• organize ideas and information appropriate to the chosen format
• independently draw on prior knowledge and experiences when constructing meaning and responding to text
• select and use appropriate strategies for constructing meaning from text
• infer meaning
• consider others' responses in reshaping and extending their own responses
• make thoughtful and critical responses to the content and writer's craft in a poem, and clearly support personal and critical responses with reference to the text
• recognize and use, when appropriate, figures of speech and figurative language (e.g., similes, metaphors, personification, idioms, puns)
• recognize what imagery in poetry is and write a poem using imagery
• create a presentation of a poem visually using Digital Saskatchewan
• use the writing process to create a poem

• direct instruction (teach figurative language, elements of poem)
• interactive instruction (discussion, cooperative learning groups, talking circle)
• indirect instruction (reflective discussion)
• independent study (writing of poem, using computer)

• "Preludes" by T.S. Eliot
• "The Song My Paddle Sings" by E. Pauline Johnson
• "The Lonely Land" by A.J.M. Smith
• "Life in the City" by Christian Bouchard (Can be found in Departures: Reflections in Poetry edited by James Barry and published by Nelson Canada)
• "The Shark" by E.J. Pratt

Discuss how the author creates a picture in the reader's mind of the images he/she wants to create. What types of words are used? Adjectives, adverbs, etc. What figures of speech are used and are they effective in creating an image?

2. Choose one of the above poems or a poem of your choice to study in depth with the students as a model. You will probably want to consider some basic elements of the poem while studying it with the students, such as:

• the title
• the stanza form
• the punctuation and capitalization
• word choice, including figures of speech
• intended meaning and imagery in the poem

3. Read another poem to the students that is full of strong images. Have them close their eyes as you read. Have the students tell you what they were imagining as you read the poem. Ask them to describe in detail the images that their minds created. Now have the students work in small groups, each with one specific poem to work on. Have the students consider the same elements as in number two above with their group members with regards to a new poem you have given them to study. While the students are in their groups, walk around and listen to their discussions. Offer insight if they are stuck and make sure they are on track and know what to do.

4. Once students have completed their group discussion, have them come together as a large group and conduct a talking circle. As the students each respond individually to the poem, the teacher could instruct them to respond to specific questions.

5. Students will be writing their own imagery poem. They may use one of the poems studied in class as a model for their poem. Students may use the pictures on the Digital Saskatchewan site to prompt their poem. They must choose an image from Digital Saskatchewan to use as a background image for their poem. They may copy the image to Microsoft Word and create their poem over the image. You may also have them use the images in a Power Point presentation and have them record their voice reading the poem with music in the background. Students will be encouraged to use the writing process so that they do the prewriting, composing, revising, editing and publishing stages. If the students have not been using the writing process, this would be a good time to do a mini-lesson on the writing process.

• rubric #1
• rubric #2
• rubric #3
• rubric #4
• assessment idea