As National Poetry Month comes to a close, we hope we’ve provided you with valuable ideas to help you integrate poetry and mobile writing into your instruction. This is the perfect month to introduce and solidify a love for reading and writing poetry!
Here are three ways you can integrate the Write About This or Tell About This apps to teach poetry to students in grades K-2:
Students can search through the gallery for a picture of something that they like (or they can take a picture using the app). They can then write a free verse poem “I like _____ because _____.” For students who can’t type words yet, Tell About This is perfect for recording their poem orally. The poems can be read and or “played” to the class!
If they already know what they want to write about, use the new Quick Write feature in Write About This to add their photo directly!
Recite a Favorite Poem
Students can research a favorite poem to be exposed to a variety of poetic forms and creative writing. They can then find an image in the Write About This app gallery or take a picture that they find illustrates it best. Finally, they can recite the poem using the audio feature and share with the teacher and parents.
Create a Word Poem
Students can practice selecting and writing out words they may or may not know by creating a poem made up of just a list of words. They can find an image in the Write About This gallery and write a list of words that come to mind about the picture. Have students pick a word to be the title and open and close the poem with that word. Everything in between can include at least one noun, adjective, and verb for students who can approach it more critically.
Reading, writing, and reciting are great ways for young students to get hands-on with poetry. The main objective is to encourage students to make things their own and have fun!
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Lani deGuia is a teacher, instructional technologist, and social media manager. She has over 13 years of educational experience in traditional and online classroom settings for both K-12 and adult learners. She currently works in digital content and strategy for businesses and personally blogs at Rose Tinted Traveler.