Book

Getting the Knack: 20 Poetry Writing Exercises

by Stephen Dunning and William Stafford

Getting the Knack: 20 Poetry Writing Exercises
Grades
6 - 12
Type
Book
Pages
203
Published
November 1992
Publisher
NCTE
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Description

Dunning and Stafford, both widely known poets and educators, offer this delightful manual of exercises for beginning poets.

Related Resources

  • Lesson Plans
    • |
  • Calendar Activities
    • |
  • Professional Library
Grades
9 - 12
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Finding Poetry in Prose: Reading and Writing Love Poems
After reading several poems that expand the definition of love poetry, students compose found poems based on a personal memoir—either their own or a love story of another writer.
Grades
3 - 5
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Letter Poems Deliver: Experimenting with Line Breaks in Poetry Writing
Students explore letter poems and experiment with writing letters as poems, using the placement of line breaks to enhance rhythm, sound, meaning, and appearance.
Grades
3 - 5
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Color Poems—Using the Five Senses to Guide Prewriting
Students use their five senses as a prewriting tool to guide their poetry writing as they compose free-form poems using imagery to describe a color.
Grades
3 - 5
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Lesson Plan
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Unit
Creating Classroom Community by Crafting Themed Poetry Collections

Students create poetry collections with the theme of "getting to know each other." They study and then write a variety of forms of poetry to include in their collections.

Grades
6 - 8
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Lesson Plan
|
Unit
Introducing Each Other: Interviews, Memoirs, Photos, and Internet Research
Students use their communication and writing skills as they interview a partner, write an article about them, and create a multimodal presentation to introduce their partner to the class.
Grades
6 - 8
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Investigating Names to Explore Personal History and Cultural Traditions
Students investigate the meanings and origins of their names in order to establish their own personal histories and to explore the cultural significance of naming traditions.
Grades
3 - 5
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Poetry from Prose
Working in small groups, students compose found and parallel poems based on a descriptive passage they have chosen from a piece of literature they are reading.
Grades
6 - 8
|
Lesson Plan
|
Standard Lesson
Found Poems/Parallel Poems
Students compose found and parallel poems based on a descriptive passage they have chosen from a piece of literature they are reading.
Grades
6 - 8
|
Lesson Plan
|
Minilesson
Alliteration in Headline Poems
Students will be introduced to the term alliteration and create a headline poem consisting of 25 words that contain at least three examples of alliteration.
Grades
3 - 6
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Calendar Activity
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Literacy-Related Event
Participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day!

Students select a poem and create a Stapleless Book using the interactive tool.

Grades
K - 12
|
Calendar Activity
|
Literacy-Related Event
United States Congress officially adopted the position of Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry in 1985.
Students investigate the website of a past Poet Laureate's project and use it as a model to celebrate poetry that appeals most to them.
Grades
K - 8
|
Professional Library
|
Journal
Joyful Noises: Creating Poems for Voices and Ears
This article discusses the efforts of a fifth-grade teacher and a visiting poet to rekindle students' sense of poetic passion and pleasure and describes how the authors introduced students to poems for two voices.