WritingFix: A Poetry Prompt inspired by Jim Croce's "I've Got a Name"

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This original poetry writing prompt and 6-trait lesson were both created during an institute for teachers sponsored by the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Technology Team. Quest Item Poetry comparing Theseus to Orpheus, then using Jim Croce lyrics to inspire an original poem about the road of life Northern Nevada Writing Project Consultant Corbett Harrison created this original on-line writing assignment.
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This writing prompt inspired by:

"I Got a Name"
sung by Jim Croce
Click here to do a Google search for this song's lyrics. Make an overhead of the lyrics to use with your students.

A three-sentence overview of this writing prompt: After listening to and sketching several scenes from the stories of Theseus and Orpheus, students will imagine a scene of themselves standing on the road of life, about to embark on a journey into the world. Inspired by the quest items taken by Theseus and Orpheus on their journeys, students will brainstorm three interesting quest items they might take with them. Using Jim Croce's song "I Got a Name" as further inspiration, students will turn their ideas into a poem.

The "Trait by Trait" emphasis from this writing prompt and lesson: The focus trait in this writing assignment is idea development; writers' final poems will depend on choosing two or three unique items to include as their poems' inspiration. The support trait in this assignment is word choice; word-play devices--similes and personification--are encouraged on the assignment's graphic organizer.

Writer & Student Writer Instructions: Like Theseus and Orpheus, you will stand on the road to life in a few years, and you will begin an independent journey through life. Theseus brought his sword and his sandals on his first journey. Orpheus brought his musical instrument. What interesting items will you bring?

If your teacher is following this on-line assignment, you should have already thought about yourself standing on your road to life. You should have brainstormed several interesting items that you might take with you.

Using Jim Croce's "I've Got a Name" as a model, write a three part poem about you beginning your journey into life. In each part of your poem, talk about one of the quest items you will be bringing with you. Show your reader how the item is you, how you are the item, and how the item will help your journey be a unique one.

If you're still thinking about the three items you'll take on your life quest, press the button below for some further ideas.

Interactive Button Game: If you're struggling to start, press the buttons below to give your brain a spark.

Teaching Instructions & Resources: This lesson was written by Corbett Harrison while taking an institute for teachers offered by the Northern Nevada Writing Project.

Step one (sharing the song): Use the script below to share the stories of Theseus and Orpheus with your students. The fourth page of the script is a handout that you should Xerox for each student and, as prompted by the script, have your students sketch scenes from the story. The scenes your students will sketch are scenes from the early "life journeys" of two of the greatest mythological heroes.

Teacher's script and handout for step one of this lesson.

After their fourth sketch, students will listen to the song "I've Got a Name," sung by Jim Croce, and they will discuss how the song could be about Orpheus, whose journey they have included among their sketches. Use the link in the green box at the top of this webpage to open and print a copy of the song's lyrics that students can look at as they listen to the music. After listening, students will create a fifth and final sketch that shows them standing on the road to life, about to embark on their first independent journey. Like Theseus and Orpheus, they will equip themselves in their sketches with two or three "quest items" to help them be successful on their imagined journeys.

Step two (introducing student models of writing): Let students know that, based on Croce's song, they will be writing an original poem that has three parts. The entire poem will be about them standing at the beginning of the road to life, and each part of the poem will examine and discuss one of three quest items they will take with them.

To inspire them further, share with your students one or all of the original poems written by seventh graders to this writing prompt.

6 seventh-grade students share their "Quest Item Poems."

Step three (thinking and pre-writing): The graphic organizer below should be passed out, and students should be allowed to talk to one other as each quest item they have selected is unpacked poetically on the handout. You might consider having a copy of the graphic organizer on the overhead, and as you go through each row, show how you'd think about answering the questions, which are not the easiest questions to answer.

Graphic Organizer to use as students plan their poems.

After students have completed their graphic organizers, ask them to create a rough draft of their poems. Refer to Croce's song and to the student examples as they compose. Encourage poetic thinking to be included in their drafts. Students don't need to use every item from the graphic organizer when they write their rough drafts, but the graphic organizer--if completed--should inspire them to think poetically about their ideas before crafting a poem.

Step four (revising for specific trait language): To promote response and revision to rough draft writing, attach WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its to your students' drafts. Make sure the students rank their use of the trait-specific skills on the Post-Its, which means they'll only have one "1" and one "5." Have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It rankings. For more ideas on WritingFix's Revision & Response Post-Its, click here.

Focus Trait Post-It:
(All students should use this Post-It)
Idea Development Post-It

Support Trait Post-It:
(Students who are stronger writers should also use this Post-It)
Word Choice

Step five (editing for conventions): After students apply their revision ideas to their drafts and re-write neatly, require them to find an editor. If you've established a "Community of Editors" among your students, have each student exchange his/her paper with multiple peers. With yellow high-lighters in hand, each peer reads for and highlights suspected errors for just one item from the Editing Post-it. The "Community of Editors" idea is just one of dozens and dozens of inspiring ideas that is talked about in detail in the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook for Teachers.

Step six (publishing for the portfolio): When they are finished revising and have second drafts, invite your students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming writer's workshop block. Their stories might become a longer story, a more detailed piece, or the beginning of a series of pieces about the story they started here. Students will probably enjoy creating an illustration for this story as they get ready to publish it for their portfolios.

Publishing on-line? Option 1: Student writers can submit their drafts at WritingFix's Community of Student Writers. To do this, students will need to have an e-mail address and the ability to remember a password. Other students can respond to their writing at this on-line community. Option 2: WritingFix is always looking for new student samples to publish and share on-line. Have you used the prompt on this page to write something you're proud of? If you are willing to share your photo, grade level, first name, and last initial only, write to us at publish@writingfix.com, and we'll send you a permission slip for you and your parents to sign and return to us. You might become a published author who inspires other student writers!

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