Book Talks

Book Club Reflections

Book Club Presentations

Using Poetry to Teach Content

Looking at “Units”

3-21-13

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? highlightslowlights

• 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 Wegmann7th grade ELA and SSDaniel Island School

jameschristine@bcsdschools.net

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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

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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 lineProvide a topic to guide the writing

THE BLACK DEATH~ BUBONIC PLAGUE

Black Death

1 Fleas.3 Unknown filthy culprits4 decimating the European population.8 Bodies ringed and rosy before the inevitable decay.1 Everywhere3 false cures spread.5 Priests preached plague as punishment1 Death.

The Great Depression

1 Depression9 Many homeless and starving with no money or job2 Dust Bowl9 Wind like a tornado destroying everything in its path1 California9 People moving to look for jobs and new lives3 The New Deal9 Things 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~ CCSSDetermine 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 stripsRearrange 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 haiku5 – 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 bushthe Dutch elmwhose long-gone limbs I rememberas 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 boxspilling old pictures, a sift of lost facesto 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 periodBrainstorm key ideas from poem that show the era’s valuesRewrite the poem with ideas that show today’s values

~ change point of view~ change setting~ change meaning or tone

“Onques mes ne fu souprisDe nule amour, ne destroiz,Mais or m'ont dou tot conquisSes 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 overcomeBy any love, nor in distress,But now I'm conquered totallyBy 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 14th century FrenchTroubadour song

Bing Crosby sings it on Youtube with Dorthea Lange Pictures: http://youtu.be/MZHEkU__Ijw

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 PoemsOr As Many As You Want

Person Place

Event Emotion

Future Warning

Brainstorm ideas for each roomTake key words, ideas to make poemAdd figurative language

Adjust format to meet needs of contentUse personification

I am the ChurchI see my wealth throughout EuropeI feel powerful and sometimes a bit corruptI stand at the center of everyone’s lifeI control the king, the knights, the nobles, the nobodiesI help the poor after myselfI hope the Holy Land will be regainedI’ll never stop collecting my tithesI’ll be remembered with buildings, sculptures, windows, painI am the Church

Joan

Soldier of GodLeader of French menWoman of own passionFury burning her heartHotter than fire licking her toesGenerations of bloody warAll in God’s nameHer battles now finishedHer bravery only begunSacrificing life for rightGod’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 Workbeing Studied

Part 3:ConcludingActivities

& Final Assessment

Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

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Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

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Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

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Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

sDaily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

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Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

sDaily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

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Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

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Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

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Daily Lesson:Goals,

Strategies,Assessment

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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