Collective poetry

On Tuesday we read a beautiful poem "Valentine for Ernest Mann" by Naomi  Shihab Nye.  I was a bit worried it might pose a challenge for students to understand the poem, and some of it was confusing for them, but through a discusdion they were able to see the big idea.

The poem includes lines:

...poems hide. In the bottom of our shoes,

they are sleeping. ....

The students talked about how sometimes the beauty isn't visible outside, but inside; or how some people can speak poetically about everyday odjects and places; and sometimes you just have to have an open mind and look at a different perspective to find poetry.

On Wednesday we took some time to review what we had learned about writing poetry. Each student used post-its to give advice "If you want to write a poem.." and organized the lines in the order that made most sense to them.

As a result they had some poem drafts. Then we worked together to choose some lines from each poem to create a collective poem.

If you want to write a poem

Keep your eyes open

Open your heart

Wonder

Carry your notebook with you

Think what to write about

Don't try to write a poem

Just write

Write interesting words

Words that flow

Like a piece of music.  

Look at the beauty in words

Make an image in the reader's mind

Make it easy to read

Feel the emotion

Revise, revise, revise