10 Minute Grammar 15: Teaching Beginning Poetry for Upper Elementary (Part II of II)

2022-11-25

Poetry writing is often avoided by teachers and disliked by students. I’m a firm believer that it doesn’t have to be this way! As a matter of fact, I believe we can change any outlook on writing if we teach students all of the skills needed for each type of writing! On today’s episode, I start by reviewing the first three steps from last week’s episode. Plan for poetry teaching to be a process—not a one and done event. Read aloud from poetry during reading, content areas, unit studies, etc. Use fun, whimsical, silly, and enjoyable poetry books for rea...

Poetry writing is often avoided by teachers and disliked by students. I’m a firm believer that it doesn’t have to be this way!

As a matter of fact, I believe we can change any outlook on writing if we teach students all of the skills needed for each type of writing!

On today’s episode, I start by reviewing the first three steps from last week’s episode.

Plan for poetry teaching to be a process—not a one and done event.
Read aloud from poetry during reading, content areas, unit studies, etc.
Use fun, whimsical, silly, and enjoyable poetry books for read aloud.
Use familiar yet simple verses for them to highlight and code the rhyme scheme and syllabication with you. (Give them copies of the ones you will teach rhyme scheme from.)
Teach the two parts of rhyme scheme using highlighters to code the rhyming words at the end of the lines.

In today’s episode, I cover the next six steps I follow in teaching poetry writing to middle schoolers:

Have students fill in rhyming words boxes extensively.
Use couplets with A-A rhyme scheme and short lines at first.
Have students finish simple couplets and A-A-B-B poems.

-easy rhymes that are familiar (“Humpty Dumpty” and “Rain, Rain, Go Away,” etc)

-simple lines that you make up for them to finish

Then have them move into original A-A poetry writing.
Move into A-B-A-B poems that you finish together.
Then move to original A-B-A-B poems that they write alone or with you as a group.

Check out my creative, fun, engaging month-long Christmas writing books! They’re available at the LAL store!

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