Welcome to this Lesson:

Prose Poetry Paragraphs

imitating Sandra Cisneros' style by subtly using poetic elements in descriptions

This lesson was created by NNWP Teacher Consultant Kelly Rubero during an
AT & T-sponsored inservice class for teachers.

The mentor text:

The House on Mango Street is a beautifully crafted chapter book that can be used to show students how beautiful language can be when thoughtfully used.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

Inspired by the vignettes of Sandra Cisneros, students will write about a familiar thing from their lives. Students will use the style of prose poetry to describe something familiar around their home, school or neighborhood. The final product will appear in prose but will read like poetry as the students use common poetic techniques in their writing. Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this assignment is word choice; the writer’s goal is to take risks with poetic language. In choosing thoughtful and descriptive words, the writing (and their chosen object) will come alive for the reader. The support trait in this assignment is voice because the writer will capture through figurative language a sense of who they are and where they are from.

Recipient of the NNWP's
Excellent Writing Lesson Award:

Because of the quality of its resources and ideas, this WritingFix lesson was selected by the Northern Nevada Writing Project as March 2010's Writing Lesson of the Month. It was e-mailed to thousands of teachers who are members of the NNWP's Writing Lesson of the Month Teacher Network.

To access all past lessons, click here to visit the NNWP's webpage. You can start receiving all the new ones my creating a profile on-line at our site-sponsored Ning.