Poetry can often seem like an onerous subject to instruct in high school. Teachers worry about boring their students, about failing to connect with them, about their own lack of comprehension for and appreciation of the art form. Along with introducing teenagers to the enjoyment of reading a wide range of poetry aloud and listening to it recited by live and recorded poets, teachers can assign their students writing exercises that they will actually get excited by. The best writing exercises for adolescents tend to be tactile, sensory-based ones that involve more than just their minds.
Leaping Poetry
This exercise can be used in tandem with instructing students on either the ghazal form or on the importance of metaphor to poems. Bring in a bag of words printed on small slips of paper. Also bring a bag full of little objects such as one often finds in one's kitchen drawer (with perhaps a few dollar store items thrown in for fun).
You can then do this in one of two ways. For the larger class, let each pick one object and one word and write a poem that connects them. For a smaller or more advanced group, put the two bags on a table and let them pick one word, write a couplet, then go back and pick one object and write a couplet and so forth, until the poem is complete. This latter mode is best used with the ghazal instruction.
Entering the Image
This exercise is good to use when discussing imagery, symbolism or perspective in poems. Bring in an array of photographs or paintings. Place them on a table and let students pick one or just hand them out. The students can write a poem about what is taking place in the picture from first, second or third person point of view, they can write a stream of consciousness piece emanating from one of the character's minds or they can imagine themselves entering the picture as another character.
Allowing for Nonsense
This exercise can be good for loosening students up, and reminding them that poetry is "first of all sounds," as Donald Hall said. Create a bunch of nonsense words together - you can start them off with examples of your own or from poems like The Jabberwocky - and then you have two options. Assign a word to each student and get them to write a poem imagining what that nonsense entity is like, including all the senses. Or, you can split the students into groups, each with a different nonsense word and get them to create a multi-voiced song or rap or beat box routine with the words, truly giving them an idea of the multiple possibilities inherent in language play.
Exercises such as these can go a long way to making poetry an enjoyable subject for both adolescents and their over-worked teachers!
Catherine Owen - Catherine Owen, MA 2001, has published ten award winning books of poetry/prose. Her writing is lyrical, well-researched and fully ...
Join the Conversation