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Hello Poets,
My world is sparkly green this morning after some sweet September rains have refreshed my area. My lawn and I needed this spritz, for sure.
I've been reading, Just Read It! by Jared Amato as a way of refreshing myself on of supporting readers as they gain reading stamina.
In his book, Amato offers a Bio Poem template as a way of introducing a means of thinking about a characters or subjects in books.
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| Just Read It! (Corwin. 2024. print) |
I love that Amato includes poeming as a way of critical thinking and creative learning for students. I hope to use this technique with Battle of the Books participants. Our club starts next week.
To test out the exercise from the book, I took this painting, Horsehead on a yellow background, by Fernand Leger (1953) as my imaginary character.
Please join this week's poetry party at Jama's Alphabet Soup. She's back from summer travels and has been delighting me with books, food and recipes.
Oh, Linda, the BioPoem template offers so many possibilities! What a way to fuel the imagination and develop a character — or just have fun writing! :D Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I love this piece of art. Second, I love the idea of writing a BioPoem about the subject of an artwork. Third, the line "who misses red and blue" made me snort! I don't know why, but it struck me as funny. Thanks for sharing your poem and this form.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun and magical poem Linda, and what a great challenge for your students! I'd like to try it myself. Maybe you can introduce me to "Horse head" sometime, I'm a fan of Léger… Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI love Tricia's favorite line, too, just right from that intriguing, and artistic, horse. What fun to see what students will create! Thanks for this, Linda.
ReplyDeleteWho misses red and blue. Love! I wrote an ArtSpeak poem on this piece a few years back called "When a Horse Writes a Poem." https://irenelatham.blogspot.com/2019/04/artspeak-happy-poem-when-horse-writes.html Our poems would be friends in the paddock! xo
ReplyDeleteI really miss the process of finding an appropriate form for teaching and trying it out myself. What a great mentor text you have to offer, alongside the creative idea of using an animal as a character. Kids will love that!
ReplyDeleteI used to use a template like this one with my students. It's a great way to encourage writers who struggle with getting started writing a poem. I really like the idea of using an animal character. I love using art to inspire poetry. Your poem is wonderful. The last two lines are my favorites.
ReplyDeleteLove your bio poem (esp. the part about beatniks)! Terrific template with so many great possibilities, and you kicked it up a notch by making it an ekphrastic. Your students will have a lot of fun writing their own.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun template. Thank you for sharing. "Who misses red and blue!" So clever.
ReplyDeleteLinda, the bio poem with its template is going to give students a fresh start on writing poetry. You should use your poem as a mentor text and explain why you used this artwork as the character. I think the line about the beatnik would be fun to explore with the students. Good luck to your Battle of the Books participants.
ReplyDeleteThis will work great with your club, I'm sure...and I'm with Cathy--"who misses red and blue" is my favorite line! I'll look up the Amato book, too!
ReplyDeleteHi Linda, Your poem reminds me of how much I loved working with students. My foreign student never granted me permission to share her I Am From poem, which is too bad because it was one of the most powerful I've ever read. However, safety is their utmost concern so I understood. The bio poem reminds me of that. I like the black and white coat of the horse - significant, I'm sure. And yellow is a color of optimism - also my favorite. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI love this, Linda. And I love biopoems, especially with inanimate objects. I have a downloadable for educators at https://laurasalas.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2022_0921_Salas_Biopoem.pdf
ReplyDeletecool! Thanks!
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