Categories: Middle School Language ArtsPoetry for Middle School

How to Write Poetry in 5 Steps – Teaching Poetry Writing

Let’s face it…middle schoolers are not naturally enthusiastic about poetry writing. They often view it as something too difficult, unattainable, and quite frankly, too boring. They don’t grasp the concept of how to write poetry until we show them. It’s up to us to introduce our middle school students to the power of poetry and actually how easy it can be with a few simple tweaks to our teaching.

Step 1: Give Kids a List of Poetic Devices/Figurative Language

By middle school, kids have likely been taught figurative language and poetic devices to some degree. It would be really helpful here to give them a list of terms to keep in their writing notebooks or post it on your digital learning platform. I would review them briefly and show them some examples in music.

Here are some to consider when showing kids how to write poetry:

Simile
Metaphor
Personification
Alliteration
Rhyme (be sure kids know that all poems do NOT need rhymes)
Onomatopoeia
Sensory Imagery
Allusion
Idioms
Repetition

Step 2: Use Music as Mentor Texts

One of the best tips for showing how to write poetry is by using songs that kids love as mentor texts. Kids really need to understand that the songs they love and obsess over are poems…they just have instruments in the background. I dare say there is no better “hook” than music to get your kids involved in anything you teach, and poetry leads the list.

The important thing here, in my opinion, is to use songs that they would know and (maybe) love or at least know. For example, my kids all know the song “Firework” by Katy Perry. Some of them say they love it, but a lot of them pretend to hate it…yet they all know the lyrics. The boys even sing along (albeit in an obnoxious way), but that’s ok. That’s the kind of song you want to pick.

The other important thing is to pick songs that teach the skills you want kids to know. There is no shortage of a selection. Here are a few song ideas and the poetic devices that you can find within them:

“Firework” by Katy Perry – metaphor, simile, sensory images, rhyme
“Something Just Like This” by the Chainsmokers and Coldplay- allusion, rhyme
“Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey – idioms, rhyme, sensory images
“Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keyes – rhyme, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, idiom, sensory images
“Lose Yourself” by Eminem (get the clean version) – rhyme, idiom, onomatopoeia, sensory images

When using songs, here’s how I introduce them:

First, I go over the skill(s) I want them to know with some direct instruction. I keep this instruction very brief. Pick only one or two skills at a time.
Listen to the song together. I prefer to project a YouTube of a video with the lyrics. It’s easy to find. Click here for an example of “Girl on Fire”. Kids love this portion of the lesson.
I might give them a sheet with the actual lyrics and have them highlight the skill (for example, have them highlight any sensory images in yellow, and metaphors in green).

The idea is to then send them off to do their writing and challenge them to incorporate the same skills. I have found this to be very successful in my poetry writing workshop and getting my kids to understand how to write poetry.

Step 3: Give Kids Some Parameters

I usually teach a skill as my mini-lesson and then do some practice with it by using a mentor song.

One of the beautiful parts of poetry writing is the freedom of expression that is inherently built into this type of creative process. However, I believe one of the biggest mistakes we make when teacing kids how to write poetry is by making it too open-ended.

Having some parameters will help. Consider:

Giving kids a specific type of poem to write. This way, they have a starting point.
Suggesting a specific amount of poetic devices to included. I usually tell them to include at least 2. This way, it’s more manageable.
Giving kids specifics on amount of lines to include. If it’s a free form, saying “at least 10 lines” will help.

Step 4: Give Kids Some Choice

Kids like to have choice, and it’s good for them to be able to decide how they want to write. There are endless selections when it comes to poetry, so having some clear examples and directions is a must.

There are many different styles of poems. You can let them do “free form” poems without any parameters, but some kids will benefit from more structure.

Many poems are highly structured, such as haiku and diamante, and these work well. Other structured poems allow for a bit more flexibility, such as writing an “I Am” poem, which comes from my free TPT resource:

This poem has structure and directions for kids but allows for tons of creativity. The poetry skills have been highlighted in this example.

If this seems overwhelming, I have a ready-made poetry choice board available on my TPT store. You’ll get a selection of 15 different types of poems for kids to write. I’ve included everything you’ll need… poetic devices, specific directions, formatted writing pages (digital and print), and a scoring rubric. It truly is my favorite product in my store (but I’m pretty obsessed with poetry!).

Step 5: Refine

An important component of writing workshop is time to conference and refine your writing. Writing a poem in one day is not a good idea. I usually have a day to brainstorm and begin. Then I give them time to work on it again, and another day to make revisions. The creative process takes time and you often need space in between so that you can revisit your writing with a fresh mind.

Give kids a chance to work with a partner to refine their poems. It is helpful to give them a “rubric” list to use. I usually include about 10 items on the list, such as:

length of poem
skills to include
reads like a poem and not a paragraph
visual appeal of how the words are set up

I also find it helpful to have kids highlight the skills I want them to include. I wouldn’t force them to include more than 2 per poem. For example, I would have them highlight any sensory images in yellow and metaphors in green.

Free Help for ELA Teachers: “Teach My Class” YouTube Channel!

I recently started a YouTube channel with ELA lessons and First Chapter Friday readings. I have one specifically to teach poetic devices. I also have some poetry writing videos there as well. They’re all FREE, so I hope you will take a look.

Check out this video, where I’ll teach your class poetic devices!

One of a series of poetry writing activities available for free on my YouTube channel.

How to Write Poetry – Get Started for Free!

I have a free resource on my TPT store to get started with how to write poetry. It includes everything your kids will need to write 2 original poems. I hope you will check it out!