• Home
  • About
  • paus(ed)
    • Education
    • Classroom Discourse
    • Learning Theory
    • Poetry
    • Writing
    • Writing Instruction
    • Writing Process
  • Our Cancer Story
    • Medical Specialists
    • Medicine
    • Radiation Therapy
    • Prostate Cancer
  • Social Media and Tech
    • Blogging
    • Photography
    • Social Media
    • Twitter

thepauser

~ “I have never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that.” Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren)

thepauser

Tag Archives: poetry

Paus(ed): Finding Poems at Christmas

08 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by koehlerjoni in Christmas, Education, Learning Theory, Poetry, Writing Instruction, Writing Process

≈ Comments Off on Paus(ed): Finding Poems at Christmas

Tags

Christmas, Christmas Poetry, Education, Found Poem, poetry

Santa Calls

See the torn cover on this much loved tome?

Let’s face it. Students come back from the Thanksgiving holiday with one thing on their minds.  How long until the Christmas break?  This is not the time to assign the first thirty chapters of War and Peace or the fifteen Latin declensions of the root par including past, past perfect, and pluperfect iterations.

(Note: I wouldn’t know what a declension was if it bit me, but it sounds like the sort of snooze worthy assignment guaranteed to kill peace and goodwill among all nations.)

At this time of year, there is a delicate balance between providing enough cognitive load to ensure learning and keeping the content light enough to engage distracted, sugar laden young brains.

Writing poetry fits nicely into this time frame, because poems can be drafted, revised, edited, and turned in within two or three days, and because it gives the student an immediate sense of success and accomplishment.

I like using the literature we are already reading to have students create found poems. To produce a found poem, students borrow words or groups of words, rearranging to create their own poems.  When generating a true found poem, students should add punctuation only, and none of their own words. This is more challenging than it may seem at first, but almost every student can find lines, words, or groups of words that appeal to them, and almost every student will be able to complete this assignment.

I really liked this teacher’s explanation of the found poem.  It may give you some more ideas about how to get students to think of the found poem assignment as word play.  He even says that words are toys at one point in the video.  Students will listen to toy related talk any time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0czPlqh4DEo

I used Christmas literature during December, because there is no shortage of well written mentor text on this topic. I always had other literature available for students who did not observe the holiday, and it never presented a problem in my classroom.  If your school district has policies against using Christmas literature, just let students use the great literature you are already reading with them

Here’s the found poem I wrote last week.

With so much great Christmas literature out there, I’m sure you already have some of your favorites, but here are some of mine. . .

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson- Best first line in a book, ever.

Santa Calls by William Joyce: This book has a letter in the back of it.  You could also use this book as a springboard to write some Christmas letters.

Santa’s Twin – Dean Koontz

How the Grinch Stole Christmas By Dr. Seuss.

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

What Child is This? A Christmas Story by Caroline Cooney

Happy Finding!  If your students write great found poems, send them to me.  I’d love to see them.

Advertisement

Coming in December…

01 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by koehlerjoni in Poetry, Writing

≈ Comments Off on Coming in December…

Tags

Found Poem, Holiday, poetry

This month, I’ll write holiday posts, but each post will be based on a word that speaks to the time of year to me.  Here are my words:

Week One: Fall

Week Two: Low

Week Three: Star

Week Four: Rose

What are some words that you associate with Christmas?

I’ll also be writing about poetry and written conversations on the Paus(ed) label, and have some fun with the Thursday Stretch posts. Since one of my goals for the month is to play with different visual formats, I created a found poem today using a photo that I took this weekend with an actual camera.  Here’s a sneak peek at my visual–

.The fall found poem (2)

It’s too small to read, so here is the script.

Fallen From Grace

A found poem by Joni Koehler

My sorrow, when she’s here with me against my ruins;

something of the grave almost, Fallen from God.

Bitter where it borders on the flame, the sword!

Containing depth within itself, darkness, shuddering, sinks lower and lower.

A fugitive running, where you feel it touching the first sounds that falter and fall,

as Lucifer fell.

She loves the bare, the death of sunlight, the withered tree.

Thanks to borrowed lines from Walt Whitman, T.S. Eliot, Alain Boubiel,  Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Frost, and George Traki.

Thursday Stretch: I Come From

27 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by koehlerjoni in Poetry, Writing

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

country life, creative writing, poetry

This is a response to the weekly challenge, Digging for Roots.  A lot of teachers have used this poem to get students to write, and when I saw the challenge I thought I’d write my own variation.  I’d love it if you imitated this wonderful poem and shared your version with me. As I write, I feel grateful for all the crew in the picture below, my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  You guys have a wonderful day.

I Come From

By Joni Koehler

After the original poem I Come From by Robert Seatter

family.ea_1972

Thanksgiving(?) 1972.

I come from the end of a dirt lane,

walking home from school to the

yellow house with a tall porch,

cool in the summer and perfect

to fly from.

I come from handmade dresses,

blue and white gingham with

pink rickrack, too wide at the

shoulders.

I come from gospel sings, wooden pews,

sunlight through stained glass.

memorizing bible verses and the smell of grass.

I come from words, babbled, whispered,

chanted, changing, words.

I come from slender fingers clutching

a red apple, peeled in one long strip.

I come from love, the deep kind,

The kind that grew back into roots from

A great grand being you’ve never met.

The kind that grounds you against

life’s lightning.

I come from sadness, redemption,

Romance,

From watching him comb his hair the

same way for thirty years.

I come from the

newness that washed through me

when I brought the new to life.

I come from her hands,

her eyes as she wakes me,

kisses me, faces me toward my life,

walking to school down the dusty lane.

Digging for Roots

Recent Posts

  • New Site:On Revision
  • Finally…
  • Where I’ve Been: A Tale of Two Babies
  • We all Fall
  • If you get an Outfit, You can Go to Zumba, too.

Recent Comments

Charlotte Hoather on New Site:On Revision
koehlerjoni on Where I’ve Been: A Tale of Two…
Jalyss Smith on Where I’ve Been: A Tale of Two…
Charlotte Hoather on We all Fall
koehlerjoni on We all Fall

Archives

  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014

Recent Posts

  • New Site:On Revision
  • Finally…
  • Where I’ve Been: A Tale of Two Babies
  • We all Fall
  • If you get an Outfit, You can Go to Zumba, too.

Recent Comments

Charlotte Hoather on New Site:On Revision
koehlerjoni on Where I’ve Been: A Tale of Two…
Jalyss Smith on Where I’ve Been: A Tale of Two…
Charlotte Hoather on We all Fall
koehlerjoni on We all Fall

Archives

  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014

My Categories

Blogging Christmas Creativity Decision Making Education Essay Fiction Germany Goals Health Humor Learning Theory Marriage Non Fiction Personal Essay Photo essay Photography Poetry Prostate Cancer Reflection Short Fiction Social Commentary Social Media Travel Essay Twitter Uncategorized Walking Writing Writing Instruction Writing Process

Tags

American flag Austria Baltimore blogging blogs Brainstorming Bucket California Christmas Christmas Music Community Connections cookie jar Cooking country life creative writing crying Cyber Knife Dialogue Dog Stories dumb stuff that people say Education essay Facebook fiction First Day of School Food Processor Found Poem Gallagher's Write Like This George Armistead Germany getting stuck health and fitness humor Hunting Learning Theories Low Residue Diet Marriage medical specialists Medicine monthly reflection Monthly Theme- Quirks National Anthem Neuschwanstein Castle new guard Oakland OCD pauserreport Pedicure personal essay photo essay photography poetry Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy Salzburg scaffolded learning Selfie Selfies sentence construction skills Sentence of the Week short fiction short story social media travel travel essay twitter twitter party understanding social media Vacation walking writing Writing Process writing prompts writing skills

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • thepauser
    • Join 132 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • thepauser
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...