in your description.”

After the students have completed this activity say, “Now choose one area out of the four that is most clear to you. Put a star by that area. This area will be the subject of a pattern poem. The poem has four stanzas with each containing four lines. Rhyming is not needed. You only need to come up with eight thoughts or sentences that tell something about the one area that you selected in your bedroom or classroom. Follow the pattern, and then come up with a creative title.” [To Teachers: If you write your own poem, or use the one below, transparencies can be made to model for the students.]

Tell the students that by repeating eight lines, that they will end up with sixteen.

Memory Writing is great because when a student needs a topic for a paper, he or she needs only to close their eyes and remember. By narrowing the topic down to a time and place, the students zero in on a specific event. By forcing them to keep narrowing down, they learn not to be so general in their writing. Drawing the room makes the artists in the room shine. Those who like to write poetry also have their turn to show off. Those students who like writing anyway are doing what they like to do. Students who like to get up to speak have their moment of glory.

Allow students time to create their sixteen-line poem.

Ask for volunteers to read their poems.

Collect the poems and their drawings at the end of the class.

“War Zone”
Line 1 Preparing myself for the worst
Line 2 Cautiously I entered the war zone
Line 3 Ammunition was tucked into my pocket
Line 4 I was ready for Freddy.

Line 2 Cautiously I entered the war zone
Line 5 Freddy, the bully, was waiting for me, too!
Line 4 I was ready for Freddy
Line 6 He threw something at me.

Line 5 Freddy, the bully, was waiting for me, too!
Line 7 Retrieving the rubber band from my pocket
Line 6 He threw something at me
Line 8 I took careful aim, let it go, and hit the bully.

Line 7 Retrieving the rubber band from my pocket
Line 3 Ammunition was tucked into my pocket
Line 8: I took careful aim, let it go, and hit the bully
Line 1 Preparing myself for the worst.
--M. Johns

Comments: This is only one of many activities that the students are involved in during a Childhood Unit. The unit culminates in each student compiling a portfolio about their childhood.
Ms. Miriam Johns
Pioneer Middle School
Cooper City, Florida

Poetry Vocabulary Posters


Grade: High school - but could work at any level

Objective: To learn poetry terms

Directions: A group of 2-3 students is provided with a poetry term, (metaphor, blank verse, etc.) a piece of poster size butcher paper, crayons, markers, glue, scissors, scraps of paper. Then include on poster: term, definition in their own words, a creative visual example. They then teach their term to the rest of the class. We then vote on the 3 posters that best teach their term.

Karin Krakauer
South Albany High School
Albany, Oregon



Poetry to the Beat
Grade: 4th

Objective: To promote excitement with poetry, develop speed, and comprehension.

Directions: Encourage students to read poetry with appropriate speed and emphasis. Put your favorite poem on a transparency and place on the overhead projector for everyone to see. Turn on the electronic keyboard or any sound that has a definite beat. Adjust the speed for the class. The class reads orally together. Oftentimes, I will have the girls read one part and the boys read the other part. In some poetry, I have small groups of 4-6 students read each stanza, then the last one the whole class chimes in for the finale. Doing this activity promotes beat, comprehension, and speed. My Title I reading students are especially motivated with the rhythm of poetry. Students are more alert waiting for their cue.

Comments: Some favorite poetry books are:
The Train Song by Diane Seibert
Lunch Money and Other Poems About School by Carol Diggory Shields
(she also has some great choral reading poetry)

Debbie Mink
Maplewood Elementary School
Townville, PA

Lyric Writing - Happy, Sad and Sour Notes



Grade: 4-6

Objective: To connect lyric writing with strong emotion.

Directions: Play samples of current music. Have the students identify whether the music is happy, sad or sour. Have the students explain how the sound of the music and the lyrics convey those emotions. Then have the students jot down incidents when they felt extremely happy, sad and sour. Next have the students give details for these incidents and reasons for the feelings in these situations. The students now have building materials for construction a poem.

Comments: This activity is part of an entire unit on Lyric Writing.

BJ Franquelli
Westfield Community School
Algonquin, Illinois

A Magic Door
Grade: 2nd through 5th

Objective: Jump-start free verse narrative poetry writing

Directions: Read the following poem:
The Magic Door
By Quen G. Law
Wouldn’t it be grand?
Wouldn’t it be great,
If a magic door opens somewhere
By a simple twist of fate?

Be brave and enter.
What can you see?
Is it a world much stranger
Than you ever thought it to be?

Be amazed by all its wonders.
Have an adventure or two,
Then come back and tell us
What great things there are to do.

Be brave then and enter
Through the magic door,
Tell of what you see there,
That you’ve never seen before.

Comments: Use this poem for discussion on the topic of a magic door that can open up into a world of unusual and exciting possibilities. For example, a magic door that opens into a fantasy land, into the past, or future where anything is possible.

Quen G. Law
James M. Curley School
Jamaica Plain, MA

Seven Steps for Writing an Unrhymed Poem

Grade: 7 or 8

Objective: The objective is to help students write an unrhymed poem by giving them a model to follow. I usually try to write a poem myself as an illustration. Students need to know that their teacher hasn’t asked them to do something that he cannot do himself.

Prerequisites: Make sure students know the meaning of alliteration, simile, metaphor, and personification. In a separate lesson ask them to write original examples of each.

Directions: Write an unrhymed poem of ten to twelve lines using sensory details. Add at least one example of the following: simile, metaphor, or personification. Use alliteration in a few of the lines.

Steps: Read all steps and models before starting to write.

1. Pick a subject. An object or thing--a fruit, a balloon, butterfly; A place or scene--the woods, the beach, the mountains, a sunset, a rainbow; An event--a thunderstorm, tornado, parade, football game, season.

2. Decide on a central idea or focus to make the poem unique or different.

3. Write five sentences of twelve to fifteen words that appeal to the sense of sight, taste, smell, sound, or touch. Avoid using the words taste, smell, hear, see, or feel in the sentences. Don’t begin any sentences with there or it and use effective action verbs. Use a variety of sentence beginnings. Begin with a prepositional phrase, an adverb, or a subordinate conjunction for variety.

4. Count the number of syllables in each sentence. Add and divide by ten or twelve.

5. Arrange the sentence in the best order and divide the five sentences into lines of a poem with approximately the number of syllables found in step 4.

6. Write a rough draft of the poem. More than one may be necessary. Remember a poem is made up of complete thoughts or sentences just like prose but more concise. Leave out unnecessary words, change, or add words. Use a dictionary or thesaurus for help. To add syllables to a line that is too short, use adjectives or adverbs. To shorten a line replace a two syllable word with a one syllable word that has the same meaning. End each line of the poem with a concrete word. Do not end lines with conjunctions, prepositions, or articles.

7. Give the poem a title, punctuate just as sentences would be punctuated, and write the final draft.

Shannon McKinney
Wood Memorial Junior High School
Oakland City, Indiana

Creative Writing: Poetry
Grade: 4th
Directions:
Before beginning to write, think of a topic and present it to the class. Once the topic is presented and explained, begin brainstorming for words or phrases about the selection. Some selected topics might be neighborhood, friendship, trees, seasons, etc. An example topic would be: "The Street We Live On" or "A Dream Street."

In class, discuss all the things that are involved with the selected topic, such as: kinds of streets, transportation, shops, buildings, people, etc. Talk about what other things may be found on a particular street.

Next let the students begin to make a rough draft of their own lines describing their street. After this is completed, the students may start composing their own poem.
The final step is to have the students proofread their poem and edit it. Then have them type their work to present their final copy of the poem.

Sister Bianca Camilleri
Holy Saviour Regional School
Westmont, NJ


Headdresses and Poetry
Grades: 4-6
Objective: After reading a book about any culture, you can make a headdress, which will inspire poetry.

Directions:
Blow up a round balloon to the size of a child’s head.

Cover three-quarters of it in a mixture of flour paste and newspaper.

Let it dry overnight.

Paint.
Let it dry overnight.

The students can now write their poems with this personally relevant visual guide.
When the students read their poems to the class, have them wear their new headdresses.

Comments: These poems and headdresses make great displays to showcase your program.
Abigail Lewit
Nysmith School for the Gifted
Herndon, VA




Make Your Own CD

Grade: 8-10

Objective: For students to synthesize their poetry knowledge with their creativity and love of music to create an original poetry compilation on a theme.

Directions:

1. Students are given or bring from home an empty CD case.
2. Students decide upon a type of music for their CD, e.g., country.
3. Students decide upon a title for their CD and the singer’s/singers’ name(s)
4. Students design the CD cover, front and back.
5. Student create from six to ten original poems as lyrics for their CD.
6. Students’ illustrated lyrics are placed inside the CD along with the cover.

Comments: This project is popular even with young men because of the high degree of self-selected aspects. Lyrics can be compute generated or handwritten. I have my students determine how the paper for the lyrics should be determined; their creativity often outpaces mine!

Kathie Marshall
Mulholland Middle School
Van Nuys, CA

Dusk/Dawn Diamonte Poetry/Artwork

Grade: 4-12

Objective: Students observed the sunset and the sunrise and wrote observation notes. They use their five senses to experience the opposite events. They look at their observation notes and create a diamonte poem.

Directions:

Poetry Section

Show the students how to write a poem using the diamonte format:

Structure:
line 1 — one noun (subject #1)
line 2 — two adjectives (describing subject #1)
line 3 — three participles (ending in —ing, telling
about subject #1)
line 4 — four nouns (first two related to subject #1,
second two related to subject #2)
line 5 — three participles (about subject #2)
line 6 — two adjectives (describing subject #2)
line 7 — one noun (subject #2)

Art Section

1. Students created "wet-on-wet" watercolor pages to represent; dusk sky and dawn sky, water strip at dusk, water strip at dawn, ground strip at dusk, ground strip at dawn. They took wet strips of white paper and used watercolor sets and painted swooshes of color with a left-to-right motion on the wet paper. When satisfied with the amount of swooshes present, they roll the paper to mix the colors. The effect of the rolling motion mixes the colors in an awesome way. Once dry, the three parts are put together for each page, dusk and dawn. See below:

2. Repeat steps to create the dawn page also.

3. Purchase sheets of velum paper (translucent) cut a diamond shape to put on top of the background pages.

Divide diamond shape and cut in half to place parts on both pages. Don’t place velum paper on top of the background paper until an outlined design has been added to the final sheets. Add this design with a dark colored pencil. I used black. Then add the velum diamond shape.

Final Step: Copy your Dusk/Dawn Diamonte onto the velum paper diamonte shape with permanent marker. Attach it over the background designed paper with a dot of glue at corners. The background design will enhance the poetry displayed.





Comments: This format and artwork can be used to create any "opposite" poetry you wish to write using the diamonte format. Be creative and have fun! The students show great pride in their final diamontes displayed this way. It is an awesome integration activity.

Jill Bontrager and Julie Leedy.
Churubusco Elementary School
Churubusco, IN