If Every Dream I had Came True

Learning intention:

I am learning to create literary texts that explore my own imaginings so that I can compose engaging texts.

 

Success criteria:

• I can consider my own point of view.
• I can reflect on whether my point of view is similar or different to others.
• I can identify things I love.
• I can compose a poem that expresses my point of view.

 

Essential knowledge

View the video on Point of View from The School Magazine. Ensure students note that point of view means the lens through which a story is told.

 

Prior to reading If Every Dream I Ever Had Came True play a game of ‘Would you rather?’ by asking students to stand on opposite sides of the room to indicate their responses to the following questions:

 

• Would you rather see green grass or blue grass?
• Would you rather hear cows quacking or mooing?
• Would you rather see rainbow-coloured rain or regular rain?
• Would you rather that the sky is lit by the sun or by fluorescent spoons?
• Would you rather eat fancy food cooked by five star chefs or comfort food (Note: you may need to explain the terms ‘five star chefs’ and ‘comfort food’)?

 

Discuss students’ responses and instruct them to provide reasons for their choices, for example I would love to see blue grass as it sounds unique or I wouldn’t like rainbow rain as it might stain my clothes. Highlight examples where students hold opposing views. Inform students that their opinions may differ as these are their own unique points’ of view.

 

Read If Every Dream I Ever Had Came True or listen to the audio version. Collaboratively identify the meaning of the word dream (a series of thoughts occurring during sleep or a pleasant aspiration). Discuss the following questions:

 

• What does the author of the poem love or aspire to? (Being able to walk through walls, fancy food, chocolate, cheese).

 

• How does the author’s point of view differ from yours? (They love cheese while I cannot stand it, they enjoy fancy food while I prefer comfort food such as fish and chips)

 

Inform students that they will be composing a poem about their dreams coming true. Tell students that first you will work on an example collaboratively.

 

Discuss ideas as class of things students dream about or aspire to, for example, a world filled of candy or being a famous soccer player. Place students with a partner and instruct them to discuss further ideas and record these in their workbooks. Share responses, again drawing students’ attention to differences between the opinions within the class.

 

Select examples of dreams to include in a collaborative poem. For example, sunshine, a world that smells of flowers, playing soccer for Australia and owning lots of puppies. Tell students that they should aim to include at least three stanzas in their poems.

 

Note how the poem begins (with the line, ‘If every dream I ever had came true’). Use this as the opening line for the poem. Inform students that for now they should focus on coming up with ideas and that they’ll be editing the poem later. A sample response is:

 

If every dream I ever had came true,

The world would smell of flowers,

Puppies would be everywhere,

We’d play all day long.

 

The sun would glow and shine,

I love the warmth,

I’d dance and play in the heat,

with all my friends of mine.

 

Playing soccer for Australia,

I’d score a goal, that would be great!

The crowd would cheer with delight,

I’d run so fast.

 

Once complete, read the poem aloud. Refer back to the poem in the magazine to check the rhyming scheme (rhyming couplets, with pairs of lines that rhyme). Discuss how the poem composed as a class can be improved. Collaboratively edit the poem for vocabulary and rhyme by replacing words with synonyms to achieve the most suitable rhyming words. Students may find using a thesaurus or a rhyming dictionary useful for this task.

 

An example of an edited poem is:

 

If every dream I ever had came true,

The world would smell of flowers too,

Puppies would fill the streets,

We’d play all day, without missing a beat.

 

The sun would glow and shine,

The warmth is a dream of mine,

I’d dance and play in the heat,

with friends of mine I’d always meet.

 

Playing soccer for Australia,

I’d score a goal, oh yeah!

The crowd would cheer with delight,

I’d run so fast, with all my might.

 

 

Instruct students to work with the same partner as earlier. Students may also work independently if they wish. Inform them to complete the following steps:

• Identify ideas of dreams
• Compose a poem that expresses their point of view
• Edit the poem for rhyme

 

Assessment for/as learning:

Match students with another pair or group and instruct them to read each other’s poems. Tell students to identify the ideas expressed in the poem about the point of view of the writer. Instruct students to provide oral feedback to their peers about how clearly the opinions were expressed in the poems and make suggestions where necessary on how they might be improved.

 

Effective Feedback from the NSW Department of Education has more information on different types of feedback.