Lesson Plan Number 3

Hi-Tech Performance Poetry

Amount of time to complete unit: 2 weeks

Materials:

Flip Video HD or DVD camera

iMovie

iDVD

Props (clothing, etc.)

Objectives:

• To learn about spoken word poetry
• Look at contemporary spoken word poets
• Become familiar with iMovie
• Create a digital performance poetry

Process:

1. We will begin by watching videos on YouTube about different spoken word performance artists. As the students watch the videos they should be asking themselves:

• What makes this effective?
• What could be improved?
• What makes this poem a performance?

We will watch three different videos by three different performers. Afterwards we will have a group discussion. We will discuss the students answers to the above questions, how poetry has evolved, how it can become engaging and how performing can either help or hurt the poem.

1. The students will begin to write their own piece of spoken word. Students should keep in mind that most performance poets usually address issues going on in their lives, social issues or even events that they have witnessed or participated in. Students will write for two days. We will then revise at a later time.

1. Introduction of iMovie to the students. I will show the students our iMovie program and how they can import video clips, cut frames apart, splice together, add audio and add effects.

1. Students will take either a Flip or camcorder and begin to record some setting, action or image that they want in their performance. These clips will be spliced together. The process of recording images should take two to three days.

1. Students will exchange poems and begin to revise. We will do a long and hard revision. Students should look at word choice, phrasing, pace of the poem and the emphasis of words.

1. Students will record themselves to either a Flip or camcorder doing their spoken word. Upon completing this, students will edit out the background on themselves and layer it upon the video footage they have already recorded.

1. When completely finished with editing the students will burn a copy of their performance to iDVD and we will then share these with the class and the students will have a copy for their portfolio as they move on to high school.

Assessment:

The students performance poetry will be assessed by looking at how understandable the student was, the length (must be between 2-3 minutes), if the background images related to the poem (this would have been specified in the appropriate lesson) and if their message was clear and well conveyed. Their will also be a spot for comments.

The rubric will be handed out to the class. Each student will receive a grade from their classmates along with comments (we will have already discussed how to grade appropriately and how to give meaningful comments. I will also fill out a rubric and mine will be the one that counts, but student giving the performance will receive all the rubrics, giving them an idea of where to improve for next time and what was done really well.

Response to Allan Wolf

I think that this performance works because Allan is very engaging with the families. He runs off stage to interact with the children and the adults. It also helps that he does his own music instead of having a recording. He is a one man show.

Allan Wolf works by using verse of his own as well as poems of famous poets. He takes these poems and adds his own unique blend of music, humor and what I'd like to call theater to the poetry to create his performance. In his poems there is a lot of rhyming, expression and a flow that lends itself to this kind of work.

In this video I definitely admire the humor of Allan Wolf. He seems like he is able to make people forget they are listening to poetry. I also like his exaggerated expressions and poses. I am not sure of his background, but it almost appears as if he had some training in theater or I could be way off base and he is just great at mimicking other people.

As far as what is not good I would say that while it was humorous to watch the theater-esque performance, sometimes I felt that it was too over the top and I found myself more intently focused on that than the poetry. But then again, I'm not all that familiar with this medium so maybe thats what is supposed to happen.

I felt that this was poetry as well as a performance because some of the poems Wolf used were created as written poem, probably, not intending for them to be performed in the way Wolf did. An example of this is 'Fog'. Also, you can hear the different stanzas as he goes through his poems, he is adding rhymes, and creating rhythms with word choice. What makes it performance though, is his ability to bring the poems to the people, get them engaged, laughing and a part of the process.

Performance Poetry

Here is the link to Allan Wolf doing his performance poetry for an elementary class.

Poem Number 4 - Spoken Word

Ughh...here was a tough one. I needed to continue on this theme of harassment. I have tried to let it go, but as of right now one of the few things that helps me to cope is writing about it. Thankfully this class came at just the right time for me.

I posted this, but just don't feel comfortable with it up. I will email the class the poem. I'm too nervous I am being watched by Big Brother here. Unfortunately nothing is safe or secure.

Lesson Plan Number 2

Musical Poetry

Objectives:

• To have students concentrate on the sound of music (the beat, the rhythm, etc.)
• To have the students write their own lyrical poetry that will go with the music
• To understand that poetry is everywhere
• Think about how emotions/images can be conveyed through music and words.

Materials:

• CD players
• Variety of music that has no lyrics attached. Actual lyrics will be used after the lesson
• Eye of the Tiger
• I Love Rock n’ Roll
• Livin’ on a Prayer
• Come on Eileen
• Africa
• Summer of ’69
• Billie Jean
• Jump
• Addicted to Love
• Paper
• Pencils

Process:

Day 1:

• Turn on music that students are interested in. Will need to be clean of course.
• Discuss the patterns in the lyrics, the enunciation of the words, the stresses and the breaks
• Read the lyrics to the class aloud without sound. Do the lyrics have the same effect? What is more powerful the music or the lyrics?

Day 2:

- Students will break into groups of 3 to 4 and get a cd that has music on it

• Spend the rest of the hour writing a poem that matches the mood, tempo, beat of the music

Day 3:

• If necessary give extra time to write the poem
• Share the poem with the class along with the music
• Then play original song with music
• Which was more effective, the original lyrics or the new poem?
• Did the poem create the same meaning and feelings as the original?

- Discuss how the music either enhances or detracts from the poems.

Poem Number 3 - Haiku

This last week was a rough one for my wife and I. There were a lot of surprises and not a single one of them was good. I tried to rack my brain and put together something really complex, but I have so many emotions running inside of me right now that everything is coming out in short bursts. Therefore, I have decided to create a haiku. I hope this gets my point across.

Working tirelessly, my work for naught, I’m forced out against my will.

- Jeremy Johnson

Lesson Plan

Picture Poem

Objectives

• To use our Elements of Art and Principles of Design to visually assess the qualities of the painting
• Discuss the positives and the negatives of the painting
• T write a poem that describes the painting with visual language

Process

As a class we will take a look at Vincent Van Gogh’s painting Starry Night. Using our Elements of Art and Principles of Design we will analyze the painting. How Van Gogh applied the paint, how the image is balanced, why he cropped the image the way he did, the use of color, etc. 10 Minutes

We will then move in to discussing what the positives and negatives are about the piece. Students are asked to give concrete examples about why they liked something or what they disliked. For example say: I really liked the darker colors because it reminds me of a dark evening where the only light is from the stars and moon. Not, I like it because its cool. The word ‘cool’ tells us nothing. 10 Minutes

The last half of the class we will be concentrating on writing a poem. In this poem the students will try to ‘show’ the painting Starry Night with visually descriptive language. I will emphasize the process of good word choice and how it can either make or break the poem. Upon completing the poem the reader should be able to visualize the painting in their head.

Poem Number 2

My Friend the Torch

Alarmingly nerve wracking is what it is. This narrow head, small mouthed fire breathing brass colored dragon. It is my ill patient, only able to live on a special mix of gas in his protective gut. With its cumbersome tube like neck twisting upon itself, between my feet, crawling up my back and over my shoulder like a snake getting ready for the final squeeze. I find it difficult to trust this fire devil as a faithful assistant, but he has been there for me when I needed it. My friend is quick to anger and is a volatile and explosive killer. Ignorant of friend or foe, he can lash out without regard to who is in the way. When working on our jewelry he is my teammate, without him I wouldn’t be able to complete my designs. Once we were working on a pendant his blue flame leapt from his mouth heating up my design to a warm rose color. Then my faithful companion got sick. He had a belly full of his special food and when he went to spew forth his flame he choked and swallowed that beautiful blue flame. The fire burned down his throat and erupted from his gut severing his neck from his body. For a moment, time stood still - his special food feeding his flame, now out of control, engulfing our table and dancing up the walls as acrid black smoke filled the air. Alarms went off, the shrill noise puncturing my ear drums with intense pain. I grabbed another little monster I keep nearby. I jerked the rod I store in his neck out and forcefully squeeze his skull. He belches out a yellowish-white chalky cloud blanketing everything in the vicinity, extinguishing the flame and snuffing the life out of my old friend. Had he not choked, the wall would be in better shape, but because of his sacrifice he made sure that I got a new work area. I now have a younger friend, one that has evolved in the thirty plus years since my old friend was born. Yeah, sure he is new and can do tricks that my old friend cannot, but I still miss that little guy, the brass colored blue-flame breathing dragon. The reckless one who almost burned down my school.