Forgive Me: I Meant to Do It

Meaningful Apologies. It would be remiss to center instruction on this book without discussions with students about what constitutes a meaningful apology. While the apologies in this collection are purposefully insincere, many others are quite genuine and heartfelt. Read Sorry! by Trudy Ludwig, and I Did It, I’m Sorry, by Caralyn Buehner. Have students identify the characteristics of meaningful apologies, and list them on the board. Then, encourage students to practice writing meaningful apologies, either in poetry form or in prose. Use Joyce Sidman’s This is Just to Say, which is an anthology of sincere apologies inspired by the same Williams poem. As suggested in the False Apology Poems activity described above, give them the choice again to write from their own real voices or from another’s.

Grades 4 and up

Famous Poems as Mentor Texts. William Carlos Williams’s “This is Just to Say” is one of the most recognized and shared poems in American literature. What better way to introduce children to canonical poems than following Gail Carson Levine’s lead and using them as mentor texts for students’ own writing? Share a variety of well known poems that are familiar to both adults and children, and have students select a few that appeal to them. Then, referring to the author note in the middle of Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It, walk students through the craft and structure of the famous poems they choose. Scholastic offers an online writing workshop with several famous children’s poets, including Jack Prelutsky, Karla Kuskin, and Jean Marzallo, called “Writing with Writers” (see Further Explorations below). You may also want to share Sharon Creech’s verse novels, Love That Dog and Hate That Cat, in which Jack models his poems after famous ones by Walter Dean Myers and Robert Frost.

From Humor to Sarcasm. Children tend to delight in the humorous poetry that many children’s poets write. Once your students have tried their hand at writing humorous poetry, push them to the next level: writing sarcasm. Since sarcasm is often a difficult concept for children to grasp, scaffold their attempts by clearly defining what sarcasm is, comparing and contrasting sarcastic poems with humorous ones, and then encouraging students to locate examples of sarcastic poetry in the humorous poetry they already know. Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky, both noted for their adroitness with humor have sarcastic poems in many of their collections. It often helps to begin with a topic or character they know well, such as a popular fairy tale character, and then showing how if that character makes a sarcastic remark, s/he is really saying it to be funny.

William Carlos Williams Author Study. It’s no wonder that Gail Carson Levine chose the works of William Carlos Williams as an inspiration for this collection. His lucid poetry, which often describes common, everyday experiences, is often accessible for children. Explore some of his poetry with your students. Use the books and websites listed below to explore more of his work, and read the picture book biography A River of Words to learn more about this fascinating man who was not just a remarkable poet, but an accomplished medical doctor as well. Encourage students to use some of his other poems as mentor texts for writing more of their own poetry. Celebrate what students learn by holding a poetry slam of Williams’ poetry and students’ original poetry inspired by him.

Poet-Illustrator Collaboration. Matthew Cordell’s delightful illustrations complement Gail Carson Levine’s poems, sometimes clarifying visually what is written figuratively. Have students work in partners to create a similar collection of poetry, with one partner illustrating the poems of the other and vice versa. Make sure to provide them with plenty of time to collaborate and discuss their plans for each poem, as well as the anthology as a whole.

Further Explorations

Online Resources

Gail Carson Levine’s web site
http://www.gailcarsonlevine.com

Matthew Cordell’s web site
http://www.matthewcordell.com

False Apologies – an NPR story
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7030762

Websites about William Carlos Williams
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/william-carlos-williams
http://www.poets.org/wcwil
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=7349

Writing with Writers – Poetry
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/index.htm