Charlotte Teachers Institute

Leslie Chambers,  Special Education, Morgan School

Unit (PDF)

Self-Portrait

 

Leslie Chambers

 

Overview:   When I began teaching students with behavioral and emotional disabilities 9 years ago I never realized the journey that lay ahead of me.  I thought that when I got out of college the courses that I had taken and the professors I had come in contact with would prepare me to be an effective elementary teacher.  After my first year of teaching I knew I needed help.  I enrolled at a local university to take classes towards my Master’s in literacy.  These classes and some professional development through the school system helped me to improve my reading instruction.  I was thankful for that but still didn’t know how to teach writing to my students.  Again I began attending workshops through the school system and one summer they offered a two week writing institute through the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Writing Institute.  I never had heard of the Writing Project but figured I needed to do something to improve my writing instruction and quick.  That institute changed my life as an educator.

I went to back to school that year with a renewed sense of hope that I could teach my students writing.  I began using daybooks with my students and have used them every year since then.  The daybook is a composition book where students can write about anything.  They can put their best and worst writing in there and are free to spell wrong, cross things out, write notes and lists.  It belongs to the student and they do not have to share what is inside of it.  Each morning we would start off with writing into the day in our daybooks.  At first we started with 5 minutes because they weren’t used to writing and then by the end of the year it increased to 12 and they still wanted more time to write.  I would teach writing mini lessons and the students would have a chance to try out what they learned in their daybooks.  If there was a handout from our mini lesson the students could tape it into their daybooks and refer back to it when they needed it.  Many of these students had not been exposed to writing and I was learning how to teach it as I was teaching them.  I was starting to feel like I had a handle on teaching writing.

I teach at Morgan School, a separate school for students with behavioral and emotional disabilities in grades kindergarten through twelfth grade.  The school is part of the Charlotte Mecklenburg School (CMS) System in Charlotte,NC.  The school serves only students with disabilities therefore they all have an individualized education plan (IEP).  Currently I teach third through fifth grade but I have taught all grade levels in elementary school.  As a teacher of children with academic and behavioral challenges, I have to approach writing in a different fashion in order for them to connect and enjoy the subject.  I believe that with an effective writing unit, the students will be better equipped to express themselves.

Rationale:

Last summer I attended a writing seminar and had to do a presentation on an area of teaching that I wanted to improve.  I really struggled with just picking one area of writing to focus on for my presentation.  There are so many areas of teaching of writing that I would like to improve on.  However for this presentation, I chose to focus on teaching poetry.  I read many great poetry books but the author that really impacted my presentation was Georgia Heard.  She stated that, to be a good writer of poetry, you first have to be a good reader of poetry.[i] As I read on she referred to Poetry in Motion which was started in the New York subway stations they started putting up poems in place of ads to encourage people to read more poetry.  The idea was to place poems in ordinary and familiar places for other people to enjoy.[ii]  This is how I chose to start my presentation for seminar.  I brought in poetry anthologies, copies of poems, and books and had my colleagues go on a poetry hunt.  This activity seemed to work great during seminar and I really liked the idea of the poetry hunt.

When I did the poetry hunt at school with my students it did not run as smoothly.  Some of the poems were too hard to read and they didn’t seem to understand many of the poems.  The students would try to read through them to get finished but not think about what they were reading.  I have to admit I felt defeated, I thought that this would be a great opening to my poetry unit.  I did a couple more poetry activities with my students and then the unit fizzled out with very little success.  As I reflected on what went wrong, I realized that I didn’t allow the students to inquire about poetry.  I do not think I did enough to help my students to understand what poetry is.  I talked them through the poems and shared my observations and feelings but didn’t give the students enough time to share.

My goal now is to improve this unit.  This time when I teach the unit I want the students to own the unit.  I want them to find poems and share poems with other people that mean something to them.  I want to immerse them in all types of poetry and let them discover what poetry is and that they can be a poet.

 

Objectives

I teach students in grades 3-5, so the objectives in this unit will reflect the North Carolina Standard Course of Study objectives.  The overall objective of my unit is to have the students discover what poetry is to them.  Rather than stand up in front of the class and ask the students’ questions about a poem I already know the answers, I want to allow my students to learn about the poem for themselves.   In this unit they will learn to appreciate different forms and styles of poetry and to find poems that “speak” to them.  After our poetry discovery, the students will then be challenged to write their own poems.  I will have them present their finished poems using an online website called Glogster.

 

Strategies

This curriculum requires students to actively take part in discovering poetry.  I want to teach them about poetry by using inquiry.  Starting at the beginning of the unit the students will be exposed to many different types of poems and poets.  As Georgia Heard said, without feeling what it is like to be immersed in poetry, without the essence of poetry all around them, it will be difficult for them to engage in meaningful reading or writing of poems[iii].

Bulletin Board- Titled “Amazing Words” where students can post amazing, beautiful, interesting, vivid words and sentences collected from stories, poems, and spoken words heard in the classroom.[iv]

Listening Center- Poetry is meant to be heard and listening to a poem read aloud adds a new dimension to our experience of it.  I will record poems or buy recordings of the authors reading their poems.  When the students start to write their own poems I will allow them to record themselves, reading their poems.  The listening center will be accessed during our poetry writing time.  It will allow the students to get new ideas and share their poems as well[v].

Daybook Response- The daybook was introduced to me by the UNCC Writing Project.  The daybook is a composition book that is used for students to respond to reading and writing and they can feel free to write however they want.  I will use the daybook to have students respond to questions, poems, make lists, and write down ideas to compose their own poems.

Choral Reading of Poems- It is best to hear poems read aloud.  As a class each day during our study of poetry we will switch between these strategies to read poems aloud: the whole class reads the poem together, the teacher reads a few lines and then the kids repeat the lines, divide the class into two groups- one group reads a few lines, followed by the second group reading a few lines, snap your fingers or clap your hands to the rhythm of the poem, read the poem out loud as a class and whisper a few lines or words of the poem, read the poem in a natural voice and then choose one word or line to read in a louder or softer voice, sing the poem- make up your own tune or use a melody from a song you already know, kids stand in different areas of the classroom and read lines from there[vi].

Birthday poems or special occasion poems- We can give poems to a student on their birthdays, or mark other special occasions with a poem.  There are many events that we can read poetry to help us to celebrate such as the beginning of every season, beginning of each month, birthdays, and each new moon phase[vii].

Special Poetry Day- I will designate Fridays as a day where the students can recite poems they’ve chosen to memorize or perform a piece of poetry in front of the class.

Think, Pair, Share– This strategy I began using from our writing program at my school, so my students are already familiar with it.  The students will sit with their writing partner and during this time, I will ask a question for them to ponder.  The students will then be given time to think about their answer to the question (2-3 minutes).  Following their think time, they will share with their partner what their thoughts are.  Then I will ask if anyone would like to share with the whole group.

Classroom Activities

I plan to follow these activities in succession to expose the students to poetry prior to writing poems.

Day 1:  Activity 1- What is Poetry?

The objective of this activity is to have the students inquire about what they think poetry is.  The students will demonstrate by their writing, sharing with a partner and in our whole group discussion what they believe poetry is.

 I will begin the unit by asking the students: What is poetry?  What is a poem?  What is a poet?  The students will respond in their daybooks to each of these questions and then I will use the think, pair, share strategy to have the students discuss these questions.  We will come back together as a whole group and we will discuss what we think the answer is.  I will use the student’s thoughts to display on a poster that can be added to throughout our unit on poetry.

Day 2:  Activity 2- Finding Myself in Poems

The objective of this activity is for the students to begin exploring poetry.  The students will find a poem that they feel expresses who they are and read it aloud to the class.

Around the room there will be poems, taped on the student’s desks, under the desks, in the bathroom.  I am going to ask the students to go around the room and read the poems and find one that they like or that reminds them of themselves.  I will then have the students read the poems aloud and tell why they chose that particular poem.  Based on the types of students in my class I will have to be sure to choose poems that are relevant to my student’s lives[viii].

Day 3-Day 10: Activity 3- Songs are Poetry

The objective of this activity is for the students to realize that songs that they listen to are poetry.  The students will explain why they chose the song they are sharing and what it means to them.

The students will be given the lyrics from my favorite song.  We will listen to the song and I will share with the students that the reason I like this song is because the words mean a lot to me.  We will read through the words and talk about the meaning of the song.  I will ask the students to think about if a song is a poem and if it is why or why not?  The students will respond to this question in their daybook.  The students will be asked to bring in the lyrics from their favorite song to school.  To make sure they bring appropriate songs I will send home a letter explaining what we’re doing.  I will ask the parents to monitor and talk to their child about why they’re choosing the song to share and what it means to them.  I will also provide songs and lyrics of songs that they can use, if they’re not able to get them from home.  The following days the students will be assigned a day to share their song with the class.

Day 5-8:  Activity 4- Self-Portrait Introduction

The objective of this activity is for the students to explore poems that are an expression of themselves.  The students will pick a poem and share it with the class and explain why they chose it.  The students will demonstrate through an illustration the images that they see portrayed in the poem.

Day 5-  I will show examples of artist’s self-portraits, and we will discuss how they expressed their inner self by their portrait.  I will also use Van Gogh as an example about how when he painted a portrait of himself, he painted his face green.   His face was not really green but he was using the color to express something about how he was feeling about his inner self.  My students and I will begin by painting or drawing a self-portrait[ix].

Day 6-8- I will explain to the students that we are beginning a project that we will be working on throughout the poetry unit called The Self Portrait.  This project will consist of collecting poems that express something about their inner self and writing poems that reflect who they are.  I will share with the students the poem I have chosen for my self-portrait collection and tell the story why I chose it and how it helps to show my inner self.  I will then explain that I want them to search for one poem today that expresses their inner feelings.  I will have a collection of books and will lead the class on a quick walk through some of the books and explain what type of poems they have in them.  That way the students can go to the books that interest them instead of a huge pile to look through (see student resources for a list of books and the topics).  When the students have picked their poem, I will ask them to write their poem into their daybook and then explain below the poem why they chose it.  Then the students will have the opportunity to illustrate images that the poem that they chose helped them to imagine and then use words to describe it.  As Georgia Heard explained it is important to help students connect personally to a poem by guiding them toward finding themselves and their lives inside a poem[x].

Day 9-11: Activity 5- Living Anthology of Poetry

The objective of this activity is for the students to explore poems and find poems to share with others.  The students will be responsible for picking the appropriate poems and places to display them throughout the school.

We are going to make an anthology out of the walls and spaces around the school.  We will start by going on a tour of the building and finding places where people wait in line with nothing to do or where we know people are stopped and they could read a poem that was there on the wall.  Once we pick places to put poems around the school I will have poetry books and copies of poems for the students to look through.  The students will mark the poems they think would be appropriate for certain spots around the school.  We will then as a class decide where to put the poems.  We will make copies and place the poems around the school for other people to enjoy[xi].

Day 12: Activity 6- Partner Reading

The objective of this activity is for the students to read poetry together with a partner.  The students will read short stories “in two voices” each story has rhyme, rhythm, and repetition.

I will pick a student to read with me to show an example of how the short story should be read “in two voices.”  Then I will pair the students up with a partner and each group will be given a copy of a book that has short stories that can be read “in two voices.”

Day 13-14: Activity 7- I Wish Poem

The objective of this activity is for the students to explore a structured poem and then compose a poem on their own with the same structure.

I will pass out copies of the I wish poem from the book, Wishes Lies and Dreams by Kenneth Koch.[xii]  We will talk as a whole group and make a list of what we notice about the poem and how it is written.  Then we will focus on the pattern of starting each line with I wish…  The students will be able to make their wishes crazy or real.  They can refer back to the sample to get ideas if they need to.

Day15-16: Activity 8- Cracking Open Words

The objective of this unit is for the students to find overused words/phrases in their writing and come up with alternative words and phrases to use that help them find the images inside of the words.

I will explain to the students that an important part of writing poetry is being able to crack open overused or abstract words that are used too often such as “it was a nice day” or “she was very nice” and find the image inside.[xiii]  On sentence strips I will write several generic sentences or phrases and place them on the bulletin board.  I will pair the students up and give each group a generic phrase or sentence the students will come up with a more accurate phrase or sentence that displays a vivid image inside. 

Day 17-18: Activity 9-Comparison Poem

The objective of this activity is for the students to use the structure of the sample poems to create their own comparison poem.

I will pass out a copy of a comparison poem for us to explore together as a class.  The students will think, pair, share about what they notice about the comparison poem.  We will then discuss the layout of the poem as a whole group.  I will make sure that the students notice that every line includes like or as.[xiv]  We will write a comparison poem together as a whole group and post it on the poetry bulletin board.  The students will then have the opportunity to try and write a comparison poem, continue to work on their I wish poem, or start a new piece.

Day 19-20: Activity 10- Where Does Poetry Hide?

The objective of this activity is for the students to discover where we find our ideas for poems.

I will begin by asking the students the question where do poems come from?  I will have the students think, pair, share with a partner.  We will then make a class list of all the place that poems come from.  I will then explain to the students that there are many different ways to discover poetry.  The first way is through their hearts.  I will encourage them to write a poem about what they feel is true.  Your heart does not lie to you; trust your inner images whether they are images of fear, sadness, or grief.  That is what is great about poetry is that you can express what is in your heart.  Heard describes it like this, when we begin to open our hearts and see poetry everywhere we are beginning to live our life as poets.  The second way is through what we see.  Our eyes open us up to observations about the world, what we see that is beautiful around us.  Students can write poems about what they see in science, learn about on the news, in magazines, the newspaper, from their peers.  Write about things you’re concerned about such as natural disasters, world hunger, and education.  Poems can start from wonderings, by asking questions.[xv]  Ask students if they have questions about the world, school, and life.  Then of course memories, whether they are good or bad.  All students have vivid memories of things that have happened to them.  These memories can be a start to a poem.

 

Day 21-22: Activity 11- Dream Poem

The objective of this activity is for the students to inquire about a sample poem and then compose a poem that follows the same pattern.

The teacher will pass out samples of dream poems for the students to read.  We will read the poems aloud as a group.  The students will then respond in their daybooks to what they noticed about the poem, what stood out to them, what parts they liked or didn’t like.  I will emphasize that dreams don’t always make sense and their poems don’t need to either.  The students will be asked to make a list of their dreams (real or silly).  Then they will use this list to compose a poem, each line starting with I dream.[xvi]

Day 23-24:  Activity 12- Contrast between the past and the present

The object of this activity is for the students to compose a poem about change.

I will show the students examples of poems that use this format.   The students will write in their daybooks what they notice about the poem or what lines they see repeating.  I will model how to write poem using this format.   Every odd line will start with I used to… and every even line will start with but now…[xvii]  The students will then have a chance to try this format, continue working on another piece or start a new piece.

Day 25-29: Activity13-BuildingPoetry

The objective of this activity is for the students to understand how a poem is put together.

I will place the students into small groups (2-3 students) and they will be given a poetry tool to focus on for a specific poem.  The new will rotate through the jobs, so each group of students gets to try each group.

Group 1- This group will focus on the image or picture the poem paints in their head.  They will underline or highlight phrases or words that they can visualize in the poem.  Then they will illustrate a part of the poem that paints the picture and identify exactly what words they illustrated.[xviii]

Group 2- This group will focus on the words in the poem, they will find words based on the sound and the meaning of them.  They will circle words that are vivid, musical, and add meaning to the poem.  The students will think why do you think the author chose these words to use?  What makes these words stand out to you?[xix]

Group 3- Discuss where and why the poet chose to break the lines in certain spots.  Does it help to add to the meaning of the poem or emphasize certain words?  Do the line breaks give the poem rhythm or make it sound like a song?  Put a start on the line breaks and write notes about how it affects or doesn’t affect the poem.[xx]

Group 4- In the poem is there repetition, of words, lines, or phrases?  If so does it have a pattern that continues throughout the poem?  Does the pattern help to make the poem flow or easier to read and understand.  Highlight areas that show repetition.[xxi]

Day 30-32: Activity 14- Pretend Poem

The objective of this activity is to pretend like you are another person, object, or idea and write a poem from that perspective.

The students will be given samples of poems that follow this format.   We will make a class list of ideas.  Such as pretend like you are the snow, rain, sun, animal, pencil, President Obama, a teacher, mom, or another family member.[xxii]  Then the students will write a poem following this format.

Day 33-35: Activity 15- Color Poems

The objective of this activity is for the students to draft a poem using one color or multiple colors.

The students will be given sample poems that use one color and poems that use many different colors.  We will make a list of colors as a whole group and then a list of objects that fit each color.  The students will be told that they can choose to use a different color in every line or the same color throughout the poem.[xxiii]

Day 36-40: Activity 16 -Poet Study

The objective of this activity is for the students to read what poets say about poetry, the process of writing poems, and living life as a poet.

I will begin the unit by show them pictures of poets and read biographies of different poets.[xxiv]  I will share with them biographies about different poets and then we will read their poems and discuss why they might have written a poem like they did.  I will expose the students to poets that they might be familiar with and then encourage them to find poems that mean something to them and to research that poet.  We will add pictures and information about different poets to our poetry bulletin board as we find out about them.

Day 41-43: Activity 17- I seem to be/but really I am poem

The objective of this activity is for the students to follow the format of the poem but to add their own ideas.  The students will demonstrate an understanding of the format by composing their own poem to follow the format.

The students will be given a sample of this type of poem.   I will then model for the students how to write this type of poem, by talking through the process and writing it in front of them. I will explain to the students that this is your chance to explain the difference between how you seem to other people and how you really are.[xxv]

Day 44-46: Activity 18- I used to think/ but now I see (or know)

The objective of this activity is to compose a poem following the format I used to think…but now I see (or know).[xxvi]

The students will be given a copy of a poem(s) following this format.  The students will be asked to come up with 1 line using this format.  We will use each line to compose a poem together as a class.  The students will then be given the opportunity to write a poem following this format, continue on another poem, or start a new one.

Day 47-48: Activity 19- I would like/ but I would not like

The objective of this activity is to compose a poem following the format, I would like/ but I would not like.[xxvii]

I will begin the activity by making a list of all of the things that I do like and a list of things I don’t like.   I will then ask the students to make both of these lists in their daybook.  The students will refer to the list to try to write a poem that each odd line begins with I would like… and the even lines begin with but I would not like…  The students will have the opportunity to try this format, work on poem they have already started, or start a new poem.

Day 49-50: Activity 20- From Another Perspective

The objective of this activity is to compose a poem from another perspective.  The students will write a poem about what it would be like to be that object.[xxviii]

I will begin this unit by bringing in an object that is special to me.  I will explain to the students that sometimes we can get our ideas from objects that are meaningful to us.  I will then model how to write a poem from the objects perspective, such as a rock, coin, soccer ball, shell, an acorn, a sand dollar, or flower.  I will ask the students to think of an object that is special to them and that they can write a poem from its perspective (I will bring in some extra objects for students that don’t bring anything in.  I will ask the students to hold the object that they have chosen and write a poem about what it would be like to be that object.  If they are having trouble getting started I will suggest that they can start each line with if I were…

Day 51-52: Activity 21- I am poem

The objective of this activity is for the students to brainstorm a list of words/phrases that describe them.  The students will use this list to draft a poem following the I am format.

I will show the students examples of I am poems that I have written in the past and samples from other students.  The students will make a list in their daybook of a list of words or phrases that describe or tell about them.  They will then use that list and follow the form for the I am poem.

Day 53-54: Activity 22- Where I’m from poem

The objective of this activity is to think about the places that you have been and where you have come from.  The students will use a list that they compile to compose a poem that describes where they’re from.

The students will be given a copy of where I’m from poems.  They will then make a list in their daybook about all of the places that they have lived and descriptions of those places and then use those lists to draft a poem.  I will model the process by writing my where I’m from poem as a model for the class.

Day 55-56: Activity 23- Found Poem

The objective of this activity is for the students to use another piece of writing and pick out important words or phrases to put into poem form.

The students will use another piece of writing and underline powerful/meaningful words and then take those words that they have underlined and write them into poem form.  The writing can come from another subject area such as science or social studies or from a writing that is done in class.

Day 57-60: Activity 24- Revision and Peer Conferencing

The objective of this activity is for the students to learn strategies to revise their own poems and to conference with peers to get ideas for revision.  

I will give the students this revision and peer conferencing check sheet.[xxix]

1.  Read your poem aloud to yourself
2. Ask a peer to read your poem aloud back to you.  It will help you to hear your poem from another point of view.  As you listen to your poem ask yourself these questions.

–          Are there any words that sound weird to you on the page, that just don’t sound right?

–          What parts of the poem really move you?

–          Does the poem show instead of tell?

–          Is the poem clear or is any part confusing?

–          What words are memorable or meaningful?

–          Can you picture the images in the poem?  Are the images that you picture clear?

–          Does your mind begin to wander at any point during the poem?  At any point do you start to lose interest?

Day 60-70: Activity 25- Publishing the Self-Portrait

The objective of this activity is for the students to share their work from our self-portrait unit in glogster.

As a way for the students to publish and be able to share their finished pieces, I will have them publish their work in glogster.  This program is a web based site where the students will be able to make an interactive poster.  The students will choose pieces of poetry that they have done throughout our self-portrait unit that they would like to publish.  The students will then each have an account and will be able to display their self-portrait illustration from activity 4 and the poems that they choose to display.  Glogster also allows the students to mix images, music, texts and videos.  The students will have the option to put music on their poster and to even have a video of them selves reading or acting out poetry and publishing it on their glogster account.  As a celebration at the end of the unit, I will invite the student’s families in to the classroom to view the student’s glogsters.

Resources

Annotated Bibliography for Teachers

Heard, Georgia.  Awakening the Heart. Portsmouth,NH.  Heinemann 1999.- I used this book to get me started with my unit it included great strategies and activities.  The books by Georgia Heard have many great ideas for inquiry activities for poetry.

Heard, Georgia.  For the Good of the Earth and the Sun: Teaching Poetry.  Portsmouth,NH.  Heinemann 1989.-  I also used this book to assist me with my strategies and activities section.  The books by Georgia Heard have many great ideas for inquiry activities for poetry.

Koch, Kenneth.  Wishes, Lies, and Dreams.  New York,NY.  Harper Collins Publishers, 1970. – I used samples from this book as a model of the poems for the many of the activities in my unit.

edu.glogster.com   accessed on November 25, 2010- this is a collaborative online learning platform for students to publish their work via a glog by making an interactive poster.  This will be used as part of the final activity to publish the student’s work.

Annotated Bibliography for Students

The following books can be used to model poems and for students to use as a part of their self portrait project

Adoff, Arnold.  Eats: Poems.  New York: Lee & Shepard Books, 1979. – this book is written for elementary students it includes poems about different types of foods the author likes to eat.

Adoff, Arnold.  Sports Pages.  Harpercollins Publishers, 1990- this book is written for elementary students who are sports fans

Hopkins, Lee Bennett.  Click, Rumble, Roar: Poems About Machines.  New York: Harper Collins, 1987.

Graves, Donald.  Baseball, Snakes, and Summer Squash: Poems of Childhood.  Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 1996.

Livingston, MyraCohn.  Poems for Mothers. New York:  Holiday House, 1988. – this book is for elementary students and has poems that focus on a special or rough relationship with anyone in your family

Livingston, MyraCohn.  Poems for Fathers.  New York: Holiday House, 1989. – this book is for elementary students and has poems that focus on a special or rough relationship with anyone in your family

Livingston, Myra Cohn.  Poems for Brothers, Poems for Sisters.  New York: Holiday House, 1991 – this book is for elementary students and has poems that focus on a special or rough relationship with anyone in your family

Livingston, MyraCohn.  There was a Place and Other Poems.  New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1988. – this book is for elementary students and has poems that difficult time with a divorce or trouble at home

Livingston, MyraCohn.  Dog Poems.  New York:Holiday House, 1990.- this book is for elementary students and has poems that focus on dogs.

Hoberman, Mary Ann.  You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together.  Boston: Little, Brown, 2001.- These short stories are told in two voices to allow reading together.  These could also be used for activity 6.

Hoberman, Mary Ann.  You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together.  New York: Little, Brown, 2004.- These eight favorite fairy tales in very short tellings, are told in two voices to allow reading together.  These could be used for activity 6.

Hoberman, Mary Ann.  You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Mother Goose Fairy Tales to Read Together.   New York: Little, Brown, 2005. – These short fairy tales are told in two voices to allow reading together.  These could also be used for activity 6.

Singer, Marilyn.  Turtle in July.  New York: MacMillan, 1989. – This book could be used for animal lovers to find poems for their self-portrait in activity 4

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