Contemporary poems often accommodate a variety of types of language, including non-fiction. This opens up the possibilities for poems. It gives pupils the liberating opportunity of writing in a variety of styles.

One of my favourite poems is by John Ash: “Words of Advice: After Hesiod.”

After reading it to the class, I ask pupils to write an “advice poem”. This can include advice they have heard from adults, advice they might give a younger pupil, and so on.

The poem allows pupils to write using a conversational style and also the language of formal advice, and possibly to combine the two, as John Ash does, for ironic effect. I use John Ash’s poem at key stage 4, though with younger pupils I have worked on “misleading advice poems”, such as How Not to Behave at a Wedding (“sing happy birthday during the bridegroom’s speech”). Another approach is to ask pupils to write down all the advice they hear, read or give during a week, and use this in a “found poem”. The results can be spectacular.

Another certain success is “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams, in which he apologises to his wife for eating the plums that she was saving for breakfast. I ask pupils to write a similar “note poem”, apologising for something for which they aren’t really sorry.

Being made to apologise is often how children have learned that something is wrong, for example spray-painting the sofa. If pupils can’t think of an idea, I suggest they use an incident from fiction. I had an excellent poem from a Douglas Adams enthusiast recently, written from the point of view of aliens before they destroy Earth.

Ian McMillan’s hilarious poem “Sonny Boy Williamson is Trying to Cook a Rabbit in a Kettle” is written as a recipe. The essence of a recipe is that it should be the same every time; Ian McMillan confounds the reader’s expectations of the form by using it to write about the unrepeatable “apocryphal tale” of Sonny Boy Williamson.

After reading the poem to the children, I get them to write their own recipe poem in which they describe something unrepeatable, for example Custer’s last stand, or a disastrous day on the beach. This teaches pupils the conventions of instructional writing in an enjoyable, unforgettable way.

It’s a good idea to encourage pupils to make good copies of their poems and collect them in a booklet. Publication provides the best incentive I know for drafting. And there is nothing like the thrill of publication to boost the motivation of young writers. Why not submit your pupils’ poems to the Foyles National Young Poet of the Year Award, for 11 to 18-year-olds (www.poetrysoc.com)?

You can find all the poems I’ve mentioned in my book, Jumpstart (Poetry Society pound;9.20). Or buy the individual collections for your school library: Ian McMillan, Dad, The Donkey’s On Fire (Carcanet Press pound;7.95), and William Carlos Williams, Collected Poems (Carcanet Press, two volumes, pound;12.95 each). Good poems are full of teaching ideas.

Cliff Yates teaches at Maharishi School, Lancashire. He is the author of Henry’s Clock, winner of the Aldeburgh Poetry Prize. Email: cyates2468@aol.comwww.poetrysociety.com