1. Using Models – Writing Poetry

2. Creative Writing Course Background Eighth Grade - One Quarter
Basic Poetic Devices / Terms
Eighth Grade - One Quarter
Elective, Self-Styled “Hybrid”
Portfolio-based course
Prior Work:
Discussions:
What is poetry?
What do poets do?
“Apology Poem” modeled after This is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams
Alliteration
Assonance
End Rhyme
Internal Rhyme
Stanza
Endstopping
Enjambment
Repetition
Persona
Imagery
Figurative Language

3. Billy Collins Poetry 180

4. Introduction to Poetry
I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive. I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out, or walk inside the poem's room and feel the walls for a light switch. I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author's name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means.

6. Choose a Poem to Model Read through the poems provided . . .
Choose one that inspires you in terms of sound structure, style, and subject
Pay attention to these qualities and annotate the poem accordingly.
SHOW ME your annotation before you . . .
Create an original poem of your own, borrowing techniques and/or tone from the model poem, but take care to craft a new poem that is uniquely yours.
Write a short paragraph explaining how you used the model poem as inspiration, how you made decisions as a poet, etc.

7. Links Excerpt from "Rose, Where Did You Get That Red?” Poetry 180
Middle School Poetry 180
United States of Poetry