A while back, I talked about an article I was writing about using images to kickstart poetry projects in the classroom. Here it is!
Images and Poetry: A Perfect Pairing!
When you ask students to write a poem, do you get blank stares? That’s because kids are stuck. They don’t know what’s “important” enough to write a poem about. Even if you give them a starter subject, like the moon, for instance, they still might not know where to begin.
But you can minimize this problem by showing kids photos and illustrations. That’s because, although they might have trouble visualizing a waterfall or a racecar or whatever, the image gives them a great starting point for imagining the textures, sounds, tastes, colors, etc.
Last year, I wrote 10 poetry books for Capstone Press. The poems were to be photo-illustrated, and when I met with the editor to discuss the project, she asked my preference of process. Should I write the poems first? And then they would look for images to complement them? Or should they round up photos, and then I would write poems inspired by the actual images?
I chose the second option. I thought it would be fun and exciting to write poetry collections based on photos. And I was right! I was almost never short of inspiration—in fact, I was staring right at it! Instead of the general dictate “Write poems about space,” I had amazing photographs of space objects to inspire my poems!
This poem-boosting process worked for me, it works for many beginning poets in my weekly photopoetry activity on my blog, and it will work for your kids, too.
Here are some simple ways to work ekphrastic poetry into your own classroom:
Share excerpts from the book Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art, edited by Jan Greenberg, with your students.
Bring in a poster. Have your kids brainstorm in some way, perhaps webbing, to come up with possible topics. The kids write poems and go through the revision process. Then have the kids write their final drafts on index cards. Put the poster on a bulletin board, and arrange the index cards around it so that they form a frame for the poster.
Display an image of a person whose face is showing some emotion. Ask kids to brainstorm ideas for how the person feels and what has caused that feeling. The kids each write a short poem from the point of view of the person in the image.
Use picture books with evocative art. Have the entire class write poems in response to a illustrations. Remind them that they aren’t trying to match what the author wrote. They are just using the images for inspiration. After everyone has completed their poems, let students volunteer to share their poems. Then read the entire book aloud. Here are a few terrific picture books with wonderful, varying styles of illustrations to get you started:
A Birthday Cake Is No Ordinary Cake, by Debra Frasier (Harcourt, 2006)
God Bless the Gargoyles, by Dav Pilkey (Harcourt, 1996)
Night Driving, by John Coy (Henry Holt, 2001)
Over in the Pink House, by Rebecca Kai Dotlich (Boyds Mills Press, 2004)
Three Names of Me, by Mary Cummings (Albert Whitman, 2006)
What Is Goodbye, by Nikki Grimes (Hyperion, 2004)
Brainstorm a list of emotions with your class. Here’s a basic list in case you run out of steam. Next, assign each student one mood. Then show your class a landscape or other image without a strong mood or emotion already evident. Ask each student to write a poem that reflects his or her assigned mood. For instance, the same clouds might be “threatening” to a fearful mood, “calm” to a relaxed mood, and “floaty” to a happy mood.
Find an image of an intriguing object. A skyscraper. A canyon. A lobster trap. Or, pick an everyday object. A combination lock. A tennis shoe. A pencil. Ask kids to shut their eyes. “Imagine you’re this object. How do you feel? What do you do? What do you like? What do you hate? What is your secret?” Brainstorm with your students. Then have your students each write a poem from the point of view of that object. Here is an example of a mask poem by Kristine O’Connell George.
Illustrated photo books. (See photo below.) Purchase inexpensive photo albums (check the dollar section). Have students collect interesting images from magazines (or, depending on age, maybe they will take photographs) and insert them into the left side of the spreads. Then they will write a poem inspired by each photo. (This might be one solid project, or an accumulation of many mini-projects over a longer period of time.) Students write final drafts of each poem on pieces of paper or index cards that fit the photo sleeves and place them into the right-side sleeves. Have them decorate the covers and enjoy their illustrated poetry books.
Make mini-scrapbooks. Have students bring in 5-7 photos from home. They write poems inspired by the events in the photos. It’s helpful to use forms here. Introduce kids to acrostics, haiku, cinquain, and diamante. Writing in these forms can help prevent the poems from being prose stories that the kids have simply broken into shorter lines! Arrange the photos and poems in real, inexpensive scrapbooks, or create your own on construction paper that’s folded in half to form books. Decorate with colorful papers and stickers and ribbon.
Use one of the Capstone poetry collections I wrote. (I shared my writing process here.) Choose one book and then pick a specific image from that book. Discuss with the class what mood or form they might choose to go with this photo. Let everyone write poems. They share their poems aloud, and then you could share the poem I wrote to go with that image. Emphasize that there is no right poem. The fun of this is that it highlights the way we all look at one thing and bring our own likes, dislikes, moods, and words to it.
Buy inexpensive scenic postcards and pass them out. (See photo below.) Have each student work on a short poem (on a separate piece of paper) based on the postcard image. Go through some simple revision techniques. Once each student has a final version, have them write their final copies neatly on the backs of the postcards. Then the kids mail their postcards (even if it’s just to themselves).
Bring in some abstract art. Your librarian can help you find art to borrow. See what kids write in response to art that is not clearly any specific item. Discuss how color, vibrancy, shape of line, etc., creates a particular mood that might be reflected in their poems. Another option would be to have kids create their own abstract art, and then write a poem to go with it!
Calendar art. Pick up free scenic calendars from businesses. At this time of year, some might have tons of leftovers they’re ready to give away, especially if you mention you’d use them as a class project and one would go home to every family. Have kids write poems to the pictures, then cover the date part of the calendar with their poetry. They take them home to display.
So there are lots of ways to add fun poetry-art activities to your classroom. And by giving kids a starting place, a jumping-off point, you’ll hopefully see fewer blank stares and hear more pencils scratching on paper!
Laura Purdie Salas is a children’s poet and nonfiction writer. Learn more about her at her website, and read about her online classes on writing children’s poetry. Registration is now open for her next one-week workshop for beginning poets. Each Thursday on her blog, she posts a picture, and people respond with 15 Words or Less poems. Everyone is welcome to participate! She is also available for poetry-based school visits.
