Inside the Sea

Learning Intention:  

I am learning to identify and use poetic devices so that I can experiment with different ways of writing poetry. 

Success Criteria: 

• I can understand how enjambment has been used in the text poem 
• I can create ideas based on the theme and structure of the text 

• I can use enjambment to write my own stanzas to add to the text poem 

After reading the poem, ask students what they notice about its structure. Although they may not have realised it on first read, with further analysis they will likely notice that the poem is just two sentences made up of fourteen syllables each. Explain that having a sentence continue from one line of poetry to the next is called enjambment. (An example of enjambment can also be found in the poem Summer on page 26.) 

Reread the poem and ask students what else they may see if they paddled in the sea. Write their suggestions on the board until they have at least ten ideas to work with. Explain that they are going to write two stanzas to add to the text poem, both of which should be one sentence fourteen syllables long (or as close as possible) and use enjambment.  

Model an example on the board, such as: 

A turtle used his flippers 

as he crawled 

along   

the sand 

Then a crab 

popped out 

from a rock  

and bit me 

on the hand 

Once students have written a draft they are satisfied with, they should publish their poem by writing the original text followed by their own stanzas and draw an accompanying illustration.