Finding Patterns in Poetry

I introduced poetry to them with a poem, "Friendship," written by Walter Dean Myers, from his collection Brown Angels.

For writing workshop, on the spot I asked them to discuss in groups the patterns they found. The students found a lot of patterns, and had a few that I didn't even notice. That was a great example of teaching through inquiry, and they reacted to it very well.

Make sure they find syllable patterns as well as rhyming patterns.

When I talked about rhyme scheme (this one goes A, B, B, A, C, D, D, C), though, they got confused. That's okay, it's a pretty abstract jump. They understood that the first line rhymed with the fourth line and the second with the third, so that's what counts.

Tomorrow will be a writing workshop to use this poem as a template (all the patterns they found will be part of the template).

I'll let them finish the Friendship-template poems, and then walk them through a couple poetry-writing exercises.

I wrote my own poem using the same format, rhyme scheme, and syllabic pattern of "Friendship," as a model that I could read to my classes. Their assignment was to do the same.

Travel

There is a special place in my glad heart

Turn away from everyday woes

Turn away from that false, ugly pose

That beats just for going, traveling

There are so many places I can go

Take some time to enjoy something new

Take pictures and memories not few

That let me build on a new status quo.