$225
for 12 classes
Class

Playing With Poetry Forms: The Series

Completed by 4 learners
Ages 11-16
Live Group Class
In this class series, students will learn about how a variety of poetic forms are structured, read examples, and then write their own poem in each of the forms.
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:
(43 reviews)

Live video meetings
1x per week, 12 weeks
3-12 learners per class
55 min

What's included

12 live meetings
11 in-class hours
Homework
1-2 hours per week. After each class learners will work on their own poem in the assigned form, which will receive feedback on it from the teacher.

Class Experience

US Grade 6 - 9
Poetry has been used for centuries to tell stories and convey emotion. Considered by many to be an art form, poetry uses words to paint emotions and images that can be read or heard. But what goes into creating a poem? Obviously you use language, words, and descriptors, but what else? Does a poem have to rhyme? Does a poem have to follow a certain form? How do you use the poem to convey what you want to say without writing it in essay form?

In this class series, students will learn about the Shape Poem, the Clerihew, the Tanka, the Haiku, the Terza Rima, the Villanelle, and the Rondeau forms, as well as Free Verse and the Sonnet. Each week learners will read about the history of each form, read examples, and then write their own.

Week 1: Overview of the history of poetry.
Week 2: The Shape Poem
Week 3: The Clerihew
Week 4: The Tanka
Week 5: The Haiku
Week 6: Free Verse
Week 7: Overview of rhyme schemes and notations
Week 8: The Terza Rima
Week 9: The Villanelle
Week 10: The Rondeau
Week 11: The Sonnet
Week 12: Wrapup and review.

Although poetry can seem intimidating at first, we will break it down not only by form, but by how they are read and heard. There will be plentiful examples that will be broken down, there will be highlighted examples of forms, we will use word maps, rhyme lists, imagery, and there will be plenty of time to practice each one. Learners will also receive guidance in reading poetry notation, syllables and beats, and line lengths and measures. After each week learners will write a poem in the designated form, to receive feedback on from the teacher, with each week building on the week before.

**Notes:
- All students will be given the opportunity to change their Zoom name to their preferred name and pronouns at the beginning of each class. 
- While I am aware that there are reasons that a learner would prefer to keep their camera off, I do encourage them to be left on, and I require one visual check in at the beginning of each class. 
- If your learner is interested in a class, but the rate is not within your budget, please contact me to find out about limited discounts and scholarships I offer for families that need them.

Other Details

Supply List
Notebook/paper and pencil/pen. Handouts will be given, but printing them is optional.
External Resources
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.

Meet the teacher

Joined April, 2020
4.9
43reviews
Profile
Teacher expertise and credentials
Greetings! My name is Val. I’m an editor, publisher, educator, and, of course, a voracious writer and reader, particularly in the scifi, fantasy, and mainstream genres. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Johnson State, and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Spalding University. I have worked in the literary and publishing world for over twenty years in different capacities.
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I have been writing for many years and submitting and publishing for almost as many. My fiction, nonfiction, and poetry has been published in a wide variety of markets, encompassing everything from a long critical essay to a twenty-five-word story. I am a literary editor, specializing in developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, and graphic novel editing, with a focus on speculative fiction. I’ve worked with a wide variety of submission managers and contacts, and I also coach authors on how to prepare their work for publication, research appropriate markets, and handle submissions.

My interest in publishing has existed almost as long as I have been writing. While the ‘zine I published and sold as a teen isn’t necessarily the best indicator of my publishing ability, it did spark my love of publishing and provided a foundational base for my current publishing work. I am one of the founding editors, and current seven-year editor in chief, of a thrice-yearly literary magazine. I supervise a staff of over a dozen editors, handle all accounting and design responsibilities, and work with my team to produce a print and PDF issue every January, May, and September. We focus on intersectionality and underrepresented voices in our outreach, and currently pay all contributors. 

My primary nonfiction research and publishing focus has centered around queer fiction, encompassing the history from 1900 to current times, with a focus on how queer literature intersects with queer history and its intersection with other marginalized voices, particularly racial and neurodivergency. My research in this field is ongoing, and I am continually adding to my knowledge base. 

I have taught many forms of creative writing and literature classes over the last fifteen years, with subjects ranging from fiction writing to poetry forms to literature classes, to a wide variety of ages including adult learners and homeschooled teenagers. I have always designed my curriculum, and because of this have extensive experience in being able to modify it to match a learner’s skillset without sacrificing either the quality or quantity of learning. 

All of these experiences have equipped me with the foundation for my classes. In my creative writing series, ranging from one-time to semester length courses, I cover topics including discovering the parts of fiction writing, creating speculative fiction, and learning to write even when a learner feels they do not have the skills. In my poetry classes we study everything from poetic forms to slam poetry, as well as silly forms like the Clerihew. In my queer literature series, we study queer literature and how it intersects with history and other marginalized voices, equipping the learners with not only the literary history, but knowledge of the contemporary history that surrounds it. 

One of my favorite things about teaching is the ah-ha moment when a learner not only comes to an understanding of what we are doing, but also the why. While each class has a set of skills and knowledge for each student to gain, I am keenly aware that all students gain mastery of their skills at different rates, and that there are many different styles of learning. For this reason, I design my classes in a flexible format so that even in sessions where there are a variety of learning styles I can ensure that my learners do not get frustrated, and are able to comprehend and retain the information I am teaching. I offer a variety of courses, including a variety of classes in writing basics, speculative fiction, literary analysis, queer literature, graphic novels, slam poetry, editing, and publishing, as well as the occasional related class. 

I live and breathe the literary world, and I look forward to teaching your learner! 

Reviews


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