 |
Addresses AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner
Learners use skills, resources and tools to
4.1.3 Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats and genres.
Part I: Materials: Prepared copies/overhead/projected image of “Grasshoppers” poem by Paul Fleischman, Joyful Noise book by Paul Fleischman.
Part II: Materials: Copies of selected poems from Joyful Noise for students. (I chose “Grasshoppers”, “The Moth’s Serenade”, “Honeybees”, and “Whirligig Beetles”.)
Part III: Materials: Paper, perhaps simple acrostic worksheets of word “spring”.
Part IV: Materials: Voicethread of your poem as an example, computers. Go to www.voicethread.com for a simple tutorial. Go to www.voicethread.com/share/119857/ to view my example.(Voicethread allows others to make comments on your work and can be kept private.)
Spring Poetry for 2 Voices with Voicethread by Dawn Currie-Scott
Addresses AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner
Learners use skills, resources and tools to
4.1.3 Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats and genres.
Created for 4th and 5th Grades to celebrate National Poetry Month and to introduce the Web 2.0 technology Voicethread, this unit was done over several lessons, but can easily be adapted for older grades and timelines as needed.
Part I: Materials: Prepared copies/overhead/projected image of “Grasshoppers” poem by Paul Fleischman, Joyful Noise book by Paul Fleischman.
1. Ask the class to brainstorm all the things they know about poetry so far.
2. List these items on the board or chart paper.
3. Explain that you would like to introduce the students to another type of poetry—poetry for two voices.
4. Show students the book, Joyful Noise by Paul Fleischman. (You might want to point out it is a Newberry Winner.) Explain that the poems are all written for two people to read together and that the poems are about different insects.
5. Distribute/project copy of “Grasshoppers” poem which you have previously written line numbers onto. Also write the headings “voice one” and “voice two” over the two columns of poetry.
6. Read through “voice one”. Then read through “voice two”. Have students note that sometimes one person speaks alone, sometimes the two voices speak in chorus and that at one short point the two speakers speak different words at the same time.
7. Note that the rhythm of the poem is to imitate the grasshoppers action of hopping all around.
8. Use a volunteer to read through the poem with you very slowly. You will mess up the first time, but it is important for students to see this. Read it through again.
9. Explain to the students that “Grasshoppers” is one of the simplest poems in the book and that they will have a chance to choose a type of bug to be in the next part of the unit.
Part II: Materials: Copies of selected poems from Joyful Noise for students. (I chose “Grasshoppers”, “The Moth’s Serenade”, “Honeybees”, and “Whirligig Beetles”.)
1. Explain briefly what each poem is about. Also explain that the poems get harder and harder in their rhythms and in their parts where the voices speak different words at the same time.
2. Allow students to decide which of the bugs they wish to be.
3. Have students work in groups to practice their poem. They must split the group into two parts and be ready to perform at the end of the allotted time. (It is important to circulate and read through the poems with each group—they get confused at first.)
4. Have student groups perform their poems. Be sure to remind them this is a performance and that they are not to correct each other during the performance and will not be able to start over.
Part III: Materials: Paper, perhaps simple acrostic worksheets of word “spring”.
1.On board or chart paper, write the word “spring” in a vertical column.
2. Explain to students that they will be writing a simple poem for two voices about spring. (I had my students use an acrostic for structure and required that they have some pattern of syllables and end rhymes. I also required that the two students had to say part of the poem together for emphasis when performing.)
3. Model your own personal poem and the writing process you went through. (I explained that spring means gardening to me. I referenced the ways rappers change word order to fit a rhyme and use a regular rhythm structure, also. I explained my thought processes for my imagery and also how I started with different rhyming words to build my lines around.)
4. Count out the syllables of each line and write the syllables next to the lines as you write your poem on the board.
5. Underline the words in your poem which should be spoken by two voices.
6. Have a volunteer read through your poem with you.
Spring by Ms. C-S
Swinging back and forth, (5) (Speaker one) (Both speak underlined word)
Plucking out some weeds. (5) (Speaker two) (Both speak underlined word)
Relishing the sun, (5) (Speaker one) (Both speak underlined word)
Inching in some seeds. (5) (Speaker two) (Both speak underlined word)
Never get enough—(5) (Speaker one)
Gard-ning my soul feeds. (5) (Both speak)
7. Have students pick a partner and cowrite a poem together.
8. Circulate room to help students with suggestions.
9. Have students practice their presentation.
10. Have students perform their spring poetry for two voices.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spring Acrostic Rubric—5 pts possible
Did the students write the poem together? 1 pt
Did the poem use the acrostic form “spring”? 1 pt
Did the poem have some pattern of syllables? 1pt
Did the poem have some pattern of end rhymes? 1 pt
Did the presentation have parts where students spoke together? 1 pt
Part IV: Materials: Voicethread of your poem as an example, computers. Go to www.voicethread.com for a simple tutorial. Go to www.voicethread.com/share/119857/ to view my example.(Voicethread allows others to make comments on your work and can be kept private.)
1. Explain to students that they will be learning how to use a Web 2.0 technology to publish their poems and to make feedback comments about each other’s poems. In addition, you will be able to email their classroom teachers their finished poems to view.
2. On projector, view your poem example.
3. On projector or individual computers, have students go through the voicethread tutorial.
4. Work with one or two pairs of students at a time to produce their voicethread of their poem. (Typing the text is optional, as is a choice of visuals to import and use. While I used my picture, a graphic option is available for students so photos are not needed while making comments.) (While the use of a microphone is not necessary, I found it helpful since I had students browsing for books and typing up versions of their poems for hallway display all around us as we worked.)
Part V: (Optional) Materials: Prepared comment on your voicethread, voicethreads of your students, computers.
1. Demonstrate a comment you have had someone make about your voicethread and how this is viewed.
2. Demonstrate the comment process being made on your voicethread.
3. Ask students to view each other’s voicethreads and allow them to make “praise” comments on each other’s voicethreads only.
