A colorful illustration of a face with flowers growing out of it and beautiful threads as skin
Benjavisa Ruangvaree Art/Shutterstock.com
Poetry,

Instructions For Growing Poetry

April is National Poetry Month, a time to celebrate poets and poetry.

By Tony Mitton
From the March/April 2022 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will identify the main idea of a poem about writing poetry and think about how the poet’s words can help them write their own poems.

Complexity Factors
  • Purpose & Levels of Meaning
    The poem uses the metaphor of gardening to talk about the steps of writing a poem. On another level, the poem celebrates the richness of language, along with the creative process of writing.
  • Structure
    The poem contains six stanzas, each four lines long. The first four stanzas have an A, B, C, B rhyme scheme. The last line of the fifth stanza rhymes with the last line of the sixth stanza. The poem addresses the reader directly.
  • Language
    The poet uses the extended metaphor of gardening to describe how poems are created. The poem contains both straightforward and figurative language, including idioms and personification. The words swell, rhythm and sprouting might be challenging for some readers.
  • Knowledge Demands
    No prior knowledge is required.
Featured Skill: Main Idea and Supporting Details,
Other Key Skills: text features, vocabulary, author’s purpose, inference, key idea, supporting details, figurative language, author’s craft, visual literacy, expressing an opinion
Standards
  • Common Core
    RL.1, RL.2, RL.4, RL.5, RL.6, RL.7, RF.4, SL.1, L.1
  • TEKS Grade 3
    1a, 1c, 3b, 3d, 4a, 6a, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f, 6g, 7c, 7g, 9b, 10c, 10d
Content-Area Connections
  • Social and Emotional Learning
    self-awareness (identifying feelings)

Presentation View
See Student View
Main Idea

As you read the poem, think about how it can help you write a poem of your own. 

Instructions For Growing Poetry

Shut your eyes.

Open your mind.

Look inside.

What do you find?


Something funny?

Something sad?

Something beautiful,

mysterious, mad?


Open your ears.

Listen well.

A word or phrase

begins to swell?


Catch its rhythm,

hold its sound.

Gently, slowly

roll it round.


Does it please you?

Does it tease you?

Does it ask

to grow and spread?


Now those little

words are sprouting

poetry

inside your head.

Reprinted by permission of THE POET. All Rights Reserved.

Audio ()
Activities (4)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Audio ()
Activities (4) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Can't Miss Teaching Extras
From the Storyworks 3 Archives

If you’re looking for another poem to teach this month, consider the charming “Make Up Your Mind, March” from the March/April 2020 issue.

Listen to the Author Read

Your students will love hearing poet Tony Mitton perform another of his poems, “Plum,” in this short and delightful recording.

Celebrate National Poetry Month in April

The American Academy of Poets offers many resources for teachers to celebrate April’s National Poetry Month with their students. Make sure to check out their list of “30 Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month in the Virtual Classroom” and download and display the 2022 poster, designed by a high schooler.

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

Table of Contents

1. Preparing to Read

2. Close Reading

3. SEL Focus

4. Skill Building

5. Differentiate and Customize

Striving Readers, Multilingual Learners, Advanced Readers, STEAM Connection

1. Preparing to Read

Set a Purpose for Reading (5 minutes)

  • Read the title of the poem and the poet’s name. 

  • Tell students to keep the Think and Read prompt in mind as they read the poem.

Preview Text Features and Vocabulary (15 minutes)  

  • Go over any vocabulary terms that may be challenging for your students. 

  • Tell students to look out for two words in the poem that can have two different meanings. Explain: Mad can mean “angry,” and it can also mean “wild and crazy.” If someone is teasing you, it might mean they are trying to bother you, perhaps by saying something unkind, or it could mean they’re trying to get you excited or interested in something.

  • Invite students to describe the illustration and then predict what the poem is about based on the title and the artwork.

2. Close Reading

  • Read the poem to the class, play the audio version, or use Text-to-Speech.

  • Next, ask students to take turns reading aloud each line in the poem.

  • Discuss the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions. (Alternatively, assign all or part of the Learning Journey Slide Deck, which contains the questions as well as other activities from this lesson plan and a link to the poem.)

Close-Reading Questions (30 minutes)

  • In the poem, the poet gives instructions on how to create something. What can the steps in the poem help you do? (Hint: Think about the title of the poem.) (author’s purpose) The steps in the poem can help you write a poem of your own.
  • Read the first stanza (group of lines). The first instructions in the poem are to “Shut your eyes. Open your mind. Look inside.” When creating something, how can closing your eyes and paying attention to your thoughts and feelings help you get started? (inference, key idea) Closing your eyes and paying attention to your thoughts and feelings can help you think of something interesting or important that you want to write about. It can also help you shut out the sights and sounds around you and use your imagination.
  • Read the second stanza. What are some of the things the poet says you might find if you pay attention to your thoughts and feelings? (supporting details) The poet says you might find something funny, sad, beautiful, mysterious, or mad.
  • Read the third stanza. To swell means “to grow bigger.” When you’re working on a poem, why should you pay attention to any words or phrases that feel like they’re growing? (Hint: Things can grow bigger in different ways, like size or importance.) (figurative language, main idea) You should pay attention to any words or phrases that feel like they’re growing because they might be good ones to use in your poem. They also might inspire you to think of other good words and phrases for your poem. 
  • Read the fourth stanza. What words does the poet use to help you think about the sounds of poetry as if they are something you can touch? (author’s craft) The poet uses the words catch, hold, and roll to talk about the sounds of poetry as something that can be picked up and touched.
  • In the fifth stanza, how does the poet compare writing a poem to growing a plant or flower? (author’s craft, figurative language) The poet compares writing a poem to growing something by asking if the poem wants to grow bigger and spread out. Plants get bigger and spread out as they grow. 
  • Read the last stanza. (The word sprouting means “growing.”) Look at the illustration. How does the illustration connect to the description of words “sprouting poetry inside your head”? (visual literacy, main idea) The flowers in the picture are like the words that “sprout” or grow inside your head when you create a poem.
  • Do you think “Instructions for Growing Poetry” is a good title for this poem? Explain your answer. (main idea, expressing an opinion) Answers may vary. Students will probably say that it is a good title because the poet is comparing writing poetry to growing or sprouting a poem inside your head. The stanzas are instructions that describe the different steps in writing a poem.

3. SEL Focus

Looking Within for Inspiration

In “Instructions for Growing Poetry,” poet Tony Mitton’s first instruction is to look within for creative inspiration. Remind your students that each one of them is unique, with thoughts, experiences, and views that are unlike anyone else’s. Discuss the value of people sharing their unique thoughts and experiences with the world through writing, art, and music. Use examples of favorite artists (of yours or your students) to explore the idea in more detail.

4. Skill Building

Featured Skill: Main Idea

Distribute or digitally assign our Main Idea Skill Builder and have students complete it in class or for homework.

Differentiate and Customize
For Striving Readers

Before reading the poem, preview the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions with students to help them know what they should be focusing on as they read. Read the poem aloud as students follow along. Read the poem again, this time pausing to work with the group on each question.

For Multilingual Learners

Read the poem aloud (or play the Audio Read-Aloud) as students follow along. Pause after every stanza to explain the figurative language, as needed, and to discuss what is happening in those lines.

For Advanced Readers

Ask students to create their own instructions for writing a poem, using whatever format they like. They might choose to write a straightforward paragraph or step-by-step directions, draw an infographic or labeled poster, make up a recipe, or create a poem.

STEAM Connection

Ask students to come up with their own ideas for illustrating the poem. Their illustrations could be drawn or collaged—or created using another art medium of their choosing. Alternatively, they might choose to describe their ideas in detail.

Text-to-Speech