English @ CCHS
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poetry à la shel silverstein

how do we write "good" poetry?

Module summary:
  • Everyone knows Shel Silverstein... but have you ever considered the brilliance of his technique? Well, after this week, you can say you have! We'll use Shel Silverstein as our master poet this week - study his forms and test out a few for ourselves.
  • Each day will be a mini lesson on one of the following elements:
    • Rhyme and rhythm 
    • Irony
    • Storytelling
    • Perspective
  • DOK: a collection of your own poetry in Shel Silverstein style

essential questions

  • What is poetry?
  • How can we express thoughts, observations, and ideas creatively but with intention?​
​

goals

  • Students will understand that poetry is a form of writing where the form and language is used intentionally to enhance ideas.
  • Students will understand that poetry can take many forms - sometimes with rules, sometimes without - to express ideas with focus and purpose.
​

c-tachs

Writing
  • Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
  • Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach
Language
  • Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meaning 

activities

Monday:
  • Warm-up: Non-Rhyming Poem (see handout)
  • Expose: 
    • Forms and techniques of poetry
    • Rhythm and rhyme schemes
      • ​Practice with poems (see handout)
  • Practice: Find your own Shel Silverstein poem in one of his books that has a distinct rhythm and rhyme scheme. Photocopy the page, then mark out the syllables and rhyme scheme.
    • Discuss poems - what is the impact of the structure rhyme and rhythm provides? does Silverstein ever break his own patterns?
  • Create: Write your own poem with a purposeful rhyme scheme and rhythm.
  • Reflect: Share poems and discuss - does this type of structure open you up as a poet or close you off? what was the experience like?
Tuesday
  • First: shape/concrete poetry
    • Warm-up: "Lazy Jane" poem exercise
    • Read examples of shape/concrete poems
    • Write your own shape/concrete poem
  • Second: storytelling poetry:
    • Review plot arc (see board)
    • Read an example of a Shel Silverstein poem that tells a story - identify elements of plot on the page
    • Write your own poem that tells a story
Wednesday:
  • Share shape/concrete and storytelling poetry
  • Write your own poem with intentional rhythm and rhyme (wrap-up from Monday's activity)
  • Discuss irony - definitions, examples in life
  • Read samples of Shel Silverstein poems with irony - first together, then independently
    • identify irony and share its purpose and meaning
  • Write a poem that includes irony
  • Share poems, get feedback, discuss value of irony in poems

Thursday:
  • Read examples of poems with concrete imagery and shape
  • Write a group shape or concrete poem
  • Write your own shape or concrete poem
  • Share poems, get feedback, discuss merits and challenges of shape/concrete poetry 
Friday:
  • Finish, revise, finalize poems (at least four) and create a cover page for poem portfolio
    • include MLA heading info, a creative title, and an image of some sort
  • Collect and submit poems with cover page

resources

Shel Silverstein Syllabus
File Size: 40 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Rhyme and Rhythm
File Size: 1039 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Non-Rhyming Poetry
File Size: 171 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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“We engage and empower our society through innovative education to make a more positive and peaceful world." 

Contact Us

  • Home
    • About
  • Research
  • Reading & Writing
  • Recent Modules
    • Connect >
      • Board Game Reviews (mini)
      • CCHS Powtoon
      • Coco!
      • Creative Writing Seminar >
        • Calvin and Hobbes
        • Pieces of art
        • Tell Tale Cards
      • Dragon Post
      • Editorializing
      • E-mail Etiquette (Dead Poet's Society)
      • E-mail Etiquette (Star Wars)
      • English Skills
      • Go Write Outside
      • HONY and Narrative Essays
      • Nature Poetry
      • Passion Project
      • Persons, Places, Things
      • Photo Essays
      • Rebel Girls >
        • Jane Goodall
      • Stereotypes
      • Teach Me Something
      • Virtual Reality-ing
      • What Music Means
    • Construct >
      • 2018 in Review
      • Book Censorship
      • Live Anywhere
      • Picture Book Inquiry
      • Propaganda Bombs
      • PSA Powtoon
      • Self-Improvement
      • State of the Union
      • Rant to Reason
      • TED Topics
      • Who Cares?
    • Be Curious >
      • Art Time is Fun Time!
      • Caper with the Classics
      • CCHS Librarians
      • Emma: Friend or Foe?
      • Fahrenheit 451
      • Found Poetry
      • Google Expeditions
      • Hero's Journey
      • Irreverence
      • Macbeth
      • Poetry
      • The Lottery
      • "Worthy" Art