[SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 2011]

THE ARTS IN YOUR CLASSROOM [9] @ Montalvo Arts Center

CAPTURING CREATIVITY 15400 Montalvo Road, Saratoga
8:30am – 4:00pm
Presented in collaboration by Montalvo Arts Center,
the Santa Clara County Office of Education,
and the Lurie College of Education at San José State University

Poetry Painting Workshop

with Laurie Kirk
Art Educator, San Jose Unified School District
for 21 years, grades 3 to adult
kirkn8r@gmail.com

PROJECT OVERVIEW:
Workshop participants will compose found poems based on descriptive literary passages provided to them (pages torn
from old books). Participants will pick out descriptive words, phrases and lines. They will then arrange and format the
excerpts to compose their own poems. Once the poems are crafted, they will become the substrate for artistic and
creative exploration using a variety of art media and materials. Discussion of the principles of mood, emphasis, and
repetition will be discussed.
RELEVANCE:
The process of recasting the text students are reading helps students become more insightful readers and develop
creativity in thinking and writing. Since students are primarily identifying nouns and verbs for use in their poems, the
lesson also provides a relevant opportunity for a grammar review of these two parts of speech. This approach can be
used with any form of text such as speeches, literature, non-ficiton, etc... as well as with many different grade levels
and subject matters.
SHARING:
Workshop participants will share their final found poem art works by reading and sharing out to the workshop group.
The finished poem art will be displayed at the AIYC conference if space can be provided. Participants will also
brainstorm and share curriculum integration ideas to take back to the classroom.

MATERIALS:
A discussion of a variety of art materials will take place in the workshop to better inform the generalist teacher of
options and resources based on what they have available in their classroom.
• Pages from old books or • Collage materials • Colored or watercolor pencils
copies of pages from • Markers/Washable Markers • Gesso (or white tempera)
books or other sources (can be used as a painterly • Pen and Ink
• Heavy weight paper or approach) • Sharpie Markers
watercolor paper • Watercolor paints • Glue/Glue Sticks
• Pencils • Acrylic or tempera paint • Stencil

DEFINITION: FOUND POETRY

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Found poetry is a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other
sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and/or lines (and consequently meaning), or by
altering the text by additions and/or deletions. The resulting poem can be defined as either treated: changed in a
profound and systematic manner; or untreated: virtually unchanged from the order, syntax and meaning of the original.

RESOURCES:
ReadWriteThink.org www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/found-poems-parallel-poems
Poets.org www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5780
Laurasalas.com www.laurasalas.com/pdfs/Poetic%20Pursuits/pp0811.pdf (a very nice layout of the process)

Download additional copies online at www.montalvoarts.org/learn/study_guides 1|Page