Using Images to Create Poetry

The students have just completed the reading of chapter 54 of Kevin Henkes' chapter book, Olive's Ocean, and spent five minutes free writing in their journals (writing prompt: How do the words in this chapter make you feel?).

  The lesson will begin with a discussion of Martha's "near death-by-drowning experience" and Henkes' choice of "Sea Creature" as the title of the chapter.  This task requires remembering the event depicted in the text and understanding the event's impact on the character Martha.  I will use a set of analytical questions to invigorate the discussion regarding imagery which will lead to a deeper understanding of the text.  The discussion requires the student's to be able to apply past knowledge to new knowledge.The student will be able to visualize an event through the reading of a text and connect the image to a past event in his/her life; he or she will understand what imagery is and be able to identify it in the selected text; the students will collaboratively discuss the use of imagery in the selected text (chapter 54).  The student will understand the process of creating a cinquain poem and construct a cinquain poem using the selected text as inspiration.

(3) The student listens to enjoy and appreciate spoken language. The student is expected to: (A) listen to proficient, fluent models of oral reading, including selections from classic and contemporary works; (B) describe how the language of literature affects the listener; and (C) assess how language choice and delivery affect the tone of the message.

(8) The student reads widely for different purposes in varied sources. The student is expected to (C) read for varied purposes such as to be informed, to be entertained, to appreciate the writer's craft, and to discover models for his/her own writing.

(10) The student comprehends selections using a variety of strategies. The student is expected to: (A) use his/her own knowledge and experience to comprehend; (B) establish and adjust purposes for reading such as reading to find out, to understand, to interpret, to enjoy, and to solve problems; (D) describe mental images that text descriptions evoke;  (F) determine a text's main (or major) ideas and how those ideas are supported with details; (G) paraphrase and summarize text to recall, inform, or organize ideas; (H) draw inferences such as conclusions or generalizations and support them with text evidence and experience; (K) answer different types and levels of questions such as open-ended, literal, and  interpretative as well as test-like questions such as multiple choice, true-false, and short-answer.

(11) The student expresses and supports responses to various types of texts. The student is expected to: (B) interpret text ideas through such varied means as journal writing, discussion, enactment, and media;(C) support responses by referring to relevant aspects of text and his/her own experiences .

(15) The student writes for a variety of audiences and purposes, and in a variety of forms. The student is expected to: (D) write to entertain such as to compose humorous poems or short stories; (E) exhibit an identifiable voice in personal narratives and in stories.

(25) The student produces visual images, messages, and meanings that communicate with others. The student is expected to: (A) select, organize, or produce visuals to complement and extend meanings.

Demonstration and Modeling.

The teacher will read aloud Chapter 54 of Olive's Ocean, and then tell the class the story of her near-death-by-drowning experience.  The teacher will compare her personal experience with Martha's and question to see if any other student has experienced an event during which the student experienced panic, such as forgetting to bring a school project on the day it is due, forgetting permission slip for class trip, or forgetting their house key (latch key child).

The teacher will present the imagery handout and lead the class through a visualizing process by having them close their eyes, hear a word and be able to picture the image represented by the word in their minds.  Then the teacher will ask the students to pick out words and/or phrases from Olive's Ocean that created images in their minds, and which helped them to understand and visualize what the author was saying.  Words: sea water, bleeding scratch, red splayed hair, tentacles, thrashing, drifting.

Guided Practice.

The teacher will present the cinquain poetry handout, and lead the students through the steps of creating cinquain poetry.  The teacher will use her near-drowning experience to model the writing of this kind of poetry.  Then the class will break into 2-member groups and compose a cinquain poem using their understanding of Martha's near-drowning experience.  The students will choose a reading representative and read aloud their cinquain poem product.

Informal assessment will be based on observation of the work being conducted in the partnered groups; see Partnered Cinquain Writing Rubric (ungraded).

4.         Independent Practice.

The students, individually, will be assigned the task of writing a cinquain poem describing a personal event which occurred in their lives.

The task will include a writing rubric and be assigned as homework; see Cinquain Writing Rubric (graded).

1.                                 Handout for Concepts of Imagery/Sensory Language;

2.   Handout for the building process of cinquain poetry [http://www.cinquain.org/, http://www.abcteach.com/free/h/howto_cinquain.pdf, http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson43/RWT016-2.PDF, http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson43/RWT016-1.PDF,

      and http://www.msgarrettonline.com/descripwords.html];

3.   Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henke [print out of Chapter 54, Sea Creatures];

4.   Grand Conversation Questions (see attached);

5.   Partnered Cinquain Writing Rubric [www.gilmanton.k12.nh.us/~lwhitman/Curriculum/Cinquain%20Rubric.doc];

6.   Cinquain Writing Rubric [www.gilmanton.k12.nh.us/~lwhitman/Curriculum/Cinquain%20Rubric.doc];

7.   Cinquain/Art Project Scoring Guide (see attached);

8.   Writing paper and pencils;

9.   Ocean recording;

10. Drawing paper, pens, and colored pencils.

Assessment.

The student's will view a series of slides depicting the ocean while listening to a recording of ocean sounds.  Students' will analyze the images and/or sounds and find words to describe what they are seeing; students follow this activity by creating another cinquain poem based on the imagery depicted in the slides and recording and using the words they discovered.  The students will then graphically depict (create) their cinquain through art medium and prepare their artifacts for display.  The art medium may be crayons, map colors, markers, paper cutouts, or computer generated.