Community in 360 Degrees

360 Degree Writing

Strategy presented by Helen Sadler 

Observation is one of the key principles of being a writer. In order to teach my writers how to observe, we do the 360 Degree poem.

This is best done outdoors, if possible, but can be done in the classroom.

Recently, I took my Creative Writing class outside on a gorgeous Florida morning, and asked them to have their notebooks in hand, to stand facing a direction, and think of a clock.  We started at 12:00, writing down a list of everything in front of us we could see. I also asked them to include anything they hear or smell. Then we moved to 1:00, 2:00, etc., moving like the hands on a clock, until we reached 12:00 again. This provides a list to work with.

We then sat down at the picnic tables, and worked on circling the images we liked the best. The goal was to form these images into a poem. The entire exercise, including reading a few poems aloud, only takes about 30 minutes. It gets us out of the usual environment, and that alone adds to the feeling of community. It also teaches a lesson in observation -- without a doubt, we are all basically looking at the same things. But what one person ignores, someone else writes down. It shows us that not everyone sees things the same way, or places the same importance on what they observe.

Here is an poem example from a girl named Sophia. She read her poem right away, saying that this activity had given her new appreciation for Florida.

Do you hear the singing birds,

the swishing grass,

the rattling branches?

Do you see the calm little bird,

the lush green grass,

the purple wildflowers?

Do the dandelions soar to you like 

a lone eagle in the sky?

Does the battered palm tell you

stories of revenge on the wind?

Do you smell the new grass or 

the small pine tree?

This is Florida; there are thistles,

they don't scratch you.

I am like the small bug skittering

at my feet, tiny in this great

state of beauty.

I created this process based on the idea "Outdoor Poems" found on page 115 of Poetry Everywhere by Jack Collom and Sheryl Noethe (1994).