Whose best friends are Hermione, Ron, and Harry
Whose favorite movies are dramas, not scary
Whose most irresistible store is Noble and Barnes
Whose dream is to one day write children’s yarns
Whose job is everyday learning to teach
Whose hopes are for one child to reach
Whose look students say resembles “A Cullen”
Whose demeanor is cheerful, seldom sullen

Who knows the importance of family and friends
Who depends on her husband for all of life’s bends
Who loves the symbol of the owl
Who never wants to throw in the towel
Who adores Millie and Wookie, dog and cat
Who is thankful for all of that!

Extension Description

I think that a Bio-Poem is a great way to learn about your students, but feel that this particular form would be too challenging for my seventh graders. The second week of school, while talking about different genres of literature, one form was obviously poetry. While my teacher does an entire unit on poetry in the spring, she wanted to spend one day going over poetry as a genre. I got to plan this lesson, and since it was a brief introduction, I had the kids write an acrostic poem about themselves. They could use their name, or an adjective that described them. The kids were very creative, since they had all seen acrostic poems before. I challenged them to go beyond one word descriptions for each letter, and try to make sentences and phrases about themselves. Through this exercise, we actually learned a lot about the kids, their hobbies, families, and interests. I think this “sonnet” form would be very intimidating, while the “acrostic” was very attainable to them.

It might be neat to have the kids write another poem about themselves in the spring to compare how their writing has improved, as well as how their interests and personalities have changed over the course of the school year. Maybe a more challenging poem would be more appropriate in the spring term. It seemed that most students had an immediate reaction to the word “poetry,” and it wasn’t favorable. By assigning fun, creative, interesting projects, poetry all of a sudden becomes something current and hip, instead of love sonnets by old dead men!

September, 2008

Whose life is purple
Whose parents still pay for her gas
Whose favorite songs are instrumental
Whose secret geeklove is Renaissance fairies
Whose afternoons are spent reading
Whose family is half Scottish immigrant, half gypsy redneck
Whose cat is her best friend
Whose instruments include piano, clarinet, and accordion

Who has a strong faith that directs her life
Who is a chronic daydreamer
Who still adores Disneyworld with the passion of a six-year-old
Who falls in love with literary characters
Who might have been better off in the 16th or 17th century
Who believes “All gentlemen are brothers.”

Extension Description

Most students do not react well to the dreaded “p” word, poetry, but I believe this would be a good way to introduce the idea of personal, meaningful poetry to a class. Students would hopefully realize that although poetry may have some structure, it does not have to be something that rhymes and talks about abstract and distant thought; it is actually personal. This is also a great way to get to know students on two different levels in a format where they can feel free to express themselves creatively. It could work well both as a “get to know you” assignment and an actual writing piece.

My eighth grade students balk at the idea of poetry, but they absolutely love to talk about themselves. If I were to give them this assignment, I am sure the results would be informative (and hilarious) as writing about themselves usually is. I believe I would change the whose beginning to who in order to make the thoughts a little more easy to complete. This would be a great piece to have for writing workshop, so the students can work and modify their poem into different forms and maybe try rhyming or some kind of meter, which they already play with when trying poetry. I would try to keep the idea of a volta, or change in subject, in order to emphasize the importance of meaning and theme in writing.

September, 2008

Whose family came from Norway to string telegraph lines
Whose home is filled with dogs and cats and plants galore
Whose free time spent on horseback feeds her soul
Whose taste buds crave a cheeseburger and fries with vinegar
Whose solitude and swimming time refuel her battery
Whose heart and mind are made for caring for others
Whose interest is piqued by nature and books and humor
Whose temper flares at injustice and redundancy

Who respects confidence, persistence and individuality
Who sits on her porch and ponders the world
Who insists upon excellence and is hardest on herself
Who has music for everything and hears it always
Who values loyalty and selflessness above all else
Who invests her complete self in those she adores.

Extension Description

I am already teaching bio poems to seventh grade students. I have a number of lower achievers in my classroom, and a wide variety of learning styles, so I have modified my original bio poem plan. My mentor and I are implementing this plan:

1. Class listens to “Where I’m From," written and performed by Alan Jackson," and reads the lyrics while listening.

2. Class discusses “where Alan Jackson is from” after listening to the song and reviewing selected lyrics from the page. (Examples: cornbread and biscuits, back porch pickin’, etc.) Teacher introduces concept of “memoir” and “bio poem.”

3. Prewriting 1: Brainstorm. Teacher demonstrates brainstorm on self, by writing in a bubble letter “I” on overhead. Students each receive a bubble letter on paper, and start their own brainstorm. Students fill in the bubble letter with phrases, sentences and words about themselves, their interests, etc.

4. Prewriting 2: Acrostic Poem. Students take words, phrases and/or ideas from “I” brainstorm and create an Acrostic Poem.

Example:
       Many pets and plants at home
       Always filled with song and words
       Really loves cheeseburgers
       Takes time with students
       Horses, Humor, and Honesty!
       A friend to many people

5. Drafting 1: three-stanza bio poem. Students take sentences from their acrostic poem and further develop them into stanzas for each of their initials.

6. Editing Draft 1: Peer reading and editing. Students read one another's drafts and edit for spelling and word choice.

7. Draft 2: Students revise poems from peer editing and submit to instructors.

8. Editing draft 2: Instructors read, review, and edit for final draft.

9. Final draft: student submit final, polished bio poem in three-stanza form, one for each of their initials. (NOTE: adjustments made for kids with more or less initials!)

We have prepared a rubric for this project. Students receive points for each part of the process and points for creativity, spelling, word choice, neatness, and completeness. At this point, we have completed the brainstorm. Even a single classroom hour spent on the brainstorm has been very revelatory about the students!

September, 2008

Whose life, like a cypress, gains spirit with age
Whose frolickings emerged from Ireland’s green
Whose husband, beloved, stepped out of a dream
Whose mother has always been a friend and a sage
Whose clandestine creed is to capture life on the page
Whose fondness for friends — furry and non — has always been keen
Whose ability to organize remains to be seen
Whose mantra is “Free imagination from any cage!”

Who hopes to change the world to make it more just
Who recognizes her life’s calling is simply to teach
Who understands that courage and conviction are a must
Who wonders why some find hope too terrible to preach
Who knows the importance of love, respect, and trust
Who argues that peace is within all of our reach.

Extension Description

Interestingly, my current mentor used the bio poem assignment in her classroom as a collaborative exercise for parents and students. During "Back to School," an activity that allows both parents and students to travel together to the classes on students’ schedules, my mentor asked parents to team up with their children to write a bio poem. To complete the assignment, parents wrote the octave and their children wrote the sestet. I found this adaptation to be a valuable way to use the bio poem assignment. This collaborative process did two important things. It provided a bonding moment between parent and child and an opportunity for my mentor to see her students through their parent’s eyes. I plan on using this adaptation in my own classroom.

I believe the bio poem is an outstanding assignment for an English or language arts classroom. It might also be fun and worthwhile to use the bio poem as an exercise in form. In other words, the teacher could ask students to write the bio poem first as a limerick, then as a sonnet, and then in free verse. Such an exercise might demonstrate to students how poetic form can influence tone and, thus, reveal to them why poets take such care in selecting the form that best reflects their overall purpose.

September, 2008

Whose family still resides, surrounded by ocean, anchored,
      in sunny Southern California environs
Whose wanderings have taken him to Humboldt Redwoods,
      New Mexico sand dunes
Whose meandering poetry was written in the shadows of the
      Blue Ridge, the outskirts of Asheville
Whose ball-playing found him on the asphalt of Long Beach,
      on the cracked courts of Charlotte
Whose indie rock tunes played on a desert outcrop, sun clambering
      over mountains of Alamagordo
Whose hiking Northwest Arkansas trails muddied socks along
      Lost Valley, Lake Leatherwood
Whose nights were spent sleeping on the ocean sands of Carlsbad,
     and days bodyboarding the slow curls in Santa Barbara
Whose journey has settled, for a time, within the slow gaze that is
      Fayetteville — the lazy Ozarks, the relaxed pall of downtown

Who continues to dream of wandering, of a bed roll, a backpack
Who wonders at — though neglects to write of (as once he did) —
      the 'where' of others, their journeys
Who enjoys the unmapped slates of his students, the open faced
      roads they’ve begun charting
Who travels in the words, the novels, the poems, the journals
Who hopes to coalesce the past miles into some piece of wisdom,
      at some point in time, at some —
Who works on the wick, the strand, the frayed ends so as to offer
      a flame, light for the path.

Extension Description

Even though there are tons of “get to know you” assignments for students — letters, questionnaires, etc. — this poetry assignment offers the chance for students to use an art form and engage in the process of creating art, while also getting the chance to write about the one thing they know best: themselves.

Though I’m not a formalist by any means, I believe the structure of the assignment allows the students to learn a form while, most importantly, being creative within that form. This poetry “get to know you” could be used, even, as a great bridge to other formal assignments, including essays. Students can be taught that they can actually color within the black and white boundaries of the formalist essay structure, as long as they’re using their creativity within a certain form.

As for tweaking the assignment for my current class of high school juniors, I might offer up the form, but allow them to play with it, tweak it themselves as long as they offer justification for it. In high school, the students want to put their own stamp on each assignment, and they might balk at the rigid structure imposed on them (ah, those rebellious youth). So I would probably use this form, or other poetic forms as jumping off points, and then have the students write a reflection on their choices in the poem, because, at that age, self-evaluation is an important strategy to foster.

September, 2008

Whose eyes see bookshelves overflow
Whose ears are always listening
Whose cold hands mean a warm heart
Whose singing voice is just off key
Whose dreams are always vivid
Whose taste buds always desire sweet
Whose feet are always tapping
Whose lap always welcomes a four-pawed friend

Who maintains peace from within
Who relies on the support of loved ones
Who believes in the power of a home-cooked meal
Who dances in the kitchen with her husband and dog
Who desires to teach as much as she learns
Who laughs and loves.

September, 2008

Whose family history originates in Germany and Sweden
Whose initials and love for cars parallel those of her father’s
Whose good looks take after her mother’s
Whose two sisters are her best friends
Whose favorite food is chocolate
Whose time is mostly spent dancing, traveling, or reading
Whose favorite music is Rock & Roll
Whose favorite colors are pink and blue

Who prefers the sunshine and the great outdoors
Who has zwei Dachel und eine Katze
Who is a competitive Irish Dancer
Who travels to Europe at least once a year
Who loves to do science experiments
Who loves shoes

Extension Description

As a science teacher, I could use this bio poem activity as an icebreaker during the first couple of days of school. I could also use it as a type of essay for my students. They would choose a topic or specific animal and write information about the subject using this format. This is a great way to learn about students, their creativity and writing abilities, as well as their interests and hobbies.

Because I am a science teacher, I would make certain modifications to this format. I would probably have the students write five lines using “whose” and five lines using “who.” I would probably have certain vocabulary words they were to use. I could even type out part of it and leave blanks for students to fill in.

September, 2008

Whose laughter is loud and often
Whose tears are silent
Whose mistakes often teach her more than when she actually
      gets something right
Whose best attributes are reflected in the people that she
      loves the most
Whose family is not defined only by genetics
Whose faith is important, because it is not defined
Whose home has floors you can roller skate on
Whose status as a work in progress gives her hope
      and determination

Who suffers from a Sonic Diet Coke addiction
Who really tries to make lemonade from lemons
Who cries because words, books, and ideas are often
      indescribably beautiful
Who dances and sings OUT LOUD, no matter who is watching
Who seems naive to those who value material things
Who is worldly in ways that truly matter!

Extension Description

As an English Language Arts teacher, I think this assignment has many practical applications in the classroom. Often with writing prompts, students feel that they have nothing to write about. However, there is nothing they know more about than themselves. The freedom to express ideas about themselves in a structured manner offers a wonderful opportunity for students to overcome their objections to writing.

This semester I have been working in eighth and ninth grade ESOL classrooms. The bio poem exercise engages the students in using a first person narrative. My lower-level students have problems with the conjugation of the verb “to be.” I might alter this assignment to allow the first line to be, “I am...” allowing the students to practice the correct usage of this complicated verb form. For these lower level students, 14 lines could be a challenge, so I may only ask for six or eight lines. As I move up in ESL levels, I might use the beginning, “Who,” and allow them to pick an action verb to follow the “who” in order to practice different verb conjugation and tenses.

As a teacher, I am always interested in activities that allow me to learn about my students in a method that is fun and engaging. With an activity such as the bio poem, I see many opportunities to take what seems to be on the surface a simple writing prompt and extend it into many critical content areas for my students.

One useful method would be providing an example of someone else’s poetry, perhaps a song, and then having the students evaluate with me what we learn about the person. For example, with my students I played the song, “Who I Am” by Jessica Andrews, and had them look at the lyrics with me. Why does the writer choose these details about herself? What do we learn about her? After doing this exercise together, I would group the students and provide them with different versions of poems or self-portraits and have them write about what they learn about the person. What did the artist or author reveal about themselves and how does that make you feel about the artist? Can we learn anything we can apply to our own writing? What kind of details do you have in your poem that relates to the information in the other person’s poem? Beginning with a simple reflective prompt, a teacher could extend this lesson into many interesting discussions and connect the lesson to many of the required frameworks.

September, 2008

Whose family is originally from Louisiana
Whose first name was given to her in honor of her grandfather
Whose hobby is to sing and make music
Whose friends and family are highly valued
Whose favorite food is white cheese dip
Whose little sister is her opposite and has blonde hair, blue eyes,
      and fair skin
Whose favorite sport is football
Whose dog Roxie is the cutest Whippet/mix ever

Who believes in fairness and justice
Who loves her husband more than anyone in the world
Who thinks that teaching is an inspirational and rewarding career
Who speaks her mind at all times
Who has a strong faith in God
Who lives life to the fullest and tries to make the most of everyday

Extension Description

If I were to use this assignment if one of my classes, I would probably use it as a fun, get-to-know-you activity during the first week of school. I would use the poems as a way to learn about the backgrounds of my students and have the students present them in front of the class so that their classmates could get to know them a little better.

Another idea would be to use an activity like this whenever my students start their poetry unit. It could be a fun way to help them learn about sonnets and other types of poems. The only problem I think some students might have with using this particular format of the poem is the use of the word “whose.” I found that part slightly tricky, so I can see how I might have to change that for my students. I would also direct my students to write their poem in the order of past, present, and then future. That way they could tell me a little about their history, who they are now, and what they plan on doing in the future.

September, 2008

Whose family will always be the most important thing in her life
Whose fiancè is a remarkable blessing from God
Whose faith has brought tremendous miracles to her life
Whose love of softball introduced her to many wonderful people
      and places
Whose first name came from her great grandmother
Whose middle name is shared by her mother, grandmother,
      and great grandmother
Whose pets are loveable and endearing
Whose favorite pastime is cooking for her friends

Who loves spending time at home as much as possible
Who wants to care for all the kids who don’t get care at home
Who loves sports, especially softball and football
Who misses her mother more than anything else in the world
Who would do anything for anyone, and can never seem to say no
Who leads a very blessed life.

Extension Description

If I were going to use this idea in my classroom, I probably wouldn’t change very much about it. I’m going to teach high school at a level somewhere between seventh and twelfth grade, and I think this assignment would be a good one for any age. For example, if my students were reading Hamlet, then I could have them write a Shakespearean sonnet. Instead of writing about themselves, they might write the poem from the perspective of Hamlet or any of the other characters in the play. This assignment could be adapted to fit any literature that we are reading at the time; it could be from the perspective of any character in literature.

For younger students, the assignment could also be adapted to fit any upcoming holiday. For example, if it is almost Halloween, I could have the students write this poem about a ghost or a witch or a pumpkin; if it is almost Valentine’s Day, they could write about the person they love most in the world. I think it would be a good way to adapt this assignment to fit anything that might be coming up in the class.

If I gave this assignment at the beginning of the year, I would have them write it about themselves, but I would probably tell them what I want in each line. For example, I might tell them that the first line must be about their favorite food, the second about their favorite after-school activity, and so on. I might also use this assignment in a lesson about figurative language. I might tell the kids that they have to include at least three similes, or five vivid verbs, or at least one hyperbole. It could basically fit into anything. I think it could be adapted many different ways to fit many different aspects of my classroom. I also think it’s a great idea!

September, 2008

Whose cradle rocked to the tunes of Motown
Whose children are two daughters and a son
Whose first Penelope's millennium spun
Whose second Zolabel delights to frown
Whose third Prosper has just one year's renown
Whose love of reading makes his content fun
Whose chips and salsa's eaten by the ton
Whose foreign roots have grown into this town

Who works with plants in wood and garden bed
Who wishes for a second Halloween
Who loves Greek Myths and their Land of the Dead
Who has performed in many a staged scene
Who knows organic food is the best fed
Who flows in life and art and in between

Extension Description

In giving this assignment to a class, I would not require or even recommend my own compulsive kind of dalliance with rhyme and meter. I might suggest the whose and who prompts as a starting place, but work with individual students on their own preferences in class if these weren't their favorite. Currently, I am working with seventh graders, some of whom need words coaxed and, occasionally, driven from them by various means.

We (SEED MAT ENGs) did a quickwrite poem this summer where the first and last line began "I am . . .", with the internal lines describing the thing we were like. (Mine was "I am chocolate," which was picked from a survey list of personally preferred opposites.) Maybe younger students would like starting the first eight lines with this simple "I am. . . " phrase.

Perhaps the next six lines could be "I believe" or "I feel" or something of that order. I would give at least three options for youth: whose/who, I am/ I feel, and freestyle.

Perhaps I would shorten the assignment by half (to 4 and 3 lines) if students were struggling.

Other variations? Visual learners could draw themselves or produce symbolic objects. Dancers could dance themselves. Jazz cats could scat themselves. Rappers could MC. Intrapersonals could dig themselves. Naturalists could hike themselves. Existentialists could be themselves.

September, 2008

Whose close-knit family is composed of native and immigrant
      Americans
Whose friends are delightfully challenging and dependably available
Whose roommate is strikingly similar to her own appearance
Whose boyfriend is ruggedly handsome and naturally caring
Whose favorite movies, books, and songs are anything of the
     romantic persuasion
Whose favorite foods are typical of comforting southern home-cooking
Whose profession is a student of the field of English education
Whose favorite hobbies include painting and writing poetry

Who seeks to love the Lord Jesus Christ with everything she has
      and does
Who loves loving her family, friends, boyfriend, and roommate
Who thrives on opening herself up to befriending strangers
Who cannot get enough of laughing and playing with loved-ones
Who is at rest when she is outside actively or passively enjoying nature
Who desperately desires to teach English in another country

September, 2008

Whose mom and dad had settled in the West
Whose siblings remember only the South
Whose lineage is questioned in the Louth
Whose desire to learn has not been whet
Whose marriage has made her a Star Wars fan
Whose collections include giraffes and shirts
Whose favorite foods are mainly desserts
Whose dislikes include most Republicans

Who has become afraid she can’t teach kids
Who wishes to run a 5K someday
Who reads on dark, wet, rainy afternoons
Who sometimes wonders when the world will end
Who loves her husband and dogs, come what may
Who must be reassured not all is doomed.

Extension Description

For the purposes of this assignment, I would have my students create a list, called a self-portrait list, of everything that describes themselves (e.g. afraid, loves dogs, musically talented, funny, etc.). This list is expected to be quite extensive. The students would then categorize their list in some way (e.g. opposites, positives, needs). The object of categorization would be to create a self-portrait litany, thus creating a “bio-poem.”

This writing project would work best if implemented in the first few weeks after the school year has begun. In conferencing and reviewing students’ work, I get to know personal things about them. I, as the instructor, would model my own self-portrait list and litany while sharing other litanies to help students generate some ideas for their writing.

Potential problems that may occur are a lack of comprehension among the students as to how to proceed with the creation of their poem or how to categorize their lists. Opportunities involved in the writing process include the development of honesty in the author’s writing, freedom of expression within a structured piece, and accessibility among languages to fulfill the writing assignment.

September, 2008

Whose family is a bunch of farmers
Whose likeness is her mother’s
Whose male-only cousins forced her to grow up a tom-boy
Whose first love was volleyball
Whose favorite color depends on her mood
Whose love of dancing does NOT reflect her talent
Whose body is small in stature but
Whose heart is as big as they come.

Who bleeds Razorback Red
Who hates being labeled
Who loves the summer
Who loves to laugh
Who is learning patience
Who strives to be the best version of herself.

September, 2008

Whose mother has taught school for 33 years
Whose brother is a role model and inspiration
Whose sister-in-law is a new educator
Whose family is a source of pride
Whose favorite foods include hummus and veggies
Whose shoe fetish is expensive
Whose habit of eating olives from the jar is fattening
Whose preference for black and white movies is life-long

Who gives her opinion a little too often
Who daydreams in Monday classes
Who never cleans because she is allergic
Who likes to smile
Who hates to stress
Who loves to laugh

Extension Description

I have three Pre-Advanced Placement eighth grade classes. Many of these students are very involved in school or very concentrated on their academics. Each class has an interesting dynamic. In first period, the students are, in general, very talkative and into their academic success. On game days, most of the students are wearing some form of outfit denoting athletic involvement or support. For the most part, my third-period students are much the same but very organized. In the three weeks I have worked with them, these students have consistently turned every assignment in on time. My fifth period AP class is full of grammarians and avid readers. While in some of my other classes, many of the students were not prepared for the first independent reading journal assignment because they had not been reading, fifth period was ready for the opportunity to finally write about what they had read.

To adjust the assignment, I would probably just have my students use “Who.” I feel the quality of their work would improve because they would be less focused on getting the grammar part right and more focused on producing an interesting assignment. Also, I would use it at the beginning of the rotation to better understand them and their interests. I would most likely have them center their poem on their performance in some sort of activity. Since I am prepared to help my English Language Learners like all other good teachers, I would model my writing in a poem and what I was thinking as I was writing. Lines would include:

     Who runs a mile....
     Who gasps for air....
     Who drinks gallons of water....

By doing this, my students would learn something about me (that I am out of shape) and I would have the opportunity to learn something about them. On a side note, I feel like this might be a good opportunity for me to learn something about my students, who already know each other, when I transfer to a new school and teacher.

September, 2008     

Whose heart belongs "where pine and palm are blowing"
Whose native Floridian roots stem from her father
Whose inherited love for nature comes from her mother
Whose past experiences mold present day decisions
Whose favorite activity is reading in warm comfort
Whose life is dedicated to uplifting children
Whose smile belongs to those who have nothing
Whose nature is to laugh rather than cry

Who savors the experience more than the event
Who wants to be alone and together
Who empathizes with those in deep pain
Who longs for sun, silence, dark, and noise
Who hopes to balance home and work
Who wishes for everything and nothing at all.

September, 2008

Whose surname is shared by millions
Whose immediate family is comparable to none
Whose love of literature is linked to her grandmother
Whose friends keep her feeling loved
Whose taste in music seems eclectic to most, but to her makes
      perfect sense
Whose favorite restaurant is a tiny Mexican joint
Whose internal hopes are worn on her sleeve
Whose external efforts come from her heart

Who learns by doing
Who sees the world through “Green Eyes”
Who values the little things in life
Who hopes to teach them all
Who goes to sleep with a prayer and wakes up with a smile
Who lives, laughs, and loves

Extension Description

I personally love this assignment. Although I am not a huge poetry fanatic, I love that this activity can teach the construction of sonnets, while creating an activity that focuses on students as individual people and learners. In middle school, I would have students write either a sestet or an octet, and instruct them to only use “who.” I would want them to include physical features, family members, likes and dislikes, etc. The next day or at the end of class, I would read the poems out loud, and students would play “Guess the Author.” This would be great for the beginning of the year or at the beginning of an introductory poetry unit. I would get to know students better, students would get to know each other better, and students would have to rely on themselves for creativity and self-reflection.

Since most junior high curricula include Shakespearean plays and sonnets, this activity would be perfect for learning the different sonnet forms. Hopefully, students would feel more comfortable writing a poem about themselves first, then about a random topic. This is a perfect way for students to learn through 'doing.' High schools students would be required to be more creative with words, images, and form.

I want my classroom to possess a welcoming and creative atmosphere. I want my classroom to act as a comfortable community that promotes acceptance of individual creativity. This activity is perfect for setting those standards in the classroom.

September, 2008

Whose home will be ever-changing
Whose desire for travel is never-ending
Whose “don’t wait until tomorrow” philosophy comes from her sister
Whose amazing fishing story arsenal she inherited from her grandfather
Whose sick mountain bike allows her to bomb hills without hesitation
Whose desire to spend hours in a hammock with a good book and
     a cold drink rival few others
Whose parents become stronger supporters every day
Whose favorite meal is her mother’s meatloaf, rice, green beans,
      and a tall glass of milk

Who believes literacy is the key that unlocks the door to understanding
Who knows she should watch the Disney Channel and listen to the
      Jonas Brothers
Who must move with the rhythm of the music
Who is desperately afraid of letting down her students
Who could spend everyday in the woods discovering more of nature’s
      awesome beauty
Who secretly wishes to be a rock star

Extension Description

I have started my teacher interning in a middle school, and I am currently teaching the seventh grade. At the middle school level many schools use podding to divide classes into smaller, more manageable sizes. This organization allows for teachers to work with the same small amount of students throughout the year. This enables teachers to get to know their students better as well as allow students to get to know one another on a deeper level. Schools move away from this smaller community environment at higher grade levels, and I believe this hinders the ability for teachers to truly get to know their students, and students to truly get to know one another. Furthermore, this larger setting hinders the communication between teachers about their students.

The Bio poem is an activity that can be utilized in many school settings, and it is one that can be especially helpful in upper grades where teachers may see individual students only once a day. I want to promote an open, understanding, warm, safe, and fun environment in my classroom. As an English teacher, I will be expecting students to write in my class and share that writing. Writers need to feel comfortable before many will open their thoughts and their writing to others. The Bio poem is one tool I can imagine using to build that comfort level.

September, 2008     

Whose birthplace has the only diamond mine in the United States
Whose hometown is home of the world’s largest watermelons
Whose siblings are both girls
Whose family teases seriously
Whose marriage is in its 25th year
Whose home has become Fayetteville, Arkansas
Whose children are both boys
Whose favorite vacation spot is the beach

Who appreciates her husband
Who knows that time is precious
Who cherishes her children
Who values education
Who places her family above all else
Who believes that the kindest thing you can ever do for a person
     is to listen to that person

Extension Description

I am currently interning in an 8th Grade Language Arts Class. I have two regular classes (2 ESL students) and four AP classes (0 ESL students). I am teaching a unit on the Diary of Anne Frank. I plan to have this activity “in my back pocket,” so to speak, in case one of my lessons should run short. I would have my students choose a person or character from the Diary of Anne Frank. Each student, with their chosen individual in mind, would write a bio poem using the following guidelines.

Line 1. First name.
Line 2. Whose personality is (list three personality characteristics of character)
Line 3. Whose relatives are (list relatives of character)
Line 4. Who feels ______________ (three items)
Line 5. Who fears _______________ (three items)
Line 6. Resident of ____________
Line 7. Last name.

The students will offer insight to their feelings and understanding of the story. Specifically, they would formulate emotions, descriptions, and interests found from clues throughout the reading of the play. (Modifications: ESL students would only be required to list one item, as opposed to three.)

This activity would work well during the first few entries just after each of the characters are introduced (June 1-June 9, 1942). In meeting the overall objective of the unit, the students will suggest their interpretations on how people are corresponding emotions linked to events, places and/or characters. The students will synthesize their ideas with the authors in independently creating a poetic voice.

September, 2008     

Whose Italian heritage is a force she can’t escape
Whose parents gave her the freedom to become herself
Whose three brothers are the most creative artists and philosophers
     she knows
Whose membership in a quirky family is one of her best qualities
Whose nickname ought to be “Cookie Monster”
Whose running shoes have very little tread
Whose shoe collection is rivaled only by her library
Whose love of Shakespeare and Harry Potter probably warrants therapy

Who believes in the power of linguistic expression
Who wants to be the teacher her students remember
Who sees life as now
Who left her heart in Springfield, MO
Who lives by the Golden Rule
Who knows night is darkest just before dawn

Extension Description

As an English teacher, there are many ways that I could fit a Bio Poem assignment into my plan for instruction. Self-reflection is an important function of writing that I plan to stress to my students, and this assignment provides an opportunity to vary or supplement the standard type of personal narrative writing frequently seen in classrooms. Moreover, the Bio Poem could be adapted to become an analytic assignment by asking students to write from the perspective of a character from a classroom text. I would like to use this assignment because I think its creative, open-ended aspect would appeal to students as well as urge them to higher thought processes.

To use the Bio Poem in one of my current classes, I would make several modifications. I am in a sixth-grade classroom, so I would probably need to simplify a few elements. To do this, I would ask students to begin all their lines with “who” because I think it would be less difficult for them to understand what information they would be expected to provide. I would also alter the form and ask them to compose a ballad. A ballad stanza, of course, contains four lines, so there is less chance that they would come up short on material. I would like to ask for three stanzas overall, so that the line total is similar to that of a sonnet, but they would address a different topic or aspect of their lives in each stanza, so that the poem could cover a lot of informational ground in a short space. Finally, the ballad is the poetic form stressed for sixth graders in the state frameworks, so using the Bio Poem for this purpose would also help me cover bases from a prescribed curriculum perspective.

September, 2008

Whose middle name is a new spin on the family “Lee.”
Whose baby blue eyes are from her Momma.
Whose dad figured out hair bows, veggies, and Halloween costumes
     for her.
Whose grandpa taught her how to drive and grandma taught her
     how to cook.
Whose life is forever changed because of Denver, Colorado.
Whose secret musical love is Hanson.
Whose sanity is often found in a box that says “Gilmore Girls”
     on the front of it.
Whose traveling shoes will never be put in a box on the back shelf.

Who processes her world through lines from a song (or two).
Who favors days that are charted around seventy-five degrees.
Who plays an extrovert five days a week.
Who always hits the snooze button at least twice.
Who will take a nap every day if you will let her.
Who longs for a home far, far away from here.

Extension Description

I hope to make my classroom a place of continual personal reflection and learning about one another. This assignment would be great to use when we do a unit on poetry, because it is another way of getting to know my students who are changing all year long. Just because we did “get to know you” games at the beginning of the year, and I had them write an autobiography when we studied research or expository writing, does not mean that I know the persons they have become at this point in the year.

Depending on what age group of students I was teaching, I might modify the poem structure a little or a lot. For a younger age group, I might just have them do the sestet, because that might be easier for them to only think about one type of line structure. Older students would be able to do the assignment like it was given to us, I think. If I was working with low level English students or English Language learners, I might have them start all of their lines with the phrase “I am” or “I like,” because those are more standard terms and phrases that they would be more familiar with.

September, 2008