LESSON PLAN

Subject: English
Grade: 7
Lesson: Found Poetry
SLOs: From the Program of Studies

Date: April 11th 2016

Time: 40 min

1. Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to explore thoughts, ideas,
feelings and experiences.

Materials:
Text
Examples
Paper
Lesson Procedure:
Intro. Students will take a sticky note and write what they think the definition of found poetry
would be.
Body
Activity #1: Students will look in the book Fatty Legs at the passage on page 43. They will write
3 words on 3 different pieces of paper.
Students will gather in a circle and I will put down one of my three sentences. Each student will
put down theirs where they think it is most appropriate.
Teacher comments:
make a story
flow
effective going down rather than across
anchor word
find connecting words
play with reforming
Activity #2: Show different examples of found poetry that demonstrate how words were chosen
based around a theme. They can make powerful poems that also integrate art.

Activity #3: Show teacher example that uses a passage from Homeless Bird.

I suppose part of me had known all along. The thought had been waiting like a
scorpion at the edge of my mind. Now it stung me, and I nearly cried out with pain.
There had been the letters from her brother in Dehli that she had never let me see.
There had been the secret buying of railway tickets. There had been the mysterious
smile. She had taken care that I did not know her address in Dehli. I knew I could
never find her in that city of millions. All I had were the forty-seven rupees tied
into my sari. I understood now why she had entrusted me with so much money. It
was to ease her conscience. Much as I hated to let the boy weep, I could not keep
tears from streaming down my cheeks.
Gossips Betrayal
The waiting stung me with its mysterious smile. I could never find why she entrusted me to ease
her conscience as hate weeps down my cheeks.
Students will look at passage provided by teacher and start choosing words to create a poem.
I hardly slept that night. The bed had a rickety frame that creaked every time I took a breath.
Each girls bed was as loud as mine, and the noise filled the vast space of the large room with a
disjointed foreign sound, unlike the sleepy rhythmic breathing of my mother, father, and siblings,
with whom I had shared a tent since birth. Sobs also carried through the room. My elder down
blanket was soft, but I missed the musky smell of furry hides, the comforting aroma of smoke
drifting through the air, and the darkness of the tent, even in summer. The thin serge curtain
above my bed did little to keep the midnight sun from penetrating the huge room. Gathering the
blanket off my assigned bed, I crawled underneath it, squinted my eyes, and imagined that my
fathers pipe was glowing in the distance.
Students can use this passage for their final project or ask Miss R about a different text and get
approval.

Lesson Reflection: