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How to write poems
National Poetry Day ran a week-long mini poetry festival in four Hull primary schools this year in association with Hull UK City of Culture 2017. All the participating children had the chance to write and perform their own poems and this is the exercise that Joseph Coelho devised to start them off.
Using the M.O.R.E.R.A.P.S to explore Freedom, this year’s National Poetry Day theme
Focus – poetic devices, game play, competition, freeing up the idea of what poetry is.
Stimulus
Read aloud to your class or display the video of M.O.R.E.R.A.P.S. page 56 in Werewolf Club Rules by Joseph Coelho.
Composition activity / Transcription
Write M.O.R.E.R.A.P.S. vertically down a board.
Tell children that each letter stands for a tool that we can use to make writing more exciting, and these are called poetic devices.
Challenge them to listen out to what the different poetic devices are. Can anyone in the class remember all of them from the poem?
If necessary read/watch M.O.R.E.R.A.P.S. a second time.
Ask the children what each letter stands for asking for examples from the class as you go along. Challenge them to make each example about freedom. There are examples given below but challenge the class to come up with their own, prompting where necessary. The aim is to create a class poem that the class has ownership over.
Metaphor
Saying one thing is another thing to show what it is like.
Freedom is an open window.
Onomatopoeia
A word that sounds like what it means.
Freedom tweets.
Rhyme
A word that has the same sound as another.
Freedom is a light
Shining ever so bright
Emotion
Giving the poem a mood or feeling.
Freedom fills the world with joy.
Repetition
Repeating a line or a word to show that it is important.
Free, free I feel free.
Alliteration
Using several words in a row beginning with the same letter.
The weight of the world wafted away as freedom waded in.
Personification
Making an inanimate object seem like a person.
Freedom shimmies and flows across the dancefloor of the world.
Simile
Comparison of one thing with another using like or as.
Freedom is like a deep breath.
Once all the examples are created and written on the board read out just the
examples as a poem. For instance…
Freedom
Freedom is an open window.
Freedom tweets.
Freedom is a light,
shining ever so bright.
Freedom fills the world with joy.
Free, free I feel free.
The weight of the world wafted away as freedom waded in.
Freedom shimmies and flows across the dancefloor of the world.
Freedom is like a deep breath.
Don’t worry if the poem feels a little random – it should be easy to create and organic and fun, and remember this is just a first draft.
The M.O.R.E.R.A.P.S competition
Tell the students that they are going to have a competition between their table groups (mixed table groups) to see who can get the most points by writing examples of each of the M.O.R.E.R.A.P.S. all on the theme of freedom.
With the classes help assign a point value between 1-10 to each of the M.O.R.E.R.A.P.S. for example,
Metaphor = 8 points Onomatopoeia = 4 points Rhyme = 2 points
and so on – it is important that points are decided by the class reflecting how hard or difficult a particular device is to do (this will be different for each class.)
Give each table group a huge piece of sugar paper and lots of pens/pencils to ensure everyone can write at the same time. The writing does not have to be in straight lines – the aim is to cover the paper in poetic lines. Some words will be big, some small, some upside down.
Tell students that each time they write a metaphor they will get 8 points and each time they write a sentence that uses onomatopoeia they will get 4 points and so on. The sentences can be serious, fun, silly or nonsensical. Just as long as they keep the theme of freedom in mind.
Tell the class that if they manage to use more than one device in a single sentence the points will be multiplied for instance…
The sun is an orange zooming across the sky, it flies so high.
This sentence uses metaphor, onomatopoeia and rhyme and so its points equal 8 x 4 x 2 = 64
Depending on the combination of devices and the points assigned it is very possible to get sentences worth tens of thousands of points (these sentences might be quite long).
Bonus points can be given for groups that manage to write examples of all of the M.O.R.E.R.A.P.S. or that write particularly strong sentences. Minus points can be assigned to a device (i.e. rhyme) if you have a class that is perhaps over using a certain device.
Joe’s Tip
“If you don’t want to create a competitive environment, tables can compete against themselves, e.g. see how many points they get in one 15 minute stint then see if they can beat their own record.”
Product/Performance
Once points have been worked out, students can be challenged to use the large sheets as poetry banks. Challenge them to create a poem using only the sentences available on their table’s sheet. Depending on their points groups can be given first, second, third and so on, and a choice of different exciting types of paper to write on and different implements to write with, for example, different coloured card, nice felt tips, giant pencils, specially designed paper such as the cheap pads you can buy in stationery shops that have illustrated edges, cool postcards, charcoal, disposable lab coats!
Differentiation
Because this is a group activity, it is key that abilities are mixed. Some groups may decide that there should be one scribe with everyone else feeding in ideas, other groups may want to pair up and write on the big sheet in pairs, one writing one making suggestions, other groups may want to all write independently at the same time. With mixed groups no one should feel left out.
Once first drafts are written poems can be shared with the class and constructive suggestions given to make the poems even stronger. Students can now be encouraged to redraft their work and to feel free to not make every sentence one of the M.O.R.E.R.A.P.S but to rather get used to regularly thinking about how they can push their writing.
Thanks to Joseph Coelho, National Poetry Day, Hull UK City of Culture and the staff and pupils at Collingwood Primary School, Hull.
Joseph’s new book How to Write Poems is full of more useful tips and poetry starting points. It is published by Bloomsbury 978-1408889497, £9.99 pbk, take a look inside .
National Poetry Day is on 28 September 2017 and there’s lots more poetry inspiration on the website.
