I devised this writing exercise for junior school children, having used it most recently in summer schools with Year 6/7 children struggling with literacy. It is designed to aid organisation of thought and helps reluctant writers to break down the writing 'task' into manageable bites.

POEM POT EXERCISE

1. Take one poem-making kit (a pot, lined A4, plain A4, scissors and a pen)
2. Fold the plain paper 4 times, creating 16 rectangles.
3. Cut along the lines until you have 16 slips of paper.
4. Decide on a subject you would really like to write a poem about, and write all your ideas - words, lines, phrases, similes - on the slips of paper. Use a new slip of paper for every idea and collect them all in your pot.
5. When your pot is full, empty out your ideas and treat the slips of paper like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Put your ideas in the order you'd like them to appear in your poem. Play around with the pieces until you are happy with your ordering.
6. Take the lined piece of paper and, taking each idea in order, expand your words, phrases etc into complete lines.
7. Check to see if you need to add or take away words so that the lines link.
8. There you have it - your very own poem!

There's obviously much scope for fun with this exercise, and reluctant writers forget that they are 'writing' a poem as they concentrate hard on 'making' one.

© Coral Rumble

Want to take your poetry teaching further?  
poetryclass poets are available for INSET - details here

| Home |      Poetry Lessons index page  |   Return to Top