Summary:
This series of three videoconferences takes students on a journey through poetry writing based in science. Author, Carolyn Lesser, works with students to explore nature, see with a scientific/poetic eye, and create poems about "real stuff." Her goal is to help students see with artists' eyes and poets' spirits.

Objectives:
Students will descern the difference in form between nonfiction poetry and prose.
Students will learn to observe the world as an artist/poet and research a topic as a scientist.
Students will accompany an author on a writing research expedition, creating a poem about an object in nature.
Students will observe and then employ the steps of the writing process to create original poems.
Students will be empowered to use the expedition/discovery writing technique in any nonfiction poetry process.

Procedure:
Before student videoconference #1:
1. Introduce the author to your class by reading her biography on her website at http://www.carolynlesser.com
2. Share with your students one of her books, either The Goodnight Circle, Great Crystal Bear, or Storm on the Desert. Click here for a teacher guide to The Good night Circle.
3. As the students read, discuss the question, Where is the science in this book? Ask them to search for facts in the book.
4. Have your students practice writing by copying parts of the book, but placing the action in a different locale, for example, instead of the desert, pick the lake, or the mountains
5. Have your students select an inanimate object from nature, such as a leaf or a rock, and draw a picture of it on one half of a side of a piece of paper.
6. Explain to the students that they will be writing a poem with the author, but this poem will be based on scientific facts. Gather magnifying glasses (can be of the cheap variety) to bring with them to the videoconference, and explain that these will be used to examine, in more detail, their objects.
7. Download the worksheets, print them, and copy one for each student. Have students bring them to the videoconference.
8. Practice the protocol of the videoconference with the students. You may want to actually go to the distance learning room and do this. If this is not practical, set up a "pretend" microphone and have students come to the front of the room and practice describing their objects in a clear voice, stating their name and school name first.

After student videoconference #1:
9. Have students identify 3-4 questions they want to ask the author about poetry, writing, and/or publishing. Select a spokesperson(s) to ask these questions at the final videoconference.
10. Follow the model for writing that students observed during the videoconference. Have students use the expedition journal that they began to write as a starting place for a poem about their object. Several revisions should take place.
11. Have students identify difficulties or "sticky spots" in their poem or in the writing process. Select a spokesperson who will, at the final videoconference, ask the author for suggestions on how to smooth these rough spots.

After student videoconference #2
12. Revise nonfiction poems.
13. Continue to have fun with nonfiction poetry writing!