POETRY IN ACTION

POETRY IN ACTION

Author(s):

Patricia Jones, Ashley McKay

Grade Level:

Seventh Grade

Timeframe:

This lesson would be a basic introduction to poetry and would be done over the course of a 40 minute class periods throughout the week

Lesson Description or Explanation

Students will be exploring poetry in many different ways. They will create poetry from a different source each day. They will be required to use their thinking to demonstrate that poetry can be done in many different ways. At the end of the week, students will share their different forms of poetry with the class. By the end of the week, students should have completed any editing and revision on the poem so that they will be ready to be included in the class poetry book.


Indiana Curricular Standards

7.1.1 Identify and understand idioms and comparisons — such as analogies, metaphors, and similes — in prose and poetry.
7.7.3 Organize information to achieve particular purposes and to appeal to the background and interests of the audience.


ISTE Standards

3.1 Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.
4.1 Students use telecommunications to collaborate, publish, and interact with peers, experts, and other audiences.

Assessments
Formative/Summative

Formative assessment: I will check the students’ journals daily to see if they are adding different types of poetry to them. I will look at the student work, and see if students are adding types of poetry that we are learning about in class, or any they have discovered on their own. I will make sure to check to see if students are adding features needed for these types of poetry. I will also guide students in the right direction if they are confused.

Summative Assessment: Poems written in genre of choice. I will have students develop their own poems. This poem will be written in the structure of poetry of the three types of poetry we have discussed in class throughout the week (tanka, shape, free verse).

The educator will evaluate the poem to see if the student has attempted to incorporate the elements of poetry required in the style that they have chosen to write. I will work with students throughout the creation process to see that they are on the right track. I will also use the presentation checklist to evaluate factors of the students’ poetry presentations.


Prior Knowledge

Through this activity, my first expectation is that students will produce a finished piece of poetry at the end of this unit of study. I also expect the students to become more familiar with different types of poetry based on this study.

Additionally, I would like for students to be able to communicate their own poetry in a successful way to their classmates. In order to scaffold learning, I will facilitate class discussion to figure out student’s prior knowledge.

I will also have them present their ideas in a KWL chart about poetry. As a pre-assessment strategy, I will instruct students to write a poem. I will then examine these poems, looking at the structure, word usage, grammar, and ideas to help me better understand what the students already know.


Technology

Internet Resources: http://www.hyperborea.org/alenxa/free.html, http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/shape.html, www.google.com , http://babelfish.altavista.com/, http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html , http://www.wested.org/cs/tdl/view/tdl_tip/39

Hardware:
Digital cameras

Software:
Microsoft Paint, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint

Materials:
Computers with Internet access, craft materials, tape recorder, video camera, microphone


Procedure
Lesson Plan

Day One:
• Students will demonstrate prior knowledge, as well as brainstorm questions about poetry using a whole-class KWL chart filling in what they know and what they want to.
• The teacher will read a poem she has written, and tell the students that just like she has written a poem, by the end of the unit, they will have written one as well.
• Students will move to tables. Teachers will encourage students to make an initial attempt at a poem. Without any instruction, students are to attempt to write their idea of a poem.
• The teacher will then instruct students to put these in their journals for future use.


Day Two:
• Today, students will be exposed to free verse poetry.
• Students will be told to visit http://www.hyperborea.org/alenxa/free.html
and read three of the free verse poems. Students will then look at their writing notebook and find a subject on which free verse poems would work.
• Using the website poems as an example, students will be encouraged to attempt a free verse poem of their own.
• After the writing takes place, students will break into groups.
• Taking turns, each group member will read aloud their first attempt at Free Verse poetry.
• After everyone in the group has presented, the class will come together and a member from each group will share the poem with the entire class.
• Class members will provide positive feedback, as well as constructive criticism on how the poems could be made better.
• Students will be encouraged to continue poetry exploration.

Day Three:
• Today, students will be exposed to tanka poems.
• Students will be told to use the Google search engine www.google.com to find out what this type of poetry looks like.
• After students have found what a tanka is, they are responsible
for trying to write a tanka in their notebook.
• Students will then take these written poems and use Microsoft Paint to draw a visual representation of what their poem is describing.
• At the end of work time, students will be instructed to put away materials, and continue any work on poems at home in notebooks.


Day Four:
• Today, students will be exposed to shape poetry.
• Students will be directed to http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/shape.html
• Students will be encouraged to read over the different shape poetries.
• Students will then be encouraged to try a shape poem in their journal.
• Students will use provided materials to make an object that goes along with their poems.
• Students will then present their shape poems and model figures to a partner, comparing and contrasting the shape poem they have written with the figure they have created.
• They will continue any further work on shape poems in their journals.

Day Five:
• During Day Five, students will look at all the poems they have written throughout the week.
• Students will choose one poem and use this day to revisit and revise.
• Students will be encouraged to remind themselves of the features needed for the type of poem they have chosen.
• They will refer back to examples of the type, and will use these examples to make sure their poem is in the correct form.
• Students will also take this opportunity to change the poems based on new ideas they may have had.
• On this day, the summative assessment will take place.
• The educator will walk around and take note of the children’s successes with the different types of poetry.
• If time allows, students will quickly revisit the KWL chart and discuss what they have learned.
• Students will be encouraged to continue making revisions over the weekend to prepare for the Open Mic Celebration of Poetry on Monday.

Day Six:
• Day Six will be the Open Mic Celebration of Poetry.
• Students will be in charge of this production.
• Students will have each chosen a poem that they are going to perform in front of the class.
• As a class, students will take turns videotaping each student as they perform his or her poem before the class.
• Students will be expected to be supportive of their classmates during the performance.
• Students will be assessed via the Poetry Presentation Sheet.
• At the end, students will be thanked for their participation, and encouraged to participate in other types of poetry.

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

ESL Students with English as a second language will write poems in their own language originally. They will recite the poem in their language, and then will later translate it back into English, both written and verbal. This approach will validate who the students are, recognizing both of their identities. If they were unable to translate a word back into English, we will direct them to the website that translates languages, such as Babelfish http://babelfish.altavista.com/ and WorldLingo http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html .

Challenge/Extend
By using cameras for either still or moving pictures, we will challenge them to create a video or PowerPoint presentation that exemplifies the piece they are presenting. It would be an opportunity to enhance what they are writing about, as well as to present their creativity in a different way that may be slightly more difficult.

Special Needs
For students who are Hearing Impaired and Visually Impaired we can have them use Talking Text - http://www.wested.org/cs/tdl/view/tdl_tip/39 to express their poems. This program would enable them to be able to express their ideas in a way other students can see. Also, ReadPlease, Kidspiration, WordTalk and NaturalReader could benefit the children, allowing them an opportunity to construct poems, as well.