Imagine! Instead of handing out typical first-day-of-school worksheets, you begin with reading the I Am Poem John Clare wrote almost two hundred years ago!
At the start of the year, back-to-school season, students are inundated with syllabi, surveys, and assessments. Instead of having middle and high school students fill out a student information sheet, you want to gather knowledge about your students in a more nontraditional way.
Instantly, students can become engaged because they are not stuck in a classroom listening to a teacher drone on and on about rules and procedures…who knew the first week could be more fun?
So if you need some ideas for teaching poetry, keep reading for 3 Powerful I Am Poem John Clare Lesson Ideas!!
Need help with Test Prep? Check out this FREE Pack of 3 Test Prep Activities to help students achieve success on standardized tests!
I Am Poem John Clare
I Am!
By John Clare
3 Powerful I Am Poem John Clare Lesson Ideas
1. Pre-Reading Activities
Consider using some pre-reading activities before diving into the I Am Poem John Clare text! Most students require some background knowledge or metacognitive reflection before reading complex texts, such as poetry.
- Vocabulary Dissection– Before students start reading the I Am Poem John Clare wrote in the 19th century, be sure to take the time to choose words that students might struggle with. Students can take 15-30 minutes to define, explore antonyms and synonyms, and visualize relevant or difficult words from the poem. Here is a list to help: forsake, woes, oblivious, scorn, esteem, trod, wept, abide, vaulted, etc. Also, consider allowing students to skim/scan in order to select their own words for dissection!
- Quickwrite- You might start teaching with a prompt related to the concept of identity; you can provide a quote, word, or topic for students to reflect on in a 2-minute freewrite. The goal is to simply get students to think critically and consider their own lives for a moment, which will help them as they later connect to the I Am Poem John Clare passage!
- Title Analysis- The title of the I Am Poem John Clare wrote provides much-needed help before reading. Ask students if they have ever read or written an I Am Poem. How might the poem look different from five years ago? How might the poem look five years from now?
If you need vocabulary organizers you can use with ANY text, click here!
2. During-Reading Activities
If students are writing and responding as they read, they are learning and growing! Simply listening will only yield minimal results, so I prefer during-reading activities when reading the I Am Poem John Clare!
- Annotating and Highlighting – Modeling the annotating and highlighting process is extremely important when engaging with poetry. Just telling students to annotate is not enough. They should annotate for specific elements, such as meaning, characterization, relevant words, captivating devices, impactful diction, etc.
- Summarizing Chunks- After each chunk or stanza, students can summarize the meaning in one sentence. All three one-sentence summaries should relate to each other in terms of the central idea and major concepts. Additionally, it helps to reinforce comprehension!
- Underlining Imagery- Imagery (description related to the five senses: sight, smell, touch, taste, and sound) is the basis of most good poetry. Visuals assist the everyday reader in the process of understanding and evaluating the beauty, themes, and purpose of the poems! Students can even use these underlined images for other after-reading activities!
If you need some readymade graphic organizers, see here for a huge resource!
3. After-Reading Activities
- Poetry Device Examination- John Clare uses so many techniques in this classic poem! Let’s look at the first two lines:
I am! yet what I am who cares, or knows?My friends forsake me like a memory lost.
We have a rhetorical question in the first line, alliteration with “friends forsake” and a simile with the friends’ desertion, “like a memory lost.” These devices highlight an initial negative outlook on the speaker’s life. There are many days I may feel the same way. Who knows or cares about my condition? What friends can I depend on? Am I even real, or does my life have meaning? There is so much to explore and analyze!
- Thematic Statement Creation- Teaching students about developing a thematic statement can be tough. You might think that identifying and crafting a message is easy; however, the process is quite complex. Students need to first understand the text (poem), determine important topics, and create a full sentence that relays a message about a topic. Check out this Themes Made Easy resource for help!
- I Am Poem Template- The I Am Poem John Clare is a fantastic example for students, but if you want a nontraditional poem, see the one here by Kristin Menke! Using either poem by Menke or Clare as a template will make writing a poem much easier for students!
Go to my store to check out similar poetry to the I Am Poem John Clare wrote!
I Am NOT Poem Resource
Want to help your upper middle and high school students personally connect to poetry with a not-so-typical I AM POEM template? Check out this poetry activities pack to guide your students in poetry analysis of 2 I Am Poems, assist students with self-reflection in an engaging getting to know you worksheet, and aid in producing poetry writing with EASE!
Use for BACK TO SCHOOL or within a FULL POETRY UNIT!
Poetry Test Prep Unit
Do your students need help with poetry analysis? This POETRY TEST PREP ULTIMATE BUNDLE contains 22 EASY-TO-TEACH Lessons, ENGAGING Reading Comprehension Activities, STEP-BY-STEP Writing Responses, and TEST PREP QUIZZES with 235 QUESTIONS and ANSWERS (for 22 poems including “A Poison Tree,” “Annabel Lee,” “I Hear America Singing,” “The Raven,” “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” “The Weary Blues,” etc.)!
Need more fun ideas for teaching poetry like the I Am Poem John Clare? Check out my store, Kristin Menke-Integrated ELA Test Prep!
