Activity of the week: poetry scaffolds

From Dr. N.L.C., professor of Language and Literacy at CSUS:


Use poetry scaffolds as a "starter" to familiarize students with writing different forms of poetry. Scaffolds are meant to be used through the following main steps (add more as necessary for age/academic level):

1. Show/read examples and discuss the characteristics of each scaffold.
2. Brainstorm words/phrases to fill-in-the-blanks.
3. As a whole class, complete one poem.
4. In pairs, students complete another poem.
5. Individually, students complete yet another poem. Edit, polish, illustrate, and publish in a class book.


The following is an example of a poetry scaffold:

I Meant To Today

I meant to ____________ today,
But _________.
And __________.
And __________.
I meant to __________ today, but __________ got in my way.


Here is an example of a completed poem using the above scaffold:

I Meant To Have a Good Day Today

I meant to have a good day today,
But I didn't have a good night's sleep.

And my parents continue to wait until a specific calendar day to turn on the heat so I was freezing.
Then my students were being squirrely today.
And I didn't teach my best today.
And I slammed my car door on my hand.
And the person I sold my iPod Touch to nearly two weeks ago still have yet to receive the package; which lead to an anxiety attack about money.
And my mother was in a mood, a loud, obnoxious mood.
And my caffeine wore off.

I meant to have a good day today, but fate got in my way.
- Ms. Ng


As evidenced, students have freedom of thinking outside the box when using poetry scaffolds. Words at the end of the lines do not have to rhyme, the meter can be irregular, and they can add/leave off certain parts to the scaffold. A poem is a "design of words," and that design can be (almost) limitless.

There are lots of poetry scaffolds; teachers always create and share, so a simple Google search will bring up many options.

Most importantly, have fun!