Welcome! February 7th, 2016 Wednesday Do Now Find your seats! If you don’t remember where you sit, ask me. Write the date at the top of a new page in your journal. Once the bell rings, begin the freewrite. Prompt: Write a story that includes the line, “This is the stupidest gift anyone’s ever given me. I love it.”

Creating our own Themes Last time, we discussed and responded to other poet’s themes. Today, you’re going to write a poem with a theme of your own. When someone writes a poem, its because they want to communicate something – either to themselves or to an audience. First off, we’re going to brainstorm a list of possible themes that you think you could write a poem about.

Creating our own Themes 1. Look at the list of theme topics from the front table. Choose three that you find interesting, and write three themes about each topic that you truly believe. For example, if I chose “Coming of Age,” I might write “A central part of growing up is seeing your parents as flawed human beings.” If I chose “Justice,” I might write “Justice is not always carried out by our government.”

Creating our own Themes 2. Choose one of your themes that you would like to pursue further. Consider: Why do you believe that statement? What has happened in your life that caused you to belief this? Write in response for five minutes.

Writing our own Themes 3. Poetry challenge: Your next job is to write a poem that shows your chosen theme. Here’s the hard part: Your poem can’t use any of the words in your theme. Your poem should be at least 10 lines. “A central part of growing up is seeing your parents as flawed human beings.” “Justice is not always carried our by our government.”

Writing our own Themes 4. Trade with a partner and read their poem. Then, trade your notebooks back. Write their name down on your paper for #4. Then, respond to the following prompts: What is your partner’s poem about? What do you think their theme is? How do you know? Were you correct? If not, how could they have made their theme clearer?