This Lesson's Title:

What If...
Poems

developing stanzas for an original poem inspired by well-worded what if statements

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Northern Nevada Writing Project Teacher Consultant Amanda Bodenstein.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book What If... by Regina J. Williams. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Check out What If... at Amazon.com.

Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

Students--inspired by the What If... statements by author Regina J. Williams--will write original what ifs that use strong word choices. Students will then select three or more of their "best" what ifs and develop them (by adding details) into stanzas. The stanzas will be stacked together to create an original poem. Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is word choice; strong verbs, interesting adjectives, and precise nouns should be stressed as students compose their original What if... statements.  The support trait in this assignment is idea development; when students develop their what ifs into stanzas, they will do so by adding memorable details.