Poetry Friday Round Up and Giveaway

Welcome to Poetry Friday. I'm delighted to have you here for a few moments of your day. And yes, I'm giving away five copies of Here We Go: A Poetry Friday Power Book, courtesy of Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell.

Janet and Sylvia have been using their talent and seemingly inexhaustible energy to make bringing poetry into the classroom more accessible for both teachers and students.

Here We Go is a book about four friends whose circumstances are bigger than they are.

Jack's dad lost his job. Life is tough at his house.
Ameera is Muslim and kids often say bad things about her.
Jenna's single-parent mom works long hard hours.
David is a border kid, born in the U.S., but often traveling to Mexico. Life is uncertain.

It's a book about families.
It's a book about poetry.
It's a book about activism.

But most of all, it's a book about finding the courage to be the person you're meant to be and acting from that center.



Let's take a look! I thought the best way would be to dive into a powerpack and participate.

This is the opening page for Powerpack 4. I personally love the creative imagery of these opening pages.  The designs and patterns by Franzi Paetzold capture the theme of each powerpack.

The next spread is a powerplay activity designed by Sylvia that gives students the chance to play with words and word choices.

Here's my wordplay. I began with rhyme, then moved to some slant rhyme.

Next is the anchor poem, a previously published poem from an outside source that reflects the theme of the powerpack. The response poem (written by Janet) is from the point of view of one of the four friends and expands on the theme. 

The mentor poem, again written by Janet in the voice of one of the four friends, gives students an example to study as they begin working on their own poem. 

And finally, there's a writing prompt, created by Sylvia, that challenge students to write using specific techniques encountered in the preceding poems of the powerpack. 

I chose to work with internal rhyme and slant rhyme. 

One day while working on the poem, I received an invitation to participate in a sort of mock poetry slam. Ten rounds of poems (which are read, not recited) matched to a theme given at the beginning of each round. I was suddenly thrown back to an unsettling memory, a loss of memory in fact, in front of a crowd.  Here's my poem. 

Invitation to a Poetry Slam

And suddenly
you’re seventeen
onstage in the school auditorium
after weeks of practice Mrs. Higgins
glasses slipping down her sharp nose
pronounces you ready
oak boards creak beneath your patent leather pumps
orange letters sprawl across royal blue
drapes shout Blue Devils
students slouch in worn wooden seats
you step to the microphone
don’t look at the crowd don’t allow
your gaze to find a face
focus on the doors
the hallway back to homeroom
open your mouth
sentences come out
somehow you relax
think you’ve found your voice
until a pause
long enough for shuffling feet to still
for stoners in the corner to rouse
to check what caused the lack of sound
long enough to vow never again
a loud whisper from stage right
Mrs. Higgins with your speech in her hand
life line for a drowning man

© 2017 Doraine Bennett

And each powerpack unit is loaded with the same kind of learning power.

I appreciate this comment from Ed Spicer, educator and literacy expert. “This book will allow all sorts of emotions and thoughts to bubble forth, including difficult and painful ones . . . and that will be a source of healing.”

Isn't that what we love most about poetry?

In a recent article in The Dragon Lode, the journal of Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group, Janet calls the method "poetry fanfiction," encouraging students to use a mix of published poems and new poems as structure for their own expression.

More than ever, tweens and teens are looking to invent new ways to express themselves, to document their lives and insert themselves meaningfully into the world. Poetry fan fiction can teach language arts skills in a brand new way that honors their desires to create. 

This is a book for teachers. Sylvia and Janet have done the pre-write planning for you.
It's a book for students with compelling characters and a good story.
It's a book about using words to help students find their own perspective.

What's not to love?

Leave your Poetry Friday below.
Leave a comment to be entered into the drawing for one of five copies of the book.