This is an update of a post I first published back in 2019. Click here to read the original post.
In recent years, I have developed an interest in writing poetry, and I thought it would be neat if my students wrote their own as a presentational writing task. The great thing about poetry is that there can be a lot of repeated structures and each line can be simple. I was thinking about having students write a poem that repeated the structures “Je suis” and “Je ne suis pas.” I wrote a sample poem showing what I was looking for:
Basically, the poem alternates with lines saying things that I am and things that I am not. I also included some photos that illustrate the sentences. In earlier iterations of this project, I had students incorporate a noun and an adjective into the things that they are (e.g. “Je suis une bonne photographe”), but in recent years I have simplified it to just focus on adjectives.
To start, students complete this scaffolding sheet:
Now, usually, I don’t grade for spelling an accents as a teacher of first year students. On this project, however, with it being a presentational writing project where students had time and access to vocabulary lists, I did expect them to get spelling and accents correct. Unfortunately, in the age of text messages and abbreviations, people in general are paying less and less attention to spelling, and I felt this would be a good opportunity to point out that on extended assignments, this type of care should be taken. It also gives students an opportunity to really learn, however tedious it is, how to add accents to letters on their American (and thus, not well equipped for it) devices.
The past couple of years, I have done the project on Kami, a document annotation tool, which allows students to write and draw on a document that I provide, and I can leave comments and feedback write on it as well. Our school subscribes to Kami, so students log in with their school credentials and the site is EdLaw2D compliant (important in New York State). All I provide to students on the document is the title, and they fill in the rest. If there are spelling/accent issues, gender agreement issues, or other things that need to be corrected, I leave a comment indicating that. I make time during class for students to look at my feedback and take note of anything they need to fix.
Here are some of their masterpieces!
On the day it is due, students share their poems in small groups and snap their fingers after each one is read. Some brave students even share their poems with the entire class.
I also have students write a poem for someone else, using “Il est,” “Elle est,” or “Iel est.” This is often right before Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, so some students write the poem for their parents. I give the students the following instructions sheet:
Have you ever had your students write poetry? What did they write about?
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