Much to the surprise of my colleagues, I find it so easy to get kids to enjoy, explore and critique poetry. Giving students opportunities to explore a variety of poems, with very little guidance, and a whole lot of sharing, opens up discussions about poetic devices, themes, and messages in poetry. As students are exposed to these samples, they are more prepared and excited about writing and creating their own poems.
Here are few activities I have done with my students.
Puzzle Poems
- Find poems that do not mention the subject in the piece
- Remove the title
- Ask students pairs/groups to read poem
- Have the groups decide on a title, and explain their decision based on quotes from poem
- Share as a class suggested titles
- Discuss as class why and why not each title works
- Finally share the Poet’s Title
- Have students discuss/write about their agree/disagreement with the poet’s title
Poetic Device Scavenger Hunt
- gather up a variety of poetry anthologies
- discuss with students several poetic devices, giving samples
- In partner/groups have students search through anthologies finding examples of the these poetic devices
- Do not stop them from sharing their favourite poems, often unexpected student will want to share a poem they connect with
- Share findings of poetic devices as a class (post findings)
- Allow students to explain why or why not these are examples
