Free Verse Poetry Lesson Plan

Standards

Content Standard(s)

CCSS. ELA- Literacy. W.7.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Content-Specific Learning Goal(s)

Students will be able to create a free verse poem expressing their thoughts, feelings, and experiences related to their lived experience at school. Students will apply their knowledge and understanding of figurative language and sound devices to develop thoughtful and reflective poems.

ELD Standard(s) and Learning Goal(s) (if applicable)

Part I: Interacting in Meaningful Ways, (C) Productive, (12) Selecting and applying varied and precise vocabulary and other language resources to effectively convey ideas.

Content-Specific ELD Learning Goal(s)

Learning Evidence

Informal

1. Circulation: The teacher will circulate the room during the writing activity, asking questions to check for understanding, providing clarification where appropriate, adjusting teaching methods, adapting the activity as necessary to meet student learning needs, and providing actionable feedback.

2. Free Verse Poetry Worksheet: This digitally provided worksheet will capture and assess students' understanding and application of poetic devices to develop and convey complex meaning and ideas in a logical and coherent form that is appropriate to the task and audience.

Activities

1. Learning Objectives/Goals: State explicitly the learning goal for the students. Do not leave them to guess or wonder at the purpose of the learning. Presenting the learning goals at the beginning of the lesson guides the rest of the learning experience with intentionality.

2. "Horsehead" by Buddy Wakefield: This poem demonstrates what a free verse poem can look and sound like. Any poem that is appropriate to your classroom can be substituted. Ask students to discuss in pairs or small groups what they noticed about the poem, what they liked and disliked about it, and to share their overall reaction to the poem. After the students have discussed these things in their groups, choose a couple to share their answers with the class.

3. "Free Verse Poems" by Becky Moore: This is an optional video that provides a brief overview of free verse poetry. I like to include videos, audio, and visual materials to support student learning through Universal Design for Learning strategies.

4. Know, Wonder, Want to Learn: What is Free Verse Poetry? This activity assesses what students know, wonder, and want to learn about free verse poetry. It allows the teacher to see what students have picked up from the prior activities, what background knowledge and understanding they bring to the lesson, and what kinds of things they are curious about or want to learn about free verse poetry. The latter can guide instruction and provide opportunities to extend the learning.

Have students discuss in small groups. Small groups is best for this activity as it brings more perspectives and ideas to the learning than a paired activity. Provide students with at least five minutes to discuss. This activity can also benefit from handing out a sheet of paper to each group that students can use to separate their responses into the appropriate "know," "wonder," and "want to learn" categories.

Ask each group to share one of their response from a category of their choice.

5. Higher Order Thinking Question: "No verse is free for the poet who wants to do a good job." -T. S. Elliot. The teacher will present this quote and ask students to consider its meaning. Students can be provided independent think time to develop their responses, or work in groups/pairs to collaborate on ideas and create a response. The latter is preferred.

6. Free Verse Poetry Examples: I used these poems in my lesson to provide students with examples of free verse poetry. However, you can choose a selection of poetry that is appropriate to your context. The following exercise can be done independently, in groups, in pairs, or as a whole-class exercise.

a. Students will begin by reading the poems. Depending on class needs, the teacher may choose to read with the students using appropriate reading strategies for their classroom.

b. After reading through the poems, have students select one or two. They will highlight figurative language in yellow and sound devices in green. During this exercise, the teacher circulates the room, checking for understanding, clarifying, and providing actionable feedback.

c. When completed, the teacher will ask students to share poetic devices they identified in their selected poem(s). Ask the students to describe how the author used the device to create meaning.

d. The teacher will instruct students to reread the poems, paying close attention to how the author used poetic devices to express their ideas, observations, and feelings in their selected poem(s). Students will use these poems as mentor texts to guide the next activity.

7. Their Turn! Students have identified the characteristics of free verse poetry, discussed practices for creating effective free verse poetry by reflecting on T. S. Eliot's quote, and have identified techniques and strategies used by poets from the example poetry to create poems that effectively use poetic devices. Students will now demonstrate their knowledge by writing their own free verse poem.

Prompt: You will write a poem expressing your feelings about life at school or about a specific class. Your audience is a classroom of your peers. The language must be appropriate for school/classroom use, although you can express your dislike for a particular class or school.

Rule 1: You CANNOT target teachers or classmates in your poem. NO NAMES.

Rule 2: You MUST use figurative language (metaphor, simile, personification).

Rule 3: You MUST include at least one sound device (rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, etc.).

I created a Google Doc for my students to use in Google Classroom. Feel free to download it for your classroom and modify it to meet your classroom's learning needs. You do not need to credit me for the document. It was simple to make; anyone could have done it. Enjoy it!

8. Review and Look Ahead: Review the learning goals. The teacher should ask students what they learned. Depending on class needs, it is appropriate to ask more specific learning assessment questions such as, "What are some ways the poets from our examples used sound devices or figurative language to make their poems more interesting?" or, "Tell me what you know about free verse poetry."

Connect the lesson to the next learning steps in your unit. Make it explicit to students that what they learned transfers into the next steps.

Next Steps

Personal Reflection on the First Time Teaching this Lesson

What went well? How would you change the lesson in the future?

Students responded positively to the freedom provided by free verse poetry. The DOK 3 question using the quote by T. S. Elliot provided context to writing free verse poems. Students, answering the question, recognize that free verse isn’t necessarily free—there are limits. My students pointed that even though there are no requirements for certain poetic devices to be present, “writers have to choose their words and figurative language and all that” carefully.

Students chose “Good Morning” by Rudy Francisco for our close reading. Students noticed and enjoyed the way the author used personification to “make the day like a person who cares about you.” The students liked the stanza “It dragged the sun into your / room this morning,” and I had to explain what was meant by “pulled an entire disco light / through your curtains.” One student discussed how the poem didn’t rhyme, but used personification and imagery to create their poem. (Students began to connect with what T.S. Elliot meant.)

Students attempted to write free verse poems using the examples I provided as mentor texts. Our “close reading” served as an opportunity to model how to notice the way an author uses poetic devices in their poem. Students were encouraged to “mimic” or “imitate” the style of the their selected mentor text.

As expected, this was an early attempt for students at writing a poem. The work was rough, but they gave the writing an honest attempt. One student asked if they could abandon the prompt and write their own free verse poem. I agreed because the purpose of the assignment was for students to write a poem using poetic devices to express themselves (W.7.4)—I received a hilarious poem about the plight of a jelly donut.

What are the next steps in student learning?

Students will continue to write short poems and use mentor texts to help prepare them for the writing performance task at the end of the unit. Students will continue to pay close attention to the way poets and writers use the rules and structure of writing to produce effective texts in a variety of contexts.

Sample Writing Lesson Plan: Free Verse Poetry Writing