Create a New Poetry Unit

Posted by Kellie Hayden Jun 23, 2008

Poetry terms generally are on the achievement tests, and students enjoy writing poems on topics they love. At first, students may whine when you tell them that they will be studying poetry. However, if you write poetry with them and share your work, they will stop the whining and want to share their work with you.

Assign students to create a themed poetry project. In this project, students will learn about poetry techniques, such as hyperbole, alliteration, rhyming, personification, similes, metaphors, and onomatopoeia. These techniques add pizzazz to any writing assignment.

After the students have mastered the poetry techniques, they can learn about poetry types, such as syllable count poems, free verse poems and shape poems.

In addition, poetry can be written in conjunction with holidays. For Saint Patrick's Day, assign students to write limericks. For Valentine's Day, ask students to write a love poem.

To get students to publish their work, poetry is a great place start. Poems are generally short and students feel confident sending in a short poem. Plus, there are many poetry contests where students can be successful.

So, add creative poetry writing in your lessons. It is fun, and it probably will show up on the achievement test.