1. Finding Student Tie In’s

2. Finding Student Tie In’s
Not just for weaker, struggling students
(priority learners)
For struggling skilled students too who don’t know where to start
(writers block)
Useful for both:
Poetry &
Creative Writing

3. Finding Student Tie In’s
Structure, framework, scaffold, provide building blocks, etc
- framework supports student – does some thinking for them
- not scary, easier for student to get started
- once done one, two, get idea & a bit more confident
- ultimately lead to them coming up with own ideas and
finding own voice in writing

4. Methods 1. Blackout Poetry (r ball@Rutherford College)
You can choose TWO of the following three poems:
1. Blackout Poetry
(r College)
2. Pirating Songs
(Steve Langley)
3. Teenage brain (if time)
(Nathan Wallis - closed for business 14-18ish +)

5. Ted Talk: Steal like an artist - Austin Kleon
Blackout Poetry
“I don’t know what to write about…”
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” - Ernest Hemingway
Ted Talk: Steal like an artist - Austin Kleon

6. Blackout Poetry The Eagle He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed by the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1851)

7. Blackout Poetry Newspaper OR page from a novel OR poem Take words
String together to make story
Write poem or creative piece
Stage 1: take words
clasps, lonely lands, ring, wrinkled sea, thunderbolt, Alfred

8. Blackout Poetry
clasps, lonely lands, ring, wrinkled sea, thunderbolt, Alfred
Stage 2: String together to make story
The clasps on her nose ring came off her face
while on the lonely lands ride at Rainbow’s End.
The ring she got from her grandma was safe.
She only screamed during the cork screw bend.
Woops – rain and thunderbolts in the air.
The wrinkled sea face of an old man selling candy floss.
Her boyfriend Alfred didn’t seem to care
about the emotional turmoil she had here.

9. Blackout Poetry
clasps, lonely lands, ring, wrinkled sea, thunderbolt, Alfred
Stage 3: Write poem or creative piece based on earlier version or ONE idea from poem / writing
Nose ring – describe what like getting? (Year 9?)
Going to Rainbow’s End – describe a ride
What feel like to throw up after roller coaster / fear, thrill of roller coaster
What have your grandparents told you
What would it be like living in grandparents time …
Caught in a storm with thunder and lightening, rain / hail, etc …
What kind of boyfriend / girlfriend would you like
‘love poem’ to future boyfriend / girlfriend

10. Blackout Poetry Advantages: ● Words already there
● Works with any year level
● Safe. No need to create them, just select those that make sense to the new creator
● A fun activity to get students hooked on to poetry.
● Builds confidence
● Students engage with this – both advanced and struggling
● Can keep developing further or keep as is …

11. Blackout Poetry by Austin Kleon
End goal:
“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
- Ernest Hemingway
Blackout Poetry by Austin Kleon

12. Pirating Songs “Words make you think a thought.
Taking existing songs and re-imagining them.
Keep the structure but change the meaning and context …
“Words make you think a thought.
Music makes you feel a feeling.
A song makes you feel a thought.”
E. Y. ‘Yip’ Harburg
(guy who wrote ‘Over the Rainbow’)

13. Pirating Songs Songs to mix: Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Da-de-da, De-da-de, Da-de-da, De-da-de
Da-de-da-de-da
The Blues:
Woke up this morning

14. Pirating Songs
More complex songs (both for poetry & creative writing):
When the night has come and the land is dark and the moon is the only light we’ll see …
Like a small boat on the ocean sending big waves into motion …
On a cold and grey Orewa morning a poor little baby child is born and his / her mum cries …
When I look into your eyes I can see a love restrained …
Somewhere over the rainbow way up high there’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby …
Born down in a dead man’s town, the first kick I took was when I hit the ground
In the town where I was born lived a man who sailed to sea and he told us of a life in the land of …

15. More complex songs:
When the night has come and the land is dark and the moon is the only light we’ll see …
Like a small boat on the ocean sending big waves into motion …
On a cold and grey Orewa morning a poor little baby child is born and his / her mum cries …
When I look into your eyes I can see a love restrained …
Somewhere over the rainbow way up high there’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby …
Born down in a dead man’s town, the first kick I took was when I hit the ground …
In the town where I was born lived a man who sailed to sea and he told us of a life in the land of …

16. Themes – love When I look into your eyes I can see a love restrained.
But darling when I hold you, don’t you know I feel the same?
Nothing lasts forever and we both know hearts can change.
And it’s hard to hold a candle in the cold August rain.
And when you take the time to lay it on the line I can rest my head just knowing that you are mine.
Like a small boat on the ocean sending big waves into motion.
Like how a single word can make a heart open
I might only have one match but I can make an explosion.
They say in heaven loves first. We’ll make heaven a place on Earth.

17. Themes – war
It was just before dawn one miserable morning in black ’44 when the forward commander was told to sit tight when he asked that his men withdrawn.
And the generals gave thanks as the other ranks held back the enemy tanks for awhile …
They shall grow not old as we who are left grow old …
I was a young man I carried my pack and I lived the free life of a rover … I waltzed my matilda all over … they gave a tin hat and they gave me a gun and they marched me away to the war …
Didn’t I make you proud; go and lay my life down when you called my name …
War, huhh! What is it good for? Absolutely nuthin!
Kiss me goodbye and write me while I’m gone. Goodbye sweetheart, hello Vietnam.