Your arms are stronger than the words of the Gettysburg Address.
Yet soft and warm as clothes in a dryer.
And your eyes--bluer than Boston in a World Series,
Deeper than the stack of papers on my desk.
Your voice rings like the phone in the middle of dinner,
It bubbles in me like milk blown through a straw.
How much do I love you?
More than a fire loves oxygen.
More than the mailman loves Sundays.
More than the Rabbit loves Trix.
POINTING is a workshop tool where each workshop member hears or reads the piece up for workshop and selects a word, phrase, or sentence from the piece. Going around the group taking turns, each workshop member reads his/her selection (word, phrase, or sentence) out loud so that the author hears the line that the reviewer liked. Effectively, you could continue doing this practice as long as there is something the reviewer liked. Each time the author hears a word, phrase, or sentence selected, he/she makes a check mark next to the word, phrase, or line on his/her copy of the workshop piece. At the end, the author should have various lines checked. If a poet, for example, has everyone in the group say that they liked a line, there is physical proof (the check marks) that the line works for the reader.Workshop groups:
What to do with this information?: After pointing, go back and see what you might be able to cut (usually the words, phrases or lines no one selected). Consider WHY the word, phrase, or sentence worked and try to replicate that throughout the piece.
While pointing is meant to be a positive experience, the author is in full control of what is kept and removed in a piece, realize that some lines or words are essential, but may not draw the reader's attention. If the line is important to the writer, and no one selects or notices it, the writer should take this into consideration.
A workshop group could also be more critical, POINTING at words, phrases, or sentences that the reviewer did NOT like. But this takes a strong backbone and trust.
1. Get into your workshop group (see below for groups)You will be graded on the following during workshop:
2. Each contributing writer should take turns reading their work out loud to the rest of the group. You may organize this how you wish--with each poet reading and discussing one poem (going around the 'circle', and then once everyone has had a turn, going around the circle again with your second poem, and then third poem, then..., etc.)
3. The group should listen and read silently while the writer reads his/her poem
4. As the writer reads his/her poem, the workshop members should highlight or mark specific words or phrases or lines that he/she liked on the poem draft copy. If you notice mistakes in grammar, spelling, mechanics, syntax, etc. you may note these as well. Begin using your newly learned editing marks as practice!
5. Consider the basic questions and techniques of poetry...(structure/form, persona/speaker, POV, setting, theme, message, tone, mood, voice, meter, line, imagery, diction, characterization, conflict, sound techniques, etc.) Give the writer a WRITTEN critique of their poem based on the questions on the handout. You should complete one of these for EACH poet (not every poem!) You may also write your specific corrections/comments on the poem draft copy. You will be giving your poet the marked copy and the comments for the scoring rubric. Poets will use this to revise/rewrite.
6. When everyone is finished writing comments, open the discussion to the writer’s specific questions. Writers should help this along by jotting down and asking some questions that they want to know about their work. For example: Did you understand the message of my poem? What are some ways in which I can improve or strengthen my poem? Is the persona's voice clear and well defined or developed? Does the setting of my poem distract you as a reader? Do you have some suggestions with this line that I am having trouble with?, etc.
7. Again, after you have discussed the writer’s work, please return your marked poem draft copies to its writer.
8. After the group has finished helping the writer, please continue around the group to help critique the other writers who submitted material as well.
9. Continue this until the entire group has had a chance to participate in the workshop.
10. When your group has completed the workshop, take the notes/comments from your peers and go to the lab. Revise your poetry based on comments. Select ONE poem you revised and turn the second draft in to me with the written comment sheets you used from your peers, and your marked up copies.
1. Universal.
2. Creative.
3. Not about the teenage writer specifically.
4. Show a broader interest than just teenage interests...
5. Show that a poet is specific and knows something more than the average student submitting...
6. Tend to show humans overcoming adversity, not complaining or being negative about the subject...
1. Universal.There will be many poetry contests to enter this year, next year, the year after that. The most true thing is: if you don't enter--you can't win. Try. You never know...but then again, you now know more than the average teenage poet.
2. Creative.
3. Not about the teenage writer specifically.
4. Show a broader interest than just teenage interests...
5. Show that a poet is specific and knows something more than the average student submitting...
6. Tend to show humans overcoming adversity, not complaining or being negative about the subject...
A. All group members must speak.4. Memorize and practice your group poem together. You will perform your poem "slams" from memory next class! The more you practice today, the more polished you will likely be for your graded performance next class.
B. All group members must contribute to the poem in some significant way.
C. Help each other.
D. Include gestures and "blocking" for your performance. Decide how you will move, what will you do with your body, what tone you will use in your voice, how this tone will change, what facial expressions you will make, how you will change your pitch, pace, and rhythm, etc.
A. All group members must speak.You may find it helpful to first come up with a response line or choral line: a repeated line that all group members recite together or at different times to cue your group members as to where you are in the poem. Write the draft of the poem together first. Once you have a draft, print out enough copies for each of your members, then gather to practice and block the performance.
B. All group members must contribute to the poem in some significant way.
C. Help each other.
D. Include gestures and "blocking" for your performance. Decide how you will move, what will you do with your body, what tone you will use in your voice, how this tone will change, what facial expressions you will make, how you will change your pitch, pace, and rhythm, etc.
1. When speaking someone else's words, you will need to know what the author means. Look up and define for yourself any words you are unsure of in meaning.NOTE: it is very clear when a student does not prepare because he/she often reads to us in a boring, atonal way (like hitting the same note on a piano for 5 minutes), or because the speaker acts like this is the first time he/she has spoken these words out loud. Do yourself a favor (and your grade...) Prepare/rehearse and physically speak the words, I pray you, trippingly on the tongue...as Shakespeare wrote.
2. Consider who the speaker of the poem may be. Is this person a housewife, or a mechanic, or a brother, or son, or young or old? Why might this persona be speaking? (is there a special reason?) To whom may this character be speaking to? How might this speaker sound? Try to create this experience for your audience.Use the time in class during period 3 to select and practice reading your poem. Make some choices about how you will best perform the poem for the class. You may wish to work with a partner when rehearsing so he/she can give you feedback about the effectiveness of your choices.
3. If the poet repeats lines or phrases, consider why the author is doing this?
4. What images stand out strongly or vividly to you? It is often a good thing to slow down during descriptive moments of a poem.
5. Where does the climax or most important line in the poem occur? It is often helpful to raise the tension of the poem using our voice. Consider using an appropriate TONE of voice during this section.
6. If a poet lists a great number of things (like in slam poetry) it is often a good idea to increase the pace of this section.
7. Consider gestures or posture. Is your character happy, sad, bored, eager, excited, fearful, or any other emotion? How will you best convey this to your audience through your body, facial expressions, or voice?
8. Is your character performing an action? If so, what gestures could you include in your performance that might help aid understanding?
A. All group members must speak.You may find it helpful to first come up with a response line or choral line: a repeated line that all group members recite together or at different times to cue your group members as to where you are in the poem. Write the draft of the poem together first. Once you have a draft, print out enough copies for each of your members, then gather to practice and block the performance.
B. All group members must contribute to the poem in some significant way.
C. Help each other.
D. Include gestures and "blocking" for your performance.
1. You may read up to 3 poems or 1 short story (no longer than 3 - 5 minutes, please)REMEMBER: Effective performance is based on a few things:
2. You must introduce yourself and let your audience know what you are planning on reading.
Example: "Hello, I am Mr. Craddock and I will be reading 2 poems tonight entitled: Poem #1 and Untitled Poem #347."
3. Always breathe and take a slight pause between transitions (that includes your greeting and the reading or performance of your selection(s))
4. Perform your poems or stories with energy, volume, and effective speech techniques. You should be using the techniques and skills we have been discussing in class to communicate your idea (your poem/story) to your audience.
IMAGERY: Is the careful use of vivid or figurative language (metaphors, similes, personification, allusion, etc.) to represent objects, actions, or ideas that are otherwise abstract (love, death, sorrow, freedom, etc.) This representation is often VISUAL, for it helps create a picture in a listener or reader's mind. The only way to create a visual picture is to be specific with your noun usage or to compare something unknown with something known.Please examine some examples of imagery:
Imagery can also be auditory (sound) with the use of alliteration, assonance, consonance, and other techniques like rhyme and rhythm.
Descriptive words: starry, winter, southern
- On a starry winter night in Portugal, where the ocean kissed the southern shore...
"One of the most vital and energetic movements in poetry during the 1990s, slam has revitalized interest in poetry performance. Poetry began as part of an oral tradition, and movements like the Beats and the poets of Negritude were devoted to the spoken and performed aspects of their poems. This interest was reborn through the rise of poetry slams across America; while many poets in academia found fault with the movement, slam was well received among young poets and poets of diverse backgrounds as a democratizing force. This generation of spoken word poetry is often highly politicized, drawing upon racial, economic, and gender injustices as well as current events for subject manner.Slam Poetry often uses topics or themes that are politically or emotionally charged. Slam poets often write with a social comment to make or share with an audience.
A slam itself is simply a poetry competition in which poets perform original work alone or in teams before an audience, which serves as judge. The work is judged as much on the manner and enthusiasm of its performance as its content or style, and many slam poems are not intended to be read silently from the page. The structure of the traditional slam was started by construction worker and poet Marc Smith in 1986 at a reading series in a Chicago jazz club. The competition quickly spread across the country, finding a notable home in New York City at the Nuyorican Poets Café."
• You DO NOT have to use all 21 words in your poem.HOMEWORK:
• Your poem should make sense. Try to avoid sentence fragments. (Consider your character, setting, theme, conflict, etc. to help write a story...yes, even poetry has a story.)
• You may include as many OTHER words as you’d like.
