A) Write a short poem about your classroom.
Answers
Answer:
How to Write Short Poems
Get Inspired. Carry the inspiration until something sparks. ...
Just Say It. Challenge yourself to tell a story or describe a moment in, say, no more than five lines. ...
Select Your Words. ...
Read. ...
Style. ...
Get Some Space. ...
Share.
Explanation:
Teaching with a theme and its accompanying guiding questions isn't new to most of us, and the majority of teachers maintain a ready repertoire of methods to establish themes for classroom novels or other literature units (see some ideas and a huge list of Universal Themes in my How to Teach a Novel Handout). The perfect poem, however, can lead to a wonderful writing reflection or discussion that allows students to construct the theme and essential questions for themselves.
Recommended sites and texts for theme
The Children's Poetry Archive groups poems by themes, and my class always enjoys reflecting upon poems about death since, after all, every novel we read seems to be about death! Many poems on this site are read aloud by their authors, and my students especially love hearing The Carrion Crow read aloud.
A common theme in upper elementary and middle school novels is Change. Encourage an in-depth study of Change using Paul Janeczko's examination of Nothing Gold Can Stay in his new Heinemann title Reading Poetry in the Middle Grades. This highly recommended book features 20 thought-provoking poems from contemporary writers, with extensive lesson plans which help students to better understand each poem, and to apply it to other texts and their own experiences.
Students can compose and publish their own poems using the Theme Poems interactive from ReadWriteThink.