Teachers Write 8: What's Your Number? :-)

Hello teachers!

Today I thought we could do a fun exercise my friend Cindy Faughnan (also a teacher) taught me this summer.

First, pick a theme. This can be anything. Some ideas: Writing, teaching, summer, parenthood, dogs, friendship, a view you can see right now.

Then, write your phone number down the length of a page, like this:

8
0
2
5
5
5
1
2
1
2

Now, start your poem. Each number represents how many words you must have on that line. If you have a zero, that's a wild card and you can use any number of words on that line as you like.

We did this at writing camp this summer and the students came up with some incredible stuff. This is a really fun one to use in the classroom because it gives a mix of structure and freedom.

Enjoy! And share if you'd like. I always think writers learn a lot by doing exercises like this together and then sharing their results—and thus being inspired by one another. (Although, you may want to share on the private Teachers Write site, since obviously you'd be sharing your phone number!) :-)