Laura Purdie Salas

Small Reads for Brighters Days

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Laura’s Books
  • Poetry
    • Poems Published Elsewhere
    • My Poetry–a Sampler
    • Poetry Videos
    • How To Write Poetry
      • Poetic Pursuits
  • For Teachers
  • Presentations
  • Freelancer
  • About
    • Press Kit
      • Short Bios
      • Awards & Honors
      • Author Photos
      • Book Covers
      • Book Reviews
      • In the Press
    • Who Am I?
    • How I Became a Writer
  • Blog
    • Review Policy
  • For Writers
You are here: Home / Poems for Teachers / Tip #6: Make a Face [Poetry Tips for Teachers]

Tip #6: Make a Face [Poetry Tips for Teachers]

April 8, 2015 By Laura

Welcome to today’s tip in my month-long Poetry Tips for Teachers series. [Addendum: I had a little issue with a disappearing blog post and rewriting it and–well, I’ll spare you the details. I apologize for having the same basic tip two days in a row, but this one has a bit more detail and a different poem, so I hope you enjoy it!]

Tip #6: Make a face.

When you’re reading a happy, joyful poem, you should be smiling! This seems obvious, but sometimes when we’re nervous, we lose our natural expressiveness. It’s like on American Idol, when you watch a contestant sing a rock anthem with a wooden face, or sing a ballad with some inauthentic grin. Don’t do that! If you feel nervous, just think about what emotion the poem makes you feel. Then add the appropriate facial expression. Even if you don’t consider yourself a performer, try taking your expressions up a notch. After a few weeks, go another step up. You don’t want to be completely over the top, but the more life you put into your poetry reading, the more involved students will get.

So, for example, I would want to read the poem below with a determined, predatory look on my face…not a silly smile.

Lionesses: Girrrrrrl Power!

 

A Need to Feed: Poems of Predators and Prey, is part of my 30 Painless Classroom Poems series.

A Need to Feed: Poems of Predators and Prey, is part of my 30 Painless Classroom Poems series.

 

Tagged With: 30 Painless Classroom Poems, A Need to Feed, Laura's books, Laura's poems, National Poetry Month 2015, poems, poetry books, Poetry Tips for Teachers, rhyming poems

Share:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Related

« Tip #5: Make a Face [Poetry Tips for Teachers]
Tip #7: Walk and Stop [and 15 Words or Less Poems] »

FEBRUARY NEWS

My first 2023 book is storming onto bookstore shelves this month. I'm so excited about ZAP! CLAP! BOOM!

Zap! Clap! Boom! Book Trailer

https://youtu.be/kKVsDo8r0aw

Click the cover for more info–thanks!

I'm also creating promo materials, working on two board book manuscripts, and doing some work for hire to pay off Christmas bills! And I'm enjoying the lovely, snowy Minnesota winter. <3

Are You Looking For…?

  • Poems for the Classroom
  • Poetryactions
  • 15 Words or Less Poems
  • Poetry Activities for Teachers

Tags

15 Words or Less Poems 30 Painless Classroom Poems anthologies A Rock Can Be... BookSpeak! Can Be... books classroom connections conferences and conventions equation poems events free verse haiku imagepoems image poems J. Patrick Lewis Kidlit Combos Laura's books Laura's poems my writing process National Poetry Month 2014 (riddle-ku) National Poetry Month 2016 nifty news nonfiction books personal photopoetry poems poemsketch Poetry 7 poetryactions poetry books Poetry Friday Poetry Princesses poetry prompts poetry sisters Putrid rhyming nonfiction rhyming poems Riddle-ku school visits snowman-cold student poems teen/adult poems the business side videos Water Can Be...

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2009–2023 · Laura Purdie Salas · WordPress · Log in