One all time favorite is the Haiku Poem.  Another we have recently introduced is the Verb Poem.  Rewriting lyrics to a song is also very popular and effective.  These text types provide structure to scaffold student’s expression.  In other words student’s don’t have to think about the format.  They are free to only think about what they need to express.

Yesterday, via Twitter, I found another great idea for Poetry, Book Spine Poetry, by Travis Jonker (twitter @100scopenotes and website: http://100scopenotes.com).

This morning I decided to try it out myself so I made a rare visit to my school Library (Leigh Ann would be so proud) and began playing with book spines.  Also, I find it challenging to help students understand and support synthesis but today I think I discovered synthesis thinking in action.  I was literally taking title ideas and creating my own poem; a new idea!