Poet-Tee Day by Patti Blackowicz


     I have found a lesson that gets students reading poetry and earning
extra credit for class.  It also allows artistic students to work a bit.
After concluding a poetry unit, I have each student pick one poem that 
they especially enjoyed working with.  Once they have picked their poem,
they are to write a brief paragraph on why they liked it (they related 
to the content, they liked the sound of the words, they thought the 
rhyme scheme was catchy. . .)  Then, they are to bring in their own tee 
shirt.  The teacher should bring in puffy paint, fabric markers or any 
other arts and craft things they might want the students to use.
        
	The students should them transcribe their poem to their tee shirt, 
decorating and illustrating it.  The next day, the students should wear 
their shirts to school.  The students will each have a card that each of 
their teachers will initial, indicating that he or she wore the shirt 
all day.  Every student that comes back with a full card initialed 
receives some amount of extra credit.


	For the American lit I like to use e.e. cummings, Frost (They love
"The Road Not Taken"), Poe ("The Raven" and "The Bells"), some Carl
Sandburg, Gwendolyn Brooks and Edna St. Vincent Millay.
	As for the British lit, Byron works well, as well as
Coleridge ("Ancient Mariner"),  Hardy and the Brownings.  Depending on
the group, they do well with Shakespeare's sonnets.  
      The amount of extra credit really depends on how much you as a 
teacher would like to give--a full extra grade, ten or twenty points 
towards a test grade or one hundred points toward their final point 
total for the quarter.

	(I really have to give credit to my sophomore year English teacher 
Sue Maltzman as well as other teachers in my high school for this.  I 
saw it during student teaching and was reminded about what a good idea 
it was.)