Looking for some poetry help.

I teach 7th grade English and will be beginning our poetry unit after break. I never know quite how to introduce it to students and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas. I'm also always on the lookout for any good poetry lessons you have come across and any favorite poems you could suggest to share with the kids. TIA!!!

Re: Looking for some poetry help.

Hi. When I have introduced poetry to my students in the past (I teach grades 7-12 and find it works for any of these grade levels) I always do formulaic poetry to start. There are tons of sites that provide handouts on these poems (I Am, Cinquain, 5 W's, etc.) and they are all very straightforwards and easy to complete. I do this usually for Poetry Month and have them do about 10 poems and collect it as a unit. I will always have them choose their favorite and create a piece of artwork and write their poem on it. After this unit I will introduce poems from their textbook and any other poems I like so that they are already in poetry-mode. HTH

Re: Looking for some poetry help.

Thanks! Anyone else?

Re: Looking for some poetry help.

I typed you a WHOLE response, and then the darn site stopped working. Let's try this again...

So I do two different things. (I also teach HS, so what's appropriate varies from middle school, obviously.) I always start off with showing some Def Poetry poems (when I find ones with appropriate language for school -- they're on Youtube now) because they get SO inspired by "cool" people who like poetry.

Then, I do the Poetry Supermarket. They each bring in a favorite poem (can be Dr. Seuss for all I care), tape it to the wall, and then walk around and "shop" for their favorite ones. Then we talk about Def Poetry and the poems they brought... it gives them a chance, in my experience, to talk about poetry before they feel like they don't know what to say.

Hope this helps!

Re: Looking for some poetry help.

Do a google search for songs that contain poetic devices. I did that when we started poetry and I found there were so many songs that contained similes, metaphors, personification, etc. I teach 7th grade too!

Re: Looking for some poetry help.

BUMP