Classroom Activity II
Lexicon Collage of Voices
Goals: Students will be exposed to poetry from various genres and media. Students will practice oral speaking and performance in a group setting. Students will read, listen to, view and respond to classic, nonsense and contemporary poetry. Students will examine and develop words for use in performance poems.
Objectives: This lesson is designed for students in high school and can be adapted to serve students in learning support environments. PA Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening 1.1.11.A; 1.1.11.B; 1.1.11.D; 1.2.11.C; 1.3.11.C; 1.3.11.D; 1.3.11.F; 1.4.11.A; 1.4.11.C; 1.5.11.D; 1.5.11.E; 1.5.11.F; 1.6.11.A; 1.6.11.B; 1.6.11.C; 1.6.11.F. PA Academic Standards for the Arts and Humanities 9.1.12.B; 9.1.12.C; 9.1.12.I; 9.2.12.C; 9.3.12.D; 9.3.12.E; 9.4.12.B.
Materials: Digital Voice Recorders (DVR), microphones, lined paper, audio recordings, iPods, any other recording devices, and printed copies of most of the poems that will be read, decoded, analyzed.
Procedure: Day One: Students will learn to identify rhyme scheme similarities in hip-hop, reggae/dub, and poetry; they must identify the rhyme scheme in selected work from Classroom Activity I. Next, explore with students a discussion about several poetic terms, including rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, meter, and form. If using YouTube or other visual media lyrics must be provided to students in printed form. Students will record terms and working definitions for future reference and use. In class, break them into small groups, they will have to analyze meaning, and craft of hip hop lyrics and poetry comparing two writings from different authors for similarities in meaning and structure. Collect each groups work at the end of the class period.
Day Two: Students will for pre-class pull names to decide who will recite their written homework. There will only be 6 readers for the day. Next, ask students to name different forms of poetry and write them on the board (i.e., free verse, sonnets, ballads, epics, etc.). Ask students if they think hip hop is a form of poetry. Discuss with students what hip hop and poetry have in common. Characteristics to refer to students are: rhythm in lyrics, end rhyme, internal rhyme, alliteration, and assonance; the use of repetition for emphasis; manipulation of language to express commanding emotions and messages, and choice of diction based on audience. Play a sample of hip hop, also play a sample of reggae and decide if it follows a typical poetic format (rhyme, line structure, repetition, etc.), we might discuss how some artists become break the established norms.
Day Three: Using the same printed poems/lyrics student will render phrases and single words from it (at least 8 terms/phrases). Allow students time to share their choices with their group. Students should be able to tell others why they made decision based on poetry terms - rhyme, rhythm, sound, accents, etc. Next, they will use those 8 terms to create a message. They can add only 8 other words of their choice, using "I" only once within their message. The theme for this writing can be determined by you or the student groups (i.e. politics, music, love, literature, school, family). You might try giving each group two theme choices; they can mix them to create an even more complex piece using their terms. They will read their completed writing to others in the group. Each group will be video recorded for revisiting the day's efforts.
Day Four: "One word!" - Write on the board before students enter the classroom; ask them to take out their polished piece. Tell them to switch the piece with their neighbor (who might have been in their group) they must read the selection. Then they must choose one word from the piece. Students will then stand around the room in a circle and say the word they choose. They will be asked to note the poetry tools heard while sharing (repetition, onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme, etc.). They will experience that poetry and naturally occurs in the activity. We will repeat the exercise only this time, it will be recorded. The third time "one word" is recited; the teacher will point to specific students for them to say their word to form a collage of lexicon generated from student work.
Day Five: Each homework sentence will be typed into one word document on a computer while other students are reviewing the filmed presentations
Day Six: Have several students read a stanza of the poem, "Summer's Bounty." Check to see how they read it and in what order - right to left or down to up to next column. Note for students the play on the breakup of the compound words. Ask if they know all of the items expressed, explain. Discuss the familiar and the unfamiliar and how Swenson takes apart the familiar, making comprehension difficult and rhythmic patterns of the words distorted. In "Nosty Fright," Swenson changes sound rules that make new senses to create a new world for the reader/speaker. These poems should be read aloud. They use auditory imagery that embody speech and language, then deconstruct the rules to translate new senses.
Day Seven: Student will read their nonsense poems. After three or four readings, discuss similarities and/or differences about the poems' words and author choices of breaking words apart. Film these presentations for later use and review of lesson.
Assignment(s): Day 1 - students will write a six-line poem or one paragraph of at least six sentences to describe the day's classwork highlighting one of the poetry terms they like best or which one they dislike the most. In their piece they must answer, why, too.
Day 2 - Students will expand on their writing from the previous night, in this paragraph or six lines of verse they will write about what they learned in class today.
Day 3 - Polish written pieces - revisit and revise for performance.
Day 4 - Student will write a reflection of the classwork for the day. It will be written in only one sentence.
Day 5 - Read May Swenson's "Summer's Bounty" and "A Nosty Fright." Be prepared to discuss reading in class. Write down three questions that you want to ask and three things that stood out for you in the readings. Tell students they may have more to write, if so - write their ideas down to compare to classmates when sharing in class the next day.
Day 6 - Ask students to write their own poems that play on words using the theme - community. Do not give them specific instructions. However, if they choose to pattern their work from Swenson, that will work well and the student will enjoy the next day's poetic presentations.
Follow-up activity: Using the films, select students who are highly computer literate to make a movie (iMovie or MovieMaker) capturing the essence of the lesson. The completed project which will emphasize random use of words and students that form ideas, thoughts, feelings, societal consensus, etc. can be shown in a school assembly or submitted in a short film contest. For this activity make sure you have parental permission to video student participants. Also, the film can be uploaded onto a class blog or other website.
Assessments: Class participation will be noted to determine understanding. All students participating, showing an understanding of poetry terms through written exercises, responding to discussion comments and/or questions will be graded accordingly. This activity will provide students with new words to be displayed on a word wall or bulletin board. Students will further show proficiency in the lesson by their comprehension of the terms by using them in other academic writing and standardized essays.
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