Poetry Beyond English Class
Move over English. Poetry is for everyone.
There are so many ways to incorporate poetry into all classrooms. Two easy activities that promote collaboration are Book Spine Poetry and Blackout Poetry.
As example, Gretchen and I brought book spine poetry into a history lesson. Students were given a unit of study and had to create a book spine poem about it. They walked around the library finding books that "spark" but as a catch they could only use two non-fiction books. Everything else had to come from other library shelves. Once the creating was over, we read one another's book spine poetry creation and tried to guess what unit of study they represented. This could be done in almost any subject area.
There are so many ways to incorporate poetry into all classrooms. Two easy activities that promote collaboration are Book Spine Poetry and Blackout Poetry.
As example, Gretchen and I brought book spine poetry into a history lesson. Students were given a unit of study and had to create a book spine poem about it. They walked around the library finding books that "spark" but as a catch they could only use two non-fiction books. Everything else had to come from other library shelves. Once the creating was over, we read one another's book spine poetry creation and tried to guess what unit of study they represented. This could be done in almost any subject area.
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Blackout Poetry is another way to help students discover their inner poet without a lot of pressure. Provide them with any text from your curriculum area, a marker, and you have a poet in the making. It's easy, fun, and offers big impact with little prep because they kids are the ones doing the creating. Gretchen and her co-librarian recently rolled out this activity with their Makerspace Enrichment Program.
Other ways you could incoprate poetry into your curriculum include: |
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Poetry as Processing
Divide students into groups and have each group investigate primary sources from a time period. Next, have students report out on the information or perspective of the primary source using a poem. Have the students share the poems in a historical poetry slam.
Poetry as an Exit
Have students write a three line poem about what they learned in class. Students can then share their poems the next day with other classmates and exit pass poems can be posted in a collective area in the room for everyone to read.
Haiku as Review
Give students a historical figure or event and challenge them to write a haiku about it. Then play guess who. Other students have to guess who the person is or what the event is based on the haiku.
Poetry as Tweets
Challenge students to write a short poem or haiku that is 140 characters long summarizing a historical event, person, historical place or document. Use a classroom twitter feed to share these poetry as tweets with the world.
Poetry as Current Events
Ask students to find a current event and then work individually or in groups to write a poem about it. Poems can be shared in a gallery walk, along with current event articles that inspired the poems.
Progressive Poetry
Have students collectively write a poem that captures the key concepts in a unit. Each student writes one line and then passes it on to the next student. This can be done as a whole class or small group activity.
Book Spine Poetry
Using the titles on book spines, students create poetry on a topic or unit. Encourage students to think more broadly beyond non-fiction titles specific to a time period, using fiction books that evoke events, people, places from the unit.
Headlines as Poetry
Use newspaper headlines to create poems about historical events, people, places or social studies concepts like "freedom" or "democracy." Students are given a theme and then work in pairs to cut out the headlines. They construct a poem out of headlines and then share in a gallery walk.
Poems as Primary Sources
Have students analyze poetry (or song lyrics) as a primary source using OPVL.. To add an extra challenge, students can be tasked with figuring out in what era the poem was written.
Poem Photography
Give students a poem from a historical era and challenge them to find a photograph from that time period to pair with it that represents the theme of the poem. Or in reverse, and even more challenging, offer students a photograph and have them find a poem to pair with it.
Poetry as Timeline
Have students write individual one line poems about historical events. Next have students piece the one line poems together in chronological order to form a historical timeline poem. The beauty of this assignment is that students can work on lines individually and then they can be arranged on a giant piece of paper as a collective work of poetry. Better yet, do a poetry read aloud, allowing each student to read his or her line. Make an audio recording to share.
Divide students into groups and have each group investigate primary sources from a time period. Next, have students report out on the information or perspective of the primary source using a poem. Have the students share the poems in a historical poetry slam.
Poetry as an Exit
Have students write a three line poem about what they learned in class. Students can then share their poems the next day with other classmates and exit pass poems can be posted in a collective area in the room for everyone to read.
Haiku as Review
Give students a historical figure or event and challenge them to write a haiku about it. Then play guess who. Other students have to guess who the person is or what the event is based on the haiku.
Poetry as Tweets
Challenge students to write a short poem or haiku that is 140 characters long summarizing a historical event, person, historical place or document. Use a classroom twitter feed to share these poetry as tweets with the world.
Poetry as Current Events
Ask students to find a current event and then work individually or in groups to write a poem about it. Poems can be shared in a gallery walk, along with current event articles that inspired the poems.
Progressive Poetry
Have students collectively write a poem that captures the key concepts in a unit. Each student writes one line and then passes it on to the next student. This can be done as a whole class or small group activity.
Book Spine Poetry
Using the titles on book spines, students create poetry on a topic or unit. Encourage students to think more broadly beyond non-fiction titles specific to a time period, using fiction books that evoke events, people, places from the unit.
Headlines as Poetry
Use newspaper headlines to create poems about historical events, people, places or social studies concepts like "freedom" or "democracy." Students are given a theme and then work in pairs to cut out the headlines. They construct a poem out of headlines and then share in a gallery walk.
Poems as Primary Sources
Have students analyze poetry (or song lyrics) as a primary source using OPVL.. To add an extra challenge, students can be tasked with figuring out in what era the poem was written.
Poem Photography
Give students a poem from a historical era and challenge them to find a photograph from that time period to pair with it that represents the theme of the poem. Or in reverse, and even more challenging, offer students a photograph and have them find a poem to pair with it.
Poetry as Timeline
Have students write individual one line poems about historical events. Next have students piece the one line poems together in chronological order to form a historical timeline poem. The beauty of this assignment is that students can work on lines individually and then they can be arranged on a giant piece of paper as a collective work of poetry. Better yet, do a poetry read aloud, allowing each student to read his or her line. Make an audio recording to share.
These ideas originally appeared in two blog posts: