I had an absolute blast at the Vancouver Public Library’s Writing and Book Camp last week, mentoring tween writers as a workshop leader over the course of four amazing days. I led small groups of kids through a two hour poetry extravaganza – to say it was exhausting is an understatement (I have so much respect for middle school teachers!!), but I left each session with a heart filled to burst.
Over the course of the morning we explored several different poetic forms, and looked at how practising each form could help us become stronger, more confident writers, whatever our genre or format of choice might be. I really feel that kids benefit from knowing why they’re being asked to do certain things, and I’ve found that kids are more likely to buy in to an activity when they feel that there’s a purpose to it. With this in mind, I made sure to explain why I chose each poetic form, and what benefits I felt students could derive from each activity, whether or not they considered themselves poets.
We started with one of the most famous poetic forms – the humble acrostic. When some of my students rolled their eyes, I explained that acrostics served two important purposes. First of all, they were a fun way to help us get to know each other a bit better, as we would be writing descriptive acrostics based on our names.
More importantly, though, acrostics are a fantastic tool for building vocabulary, as they challenge writers to start lines or words with specific letters – including those less commonly used in the English language. For example, I have four “I”s in my full name, and there are surprisingly few words that start with that letter, as I quickly discovered! I encouraged the kids to challenge themselves by coming up with words they might not normally use, as a way to stretch their creative chops. We had a great collaborative experience as kids shouted out letters they needed help with, and were met with a flurry of sometimes hilarious responses. The “T” in my last name elicited talented, terrific, tea-drinker, tiny, terrible, and tyrannical, which just cracked me up!
Want to get a guaranteed laugh out of your too-cool-for-school tweens? Use one of their words – calling myself “rizzful” led to much hilarity, every time. 
And so, my friends, I challenge you to write your own name haiku in the comments below – I’d love to get to know you better! 
Rose at Imagine the Possibilities is hosting this week’s roundup!
Welcome to Poetry Friday, Jane. It sounds like you had a great time with the students at camp. I agree that acrostics can be a great way to build vocabulary. Love “rizzful” – new to me!
Hi Jane, what a great thing to work with all those emerging poets! I hope they have more poetry in their school days!
L – Love
I – interesting
N – new
D – data
A – always!
I really hope so, too! While I see the value of all things STEM, I really hope our educators are given the space and support to include poetry and art in their plans, too.
Philosophical, phasinated
Assertive, animated
Tender-hearted
R-rated
Inquisitive
Celebrative
Irreverent, illogical
A California native
This was a fun way to waste time on my Friday morning
Oooh, “irreverent” – I’m adding that to my mental vocabulary list for future examples, I was really struggling with good “I” words!
It sounds like a great time! Your exuberance and energy shine through this post. I’m a big fan of acrostics for getting my mind going. It’s often my first choice when I’m playing around with a new topic. Here’s my off-the-cuff morning acrostic–maybe more of a wish than a reality? lol
Mostly
Optimistic by nature
Looking to generate
Laugh lines and stay
Young at heart.
Off the cuff poems are some of my favourites! I’m trying to stay young at heart too – working with kids seems to be helping with that.
Multitalented former
Leader of small
Humans
A quick acrostic with my initials! Sounds like you had all kinds of fun!
Oh, I adore this! Leaders of small humans are some of my favourite people.
Diplomatic
Energetic
Naive
Imaginative
Easy-going
Thanks, Jane! That was fun. It sounds like you had an amazing time with the tweens. I love that your library did that.
Tweens are so much fun, especially as I get older and no longer care how deeply uncool I must seem to them. ;-D
Diplomatic
Energetic
Naive
Imaginative
Shy
Easy-going
Jane, what a nice post. That was fun writing a poem about me. I think it’s great that your students said tea-drinker for one of your t’s. Did they know? Or did you tell them? The writing and book camp sounds amazing. It’s great that your library does that. (I’m writing this comment for a second time, so if it is waiting in modification, you can just delete one!)
Denise Krebs
I always show up to every workshop with a great big mug of tea! My love of tea precedes me into every space.
This is a general statement about me.:)
About
New
Ideas
Concerning
Everything
Oh, I feel like this could be about me, too! I’m curious about everything, always wanting to know more about anything I discover.
So fun, Jane! I’m late to the party, but I’ll throw one together:
K indred spirit of
A ll who love
R hyme, free verse, prose,
E ven, yes, the humble acrostic.
N ever too busy to play with words.
Thanks for the fun diversion, Jane!
I love this! May we never be too busy to play with words.
Lucky kids – lucky you! How wonderful to spend such meaningful time together.
Rizzful
Or
Boring?
– Yes?
– No?
Ha ha, my rizz level depends on who you ask. I don’t think the kiddos are impressed by my level of rizz. ;-D