Writing a Praise Poem

College Reading

In the Aztec culture, sacrifice was common place and expected. The definition of “sacrifice” today has shifted more to selfless deeds and somewhat away from paying the ultimate price with one’s life. This assignment asks you to recognize the personal sacrifice of time and resources that have been made on your behalf.

The praise poem is an African tradition used by the tribe so that young adults know who they are and that they belong, they are loved and they each have special gifts. We are who we are because of countless people in our lives who have made sacrifices for us; some of those sacrifices have been HUGE and others almost inconsequential.

Today you are going to write a praise poem in honor of your life and those sacrifices that have brought you where you now are. Think of it as a tribute. First you need to give some careful thought to the questions on the following slides.

Questions to Ponder…

1. What did this person do for you?

2. Was this a sacrifice for the person?

3. In what way did the sacrifice help you?

4. Was the sacrifice characteristic of the person or a special surprise?

5. What other praiseworthy things has this person done?

Possible Format

1 – Who is this person? You might want to trace his/her lineage and give a bit of exposition…

She was the daughter of Martin, a simple farmer living in the …..

2 – How did you come into the picture? What is your relationship?

3 – What are the sacrifices that have been made on your behalf and their effect on your life?

4 – Where would you be without this person’s love/support?

Your poem does not need to rhyme or have a certain number of lines.

Words are powerful tools. Use them wisely as you pay tribute to someone who has given you so much and asked for so little or nothing in return.

Once you have finished your poem,

you need to use a computer to type your poem.

Once your poem is typed, you want to carefully decide where the poem should go on the page.

In the background of your poem, you will have a picture of yourself that you will provide or I will take of you.

Once I have taken your picture, I will either e-mail it to you or place it in the student info drive so you can obtain it and save it to your H drive.

Follow the directions below:1. Open a MS Word document.2. Pull down the Insert menu at the top of the page. Select Picture

(side menu) from the file.3. Then go to your desktop and select the picture that you have placed

there.4. While holding the shift key down, you can enlarge your picture as

needed by selecting the lower right hand corner of the picture and moving it in and out. Do not let your picture exceed the size of the page.

5. Right click on the picture. Select “Text Wrapping” and then Select Square so you can move your picture around on the page. You should also select the BEHIND TEXT command so that you can type on top of your picture.

6. While the picture is still selected and little circles appear around the picture, right click and select “Format Picture.” Then wash out the picture by using the brightness slide.

8. Type the poem. Put a border around it or the picture if you wish.9. You’re done! Start thinking of an occasion when you will present

this poem to the one(s) who have done so much for you!