Love That Poetry: Teaching Poetry Through

Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

Plans Developed by Dr. Beth M. Frye

Outline for reading and writing poetry through Love That Dog

I. pp. 1-11 So Much Depends Upon (Poetry Idea) Free verse/16 word poem and/or Koch’s Poetry Idea with Blake’s The Tyger

II. pp. 12-34- Free Verse [Valerie Worth’s Small Poems]

III. pp. 35-63 Concrete

IV. pp. 64-end Free Verse or Love That Boy or Honey I love…(Poetry Idea)

Introduction to Poetry and Free Verse

· Begin by asking students what they like about Poetry and Writing Poetry.

· Next ask students what they don’t like about Poetry and about Writing Poetry.

· You may notice that what they like to read, they find difficult writing (example trying to rhyme the words; they like to read rhyming words, but find it difficult writing the rhymes). In Wishes, Lies and Dreams Koch (1999) asserts, “It gets in their way. The effort of finding rhymes stops the free flow of their feelings and associations, and poetry gives way to sing-song.” (p. 8) Instead he encourages repetition (repeating words or phrases or comparisons.)

· Introduce them to free verse poetry and explain that when writing free verse poems, you are free to write whatever you like- no rhymes, punctuation, capitalization are necessary; you are free to express your thoughts in any way you choose.

· Free verse poems invite children to break with the tradition of rhyme and offer the freedom to focus on thought patterns, phrasal boundaries (pauses in speech), and precise word choice where the emphasis is on feelings and meaning over form. Students have the opportunity to focus on what they would like to express or say in their poem (Piazza, 2003).

· Piazza recommends teacher modeling from story to poem. The teacher begins by telling a brief story. From the story the teacher focuses on the following elements:

o An observation

o A person, place or thing

o An experience (Explain what the person, place or thing is doing)

o A Feeling (How did this make you feel or the person, place or thing)

· The teacher reminds students to focus on:

o Precise nouns

o Descriptive adjectives

o Vivid verbs

o Sensory details: what you see, touch, taste, smell, hear

· Marinate students in free verse poetry; my favorite is All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth. Each poem is carefully crafted with such precise word choice.

· As you read free verse poems with your students (this works with any poetic form), think about Beck et al. (1997) Questioning the Author (QtA). QtA deeply engages students in text; it is a comprehension strategy that requires students to pose queries while reading the text in order to challenge their understanding and solidify their knowledge. After reading a verse, stanza, or the entire poem, think about asking the following questions of your poet:

QtP

o What is the poet talking about here? What is he/she trying to say?

o What do you notice about the way the poet writes?

o What patterns do you see?

o Does this poet do anything special with the words?

So Much Depends Upon…

· When reading William Carlos Williams’ The Red Wheelbarrow, think about teaching the following poetry lesson to your students “Making the Ordinary Extraordinary”
This is a simple lesson that may spawn remarkable results. Williams was known for writing about the everyday and ordinary experiences and objects in life. Williams was able to take the everyday circumstances in life and turn them into something extraordinary through careful word choice and description. Your goal is for your students to see something as if they were seeing it for the first time. 
The guidelines may be as follows:

· Rhyming isn’t necessary (Williams didn’t).

· Think about a common object found in your house, school, yard, etc. that is important to you.

· What does this object mean to you?

· Focus on specific details, to make the object you want us to see, SHINE!

· Think about choosing words very carefully like Williams did.

· To write a 16 word poem, please see lesson plan on http://www.writingfix.com/Chapter_Book_Prompts/LoveThatDog3.htm

· Students should revise, edit and publish these poems!

· NOTE: When reading Robert Frost’s poems, point out that the settings for so many of his poems were in nature, specifically, they were set in New England. Invite your students to write about a pleasant experience they have had while in nature. Encourage your students to be descriptive!

Poetry Idea from Kenneth Koch-The Tyger

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/17152

· These ideas are from Kenneth Koch’s (1990) work with children as he taught “great poetry” to children. He wrote about these experiences and his “Poetry Ideas” in Rose, Where Did You Get That Red?”

· After reading William Blake’s The Tiger orThe Tyger have students write a poem in which they ask questions and write descriptions of a mysterious and glorious creature (any living thing). Make sure you read the entire poem with the students. Koch (1990) suggests the following poetry idea: “Write a poem in which you are talking to a mysterious and beautiful creature and you can ask it anything you want—anything. You have the power to do this because you can speak its secret language.” This poem naturally evokes feelings of fear, amazement and wonder.

QtP

o Who is Blake talking to?

o Why does he think that the tiger is burning?

o What does Blake want to know? (Koch suggests the main question of the poet is “How did something get the way it is?” How did the tiger get to be the way it is?)

The Tyger by William Blake

Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
 
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare sieze the fire?
 
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
 
What the hammer? What the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
 
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
 
Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

The following is a student’s poem “Inspired by” Blake’s poem, retrieved from http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/17152

Giraffes, how did they make Carmen? Well, you see, Carmen ate the prettiest rose in the world and then just then the great change of heaven occurred and she became the prettiest girl in the world and because I love her.

Lions, why does your mane flame like fire of the devil? Because I have the speed of the wind and the strength of the earth at my command.

Oh Kiwi, why have you no wings? Because I have been born with the despair to walk the earth without the power of flight and am damned to do so.

Oh bird of flight, why have you been granted the power to fly? Because I was meant to sit upon the branch and to be with the wind.

Oh crocodile, why were you granted the power to slaughter your fellow animal? I do not answer.

Chip Wareing, 5th grade, PS 61

Concrete Poetry

o Take a few minutes to explore all of the poems, books and websites focused on concrete poetry.

• What do you notice? Jot down your observations: think about content, presentation, language, etc.

• Now if you were to explain concrete poetry to a friend, what would you say? How would you define it?
  

o You may readThe Apple by S.C. Rigg and complete QtP.

· What is the poet talking about here? What is he/she trying to say?

· What do you notice about the way the poet writes?

· What patterns do you see?

· Does this poet do anything special with the words?

·

o A concrete poem or shape poem is some way a poem shaped like its subject matter. A concrete poem can be as simple as a single word if the word becomes a poem because of the unusual way the type is placed on the page. A concrete poem can also be a selection of words arranged into a particular shape: the typefaces chosen, and the way the space is used, add meaning to the poem beyond that contained in the actual words. Be sure to read A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems by Paul B. Janczko and illustrated by Chrs Raschka. Have students complete the following:

You are invited to compose a concrete poem!

· Make a list of objects that you may want to write about that have a distinctive shape.

· Pick the object that appeals to you most and sketch the shape.

· Think of what you have to say about the object-What specific qualities does it possess? How does the object look, smell, taste, sound, feel?

· What do you do with this object? Or is something done to it or with it?

· Think of people, places, or ideas associated with the object.

· Now begin thinking about how you will write your poem

· Circle or highlight the words or phrases that you like best and that you want to include in your poem.

· Think about how you will display your poem on the page- Will you type it, write it, and/or cut out words and phrases and pictures from other sources?

· HAVE FUN COMPOSING YOUR CONCRETE POEM!

LOVE Poems; Photo-Poetry; Heart Poems;

· Read Brown Angels by Walter Dean Myers with your students. Discuss the poems and photographs. Read and discuss Myers poem, Love That Boy. Reread Jack’s poem, Love that Dog.

QtP

o What is the poet talking about here? What is he trying to say?

o What do you notice about the way the poet writes?

o What patterns do you see?

o Does this poet do anything special with the words?

o What would you love to write a poem about?

· Invite students to Brainstorm what they love; encourage words, pictures, etc.

· Invite students to write their own “Love that…” poem through this poetry idea:

o Write about something you love that you want to tell everybody about.

o Think about the following format:

Love that __________ like________. I said I love that _________.

· You may also want to read Eloise Greenfield’s Honey, I Love and invite students to write a poem using this idea. Honey, I love

· http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780064430975

o Write a poem about the many different things you love and tell why you love them. Think about the following format for each stanza:

I love

I love a lot of things, a whole lot of things

Like ____________________________________________.

‘Cause___________________________________________.

I love___________________________________________.

· Myers’ poem focuses on one thing/person the poet loves. Whereas Greenfield focuses on many things she loves and explains why.

· Encourage your students to collect pictures, photographs, illustrations, or any graphic representations of people, animals, objects that they love or that inspires them. For example, you may have a student fascinated by trains or butterflies or fishing or they absolutely love horses, dogs, cats, etc., or students may want to collect family photographs. It doesn’t matter as long as these items are visual representations of something that will inspire your students to write! That is the idea- the collection of photographs, pictures, illustrations, etc. should serve as a springboard for students’ poems!

· Writing “Heart Poems” as Regie Routman (2005) calls them or “Heart Songs” as Mattie J.T. Stepanek (2002) writes is an invitation to write about what is in our hearts—what we really care about.

· See Routman’s model/shared writing for Heart Poems.(pp. 305-315)

· After students have collected the pictures and have written poems about the pictures, help the students organize their “Albums of Pictures and Verse.”

Beck, I.L., & McKeown, M.G., Hamilton, R.L., & Kucan, L. (1997). Questioning the author: An approach for enhancing student engagement with text. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Introduce Onomatopoeia metaphor and simile

See Sidman’s poem starters using Valerie Worth’s poetry:

http://www.joycesidman.com/poemstarters.html

The following web sites are wonderful resources:

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=261

(Writing Poetry Like the Pros)

http://www.poetryzone.ndirect.co.uk/content.htm (The Poetry Zone-Resources and Publishing)

This Is Just To Say Poetry Lesson