Teach middle school or high school students how to write a bio poem. Bio poems can be about the student writing it, a friend or a character from a novel. The pattern of a bio poem varies, but the poem should focus on one person.
Bio Poetry
Bio poetry allows the reader to learn about a person or a character from a novel. The format for the poem can vary in length and content. The important thing is that the poem should be interesting, descriptive, expressive and colorful.
For this lesson, the teacher will need to decide on the length of the poem. Since the content can be the student’s choice, it is best if the teacher offers a “menu” of choices for information to be included in the lines of the poem. A nice bio poem is 10 lines, but the poems can be longer or shorter. The directions give suggestions for the number of lines; however, it is the teacher’s choice.
Poem Directions
Step 1: Students first need to select a topic for the bio poem. It can be about the student, a family member, a classmate or a favorite character from a novel.
Step 2: For all of the poems, line one should be the first name of the person or character.
Step 3: Line number two should have a list of four adjectives that describe the person or character.
Step 4: For the following lines, the student should choose at least two of the line starters. The students can select from the following list:
- Born in _____________
- Born on ____________
- Who is married to ______________
- Who is the son/daughter of _______________
- Who is the brother/sister of _______________
- Who is the niece/nephew of _______________
- Who is the grandson/granddaughter of _____________
For the following lines, students need to choose at least six of line starters. Students should come up with two-to-three ideas or things to add to each line:
- Who loves ____________
- Who hates____________
- Who feels_____________
- Who enjoys___________
- Who likes_____________
- Who takes____________
- Who gives____________
- Who keeps____________
- Who desires____________
- Who plays _____________
- Who works at___________
- Who eats_______________
- Who reads______________
- Who dreams of __________
- Who changes____________
- Who worries about______________
Step 5: The last line should be the last name of the person or character.
Step 6: Once the rough draft of the poem is written, students should write a final copy. Students should then share the poems with the class.
This post is part of the series: Poetry Lessons
Teachers can try the lessons that all focus on writing different types or genres of poetry.
