do I Dare?
Writing Poetry for Senior High School - Creative Writing
Prepared by: de Guzman, Mia
…

Objectives
• At the end of the lesson the students will be able
to:
 recall the elements of poetry through the ‘You Don’t
Sssssssay’snake activity;
 examine the salient techniques and literary devices
found in local and foreign poems with the help of the I
Can Do That! activity; and to
 demonstrate genre-based knowledge of the elements,
techniques and literary devices in poetry via ‘Do I
Dare?’poetry cube.

Subject Matter
• Writing and Poetry
• TEXT/s:
 e.e. cummings, l(a)
 Ezra Pound, In a Station of the Metro
 Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a
Snowy Evening
 T.S. Elliot, The Wasteland

STRATEGIES and Materials
• ‘You Don’t Sssssssay’
snake,
• I Can Do That!,
• ‘Do I Dare? poetry’
cube - Seed Poem,
Erasure Poem,
Ekphrasis, and
“Personify!” Challenge,
• Poetry Pentad
• ppt slide presentation
• cartolina
• marker
• other various art
materials

Teaching –Learning Sequence

Pre-Writing
• Motivation
–The teacher presents a group of poems
to the class. S/he then emphasizes the
first poem and later instructs a
volunteer to read the first two poems
that will be shown to them, along with
the last, longer example.

Pre-Writing
–These poems are then used to tell
the learners that poetry comes in
many forms and shapes. With this
the teacher transitions to recall
the previous topic on elements of
the poetry genre

Pre-Writing
• ‘You Don’t Sssssssay’snake
–A set of words (elements) will
be flashed to participants. These
words must clustered within
their corresponding heading.

‘You Don’t Sssssssay’ snake
• Directions: Place the following terms
inside their corresponding basket. They
might be either an ESSENTIAL
ELEMENT, element for
CONVENTIONAL FORMS, or element
for FREE VERSE.

ELEMENTS OF POETRY
CONVENTIONAL FORMS
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
FREE VERSE

Pre-Writing
• Motive Question
• Upon unravelling examples of poetry from some of the
greatest modernists as well as romantics and recollecting
the various basic elements, s/he throws the question:
– These authors were able to express themselves with the
help of the creative and unique voice of poetry. Now you
might be wondering, how about me? A humble creative
writing student, a humble civilian without any poetic
training. How can I express myself through poetry…do I
dare?

Pre-Writing
• Unlocking of Difficulties
–The teacher follows the I Can! activity
with a short vocabulary activity to give
the learners an idea about a few of the
many techniques and literary devices.
As the students homework last
meeting, have them answer the puzzle
below (next slide):

I Can Do That!
• Directions:
– Divide the class into four groups.
– The goal is to rearrange the following words according to
their respective classification.
– Each group will be given a chance to select their
classification via the I Can! steps (where they have to
outrun the rest to be able to get the classification they
wanted to work on), whether the SOUNDS of words, the
MEANINGS of words, ARRANGING the words, or the
IMAGES of words.
– Points will be added to the group whose I Can! Volunteers
who will not just be able to arrange the words but could
also give the meaning of the terms.

the
SOUNDS
of words
the
MEANINGS
of words
ARRANGING
the words
the
IMAGES
of words

Writing
• Comprehending the Genre and
Enrichment
–The teacher will introduce The Poet’s
Dare Cube to the class. Before
proceeding with the group work, s/he
makes sure to give them tips and
reminders in writing their own Faction
poems.

Tips and Reminders
(lifted and adapted from dummies.com):
• Study the genre.
No harm could
come to you if you
arm yourself with
the basics of the
poetic genre, or of
any genre in that
case.

Tips and Reminders
(lifted and adapted from dummies.com):
• Become as sensitive as you can, both to life
and to language. Figure out your personal
sense of what is beautiful — both in life and
in poetry.

Tips and Reminders
(lifted and adapted from dummies.com):
• Think divergently
(that is, keep your
mind open and
nimble, and be willing
to think in different
ways and new
directions). You never
know when, where, or
how inspiration will
come to you, but you
can prepare the way for
it.

Tips and Reminders
(lifted and adapted from dummies.com):
• Make time for yourself to write. After
all, if you don’t write, you’re not a writer.

Tips and Reminders
(lifted and adapted from dummies.com):
• Be disciplined. Rewrite
your poetry again and
again. Don’t settle for
using clichés or other
people’s language.
The idea is to find out
what kind of poetry
only you can write.
(e.g. keep a POETIC
JOURNAL)

Today’s the chance to be…

‘Do I Dare?’ poetry cube
• Directions: The class shall be divided into four
factions namely Abnegation, Amity, Candor, and
Erudite. Each group will need to release their
inner Dauntless to be able to become the game’s
Champions.
• The Poet’s Dare Cube shall be rolled and
whatever comes up, the teams must hurry done
the I Can! steps to get the poetry activity they
would like to perform, along with the
corresponding element or poetic devices you need
to focus on:

Seed
Poem
Erasure
Poem
Ekphrasis
“Personify!”
Challenge

Seed Poem – Imagery and Rhyme
• Write one word at the top of your group’s paper – this
will be your “seed” for the poem. (Examples: Family,
Pets, Friends, Basketball, Halloween.)
• Write the first line of your poem. (Example:
Halloween)
Our jack-o-lantern kept watch on the porch all night…
• When the teacher calls “Time,” pass the poem to the
person to your right. They read over what you’ve
written, then add a line or more to your poem. Keep
going until the poems make a full circle.
• When the leader gets the original paper back, s/he can
add a final line to complete the poem before sharing it.

Erasure Poem – Enjambments and Line
• Flip through the magazines until you find an article that appeals to
you. Choosing a topic you’re unfamiliar with may lead to exciting
possibilities.
• Tear out an entire page of the article. Skim over it with a black
marker, crossing out words and phrases that don’t particularly
interest you, and leaving the ones that do. Don’t worry too much
about how they fit together.
• If desired, copy over the remaining words and phrases to a fresh
sheet of paper, preserving their original layout on the page. Credit
the original article and author by writing down the source.
• Collage magazine cutouts into the background of the poem. It works
well to choose a common color that you think fits with the
emotional theme of your poem.

Ekphrasis – Tone/Mood and Theme
• You’ll be given a photo of some random time, object,
event, person, thing:
– Write anything you can think of about this photograph. Does it remind
you of anything from your own life? You can write about what you see
in the photo. You could pretend to be a person in a the image. Where do
you live, where are you going, what are you thinking about? Or pretend
you are watching that thing/person on the image; have you met them
before? What are you doing there?
• Don’t worry too much about the form of your poem;
let the writing flow out naturally.
• If you are stuck, start with “I am…”

“Personify!” Challenge – Personification and Rhyme
• Remember that in a personification poem, you’re writing from
the perspective of something that is not a person. In each turn,
the first person will give the name of a non-human thing. The
second person will say something that is happening. The third
person will say something in that non-human narrator’s voice.
For example:
– First person: A teakettle
– Second person: Boiling on the stove
– Third person: I’ve always wanted to sing opera but I never got very
good at it. I don’t think the cook likes it either because she turns me off
every time I get a good high note going.
• Now it’s another person’s turn to personify

Post-Writing
• Evaluation
– Every faction will be given 10-15 minutes to
prepare and a chance for them to showcase their
works for a maximum of 5 minutes each. The
others will grade them based on the rubric found
along with this plan. Their grade will be added and
averaged along with the teacher’s own grading.
Each poem will be revised by the teacher if the
team wishes it to be edited for posting on the
classroom bulletin or to be added to their
individual portfolios.

Assignment
• FOLLOW UP
• Poetry Pentad
– Here’s how it works:
1. Write down a very mundane, straightforward prose statement about
the outside world.
• You could write about a cut on your hand, a kiss, awkward silences, or
a cash machine that won’t give you any money. Write something as
simple as, “Sure is a nice sunset.”
2. Now pay closer attention to the thing you just wrote about.
• Write down what you notice. Brainstorm. List as many aspects as you
can — for example, “The color of the sunset is red in some places and
a flat grayish-blue in others. The sky nearer to the sun is pretty, but
farther away some of it is already dark and colorless.”

Assignment
• FOLLOW UP
• Poetry Pentad
– Here’s how it works:
3. Concentrate on your subject and come up with a few new ways of
presenting or describing the thing your original statement was
about.
• Try using some metaphors, images, turns of phrase. Don’t write
down anything you’ve ever heard or read before. Reject anything
that seems familiar or secondhand. Using the sunset as your
subject, you could write, “The sunset is like a bruise; it’s like spilled
stew on a rug; it’s a molten core with a hard outer crust.”

Assignment
• FOLLOW UP
• Poetry Pentad
– Here’s how it works:
4. Write at least two passages of poetry on this subject, experimenting with different
forms.
• Choose very different forms (say, two lines that rhyme with each other, or a
passage of free verse, which doesn’t have any rhyme). Use some of the material
you generated under Step 3. For example, two rhyming lines about the sunset could
be:
Blood-red, flat grey, the sunset colors fuse,
Spreading and growing dull green, like a bruise
• And free verse may be:
The sunset spilled over the rug of the sky seeped into its fabric
A stain spread, a ravishing mess will leave a mark
No way I can cleanse it from my absorbent brain. It’s running down
the corners, lava hardening, darkening, losing light. It’s nighttime.

Assignment
• FOLLOW UP
• Poetry Pentad
– Here’s how it works:
5. Now rewrite one of the passages in as few words as you can.
• Go for maximum meaning and emotion. For example:
Sunset spilled on the rug, stained
the fabric, can’t get it out
of my brain. It’s lava, hardening
to darkness.

Assignment
• FOR NEXT MEETING’S LESSON
–Read up on the following terms and jot
down the meanings of each:
• Typography
• Prose Poem
• Performance Poetry

References
• K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum Senior High School –
Academic Track (2016). Creative Writing/Malikhaing Pagsulat.
Retrieved from
http://www.deped.gov.ph/sites/default/files/page/2016/HUMSS_
Creative%20Writing%20CG.pdf on April 29, 2017
• Poetry Lesson Plans For Elementary, Middle, and High School
Students. "Exploring our own Amazement: Learning the
Language of Poetry" Conference for Educators and Writers
(2015). Retrieved from poetry.rcah.msu.edu/assets/lesson-plans-
for-conference.pdf on April 29, 2017
• Timpane, John (2017). Poetry for Dummies. Writing Poetry.
Retrieved from http://www.dummies.com/education/language-
arts/poetry/writing-poetry/ on April 29, 2017