Poetry+Slam+Coffee+House+Jam

Poetry Slam Coffee House Jam! :     A Poetry Writing Unit ** __Unit Overview:__ ** This unit will be focusing on the instruction of writing poetry. As an overall goal of this unit, students will be constructing a portfolio of various poems and prose work with differing genres and topics that they will be sharing with their peers, learning to revise their work in the process. They will have a grand total of at least four pieces and will keep all drafts and notes from conferences in a portfolio. Each student will also keep a writer’s notebook to write down ideas they might have, record free-written pieces on their own, record multiple drafts of their poems or write down any thoughts that they might have along the way. To begin, I will be pulling ideas from Nancy Atwell’s work in her mini-lessons titled // Where Poetry Hides //, which has students locate specific places or things that they can write poetry about, and // Twenty Actions //, where I will have students write down twenty activities or actions that they can write poetry about. Going off of these ideas, I have constructed a lesson that allows students to examine more closely the positive occurrences in their lives that they could potentially write about using the website // 1000 Awesome Things //. Once we have covered inspiration, I will begin to talk a bit about the basic structure of poetry. This will occur during the second week. By this point, I will have already defined terms such as stanza and pointed out the difference between prose and poetry, but will move onto more complex terms such as blank verse, free verse, meter (briefly) and introduce the sonnet. The concept of meter is not so much important as the idea of creative writing is. Meter in poetry is not something that is particularly vital when writing, similar to how rhyme is not necessary when writing poetry. The main idea is to get students writing. We will be using Nancy Atwell’s Writers’ Workshop model, allowing students to have time in class to revise and share their pieces. This model will be introduced in the first week, but will not necessarily be used for the entire class period every day. This means that each day we have the writers’ workshop, students will be focusing on a particular piece together. They could be writing a revision of their original piece or working in groups and with me (I will be supervising the activities) in order to get positive feedback and constructive criticism on their writing. Along the way, I will be providing other sources of poetry through music, using Bob Dylan’s lyrics and some lyrics from the popular rapper, Lupe Fiasco to discuss metaphors in poetry. This way, students will be able to see that poetry is not just a genre that some old white men wrote hundreds of years ago. Poetry is a means of expression and is still thriving today in music and in much of the underground culture we hear about today, such as with spoken word and slam poetry. At the end of the third week and beginning of the final week, we will begin to cover elements of performance and will look at a video of award-winning spoken word poets, Mental Graffiti. By learning from this example of excellent showmanship and practicing in small groups, students will learn how to become effective speakers and performers, engaging audiences in their poetry. Each day, we will also have three students read one poem a day and discuss what they could use in terms of relating this writing to their own. By providing examples, students can compare these works, discussing what they found to be compelling or interesting about these poems and how they could use that information for their own benefit. Here are some ** essential questions ** that we will be exploring along the way: 1. Why do we write poetry and what purpose/ importance does poetry have to us? 2. Where can we look for inspiration when writing poetry? 3. Why should poetry also be performed or spoken aloud and not just read? 4. Why is it important to revise your writing and what benefits can come from having others review your work? ** Rationale: **I would like students to understand that poetry is not something that is archaic or dull, but something that is all around us. It is an art form, a medium through which students can express themselves effectively. In our classroom, students will have the opportunity to communicate their ideas, feelings and memories to other students, sharing these ideas with their peers in class. They will begin to understand the beauty of the spoken word and hopefully they will appreciate what power poetry can have. It is important that they continue to think about the writing process itself as well, considering how important it is to keep rethinking and revisiting their work in order to strengthen it. ** __ Objectives: __ ** ** Rationale: ** For about four weeks of work, five pages should be plenty to show me that students understand how to write different kinds of poetry and prose and have plenty of time to revise their pieces with their peers. They will be writing at least four pieces, one being a piece of prose, one parody or response poem and another being a sonnet. This will give them plenty of opportunities to write about what they wish to and still show their understanding of different kinds of poetry. ** Rationale: **Parody is a style of writing that I feel students will be able to have a lot of fun with, poking fun at different poems and poets with their creative pieces and sharing them with the class. Using humor in their work will be a good way to find their own voice in their writing as well, unleashing their own sense of humor as they write. By writing parody and response poetry, students will be able to read their chosen poems more closely and thoroughly understand the concepts and language in their poems. ** Rationale: **At some point in a student’s life, they will probably need to speak in front of a group of people, whether it is in a board meeting, giving a speech or at another event. By completing this portion of the assignment, students will become more comfortable with speaking in front of an audience and learn how to be an effective speaker. Students will also become more confident and comfortable with themselves. Another portion of my rationale behind this objective is that students should be hearing poetry and not just reading it. Poetry should be read out loud for others because poems have beauty and messages that should be heard by others. ** Rationale: **It’s important that students have a basic understanding of structure in poetry so that they can see the varying styles and ways in which poetry is written and how each format contributes to the originality of the piece as a whole. They will be able to see that not all poetry has to have huge words or rhyme and can be written in a number of different ways. By encouraging students to write several versions of one poem, students will find the version that they like best and the one that is most appropriate for their piece. ** Rationale: **Students should understand that just because you finish writing a piece or a poem does not mean that you are finished with it. Perfecting your writing takes time and one poem can have several versions. I will encourage students to write two different versions of each poem and this way they will be able to choose which one they like the best. Also, they will be learning about the revision process, focusing on giving positive and effective feedback to their peers and will keep these skills for later writing assignments beyond my classroom. ** Pre-assessment **: This will consist of an activity done at the very beginning of the unit where students will write a page in class about their thoughts and feelings about poetry. After writing this page, I will ask them to circle words or phrases that they believe to be important or strong. They will then take these phrases and arrange them into lines. I will ask them if they know the difference between the first piece that they wrote and the final piece, which is that the first is a sample of prose while the final is a poem that has been arranged into stanzas. This is something that I will do on the board with them and we can share them in class if students wish. We will do other minor pre-writing activities in class to get thinking about specific ideas for their final creative pieces. ** Formative Assessment **: Throughout the semester, students will make a daily entry in their writers’ notebooks with prompts that I assign them. Each entry must be a page and will consist of personal responses to lessons, drafts of poems, ideas for creative pieces and pre-writing activities to show me that they understand the concepts being discussed in class. I will be checking these notebooks weekly, not grading them but checking to make sure that entries have been done. If they have, students will receive full credit. If not, they will have one week to get the entries in to me before they receive no credit. I will comment on these entries and get them back to each student the following day. ** Summative Assessment **: Students will be passing in a final portfolio with all drafts and note cards from feedback sessions, being sure to mark which drafts are the final pieces. These final pieces will be 5-6 pages long, typed in times new roman font and double-spaced. They will each present two of these pieces to the class in a coffeehouse-style poetry reading, which will be either in the classroom or in the auditorium and will be graded on their presentation of their pieces as well as their final portfolio. ** Lesson One: Inspiration and Introduction to Writers’ Workshop  ** (80-minute period) ** Objectives for Lesson:  **  · Students will gain sources of inspiration for future poems and pieces.  · Students will understand the difference between prose and poetry.  · Students will know the definition of free verse and how it is unique.  · Students will reflect on their own personal experiences in their writing. ** Teaching and Learning Sequence **: This lesson will be the second lesson out of the unit I will teach. It will be taught on a Wednesday to my classroom of juniors in high school. Prior to class, I will set up the desks in a semi-circle around the room. This way, everyone will be able to see the front of the room, where a projector will be set up that is connected to a laptop. We will use the laptop for reading poems, looking at articles online and, later on in the semester, watching Youtube videos and listening to specific songs. We will begin class with four selected poems for the day. Prior to class, three students will have each chosen a poem to read aloud to the class and have posted these poems to the class wiki. After we read each poem, we will have a quick discussion about each one and talk about how we might be able to use the information from each poem to write our own. We can talk about why each student chose their poem and what struck them as particularly interesting about their poem, using what they find as inspiration for their later work (15 minutes). I will begin with an introduction to finding inspiration all around us by having students reflect on some good things that have happened to them recently. I will show them the website // 1000 Awesome Things, // a blog that was created in 2008 that lists the many amazing things in life that we take for granted. These things can be anything from “Hanging out with your mom” to “Nailing the perfect move in a board game” or “Dancing in the house when no one else is home.” These are positive things that can happen to anyone and everyone each day and we should learn to appreciate them. I will read them my favorite entry, titled “# 536: When you’re being chased by zombies and suddenly find a hidden stash of guns and ammo.” This is an entertaining entry meant as an April Fool’s Day joke about how wonderful it is to find a stash of hidden weapons at the last second in the event of a zombie attack (5 minutes). After I have read this, I will pass out a worksheet for an activity related to the website entry. Each student will take 2 minutes to write down ten things that they think are awesome, positive things that happen to them that they would be interested in writing a poem about. After they have written these ten things down, we will go around the room and each tell me one thing that has happened to them that was particularly interesting, funny or made them feel positive in some way. After each person shares one of their topics with the class, they will choose one of the things they have written down on their list of awesome things and write about it for two minutes. I will ask that they write as much as possible about that thing, going into detail about that subject but I will not talk too much about it since I want them to choose their own angle from which they want to write about their subject. Once they have finished, this portion, I will ask a couple of students to share some of their pieces (10 minutes). I will then explain to them that what they have just written is a prose piece, or a piece that is not broken up into stanzas like traditional poetry. I will ask them to write another piece later that evening for homework in their writer’s notebook for their daily entry, asking them to write about one of their other topics in prose and then transcribe it into a poem, changing the format of the lines to form a poem. The poem will not have to be in any particular meter or format, meaning that they will be able to write in free verse. I will explain to them that free verse is a form of poetry that does not require any metrical consistency or rhyme, merely that it is split up into lines (15 minutes). For our next project, I will have students write an “I Remember” poem, a fifteen-line poem about a specific memory that they have. For this, students will be given a moment to choose a memory that is they have, something important to them and vivid enough that they can record specific details. They will write fifteen lines, each line being a single detail about their memory, beginning with the words, “I remember.” They will write this independently, writing specific details involving people, places, things they were doing at the time, what they might have been hearing, eating, or feeling. I will show them an example of an “I Remember” poem before they begin writing, allowing them to identify the subject of the poem and ask any questions about the assignment. They will write for 4 minutes and once they are done, they will share their piece with the person next to them (15 minutes). For the remainder of class, I will explain the rules of Writers’ Workshop, a model that we will be using for a portion of class time each day where students can revise one another’s work and work on individual pieces in their notebooks. I would give each student a handout explaining the rules of Writers’ Workshop and how they will be meeting with me to show me what they have written and get feedback on it. For the next class, I will ask them to bring in revised versions of their “I Remember” poem and their two “Awesome Things” pieces for their classmates to look at and help revise (final 20 minutes). ** Differentiated Instruction **: Though there is not much in the way of kinesthetic learning in this lesson, visual learners will enjoy the projected images and article from the website and others will be able to hear the entry read out loud to the class. Students will be able to essentially write about whatever they like, and if they have trouble writing certain pieces then I can make accommodations for them as needed. ** Assessment: ** At the end of class, I will quickly check to see that they have completed their “10 Awesome Things” worksheet and count this as a participation grade. I will also use their writers’ notebook entries later on when I check them off as completed to see that they are understanding the difference between prose and poetry and that they have a sufficient amount of material to write about. **  10 AWESOME THINGS! **   Inspiration for poetry is all around us, even in the tiniest happenings in our own daily lives. List ten amazing things in your life that make you incredibly happy. This could be a certain person in your life, an activity, or a random occurrence that you love and appreciate. 1.   2.    3.    4.    5.    6.    7.    8.    9.    10.    On the back of this paper, choose one of the awesome things from above and write as much as you can about it in three minutes. Be as thorough as you can, thinking about all of the little details that you enjoy about what you have chosen. ** Lesson Two: Adaptation and Parody  ** (80-minute period) ** Lesson Objectives **: This lesson will be the fourth lesson out of the unit I will teach and will be taught on the first Tuesday of the second week of the unit. Prior to class, I will set up the desks in a semi-circle around the room. This way, everyone will be able to see the front of the room, where a projector will be set up that is connected to a laptop. We will use the laptop for reading poems, looking at articles online and, later on in the semester, watching Youtube videos and listening to specific songs. We will begin class with four selected poems for the day. Prior to class, three students will have each chosen a poem to read aloud to the class and have posted these poems to the class wiki. After we read each poem, we will have a quick discussion about each one and talk about how we might be able to use the information from each poem to write our own. We can talk about why each student chose their poem and what struck them as particularly interesting about their poem, using what they find as inspiration for their later work (15 minutes). To begin, I will give a brief explanation of what the difference between response poetry and parody are. I will explain to my students that parody is creating an adaptation of a text that pokes fun at the original, giving it a more humorous air. Parodies are written similarly to the original text, using certain phrases or elements that are like the original text, yet seem to make light of the ideas, characters or poem itself. I will give students an example of this by using a parody of music (10 minutes). I will begin by playing part of the song “Maggie’s Farm” by Bob Dylan, handing students a copy of Dylan’s lyrics and asking them to pay special attention to the differences in the lyrics between the original version and, later, the parody. After students have heard the segment of the song, which will be played for the class on a laptop that is connected to the projector, I will then give them the copy of the lyrics from the parody, titled “Farmington.” These are lyrics that I wrote myself when I was in college, though I will not tell my students that I wrote this myself. After pretending to read some of the parody lyrics out loud and pretending that we need music, I will signal for my friend to come in with a guitar and play the tune to “Maggie’s Farm” while I pull out dark sunglasses and a harmonica and attempt to sing some of the parody for the class. This will be a live performance of a parody, something that is not often done in the classroom, and will keep the students engaged as they learn about parody. After the performance, we will debrief and talk about the differences between the two versions and what elements students can think about later while they are writing their own parody (20 minutes). Next, I will show students a more classical version of response poetry by looking quickly at “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” by Christopher Marlowe and a response poem by Sir Walter Raleigh, “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd.” We will look together at a handout that I have printed so that they can see each poem side by side (they are both relatively short) and we can look at the differences in voice and how different the Nymph’s view of love is from the Shepherd’s. This will give students some ideas of how to use voice in their poetry as well, judging from the more realistic tone of the Shepherd in contrast with the idealistic tone of the Nymph (25 minutes). ** Differentiated Instruction: ** Musical learners will enjoy this activity, being able to listen to a Bob Dylan song and identify elements in the lyrics that are found in poetry. If a student has a hearing impairment, I will be providing everyone with a copy of the lyrics so they might look along with the class and still participate. I will also have the lyrics up on the projector at the front of the room for all to see. ** Assessment **: Their participation during the parody/ response activity, namely their discussion about the examples I have provided, will be their formative assessment, counting as a participation grade. For the next class, I would like each student to find their own example of a parody. This does not necessarily have to be directly from poetry, but could also be from a movie, song or television show that they have seen. I will then ask them to write a one-page paper describing what their parody is and what makes it a parody. I would also like them to address whether or not there are any elements in this parody that they might be able to use in their own parody and identify what these elements are. Also due next class will be a poem of their choosing that they will write a parody of or a response poem to. The piece that they choose can be any poem that is at least 14 lines long and the only piece of criteria that I ask is that it is not Shakespeare. I want students to break out of the classic mold of poetry and move on to explore new and more exciting pieces. For the next class, I would like at least ten lines of their parodies/responses done to share with their classmates and to revise (remainder of class). ** Lyrics to “Maggie’s Farm” by Bob Dylan  ** ** From [] ** I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more No, I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more Well, I wake in the morning Fold my hands and pray for rain I got a head full of ideas That are drivin’ me insane It’s a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more Well, he hands you a nickel He hands you a dime He asks you with a grin If you’re havin’ a good time Then he fines you every time you slam the door I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more ** Lyrics to “Farmington”  ** I ain’t gonna work for Farmington no more, No, I ain’t gonna work for Farmington no more, Well, I wake in the morning Fold my hands and pray for snow, I got a head full of ambition, But there’s just nowhere to go, It’s a shame the way this town is such a bore, I ain’t gonna work for Farmington no more. I ain’t gonna work for Farmington no more, No, I ain’t gonna work for Farmington no more. It takes all your nickels, It takes all your dimes, It asks you with a grin, “Will you graduate on time?” And it works you till you’re tired and you’re sore, I ain’t gonna work for Farmington no more. ** Lesson Three: Performance and Presence  ** (80-minute period) ** Lesson Objectives **: This lesson will be the sixth lesson out of the unit I will teach and will be taught on the Monday of the third week. Prior to class, I will set up the desks in a semi-circle around the room. This way, everyone will be able to see the front of the room, where a projector will be set up that is connected to a laptop. We will use the laptop for reading poems, looking at articles online and, later on in the semester, watching Youtube videos and listening to specific songs. We will begin class with four selected poems for the day. Prior to class, three students will have each chosen a poem to read aloud to the class and have posted these poems to the class wiki. After we read each poem, we will have a quick discussion about each one and talk about how we might be able to use the information from each poem to write our own. We can talk about why each student chose their poem and what struck them as particularly interesting about their poem, using what they find as inspiration for their later work (15 minutes). I will start this lesson by having students watch a Youtube video showing a performance by the slam poets who call themselves Mental Graffiti. These are some incredible, award-winning performers who have fantastic stage presence and performing abilities that captivate audiences, so it would be very beneficial to students who will be performing in front of their peers. They have written some humorous pieces, but also plenty on social and political issues, speaking of everything from Hurricane Katrina to the sacrifices writers have made throughout history. Once we have watched this video, we will debrief, having a discussion about what went well for these performers and what they could have done better. We will talk about tone, pace, enunciation, volume and physicality. This will essentially be taught like a short theater course, the kind you might use when teaching cold reading at an audition. We will talk about inflection in a student’s reading and how they can use it to add emotion to their performance (15 minutes). Following this, I will split students up into groups of four by having them each choose a note card that has one of four graffiti tags on it. One will have a star, one will have a heart, one will have a cloud and one will have a moon and groups will be determined by who draws what card. All of the moons will be a group, the star will be a separate group, etc. Next, I will instruct them to each choose one piece that they are thinking of performing and I would like them to take turns reading it aloud and using the components of performance which we discussed earlier. The other three students who are not reading at the time will take notes on a note card, writing what the speaker did well in terms of volume, inflection, physicality, pace, enunciation and tone. Each student will say one positive thing about the student’s performance and one thing that could use improvement. Once the student has had some feedback, the group will give their feedback cards to the performer, receive new cards and move on to the next person in the group. They will continue with this process until all students have had a chance to receive some feedback (30 minutes). We will come back together as a large group and debrief what we had found to be easiest and most difficult in our performance trials and students will be asked to write one entry about their experience with their performance today. This will be a one-page entry in their writers’ notebooks about what they would like to improve and what they believe they did well as performers. For the remainder of class, they will go back to their groups of four to each read one of their pieces and get some feedback on it, preparing it for the final performance at the end of the week. ** Differentiated Instruction: ** This will be a great lesson for kinesthetic learners, as they will be able to move around as they perform their pieces for others and really learn how to work an audience. Visual learners will be able to watch the video I have provided and learn from the example of Mental Graffiti, picking up on the details of their physicality and seeing what makes an effective performance. I will make necessary adjustments for those who need to perform while seated and will explain the elements of performance to those who may not be able to see them due to visual impairments. ** Assessment: ** Students will be writing feedback on note cards, which each performer will keep. I will check off these note cards as a participation grade, showing that they understand what makes an effective speaker and performer by how the view their own performances and those of their peers. **  Poetry Slam Coffee House Jam! **    Yo. For this project, you all will be writing a series of pieces in preparation for this year’s epic event, the “Poetry Slam Coffee House Jam” here at our high school. Each of you will be writing ** one prose piece ** (writing that is not split into lines or stanzas like poetry), ** one parody or response poem **, ** one sonnet ** and ** one other piece of your choice **. This makes a grand total of ** FOUR PIECES **. All together, you should have at least ** 5-6 pages **of work finished in portfolio form at the end of four weeks. Throughout the semester you will revise each other’s work using Nancy Atwell’s Writers’ Workshop model. Each day we have writers’ workshop (I will remind you which days we will hold it), you will bring in any work that you have done- brainstorming, drafts, final pieces, ideas- and share them in small groups of three. You will be giving each other feedback on these pieces, giving your opinion of what you think is enjoyable or effective and giving constructive criticism. I ask that you all be respectful of each other’s work while this process is taking place. I will be moving about the room while this is taking place, available to help with feedback at any time. At the end of four weeks, you will turn in your portfolio with your four finished pieces all typed in size 12 font with all drafts and ideas attached. I will not ask for specific font- as long as I can read it, it is appropriate. After all, that is part of the creative process. You can design your poems how you like as long as they are neatly typed for your final portfolio. You will also be performing two of your final pieces in a coffeehouse-style poetry reading. Snacks will be provided and I also ask that anyone who can bring cookies, cakes, crackers, punch, etc. please do so. You will be graded on your portfolio and your ability to captivate an audience with your remarkable performance abilities. This means I will be focusing on your physicality (the way you look and move on stage), enunciation (are your words clear?), volume (LOUDER, PLEASE), tone (how are you feeling while you read this?), inflection and pace. Have fun! Poetry Slam Coffee House Jam Score Sheet PORTFOLIO Prose Piece : /10 Parody/ Response Poem: /10 Sonnet: /10 Free Choice Piece: /10 All drafts, early stage ideas, etc.: /20 TOTAL: /60 PERFORMANCE Volume: /10 Enunciation: /5 Physicality: /10 Tone: /10 Pace: /5 TOTAL: /40 GRAND TOTAL: /100
 * Students will construct 5-6 pages of creative pieces of prose and poetry that are original and well-revised.
 * Students will learn what response poetry and parody are and prove their mastery of these concepts through written examples of their own.
 * Student will understand the elements of performance and confidently exhibit the elements of a strong speaker and performer.
 * Students will have a basic understanding of structure in poetry and be able to write specific forms of poems such as prose, free verse, blank verse and sonnets.
 * Students will revise their work and the work of other students, understanding the process and effort that is invested in their work will result in a finer product.
 * Students will understand the concept of parody and its elements.
 * Students will understand the response poem and its elements.
 * Students will be able to relate other elements of parody and response to their own writing, forming original ideas about their own poetry.
 * Students will be able to identify parody in everyday sources of media besides just in poetry and will be able to write original pieces involving parody.
 * Students will understand the components of performance and exhibit these components in their own poetry reading.
 * Students will be able to define terms such as tone, enunciation, pace, volume, physicality and inflection.
 * Students will be able to explain why all components of performance such as tone, enunciation, pace, volume, physicality and inflection are vital in effective performance.
 * Students will give constructive feedback to other students, providing support in a positive manner.