If you’re searching for poetry lessons that motivate students to write, then you’re in the right place. These lessons will take students through the first two stages of the writing process (prewriting and drafting). However, make time to continue the study with revising, editing, and publishing activities.
Blackout Poetry Lesson
I was first introduced to blackout poetry at a workshop that shared Austin Kleon’s Newspaper Blackout. Since then, this activity has evolved to include books and images. What’s great about this poetry lesson is that every student, even the most reluctant writers, will be on task. Plus, it allows them to use vocabulary they don’t normally use when speaking or writing.
Materials
- Markers (black drawing pens and permanent markers work well)
- Pencils
- Newspapers, pages from a book you don’t mind tearing apart, or copied pages of a book (Instead of trashing ragged books, I save them for this activity because I like how the poems look on real book pages. The last time I used this activity, I tore pages from a worn collection of Poe’s work. Yes, this hurt my heart a little, but it gave students some great vocabulary to work with.)
Directions
- Read and discuss examples of blackout poetry so students know what they’re expected to do. A quick “blackout poetry” image search will give you plenty of great examples.
- View and discuss Kleon’s “How to Make a Newspaper Blackout Poem” with students.
- Post these directions for students to refer to as they work:
- With a pencil, lightly draw boxes around words and phrases that appeal to you.
- Write the words on a scratch sheet of paper, crossing out words you don’t want and adding connecting words you need (e.g., a, an, the).
- Boldly box the words you’re keeping, including the connecting words, and erase the ones you’re omitting.
- Sketch an image that relates to your topic.
- Blackout all of the words you aren’t using in your poem or image.
- Autograph your masterpiece at the bottom of the page.
- Publish students’ poems by posting them on a bulletin board or creating a YouTube video.
Free Association Poetry Lesson
Although I’ve added a few details to this poetry lesson over the years, the original idea came from an Abydos workshop I attended. It begins with Wakoski’s “Good Water,” which is published in Poetry After Lunch. The kids like the poem because of its apparent randomness; I like it because the ending connects to the beginning, basically ending where it begins, showing students one way they can effectively close a poem, narrative, or essay.
Materials
- “Good Water” by Diane Wakoski (I can’t find it online, but it is published in Poetry After Lunch.)
- If You Give a Pig a Party by Laura Numeroff (or similarly titled Numeroff books)
- Direct TV commercials, such as “Don’t Wake Up in a Roadside Ditch” or “Don’t Have a Grandson with a Dog Collar” (If you search for these on YouTube, preview them before showing them to students. Not all are appropriate for the classroom.)
- Pen/pencil and paper
Directions
- Begin by viewing and discussing the Direct TV commercials. (These will grab your students’ attention.)
- Read and discuss If You Give a Pig a Party and “Good Water,” noting how one thing leads to another and how the endings connect to the beginnings.
- Conduct a whole-class brainstorming session on topics to write about (e.g., water, pigs, parties, eye patches, empowerment, girls, guys, etc.).
- Ask students to choose a topic and let their brains make connections as they write. (They can use words from the poem, like becomes, holds, and breaks, or they can write if-then or when-then type sentences as seen in the picture book and commercials.) Remind them to end where they begin, by repeating the words seen in their first line in their last line.
- Close with a whole-class or small-group share. These also work well in eight-page books, which you can display on a bulletin board.
Found Poem Activity
This poetry lesson is similar to blackout poetry, but students use lines from a specific title they’re studying in class, work with more than one page, and write their words instead of drawing boxes around them. It’s a perfect lesson for integrating poetry into a novel study, whether whole class or individual. For a digital demonstration of the activity used with a picture book, visit Heather Byinton’s “Found Poem GLAD 5th”.
Materials
- Novel or picture book (When using a novel, students will find it helpful to focus on a chapter rather than the entire book.)
- Pen/pencil
- Paper
Directions
- Direct students to decide on a topic, theme, or character from their book.
- Next, have students search a chapter for words and phrases that intrigue them and connect to their chosen topics and write those words and phrases on a sheet of paper.
- Encourage repetition to emphasize tone and mood.
- Finally, ask students to work with the quoted lines to create an original poem.
Haiku Poetry Lesson
When introducing poetry to students, I like to begin with haiku because they find three-line, seventeen-syllable poems more accessible and less intimidating. They need to know how to count syllables (five in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the last), effectively use a literary device (e.g., imagery, personification, etc.), write about nature, and add a twist at the end. I like the twist, a little surprise at the end of the poem, but haiku can be good without it.
Materials
- Pen/pencil
- Paper (Writers’ notebooks give students a nice foundation when writing outside.)
- My “Haiku Lesson Plan” (Not a necessity, but you will find it helpful.)
Directions
- Consider showing “Zombie Haiku” for an attention-getter.
- Discuss haiku characteristics. (Mistersato411 explains it well in his video “You’ve been writing haiku wrong.”)
- Practice syllable counting. (I like to do this with students’ full names where we see who has the most and least syllables. I always win for the least with four syllables–Michelle Lynn Smith.)
- Read and discuss haiku from the masters (Basho, Buson, and Issa), noting the literary devices used and their effect on the poems.
- Go outside to write haiku about nature-related topics.
- To publish, have students enter Tucson’s Haiku Hike, a yearly contest I would love to see in every city! Each participant can enter up to three poems, and winning poems are displayed on signs on a literary trail. What fun! Take a look at the link above to read the winning haiku from previous years. You can also publish every student’s poem with a haiku tree. (Students write their haiku on leaf-shaped construction paper. They design the leaves.)
Headline Poem
Workshops have served me well! This activity is another one I learned at a staff development session. I remember the presenters pointing to every word posted in the classroom, saying, “That’s a poem, and that’s a poem.” I disagree, but the headline poetry lesson is fun. For this activity, students peruse magazines or newspapers for words that appeal to them, cut out the words, and glue them to a paper in a poetic format. It gets them to use vocabulary they normally wouldn’t, and they can work with a partner or small group. For an added challenge, ask them to include a literary device (e.g., metaphor, simile, personification, image) in their poems.
Materials
- Magazines or newspapers
- Scissors
- Glue or tape
- Colorful paper (copy or construction)
Directions
- Read and discuss headline poems. See Joshua Howard’s “Headline Poetry ELA7” for some great examples.
- Allow students to work with a partner to create their poems.
- Ask them to cut out words that appeal to them, focusing on a topic as they hunt.
- Next, have them arrange the words onto a sheet of paper in an order that makes sense and glue the words to the paper.
Imitation Poetry Lessons
With the imitation poetry lesson, students imitate great poems, stealing lines, while at the same time making them their own. Since they are imitating, they should credit the author.
Materials
- Pen/pencil
- Paper
- Poems to imitate as seen in the following resources:
- “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams
- “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon (Students can write a Where-I’m-From poem as seen in this example from Eden Leigh’s “Where I’m From–Poetry Video Project.”) They can also write one for a character in the novel they’re reading. Examples of both are seen in the image below.)
- Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (This novel is written in free verse poems and shows imitation in action with the narrator’s teacher assigning poems to imitate.)
- Little Love Poems such as the following:
I have an entire forest
Living inside me
And you have carved
Your initials
Into every tree. –Pavana
After being
with you, no
one can tell
me that I haven’t
touched
the stars. –A.R. Asher
I have late
night conversations
with the moon,
he tells me about the sun
and I tell him about you. –S.L. Gray
Funny story. My son’s ELA teacher gave her students a handout with little love poems to imitate, and my son chose the one above by S.L. Gray. She shared the poem with me and asked me about Rhea, the girl he wrote about. Rhea is one of our dogs.
Directions
- Provide students with a poem to imitate (or a choice of poems).
- Read and discuss examples and imitations of the poem.
- Give them time to write, reminding them to steal lines while making the poem their own.
- Consider publishing their poems with a volunteer share or videos.
Recipe Poems
Recipe poems help students focus on word choice, especially verbs, because they replace everyday words with more unique, attention-getting language.
Materials
- Cookbooks or recipes (online or handouts)
- Paper
- Pen/pencil
Directions
- Read and discuss sample recipe poems (such as the one seen in the above image or the ones shared at Teachers and Writers Magazine).
- Brainstorm and search recipes for cooking-related words, especially verbs (e.g., stir, bake, baste, etc.).
- Brainstorm topics, and choose one.
- Write about that topic using as much cooking verbiage as possible, while still making sense.
- Extend the lesson by brainstorming words for a chosen activity (e.g., football, choir, orchestra, volleyball, etc.).
- Choose another topic to write about. This time, include words from your second list as you write.
- Close with a whole-class share.
Sijo Poetry Lesson
After studying haiku, move on to sijo, a Korean form of poetry. Like haiku, it has three lines (although it can also be divided into six), with 14-16 syllables on each line. The first line introduces a theme, the second develops it, and the third concludes with a twist or theme.
Materials
- Examples of sijo
- Tap Dancing on the Roof by Linda Sue Park
- Contest from Sejong Cultural Society
- Ian’s winner (a former student of mine)
- 2009 first place winner (one of my favorites)
- Paper
- Pen/pencil
Directions
- Discuss sijo characteristics. (Both Tap Dancing on the Roof and the Sejong Cultural Society are fantastic resources for characteristics and example poems.)
- Read and discuss sijos.
- Write a sijo.
- Enter a poem into the contest. (Ian won $50.00 from the Sejong Cultural Society!)
Related Poetry Lesson Links
Haiku Lesson Plan (found in my TPT store)
“30 Captivating Poetry Activities for Middle School Students” (a blog post from Teaching Expertise)
Poetry Lesson Tips
Share and discuss examples of the poems you expect your students to write.
Allow them time to write and work through the writing process.
Whether it’s a group share, bulletin board, or poetry contest, publish their poems. The recognition students receive is priceless.
Thank you for reading! If you have any questions about these poetry lessons or want to post some of your students’ poems here, type them in the comments.
