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This Lesson's Title:
Poems about Pets
creating a poem about an animal's secret, unknown life
This original writing lesson was created by NNWP Teacher Consultant Regan Ringler Hartzell.
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T his on-line writing prompt is based on the poetry of Thomas Stearns (T.S.) Eliot. Before writing to this assignment, students should hear and discuss the poetry of this great poet.
Click here to learn more about this poet.
If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to view the collection of works by this poet that you can check out from the county library. |
Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources:
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 Step one (sharing the published model): Share the poems "The Naming of
Cats" & "Gus: The Theatre Cat" from T.S. Eliot's book, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, or click
here and open the poems for printing on an overhead transparency.
These poems come from Eliot's collection, which covers thirteen
different characters as well as two additional poems that do not address
a particular cat but rather serve as an introduction and closing to the
book.
First read, "The Naming of Cats," and discuss with the students
how their own pets were named.
Then read "Gus: The Theatre Cat," and allow the
students time to sketch a picture of what they think Gus may have
looked liked (there is great imagery in this poem so this should not be
difficult).
Discuss with the students how Eliot uses rhyme and
alliteration to make his poems interesting.
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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. Encourage the students to talk about the
word choice in each poem, and then to talk about how voice was
accomplished by the writer.
- We're looking for student samples for all grade levels for this prompt! Help us get some, and we'll send you a free resource for your classroom! Contact us at publish@writingfix.com for details.
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Step three (thinking and pre-writing): Students will now be asked to
draw a picture of a favorite pet. While drawing, the students should be
writing down words that describe the pet's mannerisms and behavior. If
students do not have a pet, or choose not to use a pet of their own,
they can use the interactive buttons on the student instructions page to make up a pet of their choice.
After the students have drawn a picture, and come up with some
describing words, the teacher can introduce the graphic organizer for
the student's use. Here, the student will assign human traits to the
animal and assign an occupation for the animal to have. Again, if
students are struggling with names, pet type or occupation, encourage
the students to use the interactive button tool.
Ask the students to
try alliteration on one line and r hyming on some other lines. Recall how
Eliot used both alliteration and rhyming without going overboard.
Encourage the students to play with the words they have written on their
rough drafts. After the students have some god ideas on their rough
drafts, reread "Gus: The Theatre Cat" to them again. Allow the students
time to work on a poem about their animal. Students can share rough drafts with a small group or a partner.
End your session by reading the book Six-Dinner Sid by Inga Moore to the students, which is a story about a cat who gets six meals a night by going to six different homes and being the pet to six different families. Compare Sid to Gus as a higher-level thinking activity.
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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.
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Step five (editing for conventions): After students apply their revision ideas to their drafts and re-write neatly, require them to find an editor. If you've established a "Community of Editors" among your students, have each student exchange his/her paper with multiple peers. With yellow high-lighters in hand, each peer reads for and highlights suspected errors for just one item from the Editing Post-it. The "Community of Editors" idea is just one of dozens and dozens of inspiring ideas that is talked about in detail in the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook for Teachers.
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Step six (publishing for the portfolio): When they are finished revising and have second drafts, invite your students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming writer's workshop block. Their stories might become a longer story, a more detailed piece, or the beginning of a series of pieces about the story they started here. Students will probably enjoy creating an illustration for this story as they get ready to publish it for their portfolios.
Interested in publishing student work on-line? We invite student writers to post final drafts of their original at WritingFix's Community of Student Writers. This is a safe-to-use blog for students and teachers. No writing is posted until it is approved by the moderator. Contact us at publish@writingfix.com if you have questions about getting your students published.
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Learn more about poet T.S. Eliot
by clicking here.
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