Poetry Lesson - Appalachian State University



Laura Thompson

Poetry Lesson Reflection

The students I work with are struggling, beginning readers in first grade. I work in small groups of five at a time. I taught a lesson about writing I poems to each of my four groups.

The literary model I used was I am a Leaf by Jean Marzollo. I began by reading this book to the students and explaining that sometimes authors “pretend” to be whatever they are writing about. I emphasized throughout the story that the leaf was talking.

My goal in teaching this lesson was to help the students see themselves as writers and authors but also as poets. Through questioning I guided the students to stretch their sentences to include more detail. I also focused on phonic skills as I helped the students sound out the words they would write. After each sentence I had the students go back and read what they had written which helped with their fluency.

After reading the story I turned the lesson toward the topic of our poems which was family members. As a class we brainstormed family members and what they do for their families. Together we created a tree map about a mama. The students all gave ideas of things mama would wonder (think) about, see, feel and hear. Some of the responses did not necessarily make sense with our poem. For example, mama “sees snakes” or “hears bears.” However, through guidance and questioning the students were able to produce some very interesting ideas. For example, one said mama “feels sad when she has to leave her children to go to work” and another said mama “wonders about what she can do for her children.” With the tree map as a guide we wrote an I poem. I asked the children to pick one answer from each column and together we turned it into a sentence. I wrote the sentence on the chart paper.

The next day the students completed their own tree map about a different member of a family with help from me as needed. I found that one of the hardest things for the students to do was to put themselves in the place of someone else. I constantly had to remind them that daddy or grandpa or brother was talking – not them.

After completing their tree maps, the students used them to write their poems, just as we had as a class. Before writing each sentence the students told me what they wanted to write and I helped them make sure it was a sentence and made sense.

The final step was to have the students illustrate their poems which they thoroughly enjoyed doing. I displayed the poems in the hall outside of my classroom.

I hope that the students realize after completing this project that they are poets as well as authors. I want the students to know that there are many different types of writing and that they can write in different genres. I hope to see an improvement in their reading and writing as a result of this lesson. I would like to see that the students think about what to write before writing and how to stretch their sentences to include more details. Upon completion I assessed the success of the lesson by asking myself the following questions.

• Did all of the students successfully complete an I poem about a family member?

o Yes, each student wrote and illustrated an I poem.

• Is the poem told exclusively from the point of view of the family member?

o Yes, but it was very difficult for these students to put their self in the place of someone else.

• Do the poems have sentences that make sense and include details?

o Yes, with guidance the students stretched their sentences to include details.

• What was the attitude of the students at the beginning, middle and end of writing the poems?

o The students were very excited about being poets and writing their own poems. They began really well and worked extremely hard throughout. After we had been working on the poems for several days some students began to become frustrated with not being finished, but they continued to work. Upon completion, the students were very proud of their work and were excited to see it displayed in the hall. They felt proud and successful. They are excited that they will get to see their poems on the internet.

At the completion of the project I asked the students the following questions.

• Did you like writing and illustrating your own poem?

o The students said they liked writing the poem, especially drawing the pictures.

• How did it feel to pretend to be another member of your family?

o One boy said he liked it when he pretended to see the dog in the road. Some said it was hard, some said it was easy.

• What was your favorite part about writing this poem?

o They liked coloring and drawing the picture the best.

• What was your least favorite part about writing this poem?

o A few students said they didn’t like writing.

• Do you want to write another I poem one day?

o Yes. One student said he wants to write a poem about a couch who gets bought and thrown away then found by a boy.

• Do you want to learn about other kinds of poems?

o Yes.

Completing this assignment reminded me how important it is to give students encouragement and support as they carry out a task we assign them. With this support they can successfully complete it. I was very proud of my students and touched by the poems they wrote. At times I felt overwhelmed at trying to get them finished but the students stuck in there and did a fantastic job. Through this assignment the students learned that they can be not only authors but poets as well. They also learned about what a poem is. They were forced to focus on another member of their family which caused them to think about someone other than themselves. While writing I stressed sound and letter relationships as this is a focus of our instruction at this time. Writing the letters as we talked about the sounds helped to reinforce the sounds. The students said they enjoyed writing the poems and would like to do them again sometime. I am sure we will.

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