Poetry Friday: Voices Fly

My new book is in!

It has the fabulous title Voices Fly -- so fitting for an anthology of student poetry. The subtitle is a bit more weighty (but important): "Exercises and Poems from the Maryland State Arts Council Artist-in-Residence Program." The Artist-in-Residence program funds my schools visits and those by other Maryland poets and artists.

Fellow MSAC artist-in-residence Virginia Crawford and I have been working on the book for about eighteen months. It includes a foreword by Maryland's Poet Laureate, Stanley Plumly!

When the arts council asked me and Ginny to edit a book of student poetry from the program, we were feeling a little more ambitious. What if we designed the book so that it was more than an anthology? What if we invited Maryland's poets-in-the-schools to share their favorite lessons? This way, teachers could actually use the book to teach more poetry in their classrooms.

Christine Stewart, our wonderful administrator at MSAC, agreed to the plan.

Inside Voices Fly, you'll find eight chapters. Each one features a MSAC poet-in-the-schools describing one of her favorite residency workshops, ranging in age levels from kindergarten through high school. Each workshop is followed by student poems written in response to the lesson. The book includes some back matter -- resources recommended by the eight Artist-in-Residence poets.

There will only be a limited number of copies available from the Maryland State Arts Council. However -- GOOD NEWS! -- MSAC's website will have a PDF of the book. In other words, anyone can download Voices Fly for free and make use of the lessons. The website is www.MSAC.org (be patient, the link may not be up yet).

Today, I am sharing a portion of my chapter on writing odes:

Chapter 6: Simple Odes

Laura Shovan

Upper Elementary through High School

Tone is an elusive concept, yet it crosses over two areas that educators are often required to teach as part of their writing curricula – voice and word choice.

When I began doing school workshops on simple odes, my focus was on use of simile, hyperbole and sensory detail. In working with students, I saw that they also understood the concept of tone as it works in a simple ode.
 

I like to pick up something random in the classroom. It might be a blackboard eraser, a paperclip, or a tissue. Together, the class brainstorms all of the things we can do with that object. We exaggerate -- a good time to introduce hyperbole -- in order to highlight the object’s value. With the eraser, all of our mistakes can disappear. The paperclip is like a secretary for our school work, keeping it organized and making us efficient. The tissue comforts us when we are sick, dries our tears when we are sad.

At this point, we read and discuss Gary Soto’s “Ode to Pablo’s Tennis Shoes.” We look for similes, hyperbole and description.

Elementary children need the structure of a specific prompt, so we all write odes to our shoes. Middle schoolers still need to have something on hand to write about but are ready for more freedom. My students have written odes to their desks, binders, a bookmark, even the EXIT sign over the door.

The key in an ode, as the children quickly pick up, is that we are making a persuasive argument. The words, similes and descriptions we use – the tone of the poem – needs to convince the reader that these sneakers are the best sneakers in the universe. Through tone, simple odes remind readers to stop and pay attention to everyday objects that deserve praise.

I recently did the workshop on odes with a group of fifth graders at Swansfield Elementary. Here are two of their poems. I bent the rules about having something on hand for Fahd, because he was itching with enthusiasm to write this ode:

Ode to Firefighter

by Fahd K.

Strong and brave

Fights fire with

Cool water

Gallons and gallons

of water coming

from a hose

like a black snake

A big, hard helmet

protects a face

mighty like a god

of fire

Happy as a winner

for saved children

Tired, happy, good

Back to the

fire station.

Tyler understood that odes can easily go from praising an object to over-the-top rhapsodizing. I love his sense of humor in this simple ode:

Ode to My Pants

by Tyler D.

Dear Pants

Thank you for

Protecting

my legs and

knees from

scrapes on the

sidewalk.

You protect

me like armor

in a war and

steel on a vault.

And for giving

me good style!

Pants you

have the

Biggest meaning

on my body.

I hope you'll all stop at the Maryland State Arts Council website and download a copy of Voices Fly for your classroom or your library. Thanks to Swansfield E. S. and the poets' families for allowing me to share the students' work.

Carol at Carol's Corner is hosting Poetry Friday today. Please stop by Carol's blog for more poetry news and reviews.