Poetic Justice

Cloe was a budding poet from the time she could
hold a pencil and has grown into a teenager who poetically describes the value
of cultivating imagination.

boldness fuels creativity
longing for its sweet
honey
dreaming of liberation
imagination
drowned in a stagnant pool
is a
prisoner of war

Here was the third grader who recited Emily Dickenson
barefoot to a mesmerized schoolroom of boys and went on to receive national
recognition for her own poetry five years later. Cloe was a contemplative
student most content inside a great story. So when I read her response to the
following standardized test question I burst out laughing:

According to the passage, how would you best describe the
Library of Congress?
a. cold
b. austere
c. cozy
e. dark

To Cloe, the description of the 200-year-old federal
cultural institution, an enormous library housing shelf upon shelf of rare
books resonated with pages straight from her imagination. I know this because I
had been working with her to revise those pages:

Perched on a sturdy willow branch I watched fireflies dance
in between gowns. I found myself completely bored until an hour before midnight
when I wove my way into Lady Cordial’s library. There I sat silently clutching
my plate of half eaten trifle, reading the many nonsensical books she had
collected over the years of training to be a versifier. Hours quickly passed
until the library bell loudly reminded me that it was one o’clock. I tiptoed
downstairs and was met by the ridiculing eyes of Maliesa. Not wanting to talk
about how amazing she was and how horrible I looked in my potato sack of a
dress. I escaped by accidentally dropping my dessert plate and running to fetch
a broom. (excerpt from Cloe’s,
“Pins and Needles”)

There was absolutely no doubt in Cloe’s mind that the
passage about the Library of Congress described a place providing a feeling of
comfort and warmth, that the question was best answered, “c” a “cozy” place.
There is no doubt in my mind that according to the writers of the test, “b” an
“austere” place was the desired response.

Quite simply, reading and writing poetry expands the
boundaries of the imagination and the intellect. Students who engage in writing
poetry will develop a broader understanding of the power of vocabulary,
increase confidence in their voice, and strengthen their ability to communicate
new ideas and observations about their world.

Blackbird & Company’s Exploring Poetry guide gives students an opportunity to delight in the reading of great poetry and discover the craft of writing poems, incorporating both analytic and creative exercises to spark the poet inside of your student.

Created for middle and high school students, Exploring Poetry is appropriate for 5th grade and beyond and is designed to work for a range of writing abilities. 

The bundle includes a seven-week poetry guide that can be expanded to 14 weeks, a personal writer’s journal, art cards and three required books.

If you are interested in opportunities to explore poetry with your younger students take a look at these poetry-based literature discovery guides:

Our Earlybird Douglas Florian Author Unit takes 1st and 2nd grade students through five illustrated read-aloud books of educational and delightful animal poetry. This guide follows the same format as our other Earlybirds while providing opportunities for your youngest students to explore writing poetry on their own. Books included: In the Swim (water creatures), Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs (reptiles), Mammalabilia (mammals), Insectlopedia (insects), and On the Wing (birds).

For older students, another great way to introduce poetic forms and the power of poetry to tell stories is through our Love That Dog and Locomotion guides.

Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech is a poignant and masterfully crafted story written entirely in verse, through the eyes of Jack, a boy who reluctantly discovers the poet within himself. Although this guide is a Level 1 (grades 1-3) title, it can be used through 4th grade when appropriate for the student's reading and writing level. Love That Dog includes many of the same elements as our other Level 1 guides, such as vocabulary, comprehension and discussion questions, but each week, students will be encouraged and guided in writing poems in the same styles and forms that Jack is writing. Exposure to several classic poets such at William Carlos Williams and Robert Frost are creatively woven into the story.

Locomotion, by Jaqueline Woodson, also written in verse, is about Lonnie C. Motion, a boy who has had some tough breaks in his life. As Lonnie’s fifth grade class is learning to write poetry, suddenly, he is finding the words to tell about his family, the fire that took his parents away, his little sister, and his world. In this Level 3 (grades 5-8) guide, students will work though exercises on charcter study and comprehension, as well as poetic devices such as simile, metaphor and personification. Students will read and make observations on Lonnie’s poems, while also writing their own that mirror the forms and topics that the story introduces.