April 2023 - Margin Notes

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TRY THIS TOMORROW BY GUEST WRITER TAYLOR FLORIS: INTRODUCING PROSE POETRY

A trend in contemporary poetry collections is the inclusion of prose writing. In general, prose is a writing style that does not follow a structure of rhyme or meter. It uses words to compose phrases that are arranged into sentences and paragraphs and is used to communicate concepts, ideas, and stories to a reader. However, prose poetry is a type of writing that combines the elements of poetry, such as meter, repetition, alliteration, language and literary devices with elements of prose.

To introduce students to prose poetry, I recommend using the work of Lang Leav, a poet and novelist whose poetry collections feature beautiful examples of prose poetry. She has such a way with words and presents her ideas through her writing in unique and gripping ways. Some titles you may wish to explore with students include:

Three Questions by Lang Leav

Crossroads by Lang Leav

A Dream by Lang Leav

The Redwood Tree by Lang Leav

Until It’s Gone by Lang Leav

Her by Lang Leav

Lover’s Paradox by Lang Leav

Talk Again by Lang Leav

Students can explore these titles as a class, in small groups, and/or independently, and notice and name the moves they notice, and the impact they may have on the reader. They can then experiment with writing their own prose poetry, revising a piece they are currently writing to include a move inspired by something they saw today, or reflect on the impact of this blending of forms.

Taylor Floris is an aspiring English and Business teacher, currently completing her Bachelor of Education degree from the University of New Brunswick. In her spare time, she can be found cozied up, with a coffee in-hand, indulged into the life of fiction and poetry.

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TRY THIS TOMORROW BY GUEST WRITER TAYLOR FLORIS: ANNOTATING POETRY

Apr

As teachers, we often seek out learning opportunities that provide a means for analysis and recognize the intentional writing choices of authors. One opportunity you may wish to try with your students is analyzing poetry though a “gallery walk”. Here is how it works:

Choose poems you want your students to analyze for craft (I will link some of my favourites at the end of this post!)
Create stations around your classroom with a copy of each poem taped to the middle of a piece of chart paper.
Model annotating a poem, where you think aloud for your students.
Place students in small groups to move through the stations that each feature a different poem.
After reading a poem students will record the moves they notice the poet making on the chart paper.
After they have had time to do this, each group will rotate.
From here, they will read the next poem, consider the annotations made by the previous group and add any further annotations that they notice.

The goal of this learning activity is to engage students in texts to notice craft moves that they may not have without a targeted reading purpose and collaboration, so a nice debrief is to then share the final collection of annotations for each poem either as a whole-class or with one final “gallery walk”.

Some potential exit slip questions could be:

What is a craft move you noticed in a poem today that impacted your reading of the poem? How did this move deepen your understanding of either the poem or the intentional moves writers make?
What is a craft move another student made that helped you see something new?
Did you see any craft moves in the poems you read today that you would like to try in your own writing? Tell me how or when you might use it.

Here are some poems you might consider using:

Good Bones by Maggie Smith

Home by Sarah Russell

The Rose That Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur

Blank Sonnet by George Elliott Clarke

And Lang Leav’s poem “Leaves”

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: INSTRUCTIONS ON NOT GIVING UP by ADA LIMON

Apr

Last week, on an episode of The Good Doctor, the main storyline was quite compelling. It was about a woman with Long Covid who was suffering from debilitating brain fog. She yearned for the days before she caught Covid; when she was able to do her job as a biologist, remember daily tasks and string words together that made sense.

To counteract her symptoms of brain fog, she would write out poems in her notebook and try to memorize them. The poem Instructions on Not Giving Up by Ada Limon was the poem she reads at the end of the episode. My first thought was “How have I not heard this poem?”. It’s such a beautiful evocation of spring.

This would be a great poem to enjoy during Poetry Month.

Ada Limon reads the poem here: https://poets.org/poem/instructions-not-giving

Instructions on Not Giving Up by Ada Limon

More than the fuchsia funnels breaking out
of the crabapple tree, more than the neighbor’s
almost obscene display of cherry limbs shoving
their cotton candy-colored blossoms to the slate
sky of Spring rains, it’s the greening of the trees
that really gets to me. When all the shock of white
and taffy, the world’s baubles and trinkets, leave
the pavement strewn with the confetti of aftermath,
the leaves come. Patient, plodding, a green skin
growing over whatever winter did to us, a return
to the strange idea of continuous living despite
the mess of us, the hurt, the empty. Fine then,
I’ll take it, the tree seems to say, a new slick leaf
unfurling like a fist to an open palm, I’ll take it all.

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TEACH LIVING POETS BY LINDSAY ILLICH & MELISSA ALTER SMITH

Apr

If you are familiar with the Teach Living Poets website or the #TeachLivingPoets community on Twitter, you will want to get your hands on this professional resource. If you aren’t already acquainted with the work of Teach Living Poets, be sure to spend some time with it this month!

Lindsay Illich and Melissa Alter Smith have created a professional resource that celebrates the work of contemporary poets and the incredible thinking students will do when we put compelling poetry in their hands and create the conditions for them to grow their understanding about it together. As they write in the introduction:

To quote Kevin Akbar, we are living in “a golden age of poetry” (“The Rumpus”). We hope this book helps us open up the world of contemporary poetry and renews your passion for language and literature, which is so vital to engaged teaching. Indeed, in our own writing and teaching lives, reading and engaging in this world has opened us to a flood of generosity from writers and other educators, invaluable gifts that led us to write this book. We hope it will lead you to your own projects that will be gifts to others.

Teach Living Poets is overflowing with ideas for bringing contemporary poetry (and poets) into the classroom. It features lessons and resources that you can implement right away as well as examples of student responses and written work. I especially appreciate the way the classroom snapshots highlight many teacher voices by incorporating activities shared by contributors to the website. Each chapter includes dozens of recommended poems—so be warned it can be a slow read if you, like me, stop and google every title and poet, but I promise it will be totally worth it.

If you are looking for ways to incorporate contemporary poetry into your reading and writing workshop, I highly recommend adding Teach Living Poets to your professional resource library.

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TRY THIS TOMORROW SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A RIVER

Apr

Sometimes I Feel Like a River helps us explore our connection to the natural world. This beautiful collection of 12 short poems captures the essence that our feelings are as innate as the natural wonders around us. This journey through a range of emotions universal to all human experience helps readers discover the connection between emotions as a natural part of our lives and the natural world. The author leaves us with the words to attentively experience and explore the world around us through a mindful nature walk.

This newly published book has tons of potential as a mentor text for repetitive interactions while also exploring and connecting with our own emotions and the emotions of others. Daniel’s words and Bisaillon’s illustrations are the perfect springboard for a sea of talk as readers are supported to make connections, notice, wonder and take to heart the essence of the author’s message. Daniel’s invitation for “A Mindful Walk and Roll” is the perfect short poem for students to read, discuss and carry in their pocket as they explore the outdoors no matter the season. I get excited just thinking about the short poem’s students could then write after studying the authors craft, exploring their own emotions and the natural world around them. Why not even explore creating their own illustrations using soft and wax pastels, cut paper, colored pencils, gouache, charcoal or even digital art like the illustrator to capture the wonder point that inspired their own Sometimes I Feel Like a … poem. Take it further and create a collective picture book for your readers to share with younger readers in their school community.

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: POETS ON COUCHES

Apr

During the pandemic, The Paris Review created Poets on Couches, a series of videograms in which poets read another poet’s work and discuss it. From their couch, they describe their personal responses to the poem they have selected and comment on its craft. They share their noticings, curiosities, and connections to other writing.

The archives from 2020 and 2021 offer a wide range of poetry and reactions to it. Each post includes the transcript of the poem and a short video. This is a tremendous source of poetry and models of poetry discussions. You might incorporate this series by:

inviting students to watch the video and then discuss how their responses to the poem are similar or different
watching a selection of videos and creating an anchor chart of “what we talk about when we talk about poetry” strategies
sharing some of the videos as a way to introduce students to new poems and poets
using the videos as models for students to create their own Poets on Couches poetry responses

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TRY THIS TOMORROW: POETRY MENTOR TEXTS

Apr

One of the most time-consuming tasks as a teacher is the gathering of mentor texts. For all your poetry mentor text needs, you must follow @Joseph_Fasano_ on Twitter. He is the host of a daily poetry thread. He begins the thread by posting a poem and includes the topics of the text. He, along with his almost 20K followers, continue the thread with posts of poems matching the topic.

Example poetry thread topics:

How to use this:

Explore how the same topic can produce varying themes
Make your own collection of texts on the same topic
On an online platform, follow the same pattern of the original poster starting a thread
Students pick a topic of interest and practice the skills you are currently teaching
Use the threads as research for a reading multigenre

I love it when readers come together to share texts and collaborate. Happy hunting!

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