Although I envision this adaptation of the well known “modeling” or “style imitation” exercise as an extracurricular activity that would complement normal classroom work, it could also be tried in the classroom, perhaps as a last Friday of the month treat, or as an emergency lesson plan to leave for a substitute teacher. I don’t think it would work as well in a normal classroom situation, though, except s a source of interesting poems that would then be taught normally or used as the basis for the full modeling exercise.

The difference between normal classroom work and what Poetry Pro-Am aims for is the difference between instruction and practice. It’s the difference between a math teacher introducing some new mathematical concept to her class — teaching the principles, showing examples, answering questions, helping her students work through a few problems on their own, etc. — and then burning that concept into the students’ mental muscle memory by assigning 20 problems for them to solve as homework. It’s the difference between spending 20 minutes a week with a trainer in a gym, and then exercising on your own for hour every other day of the week.