Creative Writing
LESSON PLAN FOR GRADES
4-6
Six local Pennsylvania
poets participated in this creative writing project with 5th and 6th grades
at Benjamin Rush Elementary School in Bensalem, PA in February/March 2009:
Joanne Leva, Camille Norvaisas, Elizabeth Rivers, David Simpson, Wendy Steginsky
and Bill Wunder.
Guide: Rose, Where Did you Get that Red? by Kenneth Koch
Using Koch's innovative ideas, this lesson plan is based on reading good poetry
to children and suggesting an assignment based on those poems.
We agreed that we did not want the children's work to be constrained by rhyme
so we chose unrhymed poetry as our starting point. David Simpson, Montgomery
County Poet Laureate for 2007, suggested the main poem, "The Meadow Mouse",
by Theodore Roethke. This poem was chosen with an eye to what the children
have been studying since it, fortunately, refers to both an owl (previous
6th grade projects) and a wild baby (previous 5th grade projects). We hoped
their background information might help them write in interesting ways. But
you'll notice the assignment is quite broad and the children could choose
other things to focus on if they wish. In fact, the majority of children did
not write either about owls or wild babies.
Here's the ASSIGNMENT: Write a poem that asks an animal or other interesting
object of your choice a question. You can have the animal answer the question
or not as you wish. Come up with interesting, even crazy questions and answers.
You may want to use some of the real facts you know. You may want to tell
a story. You may want to invent a fantasy.
Day 1
40 minutes
The teacher or poet will briefly explain the goals: to write poetry, illustrate
it, and share it. Perhaps it will be used for a bulletin board, a class
book, publication on the Poetrywits web site, etc. The teacher/poet will
answer a few questions, if any, explain the assignment and then move on
to read "The Meadow Mouse". Copies of the poem will be distributed
for the students to look at while it's read out loud and discussed. The
teacher or poet will also give out copies of student work that have been
written for similar assignments (taken from Koch's book, especially poetry
written after the first lesson) so they'll get an idea of what's expected.
The focus will be on some techniques these authors use such as repetition,
image, sound and humor.
20 minutes.
The students will have a chance to write their first version.
The teacher/poet will encourage a relaxed atmosphere where the children can
move around if they need to, talk quietly, look up information, ask questions
one on one with us or the teacher.
Day 2
This hour is for revision and illustration. If students want help or seem
stuck, the teacher/poet may choose several interesting things they can do
to make their poems more varied. One strategy is to bring in more student
poems, this time using colors and other language words to add to English.
Again, examples are available in Koch's book.
Other ideas include using poems to show how to add more
to a poem, to cut a poem and interchange parts for more interesting effects,
to use similes and/or metaphors, the senses, word sounds, fantasy or cartoons.
Children can write more poems and refer to new examples for ideas. Teachers/poets
can continue to work one on one as needed.
Day 3
An hour for reading work and celebrating it. If local poets are helping in
the class room, they may wish to read one or two of their own poems or other
poems that they think would be fun to share. Students may want to read other
poems they enjoy in addition to their own work. Children don't have to read
if they don't wish; teachers can read for them if a child prefers. Snacks
and, maybe, picture taking of students in small groups holding up their work
would be fun. This is a good time to ask the poets for any general questions
or discuss related ideas the teachers would like to explore.