The first series of workshop is The “I Am” Poem project, geared toward WASC first and second graders. There are four parts to the project:
Part 1 (creative writing): Write your “I Am” poem
Part 2 (word processing and keyboarding): Write your “I Am” poem with Microsoft Word
Part 3 (intro to typography): Change the fonts of your name poem
Part 4 (digital image manipulation): Change a digital photograph taken of you to go with your poem
The second graders worked on their “I Am” poems first. WASC didn’t have any poetry books laying around, so I began by leading them in a discussion about poems, and asked them if they could recite any examples. I also had them brainstorm out loud their ideas for the last two lines of the poem “Roses are red, Violets are blue…” They were really eager and antsy to get started, though, so I kept the discussion to a minimum and passed out the “I Am” worksheets.
To make sure they understood the activity, I had the group complete each line of the poem out loud before passing out the pencils and letting them work on their individual poems. As they were working, we used the whiteboard as a word wall so they would be able to spell everything correctly. Some of the students finished early, so I had them write on the word wall instead of me – I spelled out loud the words their classmates wanted spelled, and they wrote them down. This tactic worked really well, as it kept these students engaged in the activity (they really enjoyed doing this – who knew?), and gave them a little spelling lesson to boot.
Some of the students got pretty creative with their poems. Here is my favorite (not quite finished):
I am ticklish and laughable
I wonder about my cat being out in the cold
I hear people saying my name
I see turtles tap dancing on their shell
I want whatever I want
I am ticklish and laughable
I pretend to be the best ballerina in the world
I feel that leeches are sucking my blood
I touch an invisible box
I worry about my bearded dragon
I cry when someone hurts me
I am ticklish and laughable
I understand how to ride a horse
I say anything I want to say
(last four lines not completed)
Fun, no? Next week I am going to have them learn word processing by typing their poems out in Microsoft Word. They aren’t going to get to print them out until the following week, though, when I introduce them to fonts and typefaces. I have two fabulous children’s books for this: The Serif Fairy, by Rene Siegfred, and I will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato, by Lauren Child. I will wait to explain why they are so wonderful, however, and conclude this post with a few pictures from the activity.
