Poetry Recipes in the Classroom-Today's Ingredient - "Found Poem" by Andrea Perry

A 'Found Poem' is a treasure.  But where can such a treasure be found?  Here are three ways to create them in your classroom:

'Found Poems' consist of words and phrases taken from existing texts and refashioned into original poetic creations...They often resemble poetry ransom notes.

NOVEL GROUPS:
As part of an English/Language Arts Novel Unit, Found Poems can be created as part of a novel character analysis.  By taking snippets of dialogue from a specific character, students can then begin crafting poems which paint a character picture with words.  Dialogue can be limited to a chapter or cover the entire novel.


In a SOCIAL STUDIES setting, Found Poems can be utilized as dramatic poetic interpretations of historical events as varied as battles, inventions, documents, political figures, or archeological discoveries.  Using textbook or other classroom materials, students can reword and re-explain, presenting their poetic version of the selected topic.

CURRENT EVENTS: 
Current local, national or worldwide news discussions in the classroom can be re-designed into works of art as well. By simply cutting and pasting student-selected parts of newspaper or magazine or newsletter articles, individual student views can be expressed and shared.  For example:

Puffing plumes of

  gray ash

evacuation, cancellation, contamination

 pyroclastic flow

  guttural rumbling

superheated current

sporadic secondary explosions

Puffing plumes of

   gray ash

 collapsing houses, schools, bridges

              Ring of Fire

Puffing plumes of

    gray ash

damaging aircraft, interrupting air travel

Puffing plumes

   not for 42 years

             until now

 Calbuco, Chile

____________________________

I highly recommend using a dash of Found Poetry to spice up your classroom.