A Plethora of Poetry by Deb Day

When I started teaching Creative Writing at the high school and created my blog, I began writing poetry again on a regular basis, so of course I included a poetry among the genres for students to write. SInce my writing class was always very independent, students had the choice about which order to write in and they just had to write two poems sometime during the semester. I gave them some direction but not much. After all, poetry was short and easy to write.

No wonder everyone put off writing their poetry until the very end of the semester, especially by the boys. They had no clue what to do or how to begin. Oh, I had some sheets with the basics of poetry that they could grab. And I gave little mini lessons, but looking back, they weren’t much help.

And then I found template poems like Where I’m From and I am… They were like fill in the blank for poetry! I also began using short, accessible poems for mentor texts. Poems like This is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams gave students success in writing poetry in a short easy format.

We began mimicking many different styles of poems that provided students with success. In my last year, I created Poetry Learning Stations, an idea I found on Pinterest. I used the ideas I found there and added some of my own. We spent a week or so immersed in the writing of poetry. Students had to try them all, but turned in two for a grade. Everyone found styles of poetry that they connected with and wrote some poetry they weren’t ashamed to share.

Some of the poetry stations I used in class were:

• Blackout Poetry  I had many old books that students could use and I also copied pages from favorite books for them to use for this poem.
• Magnetic Poetry Students could do this online and screenshot their final product. I also had a tray with magnetic poetry on it.
• Roll of the Dice. If you google this, you’ll find lots of resources.
• 10:15 On A Saturday Night A song by The Cure. Great poem to mimic. My example included at the end of this post.
• Newspaper or Magazine Poetry: Cut the words out of ads, etc and put together to make poetry
• Where I’m From
• I Am
• This is Just to Say (linked above) 

I always tried out poem forms before the kids so I knew what obstacles they would have.  I had fun trying the different forms and so did most of my students. Sometimes results were silly, some philosophical, and some were downright heartbreaking. Some take more thought than others, but all these styles allow students to be successful writing poetry.

And that, of course, was the goal.

8:15 On a School Day

8:15 on a school day
Silent
Peaceful
The only sounds are
the buzz from the classroom
next door and
the tapping of my
computer keys
Restful
Productive


12:15 on a school day
Quiet class
Working hard
or looking like it
Some days
buzzing
Some days chatting
Always polite and
respectful

3:15 on a school day
Buzzing
Loud
Locker doors slamming
friends yelling
Plans being made
Scurrying
Hurrying
Home

4:15 on a school day
Ahhhhhhhhh


Deb Day taught many different English classes during her twenty-eight year teaching career. Creative Writing was her favorite class to teach in the last years of her career because she could write and share with her students. She is married, the mother of two and grandmother of six. She is owned by Chloe, seven-year-old Goldendoodle. All of this provides plenty of material for her blog, Coffee With Chloe.