|
Poets-in-the Schools » Bag of Tricks » Lessons
| Lessons » Middle School | | Remember |
|---|
Author: Michelle Holland (with thanks to Levi Romero) Author's Website: Added: August 5, 2007
FOR: Middle school, high school, and adults – writers of all levels
TIME: 60-80 minutes – one visit – modify the exercise to fit your time and audience
MATERIALS: Paper, pens/pencils, white/chalkboard, example poems written using this exercise
GOAL: Students will extend their vocabulary, incorporate metaphor and imagery, and use repetition as a poetic device to write a “signature” or autobiographical poem.
SUMMARY: Students will extend their vocabulary, incorporate metaphor and imagery, and use repetition as a poetic device to write a “signature” or autobiographical poem.
DIRECTIONS: 1. Introduce the idea of a “signature” poem. What is a signature? Everyone has a name, and everyone can write, but each signature is unique. We all have the same tools, but we want our expression to be individual. How do you create a poem about yourself, unique to who you are, yet accessible to an audience of your readers? Let the students know that the outcome of this exercise will be a poem of more than ten lines that will reflect enough about who they are to be like a signature.
2. Read Joy Harjo’s “Remember,” or another poem that invites the students to begin thinking about their own experience in the world. What do they remember?
Remember
Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star's stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is. I met her
in a bar once in Iowa City.
Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother's, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe. I heard her singing Kiowa war
dance songs at the corner of Fourth and Central once.
Remember that you are all people and that all people are you.
Remember that you are this universe and that this universe is you.
Remember that all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember that language comes from this.
Remember the dance that language is, that life is.
Remember.
Use the poem to generate conversation. What are “alive” poems? Why is the universe you? Why do we need to remember? Stress the connection between who we are as individuals to who we are as part of the larger human and world landscape. Stress the language they use to define their world/themselves. What language is passed down? What language/word represent who they are and/or where they come from?
3. Provide students with paper, and a copy of “Where I’m From,” by George Ella Lyon. Read it with them. Point out the following:
• specific imagery the connects the speaker with the world/landscape
• use of repetition
• use of specific terms that reflect culture and heritage
• use of alliteration/assonance
• metaphor/comparison
• use of format
4. Provide students with the format of the poem, and review the suggestions in the parentheses. The format is include in "Example Poems."
5. If the students seem stuck, use the board to do some brainstorming. Write the column headings on the board, number 1-5 below it. Have the students use the phrases in the parentheses as column headings on their paper, and brainstorm each one in terms of their specific experience. Remind them to reflect on what is unique to them, what is their signature for each of these column headings. Fill in the column headings on the board with them, using your own experience, and theirs.
Example ordinary item
1. Dixon number 2 pencils
2. iPod shuffle
3. paperclips
4. cowboy hat and spurs
5. Tom’s organic toothpaste
6. Ask the students to select the examples they like the best for their own poem, and ask that they use the format to begin writing. Suggest they use the format to begin filling in the blanks, and shaping the poem, then use their paper to write a final draft.
7. As they get going, read a couple of examples from previous classes for inspiration. Have a couple of students read their first few lines. Point out use of poetic elements and devices:
• specific imagery the connects the speaker with the world/landscape
• use of repetition
• use of alliteration/assonance
• metaphor/comparison
• use of format
8. Encourage the students to incorporate poetic elements in their poems. Give the students a set amount of time to complete the poem, with enough time at the end to hear a few poems from the class.
9. As the students work on their poems, allow them to experiment, to omit parts of the format or add parts or modify to fit what they want to write. Emphasize that the format is a guide to encourage them to be as particular as possible, but they can break from the format whenever they feel the freedom to do so.
10. When most of the class has completed a draft of the poem, have students volunteer to read theirs out loud to the class. Encourage everyone to write out a clean draft on their paper.
EXAMPLE POEMS: Where I’m From
George Ella 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 sigh.
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.
Form for “signature” poem, based on “Where I’m From,” by George Ella Lyon
with thanks to Levi Romero, who put the format together
Where I’m From (or develop your own title)
I am from _____________________________________________________(specific ordinary item)
from _________________________________________________________(product names)
I am from the __________________________________________________(home description)
______________________________________________________________(adjectives, sensory detail)
I am from the __________________________________________________(plant, flower, natural item)
The __________________________________________________________(plant)
whose long gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own. (use these lines, if they fit. If they don’t, modify them to fit your poem)
I’m from __________________________ and ________________________(family tradition and trait)
from _____________________________ and _________________________(family members)
I’m from __________________________and _________________________(family tendencies)
from _____________________________ and ________________________________________.
I’m from ______________________________________________________________________
and ___________________________________________________(something you were told as a child)
I’m from _______________________________________________(description of religion/lack of it)
I’m from _______________________________________________(place of birth and ancestry)
________________________________ and ____________________(food items that represent family)
From ___________________________________________________(specific family story/person
(End the poem with the location of family pictures, momentos, memories, and how you feel about them, or return to them to remind yourself of who you are and where you come from)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
EXAMPLE STUDENT POEMS: Francisco Vigil
I am from chocolate
From Hershey’s and Sea’s
I am from the orchards and the long, hot, workdays
I am from the old peach trees that could tell 100 stories
Whose long limbs I remember
As if they were my own
I’m from laughter and going for Christmas trees in the mountains
From my Tio and Tia
I’m from hard workers and good cooks
From Republicans and Patriotism
I’m from “Don’t go to the ditch or La Llorona will get you”
And “Don’t be lazy”
And “Behave or I’ll leave you”
I’m from El Santuario, Holy Cross, and San Juan
I’m from Velarde and the Vigils
Chili and meat
From getting hit in the head with golf clubs and fence posts
This is where I’ll always be from
Whether I like it or not
-Francisco Vigil 10th
McCurdy High School
Madison Akes
I’m from China Teapots
From Shout and Dawn
I am from the dried up grass in my backyard
I am from the bleeding hearts,
The Weeping Willows whose long limbs
I remember as if they were my own.
I am from blue eyes and dark hair
From Silkey Belle and Ben
I’m from bombos and marquiadas,
From shut up and sit down.
I’m from don’t stick my head out the window,
Don’t whine or you’ll be walking home,
And clean your room or spiders will sleep in your bed!
I’m form Saints and Sinners
I’m form the wonderful Espanola Valley,
From Martinez Rivera, and the list goes on…
From Cranberry Fruit Salad and Green Chile
Chicken Enchiladas
From a doctor who was mistaken
As a janitor by a new father
Who wanted to thank him for delivering his child.
High up in the closet lies boxes of pictures,
Filled with hundreds of memories
Unknown faces and places
They run through my dreams.
I am from those moments…
-Madison Akes 10th
McCurdy High School
This is where I am from…
I am from soda pop,
From sprite and root beer.
I am from the doorbell next to the front door,
Ding-dong! Tastes like a ding-dong!
I am from the Japanese maple tree,
The orchids
Whose smooth white petals drift off
As if they were my own.
I am from picnics and thumb rings
From Mashadi and Shinique
I’m from craziness and insanity
From joking and let downs
I am from “Behave yourself!”
“Stop pulling the cats tail!”
and “Go to your room young lady!”
I am from Clovis, Ireland, and Africa
Potatoes and collard greens
From the arm my brother broke skateboarding
The diamond tattoo on my mom’s toe
That she got from a hippie at Woodstock.
On my shelf lies a cardboard box
Holding crinkled photos from the past.
Friends and family lost,
Lost in the world of broken hearts,
Death, and loneliness.
I am from the secrets
Hidden before my dreams,
Which I will never find.
-Red Rose Connerty
11th Grade
McCurdy High School
STANDARDS: STRANDS, CONTENT STANDARDS, BENCHMARKS, AND PERFORMANCE STANDARDS:
Below are the possible Performance Standards that could be addressed by this exercise:
Strand: Reading and Listening for Comprehension
Content standard I: Students will apply strategies and skills to comprehend information that is read, heard, and viewed
Benchmark I-C: Demonstrate critical thinking skills to evaluate information and solve problems
Grade 9 Performance standards
3. Create and use criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of communication.
4. Represent abstract information (e.g. concepts, generalizations) as explicit mental pictures.
Grade 11 Performance standards
2. Use critical analysis to gain meaning, develop thematic connections, and synthesize ideas by:
interpreting effects of figures of speech and the effects of sounds
analyzing stylistic features such as word choice and links between sense and sound
3. Analyze effectiveness of one’s own writing
Strand: Writing and Speaking for Expression
Content standard II: Students will communicate effectively through speaking and writing
Benchmark II-B: Apply grammatical and language conventions to communicate
Grade 8 Performance standards
7. Revise writing for word choice, appropriate organization, consistent point of view, and transitions between paragraphs, passages, and ideas
Benchmark II-C: Demonstrate competence in the skills and strategies of the writing process
Grade 9 Performance standards
2. Use descriptive language to create images in the mind of the audience
Grade 10 Performance standards
1. Write to stimulate the emotions of the reader
Grade 12 Performance standards
1. Use and apply grammatical, metaphorical, or rhetorical devices to inform and persuade others
Strand: Literature and Media
Content Standard III: Students will use literature and media to develop an understanding of people, societies and self
Benchmark III-B: Identify and make connections among literary works
Grade 8 Performance standards
2. Describe how tone and meaning is conveyed in poetry and expository writing through word choice, figurative language, sentence structure, line length, punctuation, rhythm, repetition, and rhyme
3. Identify significant literary devices (e.g., metaphor, symbolism, dialect, irony) to understand the author’s meaning and perspective
Comments
|
|
|
| |
|
|
