EL Module One:

Poetry, Poets, and Becoming Writers

This module uses literature and informational text to introduce students to what inspires people to write. It is intentionally designed to encourage students to embrace a love of literacy and writing.

We will start by reading and analyzing the characteristics of poetry in Love That Dog by Sharon Creech.

In the second half of the unit, they read A River of Words by Jen Bryant and learn about poet William Carlos Williams, again thinking about what inspired this poet to write. Then, in expert groups, students study a poet of their choice and write a four-paragraph essay about what inspired their poet to write poetry.

Finally, in Unit 3, students move from considering what has inspired the poets they have been reading about to write poetry, to thinking about what inspires them to write poetry. They begin the unit by writing original poems, focusing on word and phrase choice and adding punctuation for effect. In the second half of the unit, students write a presentation explaining why they wrote their original poem and where you can see evidence of this in their poem.