Book Talks Book Club Reflections Book Club Presentations Using Poetry to Teach Content Looking at “Units”

Book Talks

Book Club Reflections What was your prior experience with book clubs? What did you think about the idea before the first session? How did your particular group function? highlights lowlights How might you use this concept in your class? What questions/concerns do you still have?

Book Club Presentations

Poetry Beyond ELA? Of Course! Enhancing Student Learning Through Verse Christy Wegmann 7 th grade ELA and SS Daniel Island School + =

What the Governor Didn’t Know: “Poetry asks us to pay attention- to the world inside of us as well as the world outside of ourselves. Bringing poetry into the class-the writing and reading of it- ensures that the imagination has a role in students’ education.” ~ Jim Burke, Writing Reminders “Poetry has forever reminded us what it means to be human.” ~ Parker Palmer, Tom Vander Ark, Teaching With Fire

Writing poetry in content areas is part of the process of learning, as well as a product of learning. Using Poetry as a Write to Learn Strategy

Telephone Poems:  Write significant numbers down the side of paper ~ telephone numbers ~ birth dates ~ historic dates ~ formulas ~ equations  Explain that each number represents the number or syllables or words to be written for that line  Provide a topic to guide the writing THE BLACK DEATH~ BUBONIC PLAGUE

Black Death 1Fleas. 3Unknown filthy culprits 4decimating the European population. 8Bodies ringed and rosy before the inevitable decay. 1Everywhere 3false cures spread. 5Priests preached plague as punishment 1Death.

The Great Depression 1 Depression 9 Many homeless and starving with no money or job 2Dust Bowl 9Wind like a tornado destroying everything in its path 1California 9People moving to look for jobs and new lives 3The New Deal 9Things get better, allowing people to live with hope

Poetry and Standards~ SC Identify and explain the relationships among multiple causes and multiple effects. Evaluate multiple points of view or biases and attribute the perspectives to the influences of individual experiences, societal values, and cultural traditions. Explain how political, social, and economic institutions are similar or different across time and/or throughout the world. South Carolina Social Studies Literacy Standards 2011

Poetry and Standards~ CCSS Determine the central ideas of primary and secondary sources. Write arguments focused on discipline –specific content - Support claims with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrates a strong understanding of the topic - use words, phrases and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claims, counterclaims, reasons and evidence Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/experiments and technical processes. Common Core State Standards~ Reading and Writing Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects 6-12 (2011)

“Writing requires knowledge and focuses thought. In order to write students must have something to say. Students do not merely express knowledge by writing, they also discover knowledge. Writing is an inherently integrative process, combining the total intellectual capacities of the writer.” ~C.F. Risinger “Improving Writing Skills Through Social Studies”

Effort Poems:  Respond briefly to content information ~ primary documents ~ art, pictures ~ character’s actions ~ lab results ~ diagrams  Share responses with partner  Identify one key line in response  Choose 2 lines from each table to share on sentence strips  Rearrange lines into a poem, adding repetition & poetic devices “The use of the senses in art is a cognitive event… the eye is part of the mind.” ~ C. Cornett, The Arts as Meaning Makers: Integrating Literature and the Arts Throughout the Curriculum.

Try it now… Read your article with your group. Each person writes 1 or 2 lines from article. (Can quote, paraphrase, or summarize.) Arrange the lines as a poem. Add poetic devices as appropriate Write lines on sentence strips. (Rediscover the joy of sentence strips!) Post your poem on the wall.

Try it a different way… Read your article with your group Summarize your article as a haiku 5 – 7 – 5 (words or syllables) Read your haiku to the class

Where I’m From:  based on George Ella Lyon’s poem  can write about own life  use format to incorporate biographical info  explain causes of events  describe motivations

Where I'm From G. E. Lyon I am from clothespins, from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride. I am from the dirt under the back porch. (Black, glistening, it tasted like beets.) I am from the forsythia bush the Dutch elm whose long-gone limbs I remember as if they were my own. I'm from fudge and eyeglasses, from Imogene and Alafair. I'm from the know-it-alls and the pass-it-ons, from Perk up! and Pipe down! I'm from He restoreth my soul with a cottonball lamb and ten verses I can say myself. I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch, fried corn and strong coffee. From the finger my grandfather lost to the auger, the eye my father shut to keep his sight. Under my bed was a dress box spilling old pictures, a sift of lost faces to drift beneath my dreams. I am from those moments-- snapped before I budded -- leaf-fall from the family tree Idea: Use “Where I’m From” poem to show understanding of key characters in a novel or play, or to show understanding of key historical figures

“Because it captures powerful emotions in distilled responses I have found poetry is a particularly useful and engaging vehicle for revealing the complexities of a historical moment.” ~ D.M. Meadows, “African-American Poetry and History: Making the Connection”

Make It Now Poems:  Read a type of poem or lyrics typically written during a specific time period  Brainstorm key ideas from poem that show the era’s values  Rewrite the poem with ideas that show today’s values ~ change point of view ~ change setting ~ change meaning or tone

“Onques mes ne fu soupris De nule amour, ne destroiz, Mais or m'ont dou tot conquis Ses sens et sa bone foi. Cors a gent et cler le vis, Blanches mains et longuez doiz, Douz semblant et simple ris: Bien est faite en touz endroiz. Pou la voi…” (Gontier de Soignies) Never was I so overcome By any love, nor in distress, But now I'm conquered totally By her good sense and honesty. Fair is her body, clear her face, White her hands, and her fingers long. Gentle bearing, tender smile: Well-formed she is, yes, everywhere. I rarely see her… Excerpt and translation from untitled 14 th century French Troubadour song

Bing Crosby sings it on Youtube with Dorthea Lange Pictures: They used to tell me I was building a dream, and so I followed the mob, When there was earth to plow, or guns to bear, I was always there right on the job. They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead, Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread? Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time. Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime? Once I built a tower, up to the sun, brick, and rivet, and lime; Once I built a tower, now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime? Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell, Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum, Half a million boots went slogging through Hell, And I was the kid with the drum! Say, don't you remember, they called me Al; It was Al all the time. Why don't you remember, I'm your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime? Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell, Full of that Yankee Doodly Dum, Half a million boots went slogging through Hell, And I was the kid with the drum! Say, don't you remember, they called me Al; it was Al all the time. Say, don't you remember, I'm your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime?

“ Students need a chance to assimilate information, make connections, and face whatever may still confuse them. This kind of writing is a way into or a means of learning, a way into understanding through articulating. ” ~S. Sorenson, “Encouraging Writing Achievement: Writing Across the Curriculum”

Poems for Two Voices:  Decide on two items to compare ~ people ~ animals~ elements~emotions ~ values ~ mathematical properties ~ countries ~ reactions/consequences  Create a Venn diagram to organize similarities and differences  Write a part of the poem for each item to show its unique qualities, one on the left side of the paper, the other on the right  Write parts of the poem together to show the items’ similarities on both sides of the paper

Try it now… Choose a partner Choose two characters from a novel you’ve both read Write a two-voiced poem, letting those characters reveal a key dilemma or theme in the novel Read your poem to the class

More Poems to Use I AM Poems ~countries ~inventions ~landmarks ~ inanimate objects ~ formulas/ values Six Room Poems Or As Many As You Want PersonPlace EventEmotion FutureWarning  Brainstorm ideas for each room  Take key words, ideas to make poem  Add figurative language  Adjust format to meet needs of content  Use personification

I am the Church I see my wealth throughout Europe I feel powerful and sometimes a bit corrupt I stand at the center of everyone’s life I control the king, the knights, the nobles, the nobodies I help the poor after myself I hope the Holy Land will be regained I’ll never stop collecting my tithes I’ll be remembered with buildings, sculptures, windows, pain I am the Church

Joan Soldier of God Leader of French men Woman of own passion Fury burning her heart Hotter than fire licking her toes Generations of bloody war All in God’s name Her battles now finished Her bravery only begun Sacrificing life for right God’s eyes will recall

Poem As a Door If you expect it to be bolted, it will be. There is only one opening: yourself as the key. ~Eve Merriam

Questions on Using Poetry to Teach (or Assess) Content?

Part 1: Introductory Activities Part 2: Major “Content” of the Work being Studied Part 3: Concluding Activities & Final Assessment Daily Lesson: Goals, Strategies, Assessments Daily Lesson: Goals, Strategies, Assessments Daily Lesson: Goals, Strategies, Assessments Daily Lesson: Goals, Strategies, Assessments Daily Lesson: Goals, Strategies, Assessments Daily Lesson: Goals, Strategies, Assessments Daily Lesson: Goals, Strategies, Assessments Daily Lesson: Goals, Strategies, Assessments Daily Lesson: Goals, Strategies, Assessments Daily Lesson: Goals, Strategies, Assessments Presentation of Projects and/or Exam Sample 11-day “Unit”

Next week: Kizzy Ann Stamps Other civil-rights books More on “units” that use YA Lit