The Magic of Dada Poetry

Teaching poetry is my passion and my love. Watching what students can do with words is amazing. Even those students who are struggling with how to write a complete sentence can somehow magically string together words to create the most beautiful poems.

 

One of my favorites is dada poetry. Here's how I do it:

 

1. Give students a stack of magazines.

2. Give them a time limit to cut out words that appeal to their senses. Be sure to require that they find different parts of speech.

3. Have the class compile a box of "found words." You could categorize them by parts of speech if you want to.

4. Give each student a chance to take a handful (or a specific number) of words without looking.

5. Have each student construct a poem with the found words. I also allow my students to write in articles, prepositions, and conjunctions as well as punctuation as needed.

Behold the magic that is created!

Stop by to see my poetry resources and ideas at TpT by clicking HERE.