Getting Creative With Scripted Teaching

Today, many school districts require teachers to teach content areas, such as math and language arts, with scripted programs.  These programs can be time-consuming, leaving teachers with little time for creative lessons, such as poetry and art.  Fortunately for us, one of our Monday night seminars discussed ways to include poetry and art into social studies, math, language arts, and science.  The following ideas are great reminders that teachers should and can think outside the box in order to guarantee students have opportunities to be creative and express themselves in various ways.  Our thanks goes out to Ree Chacon, a fifth grade teacher in Albuquerque, who does awesome poetry units with the students who are lucky to be in her classroom.  

Social Studies

Poems for two voices (look for a post on poems for two voices under our social studies label) – these poems work great for topics where you really want students to consider more than one perspective on the same topic, such as the Civil War.

Art: illustrate both voices

Math

Geometry poems, number poems

Art: Tessellations, quilt squares, tangrams, and pattern blocks

Science

Nature haikus, diamantes

Art: nature drawings/paintings (think Da Vinci)

Language Arts

Use poems to teach metaphor, simile, personification, onomatopoeia, and parts of speech.

Art: use different media (pastel, chalk, watercolor, torn paper, tempera, pencil, and crayon) to illustrate poems. 

Other ideas

Poetry anthologies: Collect poetry from students throughout the year and bind them together at the end of the year.

Poetry with spelling: Every week, include poems with your spelling words that have examples of the sound/word family you’re learning.

Poetry Picnic: At the end of the year, celebrate all the poetry your class has learned/written with a picnic in the room.  Clear the desks, put down blankets, invite parents, and let kids share as much poetry as they like.

Pockets full of Poetry: April is National Poetry month – ask staff members to illustrate a book pocket and put their favorite poem inside.  Display on a bulletin board in the library.  Kids can do the same in their classrooms.

Poetry Slams: Hold a monthly poetry slam where students share their favorite poems, which can be poems written by students or poems students have found.