How to Earn Extra Credit in Ms. Poulter's Class (all year long!)

Throughout the school year you will have the opportunity to earn extra credit by imitating poems written by published poets.  Don’t forget you have an example of this assignment your reader/writer notebook.  (Remember “The Red Wheelbarrow”?)

1.      Find a poem you would like to imitate. 

***Dear Parents, Teachers and Friends

Please resist the urge to help the student find the right poem.  This is the research portion of the assignment and worth half the credit the student will receive. 

2.  Decide HOW you intend to imitate this poem.  Will you imitate syntax?  Theme?  Rhyme scheme?  You decide! (We imitated syntax with “The Red Wheelbarrow”)

3.  Write your imitation.

4.  Tell me how you imitated your poem by completing the following sentences.

I used __________________________________________ by

 _________________________________________________

as a model for my poem.  I imitated his/her use of

_________________________________________________

5.  Attach your imitation and the original poem to this sheet and turn in all three items for UP TO 10 points on a major grade!!

***PLEASE NOTE!!  The difficulty of the poem will determine the value of the extra credit.  A great imitation of a Shel Silverstein poem will probably earn you 1 point.  A great imitation of William Shakespeare might earn you 10.  Most poetry imitations earn between 2-5 points.