Personal Poetry Connections

In addition to working with a variety of poetic forms over the past week, students have also been researching previously published poetry with which they may feel some sort of connection. Perhaps it's the subject of the poem (sports, favorite past-times, favorite animals) or the type of poem (silly, personal, reflective), but students have been discussing that good poetry connects to the reader, even those readers who are in middle school!

In an effort to reinforce the skills of "mapping" poetry, identifying the use of poetic devices (metaphor, symbolism, rhyme scheme, etceteras) in the writing of others, as well as, to facilitate the understanding of poetry's connective power, students have been using a Poetry Research graphic organizer to keep track of their responses and reflections.

The process for completing this activity is inherent in the graphic organizer, and at its simplest level requires students to:

1) identify a poem

2) cite the poems source

3) copy either the entire poem or an excerpt in their own handwriting onto loose-leaf

4) "map" the poem

5) idenitfy a connection to the poem.

Read Up and Write On!