Using Circle Poems with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling

Purpose of the Strategy

This strategy is used as a class activity to get students interested in poetry while relating it to the novel they are reading. The students are able to use their imaginations while coming up with a word or short phrase that relates to the one given before them, but that is different. The end result is a poem completed by the entire class.

Instructions: First, the teacher begins by giving the students a word or phrase from the novel that the students will recognize (see example on following page). Write this word on the board, overhead, or a large sheet of butcher paper so that everyone can see it. Explain to the students that their words must have something to do with objects, time, place, color, taste, names, or ideas. It might be a good idea to write these parameters somewhere the students can easily see them. Starting on one side of the classroom, have a student say the first word or phrase that comes into their mind when they hear the teacher's word or phrase. The next student reacts to the first student's word or phrase and so on and so forth until all of the students have had a chance. Make sure to record the words, in order, so that everyone can see the progression made. The last student should echo the first word or phrase so that the last line of the poem brings the entire thing back to the beginning, like a circle. The class can rework the words of the poem until everyone is satisfied with the end result.

Example for Harry Potter:
Hogwarts
castle
England
foggy
street lamps
dark
nighttime
scary
Halloween
trick-or-treating
costumes
witch
wizard
Harry
Hogwarts

Diana Anderson, Brigham Young University 2000