E A R T H S I D E
USEFUL TEACHING IDEAS FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS
Writing Verses for Your Class
Teacher-tailored verses are powerful teaching aids.
The teacher-student relationship has the power to inspire verses. The teacher just needs to be open and sensitive to the images that come. Below is a well-proven process for the writing of useful class verses;
1 Find a seed.
Picture the child; look for specific traits that are unique to that person. It can be a virtue, or a difficulty (for a verse, these come to the same thing). Meditation may also be fruitful. Chance remarks by other people can be a seed, or perhaps the way the child acts or moves.
Once, I had to quickly write a birthday verse for a student in another class. My colleague, Dieter, wasn’t able, as he was under preoperative anaesthesia. He rang me from his hospital bed, having suddenly remembered what he was doing before he got sick, and asked me to do it. I knew I had very little time before he dropped the phone and went under, so I said, “Deet, tell me just one word about M”. He thought for a moment, and replied drowsily, “He’s… like an
eeeeeeagle.”
The eagle’s eye
Sees nought but all
Alone, a star, and starts to fall…
2 Consider Overarching Themes
Verses can also be written as a series, where every verse follows a particular theme. If a teacher has an overarching theme for the year, then it is good to borrow upon this for the verses. These might the natural environment, cultural backgrounds, lesson contexts and so forth.
3 Brainstorm words and forms.
Play with the ideas and words that come to you. Spend time, allowing these to move around. Notice which ones are particularly strong. Keep as much in your head as possible when the verse starts to take form, rather than writing it down and crystallizing it prematurely.
4 ‘Walk’ the Verse.
This means bringing the embryonic verse to some sort of dramatic form. Some sort of physical movement is beneficial. Walking the dog is often useful for writing a verse. Movement will assist in finding the right words and structure. Occasionally, a movement will also become part of the finished verse.
Each verse will be a product of the teaching relationship. Teachers are not impassionate observers. The result will be meaningful for all involved and tailored to fit.
Earthside Education
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ES009© Sean David Burke 2010. Free to Copy as is.
Sean is the author of Lighting the Literacy Fire: Creative Ideas for Teachers and Parents
Earthside Blog Index
1. Get a Grip: Starting the Day with a Handshake
3. Teach Something Meaningless
5. The Teacher as a Sower of Seeds
8. A Succession of Memorable Experiences
9. Writing Verses for Your Class
