DWRL Lesson Plans - Poetry

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

Historical Context

Literary Criticism

Adaptable For Use Without Classroom Technology

Structure and Form

Textual Analysis

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Annotation

Writing Process

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Collaboration

Software

Visualization

Media Requirements:

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Required Materials:

-Computer for each students

-Projector to present

-Texts

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Mid-Semester

Full Assignment Description:

Prior to the Genius lesson, I assigned students a close reading activity for homework. They had produced one-paragraph close readings from selected short lines of poetry--their first fully independent close reading work. They were asked to make an argument about the meaning and importance of the lines that included both the how and why of literary analysis. In other words, students needed to identify something they found important about word choice, structure, etc. (this was the what) and then explain how they knew this was true (finding evidence), and finally articulate why the author made this choice. (These pieces of writing were used as building blocks for full close reading--skills we had been working on in class; I had previously given them several examples of complete analytical thoughts). I then annotated their written paragraphs to identify the "hows" and "whys" or to point out the missing evidence and explanation. We went over several examples using the projector. As we discussed my comments and ways to improve their close readings, I introduced the term "annotation" and we talked about how annotating can be used to improve their reading comprehension. This mini-lesson was useful in making sure that students both understood my feedback and began to learn the skills of active reading.

At the end of this class I had students make accounts with Genius, read their introductory page, and explore the website. Genius allows students to see a public community of annotators at work and in conversation, as well as understand how the annotations can enhance meaning. I was glad that the text we were reading, Junot Diaz's Drown, was not up on the site and annotated, as I wanted my students to engage their own critical thinking skills before they read other people's criticism.

During the next class I assigned students to five small groups (4-5 students) and asked each student to login to Genius. Each group had a different short excerpt (1-2 paragraphs) from the previous night's reading to annotate. Students were asked to look up words in the OED or by using other resources (as they were often looking up Spanish and Dominican slang) and explain these, as well as provide succinct close reading paragraphs that made an argument about the meaning and importance of certain words, phrases, sentences (building on the previous assignment). They began by doing the work individually, but enjoyed seeing one another's comments appear on the page, and I encouraged them to engage in conversation as they annotated, as well as afterward.

The groups presented their annotations to the class. Each group member was required to present at least one annotation. As a class, we discussed methods for strengthening each of the close readings and I explained how these paragraphs might be incorporated into their upcoming papers on the text. Because of the genius of Genius, students were able to comment on or revise one another's annotations. They are also aware that their work exists in the public sphere and may be edited by any member.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

-Introduce the building blocks or steps of close reading over the course of several classes

-Grade a close reading assignment using annotations that identify different aspects of the student's close reading (evidence and explanation, or "hows and whys")

-Prepare several examples of this completed assignment to show to the class (ask students for permission if projecting their work)

-Prepare students for the activity in a previous class by having them join Genius, read the introductory material, and explore the website

-Upload 5-6 excerpts from the next reading assignment to Genius (feel free to contact Jeremy Dean, Education Czar and alum, for help or advice: jeremy@genius.com)

-Split the class into groups

Instructions For Students:

HW Assignment (close reading building blocks--I provide an example of each of the following steps. I also provide them with a packet on close reading that we review as a class prior to this assignment):

1. Choose 2 lines from "Howl." Follow the steps below to produce a well-supported argument about the meaning of these lines.

2. Paraphrase. First you will need to make sure that you understand all the words in these lines (use the OED). Next, state what is said and/or what happens in your own words.

3. Make a list of observations about these lines. What's important? Refer only to details from these two lines. This will be your evidence.

4. Analyze. Now you need to consider the meaning of these observations. In at least two seperate complete sentences, describe how and why two of the above observations/details contribute to the meaning of this selection.

5. Argue. Produce a one-paragraph argument about the meaning of this selection. Each of your explanatory claims must be supported by evidence from these two lines.

Genius Group Activity

-Read over my feedback on your close reading hw assignment

-Find your assigned excerpt in Drown and reread this section to familiarize yourself

-Sign-in to Genius.com and search for the excerpt

-Begin by looking up any words you do not immediately understand, using the OED or other databases

-Next, annonate these words, explaining their meaning and situating them within the passage

-To Annotate: highlight the selection and click the "annotate" button that pops up, then enter your text into the textbox. Note: if someone has already annoated this selection, you may add your own text by highlighting the selection from right to left.

-Now, begin to close read the passage, adding annotations that provide context or further explanation

-Finally, choose a phrase or sentence that you find integral to the excerpt's meaning. Using the close reading steps, produce a one paragraph annotation of this material

-Discuss your annotations as a group and prepare to report back to the rest of the class

Evaluation Suggestions:

I did not grade this assignment (except as a contributing factor to students' participation grades) but students will soon submit a short paper on the text that will showcase their active reading and close reading skills--skills that hopefully further developed through their use of Genius. We did evaluate almost every annotation as a class, considering ways to improve students' articulations.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

Students seemed excited about this assignment and were generally very positive about the results of their work. Several of them told me they loved using Genius (and most were learning about it for the first time). Next time, I think I would annotate an excerpt as an entire class (to go over process and discuss best practices) and maybe spend more time introducing the website rather than letting students explore individually, as it took a while for some students to start their annotations. I would also prefer smaller groups and more excerpts, so that each student had the opportunity to provide a substantial close reading, rather than one or two students from each group dominating the annotating!

Course Type:

Course Description:

The banning of books continues today in the United States, speaking both to the fear of certain ideas and the power of the written word. In this course, students will read banned novels, short stories, and poems across cultural and temporal contexts, pursuing the following questions: What causes a text to be labeled “indecent” or “dangerous”? How is literature connected to political and social movements? How do these texts contribute to our understanding of what constitutes American literature?

The primary aim of this course is to help you develop and improve the critical reading, writing, and thinking skills needed for success in upper-division courses in English and other disciplines. You will also gain practice in using the Oxford English Dictionary and other online research tools and print resources that support studies in the humanities. You will learn basic information literacy skills and models for approaching literature with various historical, generic, and cultural contexts in mind.

Tags:

Using Storify to Analyze Poetry

Ptacek — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 21:14:34 +0000

Author:

Jake Ptacek

Image Credit:

Screenshot of Storify page by Jake Ptacek

Brief Assignment Overview:

Students often conceptualize poems as monolithic objects from the past. This lesson plan helps encourage them to visualize and conceptualize the content and influence of a poem in different registers.

Type of Assignment:

Major Course Project

Assignment Length:

Course Unit

Pedagogical Goals - Rhetoric:

Visual Rhetoric

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

The goal of this exercise is to encourage students to transform their relationship with the words on the page, to see a poem as a living cultural argument rather than a set-in-stone text. It is also designed to encourage students to think about poetry as different kinds of media.

Media Requirements:

Media Console/Projector

Required Materials:

Students will require access to a computer, whether in class or outside of the classroom.

A computer and projector.

A Storify account.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Intermediate Writing Course

Mid-Semester

Late in the Semester

Full Assignment Description:

Poems are not simply one-time literary events. Instead, they make arguments about the culture a poet lives and practices her art in as well as arguments about the culture within which the reader lives. In this assignment, students will create a multimedia presentation using Storify to help elucidate a poem's meaning, but also to examine how that poem appears in our contemporary media culture. Storify helps them track appearances of the poem as a whole (or of selected lines) in social media.

This helps students see the present-day influence of a text. It also allows them to provide line-by-line annotation and to think about the poem as a visual or audio media event, rather than simply words on a page. Students may also provide interpretaive material: music from the time period, photographs or videos that reference images, characters, or places in the poem.

Storify provides an excellent platform for this analysis because it allows users to search social media like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as more conventional sites like Google and Youtube, for materials related to their project. This allows students to create a visually appealing presentation of the poem to their classmates with relative ease.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Familiarize yourself with Storify beforehand; be prepared to set aside some class time to create and navigate accounts for your students.

Instructions For Students:

This project will form the basis of your in-class presentation, so please plan ahead accordingly.

In this project, you will create a visual presentation of the poem you have chosen using Storify. You will type out the entire poem. For each line of the poem, you will find at least two images, quotations, websites, videos, or songs that will help us elucidate or make sense of the poem you have chosen. They may comment directly on the line in question, or offer a representation of a figure, place, image, or theme within that line, or they may have a more oblique relationship to the line in question. However, you must be able to demonstrate the relevance of each component to our understanding of the poem itself. However, you are free to--and encouraged to--be creative and exploratory in your creation of a Storify page.

You will present your post to the rest of the class in our penultimate week in a 6-8 minute presentation.

Evaluation Suggestions:

This assignment is still in the experimental phase, so I have not yet evaluated any student posts. It will be part of their presentation grade, which is determined by both content and professionalism of delivery.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

Again, this is still in the experimental phase. Undoubtedly I will need to make the "Student Assignment" directions clearer and more specific.

Additional Resources:

My thanks to Cate Blouke, who first demonstrated the power of Storify to me.

Course Type:

Course Description:

I am currently testing this assignment in my E314L: Reading Poetry course.

What’s so special about poetry? What makes it so popular throughout history? Why do figures as different as Percy Bysshe Shelley and Geoffrey Hill, Aristotle and Heidegger, John Stuart Mill and T. S. Eliot—even Bob Dylan and Morrissey—care so much about it? Why has it always been central to the practice of literary criticism? What does it mean to write a poem, to read one, or even, as Mary Poovey suggested, to live inside one? And what is a poem, even? Is it a matter of form, or function, or technique?

In order to begin answering these questions, we will investigate very different lyric poets and poetry—including, for example, Sappho, nursery rhymes, Shakespeare, John Donne, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christina Rossetti, William Butler Yeats, and the Smiths—with an eye to both the similarities and differences in their poetical practices. Each of these poets returns again and again to the lyric form—to express their fears about war, their anxieties about sex, their relationship to nature and to cities, trying to make sense of the world around them.

No prior knowledge of poetry or critical theory is required. As we progress, we’ll develop as a class a set of critical and formal vocabularies to help us make sense of the poetry. We will focus on developing literary analysis and research skills, and to that end we will read both classic and modern pieces of criticism in order to give us conceptual models for our own academic work. We’ll also work on honing our research and writing skills, and use the Oxford English Dictionary to help us make sense of how historical changes in the English language affect poetry and our understanding of it. These skills will prove useful not only to English majors, but to students of many disciplines

Tags:

Visual Analysis

Multimedia Presentation

Storify

Literature

Mapping Poetic Word Choice to Discover Literary Themes

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:45:03 +0000

Author:

Dustin D. Stewart

Image Credit:

"Magnetic Poetry" via surrealmuse's Flikr stream

Brief Assignment Overview:

Type of Assignment:

In-class Exercise

Assignment Length:

One-Two Class Periods

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

Literary Criticism

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Textual Analysis

Word Choice

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Open Access Software

Presentations

Visualization

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

Research

Organization/Arrangement

Close reading

Assessment of literary themes

Media Requirements:

Media Console/Projector

Required Materials:

In-class computers (optimal but not strictly necessary)

NovaMind Pro (or one of several freeware alternatives)

Student access to a web browser and a printer

Document camera and/or computer-linked projector for sharing results (again, optimal but not necessary)

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Mid-Semester

Full Assignment Description:

The assignment allows students to discuss their literary close-reading essays with each other, while also attempting to coordinate those close-readings with larger thematic issues discussed in class. The idea is to use individual words to learn more about global concerns in a literary text. In my case, the text was John Milton's Paradise Lost, and the activity asked students to use mind-mapping and word-cloud tools.

Each student has written a formal close-reading essay that focuses on a particular keyword in a passage from John Milton's Paradise Lost. Using a computer-connected projector or a document camera (a chalkboard will also suffice), the class creates a list of all the words used in their formal essays. (This should require no more than 5-10 minutes.)

Then, students are divided into smaller groups. Each group is assigned to articulate between three and five large thematic questions that preoccupy Milton's poem. The questions should emerge both from their independent reading and from our shared in-class discussion. (This will take some time, perhaps 10-15 minutes.)

Next, students are asked to arrange the listed keywords under the question(s) that best suits each term. They must coordinate the small-scale focus of their close-readings with the major themes prevalent in the poem. How does the local (an individual word) fit within the global (a big thematic question)? (This is the crux of the activity and requires the most time, probably 20-30 minutes.)

My class used NovaMind Pro mind-mapping software for this activity. Working at an in-class computer, groups of 3-4 students mapped the major questions around the title of the epic poem. Then, branching off of each such question, they listed the keywords relevant to it. Then, as time allowed, they used other features of the software to write short notes explaining why they located each keyword where they did.

As homework for the next class, to continue this emphasis on individual words (but to shift it to considering students' own writing practice), I asked students to use Wordle to create a word-cloud of their own close-reading essays. They brought the results to class and showed them to one another. We then discussed what the word-clouds revealed. Which words were larger than expected? Which were smaller or nonexistent? What can these findings tell us about what our writing is emphasizing (as against what we think it's emphasizing)? (This conversation took up around 20 minutes at the front end of my next class session.)

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

Given the reliance on a former assignment (the close-reading essay), this particular version of the assignment will require some advance planning/integration into the course schedule. Additionally, you will want to familiarize yourself with the available mapping technologies.

Instructions For Students:

[Class's list of at least 15 keywords, presented on a projector screen, would appear here.]

Write out at least three or four of the major thematic questions that Milton raises in Paradise Lost. Then use these words (as many of them as possible) as ways to illustrate or to answer the different questions. Think of the questions as umbrellas under which you can place the different words.

Once you're ready, log into a workstation (one per group), and I'll come around and show you how to begin in NovaMind Pro.

Evaluation Suggestions:

I evaluated students' work on this task on a credit/no-credit scheme. I awarded credit on the basis of participation and completion, which thus required students' attendance and involvement over two consecutive class meetings.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

My students seemed very engaged with the assignment, which provided an opportunity for coordinating out-of-class writing with in-class discussion. They also responded positively to the group dynamics required to complete the task.

As so often, I didn't allocate enough time to the mind-mapping activity. Rather than give it half a Tuesday/Thursday session (as I did this time), next time I will apportion the majority of a class session for this exercise.

Additional Resources:

Here is an example of what one of these might look like:

Milton-Mindmap.jpg

Course Type:

Course Description:

E 314L (Honors): Reading Poetry. Topic: Origins after Milton. “A good book,” wrote John Milton, “is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.” Many poets have come to see Milton himself as a daunting master spirit. Indeed, Milton has inspired an entire tradition of criticism that sees all poetry as caught up in the quest to conquer one’s forebears. This honors section of E 314L: Reading Poetry will explore the kind of mastery poets (and also critics of poetry) try to attain by preceding their predecessors. Designed for potential English majors who are involved in Plan I Honors, the course will begin with Milton’s Paradise Lost. We will consider the work as experimental poetry, meant to contribute to an epic tradition by predating it. Even though he arrives later, Milton wants to come first.

The class will then trace this paradoxical struggle for primacy--pressing farther ahead by reaching further back--through a variety of experimental verse written over several centuries. British poetry will be central, but we will also look at some American and (in translation) European and Asian poems. Readings will move from Milton to antiquarian and spiritualist poetry of the 18th century, then to Romantic and Victorian originalism of the 19th. (This last group will allow us to consider connections between Darwin and poetry.) The course will culminate in 20th-century modernist poems, particularly canonical works by Eliot, Pound, and Stein.

We will read primary poetic texts carefully, cultivating sensitivity to their formal features. We will also enlarge our vision by examining works through such critical lenses as those provided by feminism, psychoanalysis, New Historicism, and theology. Secondary readings will be extensive and ambitious for this honors class, as will be our efforts to place each work in its historical context. Also distinctive about the honors section are its expectations for student research. Enrollees will learn to use electronic tools like the OED, the MLA Bibliography, and the DNB, as well as databases such as ECCO, C-19, and LION. These tools will help students to fulfill the course’s writing requirements and will prepare them for further study in the field of English.

Tags:

Editing Poetry: Manuscript to Printed Page

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 18:01:38 +0000

Author:

Frederick Heard

Image Credit:

"Metallic Ballpen Tips" via photosteve101's Flikr stream

Brief Assignment Overview:

Type of Assignment:

In-class Exercise

Assignment Length:

One-Two Class Periods

Pedagogical Goals - Literature:

Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

Cultural Context

Literary Criticism

Technology-Based Classroom (computers for each student)

Textual Analysis

Word Choice

Pedagogical Goals - Writing:

Pedagogical Goals - Digital Literacy:

Multimodal

Additional Pedagogical Goals:

Generating an awareness of bibliographic/textual concerns and raising questions about the physical status of books. Thinking about the material conditions of a work’s production and circulation. Questioning received texts in anthologies and elsewhere and complicating the students’ perception of “authorship.”

Media Requirements:

Media Console/Projector

Required Materials:

Photocopies of a poem from a facsimile edition of Dickenson (I used “I taste a liquor never brewed” from R. W. Franklin’s facsimile edition).

Several printed editions of the same poem. I chose a poem that was included in the students’ anthology and also brought reading editions by Thomas H. Johnson and R. W. Franklin. I looked up several decidedly non-scholarly versions online to round out the possible manifestations of the poem.

Student access to computers (this could be accomplished with students bringing in their own laptops if not working in a technology-based classroom)

Document camera.

Timeline for Optimal Use:

Full Assignment Description:

Students work on transcribing an Emily Dickenson poem from manuscript form into print. Their transcriptions are then compared with each other and with several printed editions of the same poem and used as exemplary material for discussing editorial decisions ranging from choice of words, letters and punctuation to use of alternate lines, footnotes, etc.

Because Dickenson presents a somewhat extreme example of editorial intervention (few of her poems were published in her lifetime, so most of her poems have no authorized transcription), her poems offer a prime opportunity for introducing students to the impact of editorial and publication decisions on the poems they read. This activity places those decisions in the hands of the students and forces them to think both explicitly and pragmatically about what decisions have to be made to move a manuscript into printed form and what factors influence those decisions.

Suggestions for Instructor Preparation:

I used this assignment on our second day reading Dickinson because I wanted the students to rethink the supposed familiarity with the text of the poem. I did not assign the poem I had them transcribe because I did not want them to have easy recourse to the edition in their book.

After a brief discussion of Dickinson’s composition and publication history, I told the students to close their anthologies and take one copy of the manuscript facsimile. When everyone had a copy, I divided the room into small groups (about three students each) and asked them to log into one computer per group and begin working on their own “print” editions of the poem. I gave the students about 25-30 minutes to work on their editions of the poem. Some groups finished slightly earlier, but one or two groups were rushed and had to leave some words as blanks. Since I was already going to use the document camera, I had each group print out a copy of their edition on the in-class printer (email or the “teacher folder” could also be used).

After collecting the several classroom-editions of the poem, I placed them one at a time on the document camera and had the group read their version of the poem and discuss the decisions they made about capitalization, line breaks, punctuation (including dashes). Each group took 3-5 minutes for a total of 15-20 minutes.

After looking at the students’ editions, I put the different printed editions of the poem on the doc cam and had student’s note the differences between them and their own versions. It is important to have printed versions that differ from each other so students don’t see the differences between their copies and the printed copies as definitively authoritative. We also looked at a couple of websites that host the poem.

After discussing some major differences in copy texts—treatment of alternate lines, use of footnotes, etc.—we discussed how the facsimile, their required textbook anthology, the different “Collected Poems” and the free-floating online editions vary in their broader presentation of the poem (Do they present their version as the final word? Do they acknowledge other versions? Are they aware of and do they acknowledge their editorial contributions? Do they make Dickinson’s poem look like a typical 19th century edition of poetry? If not, how do they translate the strangeness of the manuscript page into print? etc.).

Instructions For Students:

Take a copy of Dickinson’s manuscript and, without referencing your anthology or any online sources, transcribe this poem into ‘printed form’ in a word processor. Make your final edition of the poem look how you would make it appear if you were editing a book of her poetry. If you get stuck in one place, move on to an easier passage and come back to it later. Many difficult words/passages will be clearer when you have established some context. This should take about 30 minutes.

Evaluation Suggestions:

There were no grades assigned for the exercise beyond normal class participation.

Notes on Reception, Execution, etc.:

The students enjoyed the hands-on process of transcription. I was worried about time constraints and ended up rushing them in that process more than I would like, so I may let them work for longer next time. If I give them more time, I will actively push the groups that finish earlier to go into more depth with their treatment of alternate lines, footnotes, etc. Some of the students didn’t see the editorial differences as very significant or meaningful, so, if I had more time to work on the assignment, I might expand the latter half to build close readings around alternate versions and see more explicitly how the editorial decisions affect the poem’s meaning. Alternately, I will adjust my expectations and remember that this is an introduction, not a conclusion, to textual problems that we will discuss through the length of the semester.

Additional Resources:

A brief critical reading about editorial practice might be useful as a lead-in or a follow-up for the exercise.

Course Type: