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You’re a Poet, and You Know It

Poetry Residency Follow-up Activities for Students

 

 

·  Start a poetry journal to collect ideas, words and phrases you might later use in poems. Try to write down at least one idea each day – even if it’s just a vague idea that you can’t imagine any future for. You’ll be surprised how good those ideas seem when you come back to them later.

 

·  Recall a time when you were younger, when something important changed in your life. Write brief notes on whatever comes to your mind. Select the most vivid or details or the details that stand out the most in your memory, and organize them into a poem.

 

·  Think of a color. Make a list of everything you can think of that is that color. Include both physical things and ideas or feelings. For example, if your color is green, your list could include grass and jealousy. If your color is blue, the list could include the ocean and sadness. Write a poem using the things on your list.

 

·  Choose a phrase that makes you think about different experiences you’ve had. (Some possibilities are: “I have learned…,” “One fine day…,” “When I’m in charge…”). Write a poem that repeats that beginning but gives it at least eight different endings. OR Try a combination of beginnings (such as “I’ve never been/I’ve always been/I’ll never be/I’ll always be…”). Write a poem that uses each beginning at least twice.

 

·  Make lists of rhyming one-, two- and three-syllable words. Make list of alliterative phrases of two or more words. Write a rhyming poem (at least four lines, longer if you want) with words from your lists.

 

·  Choose a day to hold a Poetry Party. April is National Poetry Month – an excellent time for such a celebration! Choose a poem you’ve worked on and revised and made just as wonderful as you can make it, and read it aloud in front of the class. Bow graciously, to thunderous applause.