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Poetry Shuffle Fifteen things to do with a poem

Take a poem, any poem

1. Reconstruction – bend it, break it and build it up again

Like sequencing activities, this is based on the idea that if you want to understand how something works, there’s nothing quite like taking it apart and putting it back together again. Reconstruction tasks get students thinking about the whole business of what makes a poem a poem. Word processors are essential here, and Choptalk is another valuable tool.

Variations

Give students the poem set out as prose and ask them to add line breaks. ‘Hands’, Ted Hughes, OHT 74, p. 233, or ICT Activity 1

Give students the poem without any line breaks, capital letters or punctuation. ‘The Listeners’, Walter de la Mare, ICT Activity 3

Chop up the words themselves, giving students the poem as a jigsaw puzzle. ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, Robert Browning, ICT Activity 1

Ask students to divide a poem into sections and write titles for each section. ‘A Case of Murder’, Vernon Scannell, p. 111

© 2007 www.teachit.co.uk and HarperCollins Publishers of 17

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Poetry Shuffle Fifteen things to do with a poem2. Word banks – take the words and make them your ownBefore reading a poem, get students thinking about its subject matter, imagery and themes by showing them some or all of its words. There are no anxieties about ‘misunderstanding’ the poem itself, so students feel free to make inferences, ask questions and find patterns. Students can also plunder word banks to create new, related texts of their own – these then inform and enhance their readings of the original poem. Cruncher is the perfect tool for creating word banks and Magnet is ideal for exploring the words themselves. VariationsReveal key words one by one, asking students for their theories as each word is displayed.

‘A Case of Murder’, Vernon Scannell, ICT Activity 1Show students all the common nouns, then all the adjectives, then all the verbs and ask them what they can infer.

‘The Raven’, Edgar Allan Poe, OHTs 19 and 20, pp 62-63, or ICT Activities 1-3Ask students to sort key words or phrases into two or more categories.

‘The Jaguar’, Ted Hughes, Worksheet 40, p 138, or ICT Activity 1 ‘My Country’, Dorothea McKellar, Worksheet 85, p. 261 ‘The London Breed’, Benjamin Zephaniah, ICT Activities 1-4

Before introducing the poem, give students a ‘collapsed’* version, with all the words in lower case in alphabetical order, and ask them to pick out key words, or to create their own lines or to write a poem of their own using just the words from the word bank.

‘Mirror’, Sylvia Plath, ICT Activity 1Before introducing the poem, give students a ‘filleted’* version – just some of its key words (all the verbs, for instance, or all the positive or negative words) in their original order - and ask them to write a new text using all these words in exactly the same order, adding in their own words as they go.

‘The Apple’s Song’, Edwin Morgan, Worksheet 90, p. 273Show students some key words and ask them to invent a story containing these ‘ingredients’.

‘The Ballad of Charlotte Dymond’, Charles Causley, OHT 51, p. 168

*from an original idea by Chris Warren© 2007 www.teachit.co.uk and HarperCollins Publishers of 17




3. Highlighting and annotation – a scribble speaks a thousand words

Students get to work on a poem, colour-coding different groups of words or phrases, or jotting down ideas and questions. For the most able this can be quite an open task, but many students will respond well to being given particular techniques to look for and patterns to find. There are many features that students can explore in this way: poetic techniques, contrasts, use of the senses, words to do with particular themes, or different viewpoints/time periods.

Examples

‘The Eve of St Agnes’, John Keats, OHT 27, p. 84 ‘Funeral Blues’, W.H. Auden, p. 126 ‘Cargoes’, John Masefield, p. 197 ‘The London Breed’, Benjamin Zephaniah, p. 212 ‘First Day at School’, Roger McGough, p. 244



4. Revealing it gradually – slowing down, hiding the title, what comes next?

Revealing a poem stanza by stanza or even line by line supports close reading and inference – the reading process is slowed down, bringing out contrasts, contradictions and surprises. Withholding the title or the last line has a similar impact.

Examples

‘Prince Kano’, Edward Lowbury, pp. 226-30 ‘Mid-Term Break’, Seamus Heaney, pp. 147-50 ‘Rattlesnakes Hammered on the Wall’, Ray Gonzalez, pp. 281-5



5. Cloze activities – classic fill-in-the-gap tasks and some with a twist

A classic way of engaging close attention to text: show students a poem with some of the words missing and ask them to fill in the gaps. At their best, cloze activities make students think carefully and creatively about word choices, and can also help develop understanding of parts of speech, rhythm, rhyme, imagery and theme. VariationsAsk students to come up with their own suggestions for the blanks.

‘Sonnet 130, William Shakespeare, Worksheet 1, p. 5 ‘About His Person’, Simon Armitage, Worksheet 61, p.193 ‘Prince Kano’, Edward Lowbury, Worksheet 72, p. 228 ‘Valentine’, Carol Ann Duffy, OHT 82, p. 250

Give them options for some but not all of the gaps. ‘The Listeners’, Walter de la Mare, Worksheet 4, p.11 or ICT Activity 1

Provide a choice of alternatives for the missing words and/or phrases. ‘To Autumn’, John Keats, ICT Activity 1 ‘The Lady of Shalott’, Alfred Tennyson, ICT Activity 1 ‘The Ballad of Charlotte Dymond’, Charles Causley, ICT Activity 1 ‘The Glass Hulled Boat’, Kathleen Jamie, Worksheet 102, p. 305 or ICT Activities 1

and 2 ‘The Magic Box’, Kit Wright, Worksheet 105, p. 311

Ask students to replace highlighted words with an alternative. ‘Jabberwocky’, Lewis Carroll, Worksheet 15, p. 43 or ICT Activity 2.

Present the poem as a word wall*, with some of the words bricked out. ‘Cargoes’, John Masefield, ICT Activity 1 ‘The Apple’s Song’, Edwin Morgan, ICT Activity 1

* from an original idea by Chris Warren and Trevor Millum© 2007 www.teachit.co.uk and HarperCollins Publishers of 17

Poetry Shuffle Fifteen things to do with a poem6. Sequencing tasks - unjumbling, following form and finding the

story

This is another kind of puzzle, encouraging students to look in detail at a poem’s lines and consider form, structure and (sometimes) narrative. They assimilate threads of meaning in a poem before trying to ‘make sense’ of the whole, so the activity develops close reading and inference, as well as an understanding of how ideas are linked together and contrasted.

Variations

Simply give students the jumbled lines, with or without the title. ‘Metaphors’, Sylvia Plath, ICT Activity 1 ‘Prince Kano’, Edward Lowbury, ICT Activity 1 ‘The Skater of Ghost Lake’, William Rose Benet, ICT Activities 1 and 2

Add information about form (number of stanzas, lines per stanza, rhyme scheme).

‘Down Behind the Dustbin’, Michael Rosen, Worksheet 66, p. 204 or ICT Activity 1

Consider possible alternative sequences for the lines – which is the most effective?

‘Timothy Winters’, Charles Causley, ICT Activity 1

Paraphrase a narrative poem in prose and ask students to work out the story. ‘The Raven’, Edgar Allan Poe, Worksheets 28 (a)-(c), pp. 66-68

Jumble two poems together and ask students to sort them out. ‘The Tyger’ and ’The Lamb’, William Blake, ICT Activity 2


Poetry Shuffle Fifteen things to do with a poem7. Setting statements and questions – matching, true/false,

ranking and more

Give students a set of statements or questions about a poem. This supports interpretation and discussion, encouraging them to pinpoint details and discriminate between different ideas. Alternatively, invite them to write their own statements and/or questions for others in the class to respond to.

Variations

Provide summary statements for students to match against quotations. ‘The Eve of St Agnes’, John Keats, Worksheets 25-26 (A) and (B), pp. 80-83

Give students ‘true or false’ statements to discriminate between. ‘Poem for My Sister’, Liz Lochhead, ICT Activity 1

Ask students to rank statements about a poem’s purpose and/or effects. ‘The Jaguar’, Ted Hughes, Worksheet 42, p. 140, or ICT Activity 2

Students write down their ideas under three headings – ‘I know / I think I know / I want to know’ or ‘KNOW / DEDUCE / INFER’.

‘The Listeners’, Walter de la Mare, Worksheet 6, p. 13 ‘First Death in Novia Scotia’, Elizabeth Bishop, p. 297



8. Bringing things in – making it real

Bring in ‘objects’ that are related to the poem – actual objects, or paintings / photographs, music or other texts – or ask students to find related objects themselves. This will encourage speculation, add another dimension to students’ understanding of the poem and promote discussion. The ‘objects’ can be a great stimulus for students’ own poems too, either before or after reading.

Examples:

‘The Lady of Shalott’, Alfred Tennyson, CD-ROM images‘The Eve of St Agnes’, John Keats, CD-ROM images,‘A Martian Sends a Postcard Home’, Craig Raine, p. 117 and CD-ROM images ‘Musee des Beaux Arts’, W.H. Auden, CD-ROM image‘The Glass Hulled Boat’, Kathleen Jamie, CD-ROM images‘The Magic Box’, Kit Wright, p. 307


Poetry Shuffle Fifteen things to do with a poem9. Drawing – a visual approach

Many poems are highly visual. Students can explore imagery, viewpoint and mood by drawing poems, filming them or creating animated versions using ICT.

Variations

Give out cards with different examples of imagery from a poem, asking students to illustrate their image on A4 paper.

‘Funeral Blues’, W.H. Auden, Worksheet 37, p. 128

Give students copies of a poem, or part of a poem, and ask them to illustrate around or beside the text on the page.

‘My Country’, Dorothea McKellar, p. 259 ‘Rattlesnakes Hammered on the Wall’, Ray Gonzalez, Worksheet 94, p. 283

Provide magazines, newspapers and/or access to internet images and ask students to create a collage to illustrate a poem or section of a poem.

‘The London Breed’, Benjamin Zephaniah, p. 211

Ask students to make a storyboard for the poem. ‘The Raven’, Edgar Allan Poe, Worksheets 24 (a)-(c), pp. 75-77 ‘The Jaguar’, Ted Hughes, Worksheet 41, p. 139 ‘Mid-Term Break’, Seamus Heaney, Worksheet 45, p. 149

Ask students to text-map or animate the poem using ICT. ‘Funeral Blues’, W.H. Auden, ICT Activity 2 ‘Poetry Jump-Up’, John Agard, ICT Activity 1

Let students choose from a range of presentation methods: a poster, a dramatic reading, PowerPoint, Photo Story, MS Word, etc.

‘The Glass Hulled Boat, Kathleen Jamie, p. 303



10. Performance – liberating the words from the page

Some poems were written to be performed; most come alive when they are. Through performing a poem (which needn’t involve an actual ‘public’ performance), students get inside its language, exploring how sound and rhythm work.

Variations

Try clapping or tapping out the rhythm of a poem, with or without its words. ‘Night Mail’, W.H. Auden, Worksheet 28, p. 105 ‘Poetry Jump-Up’, John Agard, OHT 47, p.154 ‘i wanna be yours’, John Cooper Clarke, p. 174 ‘The Skater of Ghost Lake’, William Rose Benet, Worksheet 96, p. 288

Get students to walk the poem’s punctuation, turning 45 degrees at a comma and 90 degrees at a full stop.

‘Night Mail’, W.H. Auden, p. 104

Make them memorise a poem. ‘On the Ning Nang Nong’, Spike Milligan, p. 238

Invite them to add actions. ‘Poetry Jump-Up’, John Agard, OHT 46, p.153



11. Tableau and role play – empathy and visualisation

These two drama activities both encourage empathy and visualisation. For freeze frames, students have to focus in on a precise moment, and a series of freeze frames can help them gain an appreciation of a poem’s structure. Role-play, on the other hand, gives students the chance to engage with a poem’s scenario or themes through imaginative extension.

Variations

Ask students to explain their tableau – not just their pose but their expression and the direction of their gaze.

‘The Eve of St Agnes’, John Keats, p.99

Get students to think of tableaux as ‘living illustrations’, sketching their ideas first.

‘Talking Turkeys’, Benjamin Zephaniah, Worksheet 36, p.124

Divide a poem into a number of ‘scenes’ and ask students to pose a series of tableaux.

‘Mid-Term Break’, Seamus Heaney, Worksheet 45, p. 149

Students start with freeze frame or analysis, then go on to explore the idea further in a brief sketch or role play.

‘The People Upstairs’, Ogden Nash, p. 207 ‘Poem for My Sister’, Liz Lochhead, p. 219



12. Writing additional material – the poem as unfinished business

Students write additional material for the original poem, necessitating close attention to its style and form.

Variations

Ask students to come up with new images for a poem. ‘A Martian Sends a Postcard Home’, Craig Raine, p. 118 ‘i wanna be yours’, John Cooper Clarke, pp. 174-5 ‘Valentine’, Carol Ann Duffy, pp. 248-9

Get them to continue a narrative poem, in either prose or verse – what happens next?

‘The Highwayman’, Alfred Noyes, p. 26

Students create new verses for insertion into the original poem, as alternatives or additions.

‘Macavity: The Mystery Cat’, T.S. Eliot, p. 130 ‘The Ballad of Charlotte Dymond’, Charles Causley, p. 166 ‘Down Behind the Dustbin’, Michael Rosen, p. 202



13. Borrowing the format – learning by doing

Students take the format of the original and write their own version. This enables careful scaffolding, giving them a helpful frame for their own ideas. In the process, they learn more about the form and/or structure of the original poem.

Variations

Give students a template that borrows the form of the original poem. ‘Woman Work’, Maya Angelou, OHT 49, p. 160, or ICT Activity 1 ‘Down Behind the Dustbin’, Worksheet 67, p. 205 ‘The Magic Box’, Kit Wright, Worksheet 106, p. 312

Give students a writing frame that follows the structure of the original poem. ‘A Case of Murder’, Vernon Scannell, Worksheet 33, p. 114 ‘Mid-Term Break’, Seamus Heaney, ICT Activity 2



14. Writing a new version – borrowing the original idea

Students generally gain confidence from having a model from which to work, especially if it means they can experiment with a different voice. Writing a new version is essentially an inventive and challenging activity, though, giving students the creative freedom to depart from the original in really interesting ways. In writing their own version, students find the essence of a poem and explore it. It’s one of the most popular poetry activities of all time, with good reason.

Variations

As a way in, ask students to jot down ideas and images and/or memories for their version, using the five senses.

‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’, Carol Ann Duffy, Worksheet 83, p. 254

Students take the original idea and exaggerate or parody it in their own version.

‘Sonnet 130’, William Shakespeare, p. 4

Probably the most powerful writing stimulus of all: students take the original idea (or ‘trick’) and transfer it to a new context, introducing new characters, objects, places and/or situations.

‘Mirror’, Sylvia Plath, p. 143 ‘About His Person’, Simon Armitage, p. 192 ‘Cargoes’, John Masefield, Worksheets 64 and 65, pp. 199-200 ‘Valentine’, Carol Ann Duffy, p. 249 ‘On the Ning Nang Nong’, Spike Milligan, p. 239

15. Writing spin-offs – a favourite activity that works every time

A poem can lead to excellent writing in other forms. Narrative poems, particularly ballads, can be a source of compelling newspaper articles (and vice versa). Poems about characters can inspire terrific monologues or speeches, and those addressed to a silent ‘listener’ or ‘reader’ are just asking for a reply.

Examples

‘The Lady of Shalott’, Alfred Tennyson, p. 50 ‘The Ballad of Charlotte Dymond’, Charles Causley, p. 167 ‘To a Fish’ and ‘A Fish Answer’, James Leigh Hunt, p. 293


things to do with a poem - 1000s of english teaching ... · web view‘night mail’, w.h. auden,...

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