Developing a Creative Writing Club in your Primary School
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Poetry Party project
Poetry Party A six-week programme of lesson plans and resources for new or established creative writing clubs culminating in a Poetry Party event Designed and Produced by Mark Grist as part of the Well Versed Poetry in Schools project.
Week 1
Who can write the ugliest Haiku?
Week 2
Introduction to ballads. A dramatic reading of ‘Frankie and Benny’
Week 3
‘Zoe’s Earrings’ as inspiration for poetry work
Week 4
‘The Argly Woo’ as inspiration for poetry work.
Week 5
Students write their own poems (ideally ballads)
Week 6
Poetry Party preparation
Poetry Party project
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Week One Intended learning To introduce the scheme for the half term and get students to develop their understanding of haikus.
Intended outcomes Each student to write at least one haiku about something ugly.
Time
Activity
Resources required
00-05 minutes
Pupils will come in and write a haiku based on the following. The view out of the window
Basics of Haiku can be found in Appendix One
05-15 minutes
Explain that Haiku’s often describe nature or something beautiful. Today we’re going to try to create ugly haikus. Pupils have 2 minutes to write a list of ugly things – no people that anyone would know are allowed to be included. They then share them.
15-25 minutes
Pupils try writing their own haikus based on these ugly things.
25-30 minutes
Pupils share their haikus. Have a vote to decide who wrote the ugliest haiku.
Extension Work
To bring in any other poems they’ve written, with a view to the final Poetry Party.
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Poetry Party project
Week Two Intended learning Dramatic reading of a poem
Intended outcomes Pupils work together to create their own performance of ‘Frankie and Johnny’
Time
Activity
00-05 minutes
Pupils each write a title for a poem – these go in a pot. One is drawn at random and they have 5 minutes to write a poem (the others will be drawn in later weeks). They can be as ridiculous as you like and the aim is to see what you come up with in a short space of time.
05-10 minutes
Read through ‘Frankie and Johnny’ as a class.
15-25 minutes
Pupils have to arrange their own reading of the poem in groups/as one large group.
25-30 minutes
Perform the pieces to the rest of the group.
Extension Work
Pupils to create their own story of ‘Lofty and Ned’ for next week’s Writing club.
Resources required
‘Frankie and Johnny’ can be found in Appendix Two
‘Lofty and Ned’ can be found in Appendix Three
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Poetry Party project
Week Three Intended learning To explore the poem ‘Zoe’s Earrings’
Intended outcomes Pupils to create their own funny poems about an item of clothing.
Time
Activity
Resources required
00-10minutes Pupils to speed write based upon a title from the pot. They’ll then read them out to each other.
10-15 minutes
Pupils watch ‘Zoe’s Earrings’ and discuss the following: What did you think of the poem? What was effective in the poem? Could you write your own version?
15-20 minutes
Pupils write a list of places they can think of. These can go up on the board.
25-30 minutes
They can use one of the following as a title and write their own poem. Brian’s pants Sally’s shoes Johnny’s glasses Helen’s jumper
Extension Work
Pupils to continue working on these poems, to read them out at the start of the following Writing Club.
‘Zoe’s Earrings’ can be seen here. http://www.bbc. co.uk/learningzone/clips/kitwright-zoes-earrings-poemonly/8840.html
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Poetry Party project
Week Four Intended learning Pupils work on ‘The Argly Woo’ and see whether they can finish the poem.
Intended outcomes To write an ending to ‘The Argly Woo.’
Time
Activity
00-05 minutes
Pupils to speed write based upon a title from the pot. They’ll then read them out to each other.
05-15 minutes
Pupils get a copy of the first half of ‘The Argly Woo’ by Mark Grist. Read it through as a class.
15-25 minutes
Pupils try writing their ending for the poem. What happens to The Argly Woo? Who will defeat it?
25-30 minutes
Pupils share their poems with the rest of the class.
Extension Work
Pupils create their own monster poems
Resources required
‘The Argly Woo’ can be found in Appendix Four
Poetry Party project
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Week Five Intended learning To develop their own poem for the Poetry Party.
Intended outcomes Each pupil to have a poem about a location which could be used in the Party.
Time
Activity
00-05 minutes
Pupils to create their own titles for poems. These can be written up on the board.
05-15 minutes
Pupils write on the board a list of places that are important to them – eg their bedroom, the beach. Pupils create their own poems about these places, focusing on how they feel when they go there. Perhaps something has annoyed them and the place makes them forget this.
25-30 minutes
Pupils share their poems with the group.
Extension Work
Fine tune their pieces for the party.
Resources required
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Poetry Party project
Week Six Intended learning To develop team-working skills and take responsibility for organising a poetry event.
Intended outcomes An outline for the party will be created, with pupils knowing what they’re reading.
Time
Activity
00-05 minutes
Pupils practice reading their poems and decide on a running order. They can each read one poem by another writer and one of their own poems.
05-15 minutes
The teacher or a pupil will work as compere, introducing the students.
15-25 minutes
The pupils then either continue planning the party and practising their poems, or deliver the party during the session.
25-30 minutes
Feedback.
Resources required
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Poetry Party project
‘Poetry Slam’ resources Week
Resources
Can be found
1
Haiku PowerPoint
An Introduction to Haiku can be found in Appendix One
2
Two poems – ‘Frankie and Johnny’ and ‘Lofty and Ned’
‘Frankie and Johnny’ can be found in Appendix Two ‘Lofty and Ned’ can be found in Appendix Three
3
‘Zoe’s Earrings’ poem
‘Zoe’s Earrings’ can be found here. http://www. bbc.co.uk/learningzone/ clips/kit-wright-zoesearrings-poem-only/8840. html
4
‘The Argly Woo’ poem
‘The Argly Woo’ can be found in Appendix Four.
Word search
http://www.teachit.co.uk/ attachments/xmaswdsch. pdf
5
6
Additional resources
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Poetry Party project
Appendix One An Introduction to Haiku -
Haiku poems come from Japan
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Haiku usually have simple themes and images
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Haiku are short poems, usually seventeen syllables long: o The first and third line contain five syllables each o The second line contains seven syllables
Consider these examples: The graveyard stands still A moment is a lifetime People pass beyond Flourishing despite Your rough inconstant climate, I shake but am still. Your name is on the Internet under those dead Resting at St Mark’s. Count the syllables. Do these poems conform to the rules of Haiku? Haikus often capture a feeling, a perception or a snapshot of something. Although brief they can provoke deep thought. Discussions of the haikus may lead to an awareness of the generally sombre nature of the form. The following websites contain more information about, and examples of, haiku. http://home.clara.net/pka/haiku/haiku.htm http://www.hphoward.demon.co.uk/haikugen/framset1.htm http://www.footballpoets.org/p.asp?Id=941
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Appendix Two Frankie and Johnny Frankie and Johnny were lovers. O My Gawd how they did love! They swore to be true to each other, As true as the stars above. He was her man but he done her wrong. Frankie went down to the hock-shop, Went for a bucket of beer, Said: ‘O Mr Bartender Has my loving Johnny been here? He is my man but he’d doing me wrong.’ ‘I don’t want to make you no trouble, I don’t want to tell you no lie, But I saw Johnny an hour ago With a girl named Nelly Bly, He is your man but he’s doing you wrong.’ Frankie went down to the hotel, She didn’t go there for fun, ‘Cause underneath her kimona She toted a 44 Gun. He was her man but he done her wrong. Frankie went down to the hotel. She rang the front-door bell, Said: ‘Stand back all you chippies Or I’ll blow you all to hell. I want my man for he’s doing me wrong.’ Frankie looked in through the key-hole And there before her eye She saw her Johnny on the sofa A-loving up Nelly Bly. He was her man; he was doing her wrong. Frankie threw back her kimona, Took out a big 44, Root-a-toot-toot, three time she shoot Right through that hardware door. He was her man but her was doing her wrong. Johnny grabbed up his Stetson, Said: ‘O my Gawd Frankie don’t shoot!’ But Frankie pulled hard on the trigger
And the gun went root-a-toot-toot. She shot her man who was doing her wrong. ‘Roll me over easy, Roll me over slow, Roll me over on my right side Cause my left side hurts me so. I was her man but I done her wrong.’ ‘Bring out your rubber-tired buggy, Bring out your rubber-tired hack; I’ll take my Johnny to the graveyard But I won’t bring him back. He was my man but he done me wrong. ‘Lock me in that dungeon, Lock me in that cell, Lock me where the north-east wind Blows from the corner of Hell. I shot my man cause he done me wrong.’ It was not murder in the first degree, It was not murder in the third. A woman simply shot her man As a hunter drops a bird. She shot her man ‘cause he done her wrong. Frankie said to the Sheriff, ‘What do you think they’ll do?’ The Sheriff said to Frankie, ‘It’s the electric-chair for you. You shot your man cause he done you wrong.’ Frankie sat in the jail-house, Had no electric fan, Told her sweet little sister: ’There ain’t no good in a man. I had a man but he done me wrong.’ Once more I saw Frankie, She was sitting in the Chair Waiting for to go and meet her God With the sweat dripping out of hair. He was a man but he done her wrong. This story has no moral, This story has no end, This story only goes to show That there ain’t no good in men. He was her man but he done her wrong.
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Appendix Three The sad story of Lefty and Ned There were two crooks, called Lefty and Ned Who had to steal for their daily bread. But now their bodies are under ground, Left there to rot until they’re found.
Back to the tunnel they made their way, Just as the police joined in the fray, But now their bodies are under ground, Left there to rot until they’re found.
One day they planned to rob the bank, The other side of the taxi-rank. But now their bodies are under ground, Left there to rot until they’re found.
Ned dropped the torch as he shut the hatch, Because of the dark, he struck a match. But now their bodies are under ground, Left there to rot until they’re found.
And then they tunnelled into the bank, The other side of the taxi-rank. But now their bodies are under ground, Left there to rot until they’re found.
But he’d forgotten the gelignite, And right on to it he dropped the light. But now their bodies are under ground, Left there to rot until they’re found.
I think it was Monday they got through, With all their tools and gelignite too, But now their bodies are under ground, Left there to rot until they’re found.
So now they’re dead, the tunnel’s caved in, This is the punishment for their sin. But now their bodies are under ground, Left there to rot until they’re found.
They put the gelignite in its place, With a mattress on top, just in case. But now their bodies are under ground, Left there to rot until they’re found.
And now the moral, Crime Never Pays, You’d best take note of this worth phrase. But now their bodies are under ground, Left there to rot until they’re found. Richard Alan Crust
And then they had a terrible scare, When the burglar alarm rent the air. But now their bodies are under ground, Left there to rot until they’re found.
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Appendix Four The Argly Woo – by Mark Grist Many people tell stories Of monsters and beasts Of knights killing dragons And glorious feasts
And then there was Ryan Dibble who lived at north Jonkers After just a look at the foul beast He went completely bonkers
Of vampires and werewolves And seamonsters too But none were as bad As the Argly Woo
Some acted like a chicken Some thought they were a bunny And the Argly woo, (AW for short) Found this rather funny
“What’s the Argly woo?” I hear you all shout Well that’s what this poem Will tell you about The Argly Woo Was a massive creature With two purple eyes And five gallons of fur It had massive jaws And lived upon meat Underneath all its fur Grew four giant feet With it’s claws and its teeth It could destroy and devour The widest village ever known And the highest tower But a horrible talent which the monster had Was that it could make anyone Go completely mad For instance, Sir Thomas Who came up from the South The Argly Woo easily got him Foaming at the mouth