Select a topic for your collaborative poem. Recall the issues that were interesting to you when you were your students' age and consider your students' life experiences . Choose a topic that the children care about, such as "Gym Class," "Substitute Teachers" or "Ice Cream Sandwiches."
Read and discuss a poem that reflects the type of poetry you wish to imitate. Options for collaborative poems include list poems, poems of address, persona poems and narrative poems. Choose an example of one of these types of poems, read it aloud to the class and discuss important elements of the poem, such as rhythm, rhyming and word choice.
Generate a discussion about the topic you selected. Ask the class questions about the topic, such as, "What smells/sounds/sights do you associate with gym class?" Encourage the children to recall relevant personal experiences by posing questions such as, "How did you feel when the substitute teacher walked into the classroom?" Record class responses on chart paper, listing all answers as brief phrases.
Ask students to propose a phrase from your charted responses to serve as the opening line for the class poem. Consider aloud the different suggestions, guiding students' thinking by pointing out advantages of different opening lines. Point out how different opening lines will take the poem in different directions. Write the first line on a clean sheet of chart paper.
Refer back to the list of phrases. Accept suggestions for the remaining lines of the poem. Proceed line by line through the poem, guiding students to consider rhythm, rhyme, meaning, voice and message. Write the remaining lines of the poem on the chart paper.
Read the first draft of your class poem aloud. Request that students offer suggestions for how to improve the poem. Would they like to add anything or change anything about the poem? Is there a way to improve flow? Can we make the language more colorful or expressive?
Rewrite the poem, incorporating any changes. Type up the final version, print it out and distribute copies to the children. Encourage students to refer back to the collaborative poem when they work on future poetry assignments.