Mr. William Carlos Williams provided 7th graders with their first opportunity to write a poem.
The poem came in the form of a mimic poem. This type of poem allows students to create a poem with minimal thought. The basic is that they duplicate the original poem matching the same amount of syllables in each line and keeping one line of the original poem in the re-written one.
I began this lesson with asking students what poetry is
Then I showed them Mr. William's poem:
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
I then asked them if this was a poem
some said yes some said no
they of course had to explain their thinking!
We then dissected the poem going word by word examining the very existence of this so called poem.
They were then given the task of creating their own So much depends upon poem.
They turned out pretty good...just as good as the original
Here are a few samples:
The Big Black Steam ship
So much depends upon
A big black steamship
Sailing in the ocean
without a white blanket
I love this lesson and how it engages students creatively as well as involving them in critical thinking! I think I'll try with my class.
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