Embarrassed? Frightened? Write a Poem!

by Jacqueline Jules

Poetry is a great outlet for expressing strong emotions. The Poetry Friday Anthologies are a wonderful source for poems about first day jitters, disappointments, fears, and other emotional moments students experience on a daily basis. I’d like to share two poems I wrote that your students could use as models to write about their own feelings.

“Embarrassed” appeared in The Poetry Friday Anthology, K-5 Edition,2012.

In this poem, I use food images to describe the feeling of being embarrassed after saying the wrong thing. I say “Words spilled like soda/Now there’s a stain.” Sometimes things slip from our mouths in a sloppy way we didn’t intend. It can feel like being a sloppy eater and having potato chips end up in your hair.

The use of images to describe one’s feelings is a powerful tool in writing, particularly in poetry. Ask your student to think of an embarrassing moment. It can be a time when they said something they were sorry for or it could simply be a time when they dropped something or lost their balance in front of someone they wanted to impress. Can they think of an image to describe their feelings? Can they compare it to another situation or object readers will immediately identify with?

Begin with a freewrite, asking your students to describe the situation in prose, with as many metaphors or similes that come to mind. Freewrites give writers the opportunity to find their images first before trying to rhyme or condense their thoughts into a poem. Sometimes, writers choose words only because they rhyme. Doing a freewrite first can help writers avoid this pitfall.

Another strong emotion is fear. Fear of homework. Fear of thunder. Fear of being embarrassed. These poems, “The Math Beast” and “Thunder” appeared in Balloon Lit Journal, August 2015.

In “The Math Beast” I compared math homework and my fear of failing to a tiger roaring in a cage. In “Thunder” I compared the frightening sound of a storm to a stampede of buffalos on the roof.

Ask your students to write about something they fear. Storms? Tests? The High Dive? Monsters? Can they compare their fear to something else?

Once again, begin with a prose freewrite, encouraging your students to identify images before they try to write a poem. Poetry should contain at least one clear picture for the reader and having one in mind before you start is very helpful.

There are so many emotions to write about. Encourage your students to explore emotional terrains and describe their feelings in concrete images.

www.jacquelinejules.com

SELF-DESCRIPTION WITH SIMILE

by Jacqueline Jules

Simile may not be a hard concept for students to grasp. However, coming up with inventive rather than tired or trite comparisons can be challenging for many young writers. Luckily, Hanoch Piven has created two amazing picture books to help jump start creative thinking.

In My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks, Piven creates funny family portraits with everyday objects. On one page, Dad is described “as playful as a spinning top” and “as fun as a party favor.” The next spread shows a picture of Dad with a spinning top for a nose and a party favor for his right eye. Likewise, the family dog who is “as stinky as an onion” is humorously portrayed in a collage with onion eyes and a pepperoni nose.

At the back of the book, Piven challenges young readers to describe their own families, suggesting they make a list of ordinary objects that indicate “smart,” “soft,” “scratchy,” “strong,” etc. The use of objects provides a visual that should energize young writers wishing to provoke the same laughter Piven’s picture book does.

Piven tackles classroom portraits in My Best Friend is as Sharp as a Pencil with the same hilarious results. Different members of the class are described as “quiet as a fish” or “happy as gummy worms.” An afterward explains how Piven has conducted workshops in object art around the world.

If these picture books don’t stimulate inventive similes and lots of laughter in your writing workshop, nothing will.

Ask your students to collect simple objects to describe themselves, family members, or classroom friends. Give them the opportunity to make a collage and write a story about it. Have fun!

www.jacquelinejules.com

POETRY FRIDAY FOR POETRY MONTH

by Jacqueline Jules

          The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School is here! And just in time for April and Poetry Month. This lively compendium of poetry expertly selected by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell has poems by 71 poets including Jane Yolen, Lee Wardlaw, Joyce Sidman, Marilyn Singer, J. Patrick Lewis, Jack Prelutsky, and Nikki Grimes. I am honored to be included among such esteemed poets, along with fellow Pencil Tips blogger, Mary Quattlebaum.

          Like the K-5 edition of The Poetry Friday Anthology, the middle school edition has a poem and quick lesson for every week of the school year. Also included are tips for sharing poetry in the classroom, quotes about poetry, and the Common Core Standards for grades, 6, 7, and 8.  Having all this information in one book is a great timesaver for busy teachers. And there are so many poems inside which could serve as models to inspire student writing.

          In “Advice to Rapunzel,” Eileen Spinelli warns this fairy tale princess to “Be cautious and wise/when you let down your hair.” After reading this poem aloud, you could challenge your students to write their own poem to a fairy tale character. Julie Larios’ poem “The Perfect Day” or Irene Latham’s “Biking Along White Rim Road” could jumpstart student poems about a special day outdoors with a friend. And there is a menagerie of wonderful pet poems to serve as inspiration for students to write about their own beloved animals.

Many of the poems in this book are breath-taking —excellent demonstrations of the quote on the back cover by Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “Poetry teaches us the power of a few words.” Teachers might find themselves putting this anthology by their bedside for pleasure reading.

Equally impressive are the “Take 5 Activities” accompanying each poem. They include tips for introducing the poem’s subject matter, reading it aloud, and pairing it with other related poems. Particularly helpful is Tip #4 which highlights a specific poetic device used in the poem. These tips also point out the structure of individual poems and how the poet used line breaks to convey meaning. Teachers looking for quick examples of alliteration, onomatopoeia, metaphor, or personification only need flip through a few pages before finding exactly what they need.

As the introduction to Poetry Friday for Middle School eloquently states, poetry is a wonderful vehicle for introducing vocabulary, figurative language, sensory details, and imagery. It stimulates the imagination and expresses strong emotion. What’s more, poems can be revisited, providing the reader with new insights and emotional connections. All of these add up to compelling reasons why every teacher should consider adding a weekly Poetry Break to his or her curriculum. Check out The Poetry Friday Anthologies to find out exactly how.

www.jacquelinejules.com