Have you ever created a Found Poem? You take printed material, like a newspaper or magazine article, cut out words ransom-style, arrange them to form a poem, and use a glue stick to attach them to plain paper. Back in my teaching days, we got newspapers in the classroom once a week and I'd occasionally assign a Found Poem. I loved seeing the poems my students would create. Even though they were using the same newspaper, their poems were always completely different.
Our local newspaper ran a story about the Christmas at the Waterfront event, with photos from the Lighted Boat Parade. Our family loves attending and seeing the creative ways that people light up their boats. I thought it would be a fun challenge to make a Found Poem about our family traditions. I cut out the photos and a bunch of random words from the headlines in that day's paper, but as I arranged and rearranged them, my poem went a different direction.
Christmas Memories
Preserve family tradition:
songs, treats, and making wreaths.
More important:
Including Christ this season.
Most of the words in my poem came from headlines that have absolutely nothing to do with Christmas. That's half the fun and it really challenges your creativity. If you've never done a Found Poem, I encourage you to give it a try!
I've been out of the classroom for over 12 years now. While I have kept my teaching credential current just in case, I have no plans to return to classroom teaching. Trevor has largely outgrown the teaching materials I've been keeping and using with him to supplement the education he gets in public school. I'm not getting rid of everything, but it's time to go through my teaching materials and pass them on to someone who will use them.
In the process, I came across a poem I wrote as a sample for my students in 2005. After reading "If the World Was Crazy..." by Shel Silverstein, I challenged each student to write their own version of the poem. The original poem has three stanzas. In the first, the author describes what he would eat if the world was crazy. In the second, what he would wear, and in the third, what he would do. I asked my students to write a one-stanza poem using a different verb than eat, wear, or do. Anything else was fair game. We brainstormed some good options (i.e, one syllable verbs that rhyme with something): play, go, cook, taste, try, use, ride, learn, hear, feel, etc.
I wrote my example, using the verb cook, in front of the students. I demonstrated counting syllables and following the meter and rhyming structure of the original poem. They loved watching me write a silly poem and were very excited to give it a try. Unfortunately, I didn't save copies of my students' work, which is a shame as some were really fun and creative. I am so glad I saved my own. Last week (thirteen years after writing the poem), I added some illustrations to accompany it, which I'll pass along to a teacher friend to use as a sample.
As I was looking for links to Shel Silverstein's site, I came across this delightful version of "If the World Was Crazy." It makes me want to animate my poem. Watch with the volume up.
Shel Silverstein was one of a kind. I am so glad to have grown up with, and passed on to my students, his whimsical and unique poetry.
