Poetry
15/11/11 20:54
Five Ways to Move Poetry into the 21st Century
Students’ interest in writing poetry will skyrocket when they see their poetry in art, comics, music, and animation. Work on a Peter Max-style Statue of Liberty piece of art and write poems about the Statue of Liberty as a symbol or as an apostrophe. Special thanks to our art teacher, Denise Stevens, at Cumberland Road Elementary for her help on combining art and poetry in my classroom.
Use Lois Main Templeton’s Finding Your Way (beautiful to read and view) painting and related poem style. What a fabulous way to focus on the key ideas/words in a poem and be an artist at the same time. Charcoal, eraser, and watercolors are needed
Take Comic Life software and turn poems into a comic strip. Each student selects or photographs five to eight pictures that relate to his/her poem. Photos are inserted, the text of the poem is written in the textboxes at the bottom of each cartoon, and thought or speech bubbles are added to objects in the pictures.
In past years, students in my class were videotaped performing rap versions of their poems. They’d dance, play musical instruments such as cymbals, and dress like rap artists. This year, I tried something new and invited students to explore Garage Band on my iPad. Creating music is a great opportunity to incorporate Howard Gardner’s Music Multiple Intelligence in the classroom.
Currently, student teams are learning about computer programming using a free Alice animation download (Alice.org). They save their Alice file as a movie and add a voiceover of the poem as well as music.
These activities help students realize that poetry is everywhere in the 21st century! - Meg Strnat
Students’ interest in writing poetry will skyrocket when they see their poetry in art, comics, music, and animation. Work on a Peter Max-style Statue of Liberty piece of art and write poems about the Statue of Liberty as a symbol or as an apostrophe. Special thanks to our art teacher, Denise Stevens, at Cumberland Road Elementary for her help on combining art and poetry in my classroom.
Use Lois Main Templeton’s Finding Your Way (beautiful to read and view) painting and related poem style. What a fabulous way to focus on the key ideas/words in a poem and be an artist at the same time. Charcoal, eraser, and watercolors are needed
Take Comic Life software and turn poems into a comic strip. Each student selects or photographs five to eight pictures that relate to his/her poem. Photos are inserted, the text of the poem is written in the textboxes at the bottom of each cartoon, and thought or speech bubbles are added to objects in the pictures.
In past years, students in my class were videotaped performing rap versions of their poems. They’d dance, play musical instruments such as cymbals, and dress like rap artists. This year, I tried something new and invited students to explore Garage Band on my iPad. Creating music is a great opportunity to incorporate Howard Gardner’s Music Multiple Intelligence in the classroom.
Currently, student teams are learning about computer programming using a free Alice animation download (Alice.org). They save their Alice file as a movie and add a voiceover of the poem as well as music.
These activities help students realize that poetry is everywhere in the 21st century! - Meg Strnat