Poetry

=Mary's Remix  of Lenore Keeshing-Tobias' poem, //I Grew Up.// =

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=//See new literacies lessons for explanation// =

=Tlingit Concrete Poem = In my English First Peoples 10/English 10 class we did a concrete poem lesson using Nora Marks Dauenhauer's poem, in which the Tlingit words for stem, apple and worm form a visual image of an apple.

I found a fantastic series by the English Department at the University of Arizona where I was able to reference (cut and paste) and create a one page biography of Ms.Dauenhauer and include snippets of the seminar transcript where she speaks about her language, writing and oral history. The transcript also contains a haiku she wrote in Tlingit. I write the haiku on the board while we discuss what do we know/remember about haikus. Students are quick to recall prior learning such as the 7, 5, 7 pattern and that haikus focus on nature. Students read the haiku and tried their best to pronounce the Tlingit words, knowing that the first word will have 5 syllables. Nobody in the class could speak Tlingit so I think it was easier for students to take a risk and try to say/sound out the words aloud. Many of my students are familiar with the use of ' (as a glottal stop and glottal accent) in the Kwakwala language so they were quick to make a //text to self// connection when reading the poem.

Tlagu aak'u ya

heent wujigani xixch':

kach'ishjaa.

I then print the Tlingit words and their translation under the original haiku and wait for students to piece it all together. Their laughter signals understanding :) Kach'ishjaa is big splash. Tlagu aak'u ya is the frog. heent wujigani xixch is jumping in the pond or water.

(One semester we had an interesting class discussion about translation and the transcribing of traditional languages into English. Students were quick to question if the word 'the' is part of the Tlingit language; they were correcting students who started reading the haiku as "The frog .." They questioned if other articles ( a, an, some) were used in Tlingit and also wondered if the verb "is" would be left out of the first line. We also have wondered if it is written in the past or present tense. Someone once wondered if big splash is a sound or the literal word for splash. Discussions about language and translation-what may be lost or different in the process of translation are wonderful experiences for all. I really like admitting to my students that I don't know and I also wonder. )

The next part of this lesson is to have students create their own shape poem using Nora's Tlingit Concrete Poem as their inspiration. You can find the poem in //Dicovering Poetry// by Hans P.Guth and Gabriele Rico or on the internet but the image becomes quite distorted. I used the First Voices website and a very old Boas text to phonetically write the Kwakwala words that I want students to use. I have downloaded the Kwakwala font as well so the words are typed correctly. I have created a Fall and Spring list of words to be used during the first and second semesters. My mother-in-law, Doreen Walkus is a fluent speaker and she often helps me pronounce the words that I list for students to use. I am very fortunate to have Charles Willie,as a colleague and resource at work. Charles is very knowlegeable, supportive and always willing to come into the classroom. During this lesson Charles will introduce and pronounce the Kwakwala words that students use to create their own shape poem. Students also use the class computers to hear the audio files and search for other words on the First Voices website. Stacia Johnson, teaches French and Japanese at our school and has kindly translated English words into both languages for me. This spring Stacia was a sponsor teacher for a visiting UBC student teacher and my class had the good fortune to meet Ms. Taiji who not only spoke French and Japanese but added Danish to our experience. Students loved hearing Danish and fondly remember Ms. Taiji's comment "Danish sounds like you are speaking with marbles in your mouth."

This lesson is done during a double block ( 2-60 minute classes) day. First block: read aloud the bio sheet, review haikus and read Dauenhauer's haiku. The next block is spent creating our own concrete poems ( rough and good copies) in either Kwakwala, Japanese or French. Posted by Jillian W

EFP 10/ELA 10 Poetry Anthology
I have created a mini class anthology of poems that we use during the semester. I do not teach poetry as a unit so I found it helpful to have a collection of class poems that we refer to throughout the course. This was the second semester collection--my goal for September is to add a photo and author bigraphy to each poem's page. I had students do the following assignment after they read their Literature Circle novel. It is obviously modelled on the government compare/contrast written response question and we use the Making connections scoring rubric. Posted by Jillian W

 Spoken Word Poetry
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Last Sunday I was listening to the radio in my car when I heard Luka Lesson discussing how he experienced prejudice as a child growing up in Australia. In the interview he discussed how he was often called "abo" which is a derogatory term for the aboriginal people of Australia. I downloaded the episode from CBC radio

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I created a few assignments using his written words -- Athena and May Your Pen Grace Your Page. Athena is great for literary allusions--I wrote out the allusions on post-it notes and had students look them up on the internet (definition and image) I read the poem aloud (first read through) and every time we came to an allusion a class member would share their findings and students would write the information on their poem. As a class we then filled out the poetry scaffold. The next day, my students worked in pairs,using the poetry scaffold with the written word poem "May Your Pen Grace Your Page." For homework I had students watch the Youtube video of Luka performing "May Your Pen Grace Your Page" and write a 200 word response stating which they preferred the written word or spoken word. Here are a few snippets of my student's responses:
 * Written word and spoken word are both great, but I prefer spoken word. Spoken word allows the audience to hear how the author wants the poem to be heard. Spoken word lets the audience hear how the author wants the rhythm, and the author may express certain word differently than others. Listening to spoken word allows us to hear the audience clapping and yelling which makes the poem seem more enthusiastic. Written word stays the same when you read it, spoken word allows the author to make small changes in the poem which keeps it fresh and interesting.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I personally think that the written version of this poem is better because I enjoy reading it more than having it read to me. This way I can have time to think about what the author is trying to say. When I read something I usually am able to see imagery a lot easier because I have the time to stop and think about it. Also I have the option to go back to any part of the poem re-read it so I have a better understanding of what the author trying to say. If the poem is being read to me aloud, and I happen to miss a section or don’t understand what the author is saying, this can sometimes affect the overall understanding of the entire poem. If I don’t know the meaning of a word, phrase, or allusion, I can than go and search these up to get a better understanding of the poem. But sometimes having the poem spoken to me can help drastically because the reader can emphasise key words and phrases that I would not normally get reading. Also, when the poem is read aloud, you can hear when there are breaks or pauses in thoughts or phrases that you might not get by reading it to yourself. But all in all, I believe that when reading a poem to yourself, you get a better understanding of the overall meaning in the poem.


 * Personally, I prefer the written word, because of three main factors. All of the factors I have are mental ones. The first reason why I prefer the written word to the spoken word is because I prefer using my vast mental capabilities to construct the environment of the situation in my mind. I do not experience this construction with the spoken word. The second reason why I prefer the written word to the spoken one is that I can actually see the words, which helps towards understanding of what those words mean. The Third reason why I prefer the written word to the spoken one is that If you can make out a word in the spoken poem, you never will. However, you can almost never misplace a word in a written poem. With all of these factors added in, my point is proven


 * I prefer the spoken word of the poem because the writer gets to read what they wrote to you in person. You can hear all the emotion the writer puts into the words in the poetry. The writer can put emphasis on parts they want to convey to the listener. By the author reading it, you can see all the hard work they have put into the poem to make it wonderful and just how proud they are of their work. The author can also improvise on parts and make it better and more interesting instead of just reading the same thing on a piece of paper. You can also see how the writer wants the reader to read it and the rhythm of the poem.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">N.B.There are a two fbombs in the YouTube video

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This week students will be working on creating their own Spoken Word poem using the prompt/theme " Three Things I know to be True. " <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">I have used Sarah Kay's website as a Spoken word resource and have shown her YouTube and Tedtalk videos to students in the past. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Here is a link to a good reference