Transcript

Right now in class, were working on a poetry unit. In 5th and 6th grade, this kind of thing will last for at least a month. We start off by doing a diagnostic assessment. The one I used is called the RASER. RASER stands for Rephrase and Answer, Support, Extend, and Reflect. I asked the students "What do you think the meaning of the poem is and how do you think this is conveyed?" And they use the graphic organizer to answer the question. 

The next step in the poetry unit is to start creating some simple poems. The first ones that we did are called Found Poems. I showed the students one random paragraph. And then I showed them 4 different examples of poems that had been created using this paragraph. The strategy is to select words from this paragraph and use them to create a poem. The point of the activity was to show the students that your word selection will affect the meaning and the imagery that you create in your poem. I then gave the students another paragraph; each student got the same paragraph and for homework, they created their own found poem. They selected words and phrases from the paragraph and organized them into a poem. 

The next day they came to class and they presented their found poems. The students were amazed at the variety of responses. Completely different meaning and completely different imagery was created using the same paragraph. This really got the students excited about writing poetry. 

The next step was to write haikus. Haikus are a traditional form of Japanese poetry and theyre simple. Theyre 3 lines long. We looked at several examples of haikus; we talked about how the imagery in a haiku is very specific. You choose one small topic. We examined the format of a haiku: 3 lines, first line 5 syllables, second line 7 syllables, third line 5 syllables. And then the students wrote their own haikus. Behind me youll see that they illustrated their haikus to really make the imagery pop. 

A poetry scavenger hunt was used to really immerse the students in poetry. I asked the librarian for help collecting several bins of poetry books and kept those in our classroom library. I gave the students a 2-page scavenger hunt with questions like "Find a line of poetry that mentions an animal. Find a line of poetry 10 words long. Find a line of poetry that mentions a place." The students had to read through the poetry books, find these examples, and then write down the title of the book, the poet, and the title of the poem. This was a great way to get students just flipping through books of poetry.

Next, students wrote an "I am" poem. This was also a simple introductory assignment for poetry but got them to focus more on writing about themselves. I gave them a specific format to use. They had to fill in the blanks with unique characteristics about themselves. They found the task quite simple, but the product was unbelievable. The poems are so unique and they felt so proud at how it conveyed them as individuals.

Throughout the unit, the students practice their oral communication skills. Theyre doing this by presenting their poems as they write them. Each time the students write poetry, I ask for volunteers to read their poems out loud in front of the class. We work on oral communication strategies and active listening strategies. We talk about body language, eye contact, tone of voice, reading with expression, and reading with confidence. 

About midway through the unit, I started a read aloud. One of my favorite books Love that Dog by Sharon Creech. This book is written from the point of view of a boy in 5th grade. He does not like poetry. The interesting thing about the book is the whole thing is written as poetry. When you open the book, youll see that the format of all the writing looks like a poem. In this book, the boy gets to appreciate poetry by questioning it, examining the imagery, connecting to it personally, and just admitting when hes confused. This is something a lot of my students could relate to. Poetry isnt something that theyre very familiar with.  Throughout the book, the boy mentions poems such The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams. He says things like "I dont understand the poem about the Red Wheelbarrow." At this point, I would stop reading the book and then we would look at the poem The Red Wheelbarrow. I liked how this book allowed students to make connections to our read aloud and other texts. The boy also talks about Robert Frosts Snowy Woods poem, so then the students and I read that poem together. We talked more about meaning and imagery. The students then started writing poems inspired by other famous poems. They wrote a poem inspired by The Red Wheelbarrow and one inspired by The Snowy Woods. 

So far, the students have written a lot of poems that tell a story. At this point, we started to look at lyric poetry. This poetry focuses more on feelings. In order to describe feelings and have people understand, we talked about poetic devices. These can help you convey emotions. Things like similes and metaphors help the students describe how theyre feeling and relate sensory imagery. We defined each poetic device and then we created examples of each. The students then were assigned a poetic device scavenger hunt. Once again, they went back to our classroom library and had to locate examples of each poetic device in the poetry book. 

At the end of our poetry unit, the students have 2 major assignments. The first is a poetry anthology. This is a personal, published collection of their poems. I asked the students to submit 5 of what they believe are their strongest poems. They create a title page, a table of contents, and they write a short autobiography about themselves as a poet. The students are told that the poems have to be typed or written neatly on an 8-and-a-half-by-11 paper, have to be original poems, and then we make suggestions. They could include images or colors in their poetry anthology to enhance their poems. The students are given a rubric so they understand how their poems will be assessed. The rubric focuses on how the poem captivates the reader, on how the poem creates imagery and meaning, on the use of language in their poem, and on grammar and punctuation. The students are given the rubric before they create their anthology so they know just what they need to do to be successful. 

The second task at the end of the poetry unit is a poetry presentation. The students select 2 poems to read to the class. One of the poems is written by them, and one of them is a favorite poem written by somebody else. They should be familiar with the poems, practice reading them aloud at home and to their peers so theyre confident before they read them in front of the class. We talk again about body language and oral communication strategies, and how to be an active listener. The students are then asked 2 or 3 questions at the end of their poetry presentation. This is so that we can assess their comprehension of the poems. We ask them about the point-of-view in the poems, if they believe the poem was written for a specific audience, if they can decipher the setting in the poem, we ask them about why they chose the poem, and we ask them about how effective they believe the poem is.


SUMMARY

Month-Long Multi-Step Poetry Unit

Step 1:   Diagnostic Assessment using RASER

Step 2:   Simple Poems

Step 3:   Haiku Poems

Step 4:   Poetry Scavenger Hunt

Step 5:   "I Am" Poems

Step 6:   Poetry Read Aloud

Step 7:   Writing Poems Inspired by Other Poems

Step 8:   Lyric Poetry using Poetic Devices

Step 9:   Poetry Anthology

Step 10:  Poetry Presentation