Introduction
Welcome!
I am so excited about our poetry unit for 7th/8th grade Creative Writing. Our objectives are to:
- Recognize, understand, and use figurative language.
- Compare and contrast various forms and genres of poetry.
- Describe the impact of word choice, imagery, and literary devices including figurative language.
- Reflect on how the author’s style, word choice, and use of imagery influence personal understanding and reaction to a text.
Task
Your tasks are to explore different forms of poetry and identify poetic elements through reading work of well known poets. Your culminating project will involve you writing your own original poems!
Process
Here are your tasks:
1. Using the website http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/index.html, define the following terms in your Writer's Notebooks:
-alliteration -onomatopoeia -stanza
-assonance -oxymoron -verse
-consonance -personification -internal rhyme
-hyperbole -point of view
-metaphor -simile
2. Recall the types of poems we learned about in class (couplet, haiku, acrostic, etc.) Visit the websites below and read all poems. Using your notes, identify at least two poetic elements in each. Be prepared to share your responses with the class.
a. Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
b. Mother to Son by Langston Hughes
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177021
c. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/road-not-taken
d. I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman
http://www.whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/1891/poems/19
e. Flying Pigeons by Margarita Engle
http://www.jackmagazine.com/issue8/poetrymengle.html
3. Now, you are ready to become a poet yourself! For your culminating project, you will create a Poetry Portfolio through PowerPoint. Your portfolio must include one of each of the following:
-couple
-haiku
-quatrain
-cinquain
-ode
-sonnet
-acrostic
-free verse
Your poems can be on any topic (school appropriate, of course). Be creative and have fun! Try to switch up the tone/mood in your poems. One poem (and image) per slide. Include a title slide as well. Be sure to fulfill the requirements of each type of poem.
Evaluation
____/5 Title Page NAME: _____________________
___Thoughtful, typed title that connects to poems (avoids “My Poems” or “Portfolio”)
___Illustration is thoughtful, related to title.
____/10 Poem #1:
___Poem adheres to guidelines
___Poem is interesting and creative, using figurative language, sensory language, and/or components of structure discussed in class
____/10 Poem #2:
___Poem adheres to guidelines
___Poem is interesting and creative, using figurative language, sensory language, and/or components of structure discussed in class
____/10 Poem #3:
___Poem adheres to guidelines
___Poem is interesting and creative, using figurative language, sensory language, and/or components of structure discussed in class
____/10 Poem #4:
___Poem adheres to guidelines
___Poem is interesting and creative, using figurative language, sensory language, and/or components of structure discussed in class
____/10 Poem #5:
___Poem adheres to guidelines
___Poem is interesting and creative, using figurative language, sensory language, and/or components of structure discussed in class
____/10 Poem #6:
___Poem adheres to guidelines
___Poem is interesting and creative, using figurative language, sensory language, and/or components of structure discussed in class
____/10 Poem #7:
___Poem adheres to guidelines
___Poem is interesting and creative, using figurative language, sensory language, and/or components of structure discussed in class
____/10 Poem #8:
___Poem adheres to guidelines
___Poem is interesting and creative, using figurative language, sensory language, and/or components of structure discussed in class
____/85
Conclusion
Please respond to the following reflection questions:
1. What was the most difficult part of this project?
2. What did you learn?
3. Looking back, what improvements could you have made to your project?
4. From the poems that you read, which author was your favorite, and why?
5. Which was your favorite poem? What poetic elements did it contain?
6. What would be your advice for my students completing this project next semester?