The Poet's Suitcase Revealed! Collect poetry that reflects the cultural group you are studying –poetry by and about. Collect pictures of areas your class is studying. Have students write a poem that matches a picture. Do a shared writing session with your students where you a poem together about the heritage or customs of the people or region you are studying. Ask students to organize a collection of poems relating to their own culture. You could organize them around such categories as celebrations, families, food, holidays. Collect photo essays, newspaper and magazine articles, informational books, and historical fiction for students to use as source material for poetry Have students dramatize poems by sharing lines or stanzas. Suggest that they vary solo voices with group voices to enhance meaning. Make weather poems using weather reports as the basis for ideas. Explore landforms through...

As a poet, I am constantly looking for ideas and inspiration. So naturally, I was excited when I came across this poetry pearl of an idea when checking Twitter last evening. It comes from Austin Kleon, http://www.austinkleon.com/newspaperblackout/ an Austin , Texas based artist and writer. Austin calls this method for composing poetry ‘Blackout Poetry.’ He uses newspaper pages to redact the original text with permanent markers to eliminate words not required, thus leaving only those words essential for creating the desired message. Austin encourages fellow poets to dive right in and try blacking out and then sharing the resultant poems on his web site. This strategy works in a similar fashion to ‘found poems’ and ‘river poems’ in so much as it brings old pages back to life by using the words in an enterprising and creative way. I can imagine Blackout poems working really well with the student writers I meet, as it allows them full control over the composition they ...

To try this poetry idea you need to gather a plentiful supply of books. I went to my personal library, scanned the shelves for suitable titles before arranging them in an order that provided some cohesive flow of ideas.  When I was satisfied with the order, I photographed my brand new spine poem. An easy,fun way to engage young poets and more experienced poets in creating words of wonder and delight.

Here are a couple of Collage poems. All you need to get started are some magazines or newspapers a pair of scissors, a camera and eventually some glue, should you wish to immortalize your creation. Lots of fun for the word nerd with in you.

Last month I wrote about working with Grade three and four students at   Ardeer   South   Primary School  who began investigating narrative poetry. Our inquiry started with sharing poems by Michael Rosen ( Chocolate Cake ) and Steven Herrick ( First Day At School ). We looked closely at the text structures and features of this writing form.  During our study we closely examined poetic elements such as line breaks and white space. We began by working In pairs reconstructing a Michael Rosen poem (from the book,   Quick Let's Get Out of Here ) which I had earlier deconstructed. The task was somewhat like unscrambling a jigsaw.  This exercise drew attention to the decisions poets must make when presenting words across a page. Lots of talk, and collaboration ensued as these young poets magically restored the poem to a more familiar layout. Follow up discussion revealed that these writers were developing an awareness of the need for a difference ...

If you truly wish to become a more poetry friendly person, here are some ideas to bring about the changes to the way you value this aspect of literacy. The poet that dwells within will become apparent to your students (and your colleagues) over time. Students will hopefully come to view you as poetry's pal! If you are introducing the writing of poetry into your instructional  program consider the following ways to create the best conditions for poetry to prosper: ·          Read poetry on a regular basis. A poem a day will assist you in developing your poetic character. It is said that before we can hope to write poetry, we need to read lots of this special writing form. ·           Keep an anthology of poetry close by – at home and at work. ·           Share poems that take your fancy with your students. ·        ...

Everywhere I look at present in Blog world or Twitter, I see and hear poetry! This always gets my creative juices flowing, so this post is in support of all those brave teacher poets out there. Hope you can use this idea to astound and amaze your students and colleagues. Today, it’s all about repeating ourselves… Repetition is an old and basic element in poetry. It goes back to poetry's origin in chants and spells. Something "magical" happens when you repeat a word, phrase or line. It gives the reader a chance to rest before setting forth again. It becomes the refrain that glues the words together. Words take on new dimensions, subtleties, and connotations. It creates patterns--and echoes. To create a poem using repetition, you could begin by making a list using one of the following starting points: Somewhere you went today Today's weather Description of your clothes An event you witnessed recently 10 randomly selected simp...

It is April and that means National Poetry Month in the USA ! I vividly recall during my six years living and working in the US how schools went into poetry mode each April. I found this focus on poetry left me in a quandary. I love poetry, so this national focus on poetry was something that greatly impressed me. It brought this ancient genre to centre stage and I considered that was something our Australian schools could learn from. Poetry in such a supportive environment began to shed its elitist cloak. It became accessible to the broader school population. However, something began to gnaw away at me as each successive April celebration unfolded. I became concerned that in the minds of many educators poetry was being constrained to a single month in the school calendar. I wanted to encounter poetry across the school year, but it seemed tightly confined to the month of April in the minds of many. I wanted poetry to pop up unexpectedly; at various times of the school day, and i...