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This instructional strategy has students creating found poetry to synthesize information from multiple concepts or texts. “Found poetry” takes existing texts and refashions them, reorders them, and presents them as poems—the literary equivalent of a collage. In terms of synthesizing ideas from within a text or across texts, found poetry is a creative method of bringing ideas from various sources together to convey one cohesive message. Found poetry involves taking key information or language from within a text or across texts and using those “found words” to create a poem that expresses the overall theme of the various pieces.
PREPARATION:
Depending on the academic purpose of the found poem, determine the guidelines that students will need to follow.
To complete this instructional practice, students will need to have already engaged in the reading of the texts that they will reference to create the f inal product.
STEPS:
DETERMINE THEME: In partners or small groups, asks students to determine a major theme or idea that stands out in the source texts. They should refer back to the texts to find supporting quotations to justify their choices.
IDENTIFY KEY TERMS: Then, ask students to reread the source texts and identify key words and phrases that help support this theme or idea. These will be the source words for their found poems.
CREATE LIST: Ask students to make a list in their notes of all the words and phrases they collect from the texts.
ELIMINATE WORDS: Next, students should cross out words and phrases that don’t seem to fit into the overall theme or might be too “dull” for a poem. The goal is to try to cut the original list in half.
DETERMINE TONE: Then, ask students to reexamine the remaining words to determine the overall tone of the poem. Students should make sure that the remaining text contributes to creating that overall tone and theme. For example, if there is a theme of “love” in the poem, then remaining words and phrases should fit into that overall theme.
WRITE POEM: Next, students should organize the remaining words and phrases in a way that makes sense according to their theme. They can change the order of each excerpt, but they can’t change the original words themselves.
REVIEW: Once the order of their poems is drafted, students should read their poem to ensure that the intended message is conveyed. If it is not, they can return to the text to find additional words and phrases to add.
TITLE POEM: Have students then create a title for their poems that is more descriptive than simply “Found Poem.”
VARIATIONS:
Create a whole-class found poem with ideas from a wide variety of groups.
EXTENSIONS:
Ask students to write reflections that justify their choices in creating their found poems.
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