Casey Robinson

Language Arts

Craft Minilesson

Grade 7

Oct 10, 2004

Focusing Content in Poetry

Review (2-3 minutes): Have students recall in class what experience they have had in writing poetry. Once they have shared, the teacher can get an idea of what students may already be familiar with this topic so they can help students struggling with focusing content. Review Haikus and Cinquains by reminding students of their structure and posting descriptions around the classroom. This will be the second lesson in the Improving Your Poetry Unit.

Introduction (2 minutes): The teacher should explain to students that there is more to good poetry than rhymes and structure. A good poem has a focused content throughout the work. This minilesson will explain the concept briefly so students can have the class period to write examples and practice focused poetry. By the end of the class time, students should have improved their ability to focus the content in their poetry to make them more effective.

Points/Objectives:

• Students will improve their ability to express a developed idea through poetry (NC ELA Goal 1).
• Students will formulate criteria to evaluate poetry and use these to analyze poetry (NC ELA Goal 4).
• Students will read poems and analyze the authors use of theme and content (NC ELA Goal 5).
• Students will apply conventions of grammar and language by writing their own poems (NC ELA Goal 6).
• Students will learn to format poetry to make it the most meaningful to the readers.

Materials Needed: copies of the poem example, including an overhead copy and an overhead.

Guided Practice (15 minutes): Students should each receive a copy of Smart by Shel Silverstein to look at and make notes on. Teacher: “This is a cute poem that makes a wonderful example of focusing content. In every stanza, almost every line, a statement or point is made about how smart the narrator is”. The teacher can read through the poem with the students and underline or highlight every time the poem relates back to the title. This can give an idea of how a wonderful poem is organized to make a point.

Smart

My dad gave me one dollar bill

'Cause I'm his smartest son,

And I swapped it for two shiny quarters

'Cause two is more than one!

And then I took the quarters

And traded them to Lou

For three dimes -- I guess he don't know

That three is more than two!

Just then, along came old blind Bates

And just 'cause he can't see

He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,

And four is more than three!

And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs

Down at the seed-feed store,

And the fool gave me five pennies for them,

And five is more than four!

And then I went and showed my dad,

And he got red in the cheeks

And closed his eyes and shook his head--

Too proud of me to speak!

- Shel Silverstein

Teacher: “When you write poetry you should have a theme in mind. Making sure your poem continuously relates back to the theme or main idea you intend to write about will make a more concise, powerful statement”.

Independent Practice (remainder of class): Have students pick a theme or topic and write several poems about that topic. They can choose the form of poetry they want, but suggest short formats such as Haiku and Cinquain for them to use. Walk around the class and guide students writing. Assure them that this can be a difficult thing to do even for adult writers and that it is ok to not get it right the first few times. Students can also look at each other’s work and suggest changes that could focus the poem around the central theme.

Closure/Expectations: Students should bring in a typed poem for share with the class the next meeting if they are comfortable sharing. Students are expected to have written out one complete poem with a central theme that is obvious to the reader/audience.