"The Right Time for Tight Rhyme"
Plan for 14 Lessons
The format of all these classes will be essentially the same (though very flexible in how it plays out), revolving around a 30-page "book" of poetry and worksheet pages which I will hand out on the first day of class. Each session will begin with classroom discussion of the topic at hand; then, we'll read the relevant poem or example in our "book"; go into teams or to individual desks to complete the day's exercise; I'll walk around, kids will let me know when they need help, or when they're done, and I'll go through their poems with them; then, kids (who want to) will read their poems aloud. As time permits, of course. Also, you'll notice there are fourteen lessons here, but I am only slated to teach 11 weeks, so a couple of the lessons will be eliminated or combined (poems marked with an asterisk* are likely candidates for being cut). If you have ideas or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Hopefully we can have some fun!

  1. Rhyming Contest

    2. Beginning with Shel Silverstein's "If the World Was Crazy," we will explore the fascinating world of rhyme. We'll discuss words that rhyme and don't rhyme, and try to figure out what "rhyme" means. Then I'll have two kids come up to the front of the class, and one will say a word, and the other will respond with a word that rhymes. Then we'll go to our desks and each write a poem in rhyming couplets, which can sound like "If the World Was Crazy."

  2. Acrostics

    3. I'll begin by putting someone's initials on the board (probably my own) and then have the class think of how many little clusters of three words they can write that begin with those three letters. They should come up with a variety of possibilities. Then we'll look at the feature poem "Chocolate," with several children reading the lines and then spelling the letters aloud to form the word, "chocolate." The writing assignment for this class will be to write one or more acrostics using the writer's first name.

  3. Questions I Ask

    4. This lesson is all about question poetry. After I interrogate the class using questions, and ask them why people use questions (answer: to get information), we'll read Untermeyer's Questions at Night. Then we'll go to our desks and write our own question-based poems.

  4. Lists of Things I Like

    5. This lesson will introduce the kids to list or catalog poetry. We'll read poems aloud, including Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" and "Hector the Collector" by Shel Silverstein. As a class, we'll make lists together, in certain categories on the board (e.g. "clothes I like," "songs I like"). Then we'll return to our desks to write a poem in the style of "Hector."

  5. Smiles and Similes

    6. We'll read an original poem "Smiles and Similes" as a way of introducing the concept of comparison in poetry. We'll read a few other poems that use simile to illustrate meaning, I'll write them on the board, and we'll discuss them. Then we'll write our own simile-based poems.

  6. What is a Metaphor For?

    7. We'll read "Mrs. Moon" by Roger McGough as a way of introducing the concept of metaphorical comparison in poetry. We'll read a few other poems that use metaphor to illustrate meaning, I'll write them on the board, and we'll discuss them. Then we'll write our own metaphor-based poems.

  7. Nonsense!!!

    8. Beginning with a reading of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky," some Dylan Thomas, and a few other nursery rhymes, we'll talk about true craziness in poetry. We'll make up silly sentences on the board. Then we'll read Ashbery's "Crone Variations" and do a poem that loosely follows the rules of this great avant-garde poem (every line must contain a kind of fruit, the name of a friend, the word "bathtub" and a kind of furniture).

  8. People in my World

    9. Using Shel Silverstein's "Hard to Please" (or possibly John Ashbery's "Into the Dusk-Charged Air") we'll talk about the beauty of proper nouns, the importance of putting real people in our poems and identifying them by name. Everyone will say the name of a person outside the classrom, first and last, and we'll write the names on the board. The kids will write in their books an imitation of "Hard to Please" (alternate assignment based on Ashbery's poem).
  9. Opposites

    10. This lesson will introduce the students to the virtue of contrast (or juxtaposition)in poetry. I'll tell them several internally contrasted (oxymoronic) phrases, such as "gigantic speck" and "square ball." I'll read a few poems from books that use contrast to get their meaning across. Then we'll read "Comparisons" and talk about how it uses contrast within each line. The kids will get into teams of four (or two) and come up with a list of ten things that are opposites, the funnier the better, recording their team's ideas into their books. Each team will present its findings to the class.
  10. Bragging Poetry

    11. This lesson will focus on bragging, especially as it happens in ancient folk poetry (if time permits, we'll look at the Finnsh epic, "Kalevala") and contemporary rap/house music "I'm all that" by the Fresh Prince, Will Smith (see also LL Cool J "I'm Bad," Run DMC's "King of Rock," and "Rappers Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang). I'll bring in a boombox and play a few moments of especially lyrical bragging. The writing assignment will be to write your own rap, telling specifically why you are better than everyone else around you, and how you intend to stay that way.

  11. Nighttime is the Right Time*

    12. Lessons 11 through 14 focus on the subject matter of poetry. Now that the kids have mastered the method of writing poetry, they have a chance to take on a few subjects of their own… The first is "things that happen at night" – turning on lights, eating dinner, watching movies, going to bed, getting scared dreaming, hearing noises, waking up to go to the bathroom, etc. I'll read "Night Creature" by Lilian Moore, and the kids will spend most of the period writing the best, most comprehensive poem they can think of on this subject.

  12. Food, Food, Delicious Food

    13. Very, very similar to class 10, but this time we focus on the glories of food. I'll read Jack Prelutsky's "Spaghetti Nut" and a few other poems, and the kids will spend most of the period writing the best, most comprehensive poem they can think of on this subject. Kids will let me know when they're done, or if they need help, and I'll go through their poems with them. Then, anyone who wants to will read his or her poem aloud. (see also Gwendolyn Brooks, "The Bean Eaters")
  13. The Animals Are Laughing at Us

    14. This lesson encourages kids to think about animals as a subject for poetry. We'll read aloud poems by Rudyard Kipling and a passage from T.S. Eliot's "Cats." Then we'll take turns reading stanzas from the feature poem, "An Introduction to Dogs" by Ogden Nash. The writing assignment will be "Pick an animal and write whatever you want to about it."

  14. Time and the Bell*

    15. And finally, we'll talk about time in poetry. We'll talk about tense as a way of writing poetry – looking at poems about things that have happened, are happening, happen, and will happen. We'll draw a time line on the board, stretching over thousands of years, and then read samples of poems about things that happened during different times in history, and mark them on the timeline. Then we'll read Emily Brontë's "Past, Present, Future" as well as possibly selections from Eliot's Four Quartets – poems in which time is the subject. The writing assignment for this lesson will be to write about something that will happen in the future.