The Poet’s Toolbox

PROJECT:

The Poet’s Toolbox

PROJECT BRIEF

Create a visually appealing and informative booklet for aspiring teenage poets that outlines and explains a variety of poetic techniques, exploring the etymology (the history of a word or where the word comes from), morphology (the way a word is put together or structured) and definitions of simile, metaphor, personification, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia. To be successful in this piece of writing, you will need to: be clear, informative and instructive in your explanation of the poetic techniques show awareness of your teenage audience through carefully chosen examples ensure your leaflet is visually appealing and clearly laid out. Word Investigation

Design and Planning Reflection Final Version Word Investigation In order to understand a new challenging word fully and to remember it, it is best to explore that word in a variety of different ways. This increases your chances of understanding it and recalling it down the road. Choose four ways to explore each word from the box opposite. There are a number of online resources you could use to help you: www.etymonline.com www.thesaurus.com www.dictionary.com©The Educational Company of Ireland

Word map: Does the word form part of any other words? Definition: The meaning of the word in your own words. Antonym: A word with the opposite meaning of the word.

Morphology:

Each word can be broken down into parts – prefix, root and suffix. Synonym: A word that means the same thing.

Draw it:

Draw your understanding of the word.

Etymology: What is the history of the word? Where does it come from? Sentence: Put the word in a sentence that shows you understand it.

Word class: Is it a noun, a verb, an adverb, an adjective? You can use the word exploration grids in your activity book (see pages 70–71) to record your findings. Design And Plan It You need to plan how you will lay out your information, while keeping your teenage audience in mind. This should be an instructional text, which is a text that aims to teach its reader something. The language you use needs to be simple and clear. Your sentences should be short and simple, and each point should be summarised neatly. The layout must be clear and easy to understand, with headings and subheadings to help navigate the text. Only use images that will help your audience understand your instructional guide better. Remember your target audience here is teenagers, so the tone can be informal and humorous. Final Version Now it’s time to create your booklet! You can do this on paper or on your computer. Word has a number of information leaflet templates that you might like or you can use PowerPoint and design the layout yourself. Visit thenounproject.com or flaticon.com to choose icons to help explain your poetic techniques. The most important thing to remember is that your layout should be clear and visually appealing. REFLECTION 1 What three things did you learn from doing this project? 2 Do you think exploring a word in a variety of different ways has made it stick more easily in your memory? 3 Is there anything you feel you could add to improve your booklet? ACT IVITY ©The Educational Company of Ireland 4 Would you use this toolbox yourself when writing your own poetry?