Hello Goodbye Poem - Explore Optimism & Pessimism

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1. Think Pair Share - For some the glass is half full. For some the glass is half empty. For others the glass is too big. What is your understanding of these phrases?

2. Discuss - 'pessimism' & 'optimism'.

3. Possible Organisation - Split the class in half and using the poetry scaffold below one group write a poem that is pessimistic, lamenting & negative but shows respect. The other group write a poem that is optimistic, uplifting & filled with hope.

4. Possibility - write the poem from the point of view of a famous students eg Bart Simpson, Lisa Simpson etc

Farewell School Holidays

Hello school gate
Goodbye _______________
Hello (your principal's name)
Goodbye _______________
Hello (your teacher's name)
Goodbye _______________
Hello (classroom name)
Goodbye ___________
Hello (piece of classroom furniture)
Goodbye ___________
Hello (piece of classroom equipment)
Goodbye ___________
Hello (title of a classroom book)
Goodbye ___________
Hello (homework)
Goodbye ___________
Hello (education)
Goodbye ___________
Hello (your choice)
Goodbye ___________
Hello ________________
Farewell school holidays

(Hint - copy & paste this poetry scaffold into a word processor)

5. A few ideas to get you thinking - sleeping in, TV, video games, sport, play, recreation, your family

6. Rearrange the lines of the poem using either numbers, arrows or 'cut & paste' in a word processor so you have your own unique structure and gain maximum 'negativity'.

7. Read the poem aloud to a friend so it sounds morbid.

8. Experiment with reading your new poem with loud and soft tones of voice. Include a whisper, a yell and use your voice to create sound effects.

9. In poetry you tend to pause a short time at the end of lines without punctuation markers and pause a little longer at the end of lines with punctuation markers. Experiment with pauses and see what effect they have on the poem.

10. Perform the poem - to another class, to your parents, with puppets...

11. Publish the poem in an interesting way - blog it, photostory, using a graphics editor & creative commons pictures, use a drawing program, create an audio story with sound effects... be creative! NB USE NO TEXTAS, glitter pens etc

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