Love That Man
The first mentor poem was used in the book Love That Dog. The poem is about loving someone and it uses repetition, similes, and dialog. All three of those things is a skill students could practice thorough this mentor poem. I chose this poem because it is simply about love and that is something everyone can relate to in some way. I know students can easily make a connection and write about someone in their life they love. Below is my own version of this poem. After having a class discussion on what they notice about this poem, it is important to show students that using a mentor poem doesn't always have to be exactly like the original. It can sometimes be helpful to be specific if students are trying out a new skill, but mainly it is just a starting point to make the poem into their own.
This is the poem I created from using the mentor poem. This is something I would do in front of students as well. I would have a class discussion about how mine is different than the original. For example, a student might at first think it is extremely similar to the original but later notice small differences. One difference is that the original used action words as their comparison as I did not in mine. I would then explain to students that when practicing with their peers or on their own, they should feel free to change or leave the same any parts of the poem that would make it meaningful to their own lives
I like how you mentioned that at first students will think your poem closely matches the mentor poem, and how at the end of a discussion they may notice slight differences between your poem and the mentor poem. I think discussing both the similarities we see and the differences we create when using mentor poems is beneficial for students!
I think mentor texts with poetry can be so powerful for students. I like the idea of having them start off by using mentor texts to write their own poems and then slowly transition into writing on their own. Thanks for sharing your poem with us!
This is a great mentor poem for students, and it is great that you have now tried it out, as I feel it is important if we have explored this as teachers before we teach it to our students! Your poem is so sweet, I love it!
Mentor poems really are great for getting students writing poetry. Everyone, even adults, benefit from scaffolds and can use them to cultivate poetry writing. Your poem would be great for showing students how to turn a scaffold into their own piece of work!