What is the mood or feeling of the poem? What about the poem makes you feel this?

What is the attitude of the writer about the subject? How do you know?

What do you think might have inspired the writer to choose this subject?

Then assign them to find an object of the prairie in the Web sites to write a poem about--choose some-

thing that really appeals -- within a 20-minute time period.

Procedure: Each student will:

choose an image of the prairie to work with (artwork, object, plant, animal)

brainstorm a list of sensory words that describe the image

choose a mood or feeling to convey (preferably one the writer feels-- e.g. love of beauty, fear, nostal-

gia, awe)

compose a number of sentences to use in the poem

arrange the sentences

read the poem

edit it for content

edit it for form

word-process the final poem

print it

Image- display their poem with their image printout or on the computer import a copy of the image onto

their word processing document and type in the poem on the same page; printout.

Publication: Post poems online, in a file, or on display in the school.

Assessment: Reader should be able to visualize a picture and feel a mood when reading the poem (not

necessarily the same for every reader). Sensory words should be present. Use standard assessment

criteria for your curriculum on the poem's form.

Illinois Goals and Standards addressed:

Language Arts

Goal 3: All levels: compose well-organized and coherent writing for specific purposes and audiences.

Goal 5: All levels: speak effectively using language appropriate to the situation and audience.

Prairie Activity: Imagist Prairie Poem --page 2 of 3