Back to the Good Stuff!: Teaching Poems and Fairy Tales with Sky-High Ambition
Presented by Maggie Beattie Roberts, Staff Developer, The Reading and Writing Project,
Teachers College
@MaggieBRoberts (Twitter)
www.kateandmaggie.com (Blog)
Resources for the Day
➔ Link to digital folder/handouts
➔ Link to digital conversation and resource-sharing
Poetry
Where I’m From Poems
•Write for a few minutes, starting with the line, “I am from…”
•Questions to help
•What place am I from?
•Certain words or phrases?
•Smells?
•Objects?
•Special experiences?
•Share with writing partner
Sample
I am from slow Southern breezes,
I am from tire swings
swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.
I am from locusts humming
outside trees buzzing
singing me to sleep.
I am from outdoor play with no fences
creekside
late summer
evenings.
I am from make believe worlds
created on my own.
Goals for the Day
•Revive enthusiasm & love for writing
•Concrete strategies and lesson ideas for poetry & fairy tale unit
•Resources
•Charts
•Student Work
•Ideas for Texts
1
Arc of the Poetry Unit
Bend One
•Collecting lots of entries, studying mentor texts, jotting down observations
•How can I begin to live the life of a poet – writing lots and lots of poems about things I see and
care about?
Bend Two
•Rehearsing with angle of language and form, experiment w/ structures
•How can I learn to focus not just on the content of my poem, but on the language and form,
too?
Bend Three
•Revising with angle of craft, precise words, meaning, figurative language
•How can I revise my poems with craft, language, and meaning?
Bend Four
•Editing and getting ready for publication
•How can I create an anthology of poetry that looks and sounds the way I want it to?
Immersion Activity
1. What is this about?
2. What do we like about it?
3. What do you notice the poet doing as a writer?
3rd Grade Poetry Resources
➔ Link to Shel Silverstein’s Whatif
➔ Link to Shel Silverstein’s Tell Me
➔ Link to Shel Silverstein’s Somebody Has To
➔ Link to Shel Silverstein’s The Poet’s Tree
➔ Link to Shel Silverstein’s The Voice
Collecting Activity - Writing Off an Image
•Step One – Pick an image
•Step Two – Brainstorm words – emotion, description, listing
•Step Three – Arrange words in logical way
•Step Four – Turn some words into phrases, leaving some to stand along
•Step Five – Change anything?
2
3
Partial List of Lesson Ideas for Bend One - Poetry Writing Unit
Goal - Write many snippets of poetry in writing notebook, creating a collection of ideas
1. Today I am going to teach you that poets read lots and lots of poems as they begin to
generate ideas for their own poetry. They let the images, ideas, structure and themes of
these poems wash over them, and often find that they are then inspired with fresh ideas
for their own writing. (see immersion activity above)
2. Poets are inspired by the world around them. We look at images, brainstorm words and
turn these words into phrases as a way to create a draft of a poem. (see collecting
activity above)
3. Writers turn older entries from their writer’s notebooks into poems.
4. Writers take observation walks, notebooks in hand, capturing all that they notice, using
lots of visual, descriptive words.
5. Writers pay attention to how other poems make them feel. Then, writers write down
these feelings, matching the feelings with images or anecdotes.
6. Sometimes writers begin poems with a catchy or lyrical line. We think of a line that’s
been in our heads, like a line from a song, and then use that as a springboard to draft a
snippet of a poem.
7. Today I want to teach you that one way poets add information and depth to their writing
is by thinking about the tiny details they include. They might include a small action, a
detail about an object, or feelings that will make the poem come to life for the reader.
8. Today I am going to teach you how to be a particularly strong writing partner. As a
partner, it is important to ask the kinds of questions that will help your partner look
deeply at their writing. You might begin by asking your writing partner what it is they
hope to show in their poem. Then, once they’ve figured that out, don’t be afraid to give
him or her concrete feedback about how to get that message across better.
4
Fairy Tales
Why Fairy tales?
➔ Children, often times, have a deep connection with fairy tales.
➔ Fairy tales has many of the elements of strong narrative writing.
➔ We believe that teaching fairy tales to kids can, in large part, teach kids how to write
fiction.
Big Ideas in the Units of Study
➔ People become better at anything through deliberate practice.
➔ Writers need opportunities to transfer and apply.
➔ Revision is more than a stage in the writing process, it is a disposition.
Big Ideas in Once Upon a Time: Writing and Adapting Fairy Tales
➔ Narrative writers need instruction in story structure.
➔ Narrative writers need opportunities to experiment and practice using increasingly
sophisticated story language.
➔ Narrative writing improves dramatically when writers have multiple and varied
opportunities to rehearse.
What do students publish in each bend?
Adaptation #1
Choose between 3 Billy Goats Gruff, Little Red Riding Hood & Cinderella
Adaptation #2
Choose own original to adapt
Original #1
Move from heavily-scaffolded to lightly scaffolded
Studying a Storytelling Mentor Text - Using Video from the UOS DVD
Ben Wilson, National Youth Storyteller, YouTube
➔ Using facial and hand gestures
➔ Used transition words
➔ Used descriptive language
➔ Dialogue – each character has a way that they sound, a way that they are
➔ Slowed down at more important part, speeds along other parts
➔ Blend of storytelling and summarizing (narration stitches the story together)
➔ Setting – precise details
➔ Uses humor – attaches a memorable action to each characters
5
Sample Instructional Charts
6
7
8
9
Additional Adaptation of Cinderella
Cinderelle
Once upon a time, in the middle of New York City, there was a girl named Cinderelle who loved playing basketball.
She was strong, athletic, and quick on her feet. She was the best basketball player in her neighborhood.
Cinderelle lived with two evil stepsisters and her evil stepmother. She spent most of her time
watching her two evil stepsisters at cheerleading practice. Cinderelle’s evil stepmother was an original New York
Knicks cheerleader, so she lived and breathed cheerleading. All she wanted in the world was to have the evil
stepsisters follow in her footsteps.
One Tuesday afternoon, Cinderelle was watching the NBA semi-finals upstairs in her room. With 30 seconds left in
the tied game, she heard a screech from down the hall. “CinderELLE!” her evil stepsisters called. “Grab my pom
poms!” said one stepsister. “Grab my water bottle!” cried the other stepsister.
Cinderelle let out a big sigh. “Not now,” she mumbled under her breath. But she knew she had no choice.
Cheerleading practice was today and Cinderelle knew she had to videotape the stepsisters practice for her evil
stepmother to watch on repeat later. “Be right there!” Cinderelle called back. She dropped the basketball she was
bouncing, grabbed the pom poms and the water bottle and headed down the hall.
Cinderelle walked in the room and saw her evil stepsisters and evil stepmother huddled together and reading the
mail.
“What are you reading?” Cinderelle asked.
10
“Mama got invited to the NBA finals at Madison Square Garden!” the stepsisters exclaimed.
“It must be for VIPs,” the stepmother said. “Very important people.” She looked at Cinderelle. She looked at the
stepsister.s “Well, it says I can bring two guests, so...” her voice trailed off.
“Can we go, Mama?” said one stepsister. “Yes, pleeeeeeease?” said the other stepsister.
“Of course you can go, my special ones. We can watch the cheerleaders and see the routines you’ll do someday!”
the stepmother said.
Cinderelle’s face got hot. She fought back tears. “How could she not invite me?” she thought to herself. “I’m the
biggest NBA fan there is!” she thought. “Plus, I know everything about basketball.”
Before Cinderelle could say anything, the stepsisters rushed her out the door.
On Saturday night, the night of the NBA finals, Cinderelle helped her stepsisters get ready for the game. The
stepsisters had bought brand new jerseys and sneakers to wear to the game. Cinderelle wished she had a new
jersey and sneakers.
“Cinderelle!” the evil stepmother called. “The video camera is out of batteries! We need to record the cheerleading
routines. Ride the subway to Target and pick us up more batteries. Go quickly! We’ll need them before the game.”
Cinderelle grabbed her subway card and headed out of the apartment. Once she caught the subway, she sat on the
cold, plastic seats and began to cry.
Suddenly, the train stopped. “Stupid subway weekend construction,” Cinderelle muttered, as tears rolled down her
face.
The subway car began to glow. A woman dressed in sparkly blue appeared before Cinderelle’s eyes.
“Cinderelle, I am your fairy godmother,” the woman said softly. “Why are you crying?”
“My stepmother and stepsisters are going to the NBA finals without me! I love basketball more than anything! They
are just going to watch the cheerleading routines. I wish I could see that game,” Cinderelle said.
“Well, if that is your wish, I can help,” the fairy godmother said. “Hold on tight!” She waved her magic wand. “Bippity
Boppity Boo!”
All of a sudden, the dirty, old subway car turned into a shiny, new limousine. Then, the rats scurrying along the
subway tracks turned into a limo driver and a door man. Cinderelle looked down and realized she was magically
wearing a brand new Knicks jersey and brand new sneakers. Her subway card turned into a brand new basketball.
“Where to, my lady?” the limo driver with a hairy mustache said.
“Madison Square Garden, please!” Cinderelle exclaimed. She looked to thank her fairy godmother. “Oh, fairy
godmother, thank you! A million times, thank you!”
The fairy godmother warned, “Cinderelle, the magic spell will wear off at midnight. The limo will turn back into a
subway car, the drivers into rats, and your jersey and sneakers will turn back to your original clothes. Remember that
and have a wonderful time!”
11
The game was almost over. It was close. The Knicks took their last time out. Cinderelle was excited and nervous.
She stepped into the aisle and began bouncing her basketball to pass the time. She spun the basketball on her
fingers. She bounced the ball in figure 8’s.
The crowd around her became quiet. People pointed at the jumbo-tron screen. People whispered, “It’s her! It’s her!”
Cinderelle looked up. There saw herself on the jumbo-tron! She could barely recognize herself in her new jersey and
sneakers. “Ladies and gentleman, look at this young lady go! How about a round of applause?” the announcer said
over the loudspeaker. “I think we’ve found our Super Fan!”
Cinderelle couldn’t believe her ears. Super Fans won season tickets for the next NBA season! But then, her cell
phone alarm when off. It was 11:55pm. She had to go before the magic spell wore off!
Cinderella ran out of Madison Square Garden so quickly that one of her sneakers came off.
The next day, the evil stepmother came into the room as the stepsisters told Cinderelle all about the game.
“Girls, quiet! I just got an email. The Knicks are trying to find the Super Fan from last night’s game. They want to
give her season tickets. The mystery fan left a sneaker behind. They are searching for the girl who perfectly fits the
shoe. You better fit into that shoe!”
Just then, the door buzzer rang. The evil step sisters took turns trying to cram their feet into the sneaker. But they
didn’t fit.
“How about you?” the coach asked Cinderelle.
“Don’t be silly,” the stepmother scoffed. “She wasn’t even there.”
The coach replied, “Rule are rules, m’am. Everyone in the apartment must have a chance.”
Cinderelle sat down. She tried on the sneaker. It fit perfectly! The coach threw her a basketball. Cinderelle spun it
on her fingers without thinking.
“We’ve found our Super Fan!” the coach exclaimed. The evil stepsisters and stepmother’s jaw dropped. The coach
handed Cinderelle an envelope of season tickets.
“Can’t wait to see you next season,” the coach said.
“Me, too!” Cinderelle replied, still spinning the basketball.
The end.
12