Aim: What creative approaches can be taken to find ideas for writing poetry?
DO NOW: To start the class, we began by discussing what we do outside of school in our free time that isn’t studying or doing homework. Some of us shared our creative outlets, like drawing and listening to music. We discussed our favorite genres of music and what our favorite pastimes were.
SPIRIT READING: In this section of Poemcrazy By Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge, the narrator is constantly collecting words and phrases.
From the passage, we were shown that words are all around us, and we can utilize them to recreate an experience, or to express an idea or emotion. Wooldridge uses alliteration, repetition of certain sounds, to show the flow of words. The author emphasizes the sound of words, and how they fit when put together in a sentence. Words are put together in a string to create a unique wordpool. They describe words as “taking on a spinning life of their own,” showing how all words are special in their own way.
A fun example of alliteration is this video we watched to demonstrate the flow of words through music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKdV5FvXLuI
TEAM WORD CHALLENGE:
In our breakout rooms, we came up with as many synonyms for “to talk or move” as we could as a group. We were challenged to find a synonym for each letter of the alphabet. We recorded our responses in a graphic organizer so we all had the same answers.
We then shared out with the rest of the class to see which group had the most synonyms. We used this activity to show the various words we can use to describe an action.
SPIRIT READING: Annotate as we read along. Look for things that stand out.
Image is the root word of imagination. It’s from Latin imago, “picture,” how you see things. Images carry feelings. Saying, “I’m angry,” or “I’m sad,” has little impact. Creating images, I can make you feel how I feel.
When I read the words of a young student named Cari—“I’m a rose in the shape of a heart / with nineteen days of nothing / but the pouncing of shoes on my dead petals”—I experience desperation through her image. Cari doesn’t even have to name the feeling—nineteen days, a pale green sky, a pouch of seed held against a sower’s heart.
Writing poems using images can create an experience allowing others to feel what we feel. Perhaps more important, poems can put us in touch with our own often buried or unexpected feelings.
Shoua discovered her frustration by using the image of a man shooting pool,
I hear bang, click, shoosh
feeling like the white ball
that does all the work.
Tori used images from a landscape to indicate hopelessness,
the clouds collapsed,
they’re touching the ground
trying to come alive,
but they can’t.
Sometimes word tickets magically fit with the images in the paintings. One of Tori’s words was jingle. It helped her convey her developing feeling of hope,
the glowing water shows shadow
till we all hear
the jingle of dawn.
Images we create in our poem can not only help us discover our feelings, but can help us begin to
transform them.
The mentioned literary techniques can be used to create a mood or emotion. Showing over telling can be more effective in creative writing.
GROUP IMAGE CHALLENGE:
In breakout rooms, students chose one image from the following collage, record it, and give our reactions and thoughts on the image. We shared within the group and collected our thoughts and recorded them as our collective response. We discussed what the images detailed and what emotions it conveyed. Then, we answered questions about how we felt about the images and ways we could use this in our own work.
1. Choose 1 picture from the previous slide with your TEAM and together, try to write a description that captures what the picture is AND how it makes you feel:
Our group chose the second picture, the picture of the carousel. It looks like a carnival with a ferris wheel in the back, with many other attractions. This picture reminded us of a better time, before the pandemic when we could hang out with our friends. To us, it was nostalgic but also had a sense of liveliness and happiness.
2. Where can you find creative inspiration that you can personally use to create your own form of poetry?
I can personally find inspiration to form poetry from my own experiences and emotions because I feel connected to them. I could express my emotions through poetry because I know them well and it would be a nice outlet for me, creatively.
REFLECTION:
Throughout today’s lesson I learned the importance of word choice in poetry. The author’s tone and word choice and change a piece of writing’s entire message and theme. Poetry can come from our inner feelings, and we can find inspiration for poetry all around us. Anything can inspire us to write, including personal experiences and emotions. The beauty of poetry lies in the author’s intent and message. These activities challenged me to think outside the box. Since poetry comes from complex emotions, using a variety of words to phrase my sentences can be far more impactful than stating my emotions. The use of figurative language can also help me more accurately describe what I want to express in my own writing. Creating visual examples is more important than letting the reader know exactly what I want to say. By using figurative language, I can be accurate and precise with my writing.
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