Pamela J. Greene
Day 1 Show students a photograph of an individual. Then read them a poem that someone wrote about themself. Ask students how the poem and picture are similar. Then tell students about self portrait poems and explain the goal of the lesson. A self portrait poem is exactly what the name implies. Instead of picturing how you look on the outside, it gives the reader an indication of what you are like on the inside. The hardest thing about writing a self portrait poem is being completely truthful and trying to find that part of yourself that is different from other people. The goal of our lesson is for each of us to write a self portrait poem that truthfully tells the reader about ourselves and to learn something about ourselves along the way. At this point have each student write a list of things that would tell another person about her/him. Allow students at least five minutes. When they finish have them go through each thing they wrote and check for honesty. Remind them of the difference between what you are and what you would like to be, although the later can certainly be included in the poem. Then hand out the following information with the assignment to begin writing a self portrait poem with the help of these suggestions:
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* Tell your likes and dislikes.
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* Tell what you want to be or do when you get out of school and why.
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* Tell something that someone has said about you, and how it made you feel.
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* Tell about something that made you feel very excited or very sad, and why.
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* Tell something you never told anyone before. It could involve an incident from a younger age.
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* Tell what makes you special and different from someone else.
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* Put each phrase or thought on a separate line so that the end result reads like a poem.
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* Try to use as many similes (comparisons) and metaphors (words or phrases that suggest a similarity) as possible.
Day 2 Students will proofread the self portrait poems with the teacher and then rewrite. The next step would be to have each student share his poem with the class. This can be accomplished in several ways depending on the personality of the class. Here are a few options:
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Have each student read his/her poem to the class. The class shares feelings about the poem. Always emphasize positive feedback and the truthfulness the poem.
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Form small groups, three to four students in a group. Students read their poem to the group and discuss together.
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3.
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Each student chooses one person to share his/her poem with. They talk about the poems and write feedback for each other.
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Homework assignment: Ask each student to bring in a photograph of themself that tells about who they are or were at some point in their life.
Day 3 Students share photographs using one of the options listed above for the poetry sharing. Wrap up by asking students to write about the feelings they had while they were writing their poem and what they learned about themselves through the writing process and the group sharing.