Lesson Introduction
Students compose found and parallel poems based on a descriptive passage they have chosen from a piece of literature they are reading. They first work in small groups to brainstorm words to describe concrete objects and then arrange their words from most descriptive to least descriptive. They then use their knowledge of descriptive text to select a descriptive passage from a book they are reading. They pick out words, phrases and lines from the prose passage then arrange and format the excerpts to compose their own poems. This process of recasting the text they are reading in a different genre helps students become more insightful readers and develop creativity in thinking and writing.
Learning Objectives
In this lesson, students will have opportunities to:
- Discuss the characteristics of descriptive writing.
- Select a descriptive passage in a piece of prose fiction and identify significant words, phrases and sentences in the passage.
- Arrange the excerpts into a found poem.
- Compose a parallel poem, using the same structure as the found poem.
Materials and Resources
To teach this lesson, you will need:
- a prose passage chosen by student or teacher
- Model Found/Parallel Poems
- Found & Parallel Poems Checklist
- Found Poem Instructions