Today's Little Ditty: poet in the schools series

Showing posts with label poet in the schools series. Show all posts

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Laura Shovan: Fractured Fairy Tale Workshop

Title card from the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, via Jonathan Morris

Sorry to say we do not have Rocky and Bullwinkle with us today, but we do have someone equally entertaining (some might say more so).

Laura Shovan is here with the next episode in her Poet in the Schools series on Today's Little Ditty— a look at a fractured fairy tale workshop she developed for the classroom.

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Hi, Michelle. Thank you for inviting me back to Today's Little Ditty.

I love fairy tale retellings. One of our family favorites is Jane Yolen’s book SLEEPING UGLY—a hilarious, earthy twist on traditional princess tales.

Another is Marilyn Singer’s first book of reverso poems, MIRROR MIRROR. Marilyn uses the reverso form to tell familiar stories—Rapunzel, the Frog Prince, Beauty and the Beast—from two very different points of view. More on that later.

This spring, I put together a fractured fairy tale poetry workshop for a local third grade. We had so much fun writing these poems. The students relished the chance to give a minor or misunderstood character the chance to tell his side of a famous story. This workshop complements the persona poem lesson we discussed in my last TLD post. Instead of a postcard or image of a person to work from, we’re taking a story we know well and fleshing out an existing character.

For educators, my goal for this lesson was this:

Students will list details of a familiar story, analyze for plot holes and characterization, and use point of view to create an alternate version of the story in a narrative poem.

The classroom teachers and I started this workshop by introducing the concept of a fairy tale retelling. Students were already familiar with books, though not always aware that they fit into this specific genre. One favorite was THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith.

Next, students generated a list of fairy tales in small groups. As a whole class, we began to discuss which characters, other than the traditional protagonist, we’d like to hear from. I love when students contribute outside-the-box ideas—letting the hill tell the story of Jack and Jill’s fall, or the porridge narrate what really happened when Goldilocks came to the bears’ house.

Using an overhead projector, I showed the students MIRROR MIRROR. We read “In the Hood” (spoken by Red Riding Hood and the Wolf) first, so students could check out the reverso form. They flipped out when they realized that the wolf’s poem is identical to Little Red’s poem—only the lines are reversed. And yet the meaning is totally different. Wow! Marilyn Singer is brilliant.

"In the Hood" from MIRROR MIRROR (Dutton Books) © 2010 Marilyn Singer, illustration © 2010 Josée Masse.
Used with permission of the author. (Click image to enlarge.)

I chose a different poem from this book for the lesson model. “Bears in the News” is a little bit longer and includes more details, which supports the lesson goal. The first half of “Bears in the News” tells the Goldilocks story from the human point of view, while the second part takes the bear family’s side.

If time permits, I like to walk younger students through the pre-writing process on the board before they head off to write their own poems. You may not need this step for fifth grade and up. We broke down the writing process in this way:

1.    List the facts of the fairy tale.
2.    Consider possible characters.
3.    Worksheet (see below).
4.    Who is narrating?
5.    Write!
6.    Share.

Here are two first draft responses from third grade poets at Bushy Park Elementary in Glenwood, MD:

GASTON

I am very mad
because I’m not the one who’s bad.

I’m prepared to fight the beast.
At my tavern there will be a feast.

I’ll carry Belle away
and marry her today.

That’s my plan,
to be a man,

to have Belle as my wife.
Kids? Gaston Jr. will be our ninth!

PAPA BEAR

One day, I took a walk in the woods
and when I came home
my house was destroyed.
I was very mad. Who did this?
I walked around and then
I saw a little girl in my son’s bed.
Why and how could she do this?
But she’s so tiny.
Then I realized she was sleeping.
I woke her up and she screamed.
I nearly tripped over something
because she scared
the living daylights out of me.
Then, when I opened my eyes,
she was gone.

My favorite line in this poem is “But she’s so tiny.” It communicates Papa Bear’s empathy for poor little Goldilocks beautifully.

To extend this workshop, I recommend Jane Yolen and Rebecca Kai Dotlich’s GRUMBLES FROM THE FOREST: FAIRY-TALE VOICES WITH A TWIST (WordSong, 2013). My favorite poem to share is “Whining Stepsisters Brag,” from the Cinderella story.

If you’re working with teens, check out Anna Denise’s “How to Change a Frog into a Prince” at Poetry 180 and Anne Sexton’s well-known and very dark revision of “Cinderella.”

Thank you, Laura!
We always enjoy discovering what's in your educational toolbox.

If you're new to these parts, make sure you check out Laura's previous posts on Today's Little Ditty:

Laura Shovan is former editor for Little Patuxent Review and editor of two poetry anthologies. Her chapbook, Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone, won the inaugural Harriss Poetry Prize. Laura works with children as a poet-in-the-schools. The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary is her debut novel-in-verse for children (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House).

Visit her at Laura Shovan.com.

Next month Carrie Clickard will be here with a new installment in her Rhyme Crime Investigator series. If you have a question for Carrie or want to suggest a rhyme-related topic, please send an email to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com, or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right.

Last Friday's interview with Jane Yolen revealed that we will be writing septercets this month. We began this week with a Two Line Tuesday from Jane, followed by septercets from Ann Magee and Linda Baie. Visit our September 2016 padlet to see all of the poems contributed so far, or to add one of your own.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is our gracious Poetry Friday host this week. See what's on offer at The Poem Farm.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Laura Shovan: Writing Persona Poems

Students from The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary
Jacket art © 2016 by Abigail Halpin

Hooray!!!

Laura Shovan is back, as promised.

In last week's spotlight interview, Laura revealed the DMC challenge for May is to write a persona poem. While she gave some hints about how to write such a poem, we thought it might be helpful to examine the process in more detail. So today Laura wears not only her verse novelist hat, but also her TLD contributor hat, to share her insights and experience as a poet in the schools.

Laura Shovan's previous posts on Today's Little Ditty include:

Today we'll discover how Laura shares the process of writing persona poems with elementary students and whether she applied the same process in writing her novel-in-verse:

Thank you for inviting me back to Today’s Little Ditty, Michelle. Our DMC Challenge combines elements of ekphrastic poetry—we’re using a visual image of a person as a writing prompt—and one of my favorite forms, the persona poem. You can find a definition of the form HERE. While a portrait poem describes a person, a persona poem is spoken in the voice of that person.

My love of persona poems began in college, when I studied Dramatic Writing. Instead of writing plays, I found myself focusing on monologues. Monologues combine voice (diction, word choice), point of view (the thread of the speaker’s thought process through the piece), and a moment of change or realization. After college, I continued to write these monologues in the form of persona poems.

I enjoy working with students on persona poems for several reasons. The form is great for teaching first person point of view. For some children and teens, it's a stretch to imagine what another person might be thinking about or feeling. Writing a poem is a safe way to wonder about someone else's personality and experiences, and therefore build compassion.

Writing a persona poem does require a lot of imagination, so I like to give students structure as they draft.

Mummy Case of Lady Teshat

Click HERE for more info
and to zoom in on the image.

1. Someone to look at.

The backbone of this writing prompt is simple. I pass around postcards or photographs clipped from newspapers and magazines. Sometimes we have fine art portraits provided by the school's art teacher. Students choose one portrait or card to focus on. Having a concrete visual in front of them provides tangible details to record in the poem.

2. Start with what's real.

I put one image on the screen or board for the group to discuss. The sarcophagus called Mummy Case of Lady Teshat is a favorite.

In looking at the image, I split our discussion into two parts. First, we list the facts – the things we can actually see. There is no guessing allowed. We might point out that the sarcophagus is highly decorated, that there is jewelry on her hair, that the coffin is made of wood. Do we know what's inside? No – we put that kind of imagining aside until we have all our facts written down.

3. Imagine what's not seen.

Once we've exhausted the details of the image, we explore what we think. Now we let our imaginations run wild. Who is the person in the painting or photograph? Where is he going and why? How is he feeling? What might happen next?

When it's time to write, the students who need organization make a t-chart. On one side, they'll write "I see" and list all of the things they observe in the image they chose. The other side of the chart is space for "I imagine."

And that brings me to another type of learning that happens with persona poems. Because we are talking about what we see (the facts) and then imagining what is unseen (what happens next, or the person's feelings), this exercise models the process of writing poetry. Poets take concrete observations and present them in a way that creates emotional impact or some kind of revelation. That's exactly what we do in a persona poem.

Malaika N. was a fifth grader at Swansfield Elementary who used Lady Teshat as her inspiration. Take a look at Malaika’s response to the sarcophagus.

Mummy of Lady Teshat
by Malaika N.

Mummified lady.
The casket resembles her.
Triangles and designs are all over.
She has dark hair and big eyes.
Inside, she screams to come out.
The gathering anger of 10,000 years
with a powerful kick will set her free.
Now she roams free.
She also roams unseen.
Now she is as weak as a baby bird.
She crumples to the ground.
Her dust finds it way back.
She is forever trapped in what she calls
the box of the afterlife.

The early lines of the poem reflect the “facts” of the image. When the poet allows her imagination to roam, the result is powerful.

Michelle asked me how I used this process to develop the characters in THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY. While I didn’t write in response to an image, I did rely on the “Facts” versus “I imagine” structure.

Brianna Holmes

When I came up with the character of Brianna Holmes, I only knew one thing about her: Her family was homeless. A neighbor of mine works with our local school system, providing support to homeless families. [Stay tuned for a forthcoming interview with her neighbor at Laura's blog.] Because Emerson Elementary is modeled on schools in my area, it was important to include a homeless character.

The “fact” I knew was that motels are a form of temporary housing for homeless families. What I imagined was that a homeless fifth grade girl would want to visit at each of her classmates’ houses, because doing so would help her plan what her own home might be like. With this combination of fact and imagination, I wrote the list poem, “Where They Live.”

From there, I continued to imagine how being homeless might affect Brianna’s point of view. I took the stanza in “Where They Live” where Brianna observes her classmates’ closet full of clothes, and imagined that Brianna had a passion for fashion. But because I knew (Fact) her family was struggling, I imagined that Brianna would have to get creative. That is how this character became adept at sewing, embellishing, and making over her clothes. The quality of resourcefulness came to define Brianna’s personality, more so than her homelessness. In fact, the first time we meet Brianna in the book, we learn about her creativity with clothes, not that she is homeless.

I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s DMC persona poems. I hope you have fun inhabiting someone else’s voice while you’re writing.

Thank you, Laura, for challenging us to stretch ourselves!

Laura Shovan is former editor for Little Patuxent Review and editor of two poetry anthologies. Her chapbook, Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone, won the inaugural Harriss Poetry Prize. Laura works with children as a poet-in-the-schools. The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, her debut novel-in-verse for children, was released last month by Wendy Lamb Books/Random House.

Visit her at Laura Shovan.com.

This week we featured poems by
Diane Mayr and Angelique Pacheco.

If you'd like to try your hand at writing a persona poem...

Send it to TodaysLittleDitty (at) gmail (dot) com or use the contact form in the sidebar to the right. Some poems may be published on the blog as daily ditties, but all of them will appear in a wrap-up celebration on Friday, May 27, 2016.

You're welcome to send me the photograph, painting, or other image that inspired your poem as long as I can properly attribute the artist/photographer. Feel free to use your own photographs, works of art in the public domain, or works that fall under a "creative commons" license, but make sure to send me the link for proper copyright attribution.

One lucky participant will win a personalized copy of Laura Shovan's fantastic new verse novel for middle grade readers, THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY.

Thank you to Violet Nesdoly for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup.

Friday, January 22, 2016

Laura Shovan: Report from ALA Midwinter

I'm always delighted when Laura Shovan comes to pay a visit. I know I can count on her for buzz-generating discussion and/or something fun thing to try at home or in the classroom.

Her previous posts on Today's Little Ditty include:

Today she's brought BOOKS to buzz about— previews of several 2016 poetry-related titles that she discovered at ALA Midwinter.

The one book that she barely touches upon, however, is her own THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House), coming April 12th. Ordinarily, I wouldn't let her get away with something like that, but I promise we'll be taking a closer look at Ms. Hill's fifth grade classroom later this spring. In the meantime, you can visit Laura's snazzy new website for more information.

Take it away, Laura!

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Thanks for inviting me back to TLD, Michelle.

I have been to the ALA Summer conference a few times, when the event was in Washington, DC. Earlier this month, I was pleased to find that ALA Midwinter has a more intimate feel than the big summer conference. The focus is on librarian work-sessions and meetings. There were only a few stages in the exhibit hall. Two that I visited were the Pop Top Stage (featuring author panels) and the Book Buzz Stage (where editors talked about favorite new releases). While certain publisher’s booths, Penguin Random House in particular, drew shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, it was easy to strike up a conversation with editors and book reps. Advanced Readers Copies for many books were scooped up early; the exhibit hall opened on Saturday morning and publishers were out of in-demand ARCs by that afternoon.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay for the Youth Media Awards on Monday. After a big year for 2014 novels in verse, when BROWN GIRL DREAMING won the 2014 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and THE CROSSOVER won the 2015 Newbery, poetry continued to earn recognition. A highlight was Margarita Engle’s three awards for her two 2015 books ENCHANTED AIR and DRUM DREAM GIRL.

Sylvia Vardell has a list of this year’s award-winning verse novels and poetry books.

While I wasn’t able to see everything, I did chat with publishers about some of the poetry books they are excited about for 2016. Here is an overview. Keep in mind, I have not had a chance to read all of these books yet. These are only previews of a few books.

PICTURE BOOKS:

Coming May 10, 2016

TRUNK TO TRUNKLET (Enchanted Lion Books) is a book of poems about animal mothers and babies. It’s written by Jorge Luján of Mexico and illustrated by French author/illustrator Mandana Sadat. I hope to see more books from international authors on the shelves.

In stores now

Although it came out in 2015, another Enchanted Lion book that caught my eye was Joohee Yoon’s BEASTLY VERSE. An article from the website Brain Pickings described how Yoon creates the saturated colors that make this book stand out: “Trained as a printmaker and fascinated by the traditional, industrial techniques of artists from the first half of the twentieth century, Yoon uses only three colors—cyan, magenta, and yellow—on flat color layers, which she then overlaps to create a controlled explosion of secondary colors.” BEASTLY VERSE is a collection of animal poems, including selections from Lewis Carroll, Ogden Nash, Carolyn Wells, Christina Rosetti, D.H. Lawrence, and others. If you are a fan of Laura E. Richards’ “Eletelephony,” the hilarious fold out spread that accompanies the poem is reason enough to buy this book.

MIDDLE GRADE:

Coming February 1, 2016

Kwame Alexander was at the conference signing copies of his latest picture book, SURF’S UP (NorthSouth Books), but middle grade readers are most eager for his follow up to his Newbery Award-winning book THE CROSSOVER.

Coming April 5, 2016

BOOKED (HMH Books for Young Readers) is a free verse novel about 12-year-old soccer player Nick, who is coping with changes to his family and with bullying from his peers. The starred Kirkus review has more details on the story.

Ms. Hill's class, on display at the ALA conference.

It was such a thrill to see my own middle grade novel on display at the Random House Children’s Books booth. The icing on the cake was hearing my editor, Wendy Lamb, reading some poems from the THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY at the Book Buzz stage. One poem even got a laugh!

YOUNG ADULT:

Thanks to Anne Zafian of Simon & Schuster for telling me about two 2016 poetry books. (Although S&S was out of ARCs at the conference, Anne was kind enough to mail me copies to preview for this post.)

Coming May 3, 2016

The first is a slim volume of historical fiction by poet Carole Boston Weatherford. YOU CAN FLY: THE TUSKEEGEE AIRMEN is not a traditional novel in verse. Instead, it is a series of poems told in the second person, taking readers from training at Tuskegee Institute to combat in World War II. Scratchboard illustrations by Jeffery Boston Weatherford are a vivid companion to such poems as “Private Joe Louis.”

Coming April 12, 2016

The second S&S book, while not strictly historical, takes on an important moment in history: September 11, 2001. SOMEWHERE AMONG is a novel in verse by debut author Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu. It is told from the point of view of Ema. Ema is both Japanese and American, but doesn’t feel quite at home in either country. Because my family is bi-cultural, I’m especially looking forward to reading this book.

In stores now

Set more recently, but also relating an event of historical significance is Leza Lowitz’s UP FROM THE SEA (Crown/Random House). Kai is a biracial teen living in a coastal village of Japan when the March 2011 tsunami hits. The jacket copy describes Kai’s journey this way: “When he’s offered a trip to New York to meet kids whose lives were changed by 9/11, Kai decides to look for his estranged father.” This sounds like a fascinating intersection to explore from a teen’s point of view.

Coming March 8, 2016

One of my fellow members of The Sweet Sixteens debut author group is Riley Redgate. Riley’s novel SEVEN WAYS WE LIE (Amulet/Abrams) is mainly prose, told in the voices of its seven main characters, each representing one of the seven deadly sins. At the center of this tense high school drama is the Juniper Kipling, who is also the only voice in the book written in verse.

Sweet Sixteen debut authors at ALA

It’s interesting to note that all four of these books are technically novels in poems, each has a story told through a series of titled, stand-alone poems; rather than verse novels, where each chapter is made up of longer, fluid, untitled poems in the main character’s voice.

Although it wasn’t at ALA, another YA novel with elements of verse is poet Janet McNally’s debut, GIRLS IN THE MOON (Harper Teen). This one won’t be out until fall. The main character is a poet and lyricist, so the book incorporates song lyrics and pieces of poems in her voices.

ADULT:

THE SELECTED POEMS OF DONALD HALL (HMH) was released in December. I’m excited about this collection from the former U.S. poet laureate. Now 87, Hall chose poems from his sixteen books published between 1955 and 2011. It will be a fascinating to see how Hall’s work and themes have developed over a long career.

So much to look forward to!
Thanks for keeping us in the know, Laura.

Laura Shovan is former editor for Little Patuxent Review and editor of two poetry anthologies. Her chapbook, Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone, won the inaugural Harriss Poetry Prize. Laura works with children as a poet-in-the-schools. The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, her novel-in-verse for children, will be published in 2016 (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House).

Visit her at Laura Shovan.com.

One more week to go before our grand celebration of Nothing! This week's featured poets were Liz Steinglass, Katie Gast, Tricia Stohr-Hunt, and Brenda Davis Harsham.

Tara Smith is another one who knows how to generate a buzz in the classroom! Please join her at A Teaching Life for today's Poetry Friday roundup.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Laura Shovan: Summer Postcard Poetry

"Postcards" by Stefano Montagner

Having just returned from the 100 Thousand Poets for Change World Conference in Italy, TLD contributor Laura Shovan is here with a splendido postcard activity for the summer months.

Welcome back, Laura!

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Summer is almost here. Do you have your day trips, camps, or vacations planned yet? The children may be out of school, but summer offers wonderful opportunities for families to write together. Whether you’re visiting the local science museum, spending a week at the beach, or stopping by a relative’s house, sending a postcard is a great way to encourage writing.

I love postcards. For years, I’ve kept a small album filled not with photographs, but with postcards that friends and family have sent our family from their travels. Postcards aren’t just about the picture. The written message is a little peek into someone else’s exciting adventure.

Making a poetry postcard is one way to say “Wish You Were Here” to a friend back home. This is a simple project that families can work on together. I like using this project to work on imagery-writing skills: emergent writers can observe the five senses, while children who are ready for a challenge can opt to create similes.

Make Your Own Poetry Postcard

You will need:

4 x 6 index cards (or purchase a souvenir postcard)
Paper for notes (or use index cards)
Colored pencils (optional)
Your five senses!

On Memorial Day, my husband and I went to an outdoor café at Lake Kittamaqundi. There were colorful paddle boats floating on the lake. It was such a beautiful day here in Maryland, I thought, “My niece and nephew would love to be here, paddling on the lake.”

Paddle boats at Lake Kittamaqundi

I took out my index card and started writing down notes about what I observed, with some help from my husband.

Taking notes at the café

Steps:

1. On your paper or an extra index card, describe the place you’re observing using your five senses.

     What do you see?
     What do you hear?
     What do you feel?
     What do you smell?
     What do you taste?

2. Challenge option: can you make a simile for any of your images?

     SENSE: I see that the lake has ripples.
     SIMILE: The lake’s surface looks as rough
                     as a turtle’s shell.

3. If you are making your own postcard, sketch a picture on the unlined side of a clean index card.

Sketch of the pirate boat (with Uncle Rob's pterodactyl)

4. On the lined side of your postcard, draw a line to make a left and right side.

5. Use your ideas from Step 1 and Step 2 to write a message on the left side of your postcard OR write a five senses poem using your notes. (Be sure to leave the right side of the postcard blank for the address.)

Keep it simple for younger kids.

I see a red pirate ship paddle across the lake.
I feel the breeze play with my hair.
I smell the green of new leaves.
I hear ice tinkle in a glass.
I taste sharp, sweet lemonade.

6. If you are making your own postcard, color or decorate it.

Finished drawing of Auntie Laura in the red pirate paddle boat

7. Add an address and a stamp.

8. Send!

Postcard from Lake Kittamaqundi
For Madeline & Caspian

Have you ever munched on the roots
of a blade of grass? That was the scent
on the breeze today, so I thought of you.
The lake was speckled with paddle boats—
a swan, a pink flamingo—
you would have captained the red
pirate ship, so I thought of you.
At the café, the waitress’s orange fingernails
were a bed of daylilies in bloom.
The ice in my lemonade tinkled
as the waitress handed it to me.
I took a sip and it was sweet,
so I thought of you.

© 2015 Laura Shovan. All rights reserved.

Laura Shovan is poetry editor for the literary journal Little Patuxent Review and of two poetry anthologies. Her chapbook, Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone, won the inaugural Harriss Poetry Prize. She works with young poets as a Maryland State Arts Council Artist-in-Residence. Her debut novel-in-verse for children, THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY, will be published in spring of 2016 (Wendy Lamb Books). Laura blogs about arts education at AuthorAmok.

What a wonderful momento of summertime adventures– thank you, Laura, for this fun family activity!

Read Laura's other posts on Today's Little Ditty:

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In case you missed last week's interview with Corey Rosen Schwartz, we're stretching our rhyming muscles while building treehouses this month. Katie Gast's clever chicken was the first to be featured. What's next is up to you!

Jama is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Stop by for a poem and a taste of something sweet.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Laura Shovan: List Poem Workshop

Carissa Rogers, Flickr Creative Commons

Things to celebrate today:

Poetry Friday
The first day of Spring
March Madness, Round Three
TLD contributer, Laura Shovan, is back with another terrific post about bringing poetry into the classroom – YIPPEE!

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Thanks for inviting me back to Today’s Little Ditty, Michelle.

I am developing a new poetry workshop for elementary schoolers: list poems. Today, I’d like to take you through the steps of how I create a poetry workshop for young writers.

When I’m putting together a new poetry session, my first task is to read and research poems. I am rereading an anthology of list poems for children, FALLING DOWN THE PAGE, A BOOK OF LIST POEMS, edited by Georgia Heard (Roaring Brook Press, 2009). As I read, I note poems I think the students will enjoy. Since this is an elementary workshop, I also look for poems that have an easy-to-follow structure, ones that students can model their own writing on.

I begin to think about the writing skills I hope to target. For elementary schoolers, I usually focus on one or two writing techniques in a lesson. In this workshop, I’m going to highlight sensory detail and imagery. (My favorite poems from FALLING DOWN THE PAGE are ones that include specific examples.) The second skill I want students to work on is ordering their lists.

This is the heart of the workshop. When we get an idea for a poem, we might brainstorm first. But what do we do with all of the thoughts, phrases, and jotted words? How does that material transform from notes on a page into a poem? Just like a to-do list, the key to a great list poem is how the details are prioritized. If we describe images and examples in a random order, we have little more than a list. But if we give care to the order of these items, that’s when a poem is born, whether it’s in the form of a list or not.

In particular, I plan to emphasize the importance of a poem’s closing lines. Writers might want to save the best for last—choosing a cool idea or including a surprise in the poem’s finale. This leaves the reader with something to think about.

Let’s look at a model. Here is Heidi Stemple’s list poem from FALLING DOWN THE PAGE, “Under My Bed” (used by permission):

UNDER MY BED
By Heidi Stemple

Under my bed
a party rocks
with dust bunnies and unmatched socks.

The guests line up
to do-si-do
Two by two and heel to toe—

A stuffed brown bear
with a missing ear,
a mitten knit with
a red reindeer.

A shoestring,
and a candy cane,
my sweater with the grape juice stain.

My favorite blanket
I thought I lost
and a sneaker that I must have tossed.

The book I was reading
but didn’t like
and the seat from my cousin’s ten-speed bike.

And, though my guests have had lots of fun,
it’s cleaning day—
this party’s done!

© Heidi Stemple, 2009

This poem is used with permission of the author and may not be further reprinted except with her expressed permission.

After I read this poem to students, I’ll ask them to point out favorite lines. We’ll also look for the items on the list that seem important to the speaker. We might discuss what we know or can guess about this person based on the things under her bed. (Does she have a sweet tooth? Maybe he seems forgetful.)

We’ll spend some time looking at the way the final stanza closes the poem. The reader gets a little surprise: Why has the speaker been cataloguing what’s under his bed? Because he’s cleaning!

Older writers will feel comfortable generating topics for their own list poems. I like to give elementary schoolers a little more structure. Using Heidi’s poem as a model, I’ll suggest the theme: “In This Place, You Will Find.”

This could be:

•    Found in my desk
•    Hiding under my bed
•    In the refrigerator
•    In my room
•    My back yard or garage
•    The craft drawer or the junk drawer
•    A neighborhood walk

I like this topic because it’s concrete, but students can choose something that suits their own lives and interests. There are other poems in FALLING DOWN THE PAGE that fit the “In This Place, You Will Find” theme, including “Lost and Finds” and “Walking Home from School I See” by Rebecca Kai Dotlich.

When I’m teaching poetry, I like to write a group poem at the board, with contributions from the whole class (if there’s time!). This allows me to model the writing process, which will include these steps:

1.    Choose a list poem topic
2.    Brainstorm items for my list
3.    Decide on an order – save something important or surprising for last
4.    Write a first draft
5.    Share

I’m not teaching the list poem workshop until April, when I will be in residence at Northfield Elementary. Be sure to visit my arts education blog, Author Amok, where I’ll have student list poems from this lesson. As always, after running the list poem workshop with the Northfield third graders, I’ll have lots of ideas about how to improve this session!

I’d like to send a big thank you to Heidi Stemple for giving me special permission to post her poem, “Under My Bed.” And thanks, Michelle, for hosting me today!

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Before I send you off on your Poetry Friday rounds, just a reminder that next Friday, March 27th, will be the end-of-month wrap-up celebration for Margarita Engle's DMC challenge. If you haven't sent in your tanka yet, this would be a good time to do so! This week we were treated to poems by Linda Mitchell, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Leane Gill, and Kristi Dee Veitenheimer.

Also, I've been having a blast with #MMPoetry, and can't thank you enough for all the votes and other kind support that have carried me this far! I'm quite proud of my Round Three poem and hope you will take a look at my match up with Randi Sonenshine (who also wrote a killer poem). If you're reading this on Friday, VOTING IS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY! Please vote for your favorite poem, regardless of the poet's name attached to it.

And finally, the winner of last week's giveaway: JONE MACCULLOCH! Congratulations, Jone, on winning a copy of TOASTS: The Perfect Words to Celebrate Every Occasion, edited by June Cotner and Nancy Tupper Ling.

Today's Poetry Friday roundup is being hosted by the generous and talented Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core.