Guidelines for Writing Poetry

1. Guidelines for Writing Poetry • Explore many examples of quality poetry from many different sources. Have a good selection of poetry books on hand for this. • Create Class Poetry Rules to help students understand what a quality poem looks, sounds, and feels like.

2. Rules About Writing Poetry • Mrs. Westvessel’s Rules • Our Rules

3. Guidelines for Writing Poetry • Begin with formula poetry. Teach students several formulas to use when writing poems, making sure that they understand that it is OK to change the formulas to express themselves more effectively.

4. Guidelines for Writing Poetry • Teach students about poetic devices other than rhyme: alliteration, onomatopoeia, repetition, comparison. Encourage them to use these approaches in their writing.

5. Guidelines for Writing Poetry • Embrace and encourage word play by having a Word Play Wall in the classroom.

6. Guidelines for Writing Poetry • Discuss writing strategies with students: • Adapting formulas to meet their needs • Brainstorming ideas • Deleting unnecessary words • Arranging words on the page in an interesting way • Choosing capitalization and punctuation to fit the poem

7. Guidelines for Writing Poetry • Invite a published poet in for an author visit. • Provide time for class poets to share their work with the class.

8. Guidelines for Writing Poetry • Integrate poetry writing as a product choice for • Language arts • Science • Social studies

9. Guidelines for Writing Poetry • Create a student anthology for the class, or for the grade level or school. Distribute copies to students, parents, and faculty.

10. Guidelines for Writing Poetry • Plan and teach units about specific poets. Encourage students to experiment with the poet’s techniques and themes. Good choices might include Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky, Robert Frost, Walt Whitman…

11. Recipe for a Poem Rhyme Rhythm Parsimonious selection of words to evoke emotion and provide clarity. Blend carefully to create a mood, a sensory experience of a view of the world through a new lens. In other words, a poem.

12. Types of Poems • There are basically five types of poetic forms: • Formula poems • Free-form poems • Syllable and word count poems • Rhymed poems • Model poems

13. FORMULA POEMS Formula poems have guidelines for the writer to follow in order to complete the poem.

14. “I Wish…” Poems In “I Wish…” poems, each line begins with “I wish” and is completed with a wish of the poet. One way to do an “I Wish” poem is to have the students collaborate and complete one line each. Then have them choose one line to elaborate on.

15. Example: Our Wishes (class collaboration – grade 4) I wish I were a teddy bear. I wish I had a little brother. I wish I had millions of dollars. I wish I were a super hero. I wish I didn’t have to do chores. I wish I could play outside. I wish it were time for lunch.

16. Example: My Wish (one student – grade 4) I wish I were a super hero. I would get to soar high in the sky. I would have x-ray vision and huge muscles. I could fight villains and always win. I’d never be called a wimp. I would like to be a super hero!

17. Color Poems Each line can begin with the same color in a color poem, or different colors can be used. Color poems have a metaphorical style. The colors are related to objects.

18. Example: Yellow (class collaboration – grade 7) Yellow is shiny galoshes Splashing through mud puddles. Yellow is a street lamp Beaming through the dark, black night. Yellow is an egg yolk bubbling in a frying pan. Yellow is the lemon cake that makes you pucker your lips.

19. Example 2: Red (one student – grade 5) Red is a vampire drinking blood. Red is the book I read yesterday. Red is my hand when Aaron throws the ball. Red is the magma pushing to get out of the Earth.

20. Five-Senses Poems Students write about a topic using the five senses. Five-senses poems are usually five lines long. The first example is from one student - grade 2.

22. “If I Were…” Poems Students write about what they would feel and do if they were something else. This is a good poem for teaching personification.

23. Example: If I Were a Tyrannosaurus Rex (one student – grade 3) If I were a tyrannosaurus rex I would rule all of the dinosaurs And be the strongest one. If I were a tyrannosaurus rex I would make the earth quake just by walking And I would roar loudly when I hunt.

24. “I Used to…/But Now…” Poems These poems contain alternate lines beginning with these two phrases.

25. Example 1: (one student – grade 3) I used to be a kernel but now I am a crunchy, tasty, buttery cloud popped by Orville Redenbacher.

26. Example 2: On the American Revolution (class collaboration – grade 5) I used to think that Florida was one of the thirteen colonies, But now I know it belonged to Spain. I used to think the War for Independence was one big battle, But now I know it was made up of many battles.

27. I used to think that Americans and British fought the same way, But now I know they had different military styles. I used to think that the Constitution was our first set of rules, But now I know that the Articles of the Confederation were. I used to think that war was exciting and glamorous, But now I know that it was not that way at all.

28. “… is” Poems “…is” poems describe what something is or what something means to the writer.

29. Example: Thunder Is… (class collaboration – grade 2) Thunder is someone bowling. Thunder is a hot cloud bumping against a cold cloud. Thunder is a brachiosaurus sneezing. Thunder is a giant laughing. Thunder is elephants playing. Thunder is an army tank.

30. Preposition Poems Each line in a preposition poem begins with a prepositional phrase.

31. Example: Superman (one student – grade 7) Within the city In a phone booth Into his clothes Like a bird In the sky Through the walls Until the crime Among us Is defeated!

32. Free Form Poems No rules apply for punctuation, capitalization, or arrangement on the page in free form poetry.

33. Example: Selena Live (one student – grade 5) Great P O W E R F U Deep L MUSIC star :ly (ST UN NI NG) Death TexICAN MexICAN (AM er ____> SpIRitMUsIC Ic GirL an) (2, applause, !)

34. Concrete Poems The writer arranges the phrases, words or sentences into the shape of an object in concrete poems.

35. Example:

36. Found Poems The writer circles or cuts out powerful phrases or words in an article, song, or story and creates a poem from these words.

37. Example: Fast Moving (one student – grade 8) Moving down the track, Faster than fast, is Richard Petty Seven-time winner of the crowned jewel Daytona 500. At 210 mph – dangerous – pushing his engine to the limit. Other NASCARs running fast But Richard Petty takes the lead at last. Running across the finish line with good time.

38. SYLLABLE AND WORD COUNT POEMS With this type of poetry, the number of syllables or words in a poem are prescribed.

39. Haiku Haikus are Japanese poems consisting of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. They are commonly about nature.

40. Example: (one student – grade 6) Your sweet smile is like a rainbow of happiness coloring my world. (class collaboration – grade 2) Wolves are meat eaters that have sharp teeth and long claws to attack their prey.

41. Tanka Tankas are Japanese poems consisting of 31 syllables arranged in five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 syllables.

42. Example: (one student – grade 7) The summer dancers dancing in the midnight sky, waltzing and dreaming. Stars glisten in the night sky. Wish upon a shooting star.

43. Cinquain A cinquain poem is a five line poem containing 22 syllables in a 2-4-6-8-2 pattern. Line 1 is a one-word subject with 2 syllables. Line 2 is 4 syllables describing the subject. Line 3 is 6 syllables showing action. Line 4 is 8 syllables expressing feelings. Line 5 is 2 syllables renaming the subject. (Note: The content is more important than the syllable count.)

44. Example: (class collaboration – grade 2) Reading exciting, wonderful enjoying, imagining, learning pretending you are somewhere else Knowledge

45. Example: (one student – grade 10) Wrestling skinny, fat coaching, arguing, pinning trying hard to win Tournament

46. Diamante Diamante poems were invented byTiedt in 1970. They are 7-line contrast poems written in the shape of a diamond. Diamantes help students understand opposites and parts of speech.

47. Diamante Line 1 is a noun (the subject). Line 2 is 2 adjectives describing the subject. Line 3 is 3 participles about the subject. Line 4 is 4 nouns – the first two relate to the subject and the second 2 are opposites. Line 5 is 3 participles about the opposite of the subject. Line 6 is 2 adjectives describing the opposite. Line 7 is a noun (the opposite).

48. Example: (class collaboration – grade 3) BABY wrinkled tiny crying wetting sleeping rattles diapers money house caring working loving ADULT

49. RHYMED VERSE POEMS Rhymed verse poetic forms contain rhyming words either at the ends of the lines, or within the poems.

50. Limericks Limericks contain light verse and are often humorous. They are made up of 5 lines that have an “a, a, b, b, a” rhyme scheme. The third and fourth lines are shorter than the others.