well, acrostics, personification, and poetry
writing. And, irony of ironies, I even “teach
the teachers” with my in-service sessions,
which I’ve done all over the country.
The workshops I conduct during my author visits work equally well for students
who see themselves as budding authors,
writers, and poets, and those who really
have no interest in writing at all. For instance, with third graders on up, I have had
great luck with sensory poems. I start by
asking students what they think a sensory
poem (and I underscore the first four letters
of the word sensory as I ask this) has to do
with. Someone usually guesses the senses.
“Yep–and how many senses do we have?” I
ask. Then they list them. Next, I show seven
abstract nouns on a screen:
Happiness
Anger
Joy
Determination
Love
Peace
Fear
They need only choose one of those
words and then they have three things—
the title of their piece, the subject of their
piece, and the first word of each of their five
sentences. Plus—no writer’s block! They’re
up and writing! Next, they will tell me what
(for instance) anger smells like, looks like,
tastes like, etc. Before they write, I share
a dozen or so examples of sensory poem
lines. Then, they end up crafting poetic
lines such as:
“Peace smells like the inside of a candle
store,” and “Anger looks like a one-eyed bulldog.”
In thirty short minutes, they go from
never having heard of a sensory poem to
sharing their completed five-sentence piece.
I’ve dedicated a book to each of my
elementary school teachers, and even swap
Christmas cards and emails with five of
them. Schools and teachers—the very thing
I ran from in my childhood, I ran toward as
an adult.
Brian P. Cleary
Writer, Humorist, Word Nerd, Rhyme Mogul,
Keynote Speaker, Poet, Raconteur, Wit, Style
Maven, Literacy Junkie, Laugh Inducer,
Bow-Tie Wearing children’s author of more
than 50 curriculum-based books, Brian P.
Cleary has kickstarted poetry and grammar workshops with children and teachers
around the country and abroad. www
. brianpcleary.com, https://www.facebook
.com/brianpclearybooks/ and email: babe
ruth60@aol.com
In thirty short
minutes, they go
from never having
heard of a sensory
poem to sharing
their completed five-
sentence piece.
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