This Lesson's Title:

Impersonating Great Poets

writing new words to the rhythm of a famous poem

In 2004, this lesson was built at WritingFix
after being presented at the NNWP's
Piňon Poetry Festival.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book Science Verse by Jon Scieszka. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Click here to view this book at Amazon.com.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

After comparing several of Jon Scieszka's poems from Science Verse with the original poems that inspired them, students will plan their own poetry parodies.  Students will choose a poem, and write some or all of it in the left-hand column of the graphic organizer provided below.  On the right-hand side of the graphic organizer, they will attempt to match--syllable by syllable--the original poem's rhythm as they write their own poetry. Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is sentence fluency; fitting original words into an original poem's rhythm scheme is a great way to experiment with sentences that flow.  The support trait in this assignment is idea development; encourage your students to explore poem topics in unique ways.