Teacher's Guide:

Advice to Youth on Things now GONE

examining personal philiosophies about life and time with an original poem or song

This lesson was proposed by NNWP Consultant Amie Newberry during an I-Pods Across the Curriculum Workshop for teachers.

This writing prompt is inspired by the song

"Gone" by Switchfoot

Click here to do a Google search for the lyrics.

Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources:

Background information:  Switchfoot is a very popular teenage band. My students were very excited that I knew who this group was and that I was playing it in class.

Pre-step…before sharing the song:  The day before this poetry lesson, I completed Rob Stone’s iPod lesson called “Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.” We discussed the concept of “time” and what it means to them (as well as characters in the book we just finished). I ask students to bring in lyrics to one of their favorite songs for tomorrow.

The next day, I ask them to highlight any words or expressions they like from their song. I ask questions like: What do these lines make you feel? Why do you like it? What’s the point of the song? What message is the artist trying to express? Do you see any metaphors in your songs? We discuss the connection between poets and song writers.

My students have been working on both Word Choice & Idea Development…this lesson extends those two traits and drives this lesson.

Step one…sharing the song and other inspiring media:  I hand out the three-page graphic organizer, and I briefly tell them to look over the questions and think about them during the song. I then play “Gone” by Switchfoot. The lyrics are on the graphic organizer. I ask them to highlight words or phrase that strike them. After they have listened to the song, I give them about 3-5 minutes to finish filling out the first side of the graphic organizer. We then discuss the questions and talk about why they highlighted certain words.

I then have a student read the poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” written by Robert Herrick. I read the questions on the graphic organizer and tell them to think about them while we watch a clip from Dead Poet’s Society (it is the second scene, or two clicks forward in the movie. It is when Robin Williams has them read “To the Virgins…” while standing in the foyer). After the clip, I give them a few minutes to answer the questions and think. We share and discuss what the author was trying to say.

Step two…introducing student models of writing:  In small groups, have your students read and respond to any or all of the student models that come with this lesson.  The groups will certainly talk about the idea development, since it's the focus of the lesson, but you might prompt your students to talk about each model's word choice as well.

• Because this is a new lesson at WritingFix, we're looking for student samples for all grade levels for this prompt!

Step three…thinking, talking, and pre-writing:  On the third page of the graphic organizer, I ask them to think about their own philosophy on life and write it in one sentence. Then I walk them though the prewrite section of the graphic organizer. I encourage them to steal any words or expressions from their favorite song/s, or from “Gone,” or the poem. We focus on the metaphors from both songs. We talk about creating their own metaphors and using their own personal language. The graphic organizer leads them into composition.

They need to create a rough draft poem or song lyrics about their own personal belief about time and life. The focus is on word choice and finding the “right” words to convey their meaning. To encourage them to think about idea development, you might have your students compose their poems on this two-page drafting worksheet.

Sidenote from Amie —This could easily be used with characters from a book. You could have students write from a character’s perspective about time and life.

Step four (revising with specific trait language):   To promote response and revision to rough draft writing, attach WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its to your students' drafts.  Make sure the students rank their use of the trait-specific skills on the Post-Its, which means they'll only have one "1" and one "5."   Have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It rankings.  For more ideas on WritingFix's Revision & Response Post-Its, click here.

• Sheet of 6 Idea Development Post-It Notes
• Sheet of 6 Word Choice Post-It Notes

Step six (publishing for the portfolio): The goal of most lessons posted at WritingFix is that students end up with a piece of writing they like, and that their writing was taken through all steps of the writing process. After revising, invite your students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming writer's workshop block.  The writing started with this lesson might become even more polished for final placement in the portfolio, or the big ideas being written about here might transform into a completely different piece of writing. Most likely, your students will enjoy creating an illustration for this writing as they ready to place final drafts in their portfolios.

Interested in publishing student work on-line? You might earn a free classroom resource from the NNWP! We invite teachers to teach this lesson completely, then share up to three of their students' best revised and edited samples at our ning's Publish Student Writers group. Fifty teachers a year who do this will receive a complimentary copy of one of the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Print Guides.

To submit student samples for this page's lesson, click here. You won't be able to post unless you are a verified member of this site's Writing Lesson of the Month ning.

Learn more about Switchfoot by clicking here.