Poetry as Sound and Object

Background and Rationale

School and Classroom Environment

I teach at P.S. duPont Middle School, a public school serving students in grades 6-8 in Wilmington, Delaware’s Brandywine School District. Based on data from September of 2023, there are a total of 749 students in the school. The majority of the students identify as Black (50.33%), with 27.37% identifying as White,  9.48% identifying as Hispanic/Latino, 7.61% identifying as Asian, and 4.94% identifying as multiracial. We are a Title I school, and 30.17% of our students are identified as low income. Our school is unique compared to the other two middle schools in the district in that it houses the district’s middle school gifted program, and about 30% of the student population receives gifted services. 21.76% of students receive special education services, and there is some overlap between the two groups¹.

The students I teach are all part of P.S. duPont’s gifted services. I teach both seventh and eighth grade classes, but this unit is designed with eighth grade students in mind. I currently teach fifty-six eighth grade students. Their racial demographics are representative of the district as a whole, but do not mirror the building’s demographics. Of my eighth-grade students, 25% identify as Black, 50% identify as White, 23% identify as Asian, and 2% identify as Native American. It is no secret that Black students, students with disabilities, and students whose first language is not English are traditionally underrepresented and underserved in gifted education². At P.S. duPont, we attempt to make our identification procedures more inclusive by incorporating parent and self referrals along with teacher referrals, and we make identification decisions based on a host of factors including, but not limited to, standardized test scores. As a district, we define giftedness based on Renzulli’s model of above-average ability, task commitment, and creativity³. All of those factors are considered in identifying a student for gifted services. We take the same holistic approach toward students who are twice-exceptional. Several of our students display academic gifts as well as learning differences and/or neurodivergence; these students are served in our program with accommodations.

A key component of my instruction and curriculum writing is the Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM), which is used by all teachers of gifted students in the district. The PCM guides teachers to consider the different ways in which students engage with the material as they develop expertise. The four parallels are core (the essential facts and knowledge of a discipline), connections (the relationships among knowledge within the discipline and across disciplines), practice (the ability to apply the skills of the discipline), and identity (seeing oneself as a practitioner of the discipline and reflecting on one’s role in that capacity)⁴. Any instructional unit I create needs to address all four pillars in some way.

Why Videopoetry?

I teach poetry at the beginning of my narrative writing unit. I find it to be a useful vehicle for reviewing literary concepts like figurative language, mood, tone, style, and theme before exploring these topics in longer texts. Poems are typically short texts that pack a punch–we can spend an entire class period discussing two or three poems without running out of things to say. Students make different connections to or observations about the poem, which leads to divergent interpretations and opens new avenues of conversation. Armstrong, Lutze, and Woodwoth-Ney also point out that videopoetry can build empathy⁵. This is true of traditional poems as well. As we read poetry, we are encouraged to get inside the author’s head and consider questions like, What are they trying to say? and, Why did they make that choice? In a world where students often feel lonely and disconnected, poetry can reaffirm our connections to one another across space, time, and other differences.

In particular, video poetry lends itself to my 8th-grade curriculum for several reasons. As I have been reading/watching videopoetry, I notice that many poets and filmmakers use this medium to discuss social issues. This dovetails with a year-long service learning project my 8th graders engage in called Power of the Individual (POI). At the beginning of the year, students identify causes they feel passionately about. Throughout the year, they develop research, writing, and speaking skills while delving into their chosen causes. At the end of the year, they pursue an independent project in the area of community service, visual art, music, film, creative writing, or technology to make a difference in their cause. Typically this project is not strongly tied into my narrative writing or poetry units. However, with videopoetry my students can explore the ways in which video poets use text, sound, and images to convey meaning and to make a point about the world or a particular issue. Poetry is more than a tool for self-expression; it can inform movements and inspire positive change. In addition to giving students a new path to explore social issues, videopoetry also capitalizes on students’ strengths and interests. Many of my students are fluent in digital media, interacting with online videos both as consumers and creators. Further, Armstrong, Lutze, and Woodworth-Ney point out that having students create video poetry incorporates skills from multiple disciplines and increases motivation by giving the students a chance to experience aesthetic satisfaction⁶. By incorporating videopoetry into my curriculum, I hope to increase students’ engagement with poetry and motivation to read and discuss it. My students are already living on YouTube, TikTok, and SnapChat; why not teach them to harness the power of these and similar platforms?