A shape poem is a type of poetry that describes an object and is shaped the same as the object the poem is describing. Here language and vocabulary acquisition and exploration are developed into visual and sound patterns as students create shape poems. What a fun way to bring writing into the classroom!
This lesson is based on ideas in The Really Useful Literacy Book, in which authors Tony Martin, Chira Lovat, and Glynis Purnell help students develop, expand, and explore their vocabularies using an approach based on ‘playing with words’. Shape poem resources and examples are widely available on the Internet, so we will present just a few here. Moreover, resources and worksheets for poems can be downloaded and adapted or created by the teacher for the class language level.
Objective: SWBAT write a poem based on the shape of an object, using specified vocabulary or creating their own lists, as the teacher desires.
Time: 40 minutes
Materials: The two shape poem examples shown below (hound and snake) are included in this worksheet (doc) Download here
Preparation
Use Google or other online resources to create or download blank shapes that can be filled with words, phrases, or even sentences to create poems that reflect the shape itself. Alternatively, students can draw a simple shape such as a cloud, cookie, heart, animal, building, or plant that interests them on a sheet of paper. Let them know that they will be writing about this object.
Presentation
Put the words from a shape poem into a simple list on the board. Compare the rewritten words arranged in the list with the same words arranged into the poem design, which will bring the impact of that design into sharp relief.
The teacher then poses the following questions: ”How has the writer of this poem made it more exciting by laying it out in this way?” Other shape poems are examined, and students are invited to describe how different shape poems are laid out and why they think the writer chose to do it in that way. Students should comment on the effects of the design as distinct from the words.
Give two or three examples of shape poems so that different ways of doing it are easy to spot; some could represent the actual shape of the subject of the poem, some could suggest aspects of the subject, e.g., the way it moves. Students can discuss in pairs or groups how the layouts of the shape poems in the collection work to enhance the meaning.
Example
Word List (poem content): sniffing, snuffling, wagging, bounding, barking, trotting, scratching, scampering, growling, howling hound!
Example
Word list (poem content): spitting out poison, swallowing, gliding gracefully, slithering silently, silkily,
coiling cruelly
Production
Basic or low intermediate students will probably work best with one design chosen by the teacher for the class. They can brainstorm for 10 minutes in groups to provide vocabulary that describes the shape. At this level, students will likely be most comfortable providing words or simple phrases rather than sentences. The teacher might provide guidelines (simple verb forms, adverbs, adjectives, gerunds) for structure or some words to start, which may be words studied in the unit or found using the dictionary and thesaurus. The students then add their words of phrases to the board list. Spelling corrections are made to the board list. From there, students fill in the shape with the vocabulary as they wish. Tape shape poems on the wall for the class to see and comment on.
Intermediate and advanced students could select a shape from the teacher’s resources or draw their own shape on a sheet. Students work individually, in pairs, or in groups to brainstorm vocabulary for their shape. The teacher can walk around to check the vocabulary and spelling, and then students can fill their shapes with the words and phrases to complete the poems.
Online resources for shape poem examples and worksheets:
Enchanted Learning.com http://www.enchantedlearning.com/poetry/shapepoems/
Shadow Poetry.com http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/shape.html
Poetry Soup.com http://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/shape
Teach Like A PCV 