Oral Interpretation & Poetry Drafts

Period 3:

Let's share 1 of the 2 essay drafts you wrote. Performance Reminder: Good speakers:

• Make eye contact
• Speak clearly and loudly
• Use gestures
• Have energy
• Change tone
• Perform with sincerity

Class: do your best to be supportive of each speaker. At the very least, be courteous. Selfish and self-centered people lose friends. You don't have to be a jerk. Keep an open mind. Listen. Learn. Appreciate art and support each other's creative work.

Period 4:

Literally, or denotatively, a poem is a piece of writing, often having figurative language and lines, that suggest rhythm and a visual image. We use figurative language when our writing goes beyond the "actual meanings of words (denotation) so that the reader gains new insights into the objects or subjects" in our draft.

Poems should utilize imagery (an appeal to the senses by using a metaphor, simile, assonance/consonance, alliteration, symbol, personification, onomatopoeia, specific nouns/active verbs, figurative language); poems do not need to rhyme. They should create a specific picture or image in the mind of the reader or listener. Usually, there is a turning point or volta near the end of the poem (or the last line)--usually to surprise the reader. 

All poem drafts should have a meaning, a theme. There are 4 themes found in poems (sometimes more than one of these 4 themes is found in a single poem!)

Poems are always about:

• Human life
• Death 
• Nature
• Love

POEM TASK #2: In your journal make a list of subject matter that you might write a poem about. Get a good list going. Then select one of your ideas and turn it into a poem draft. Take 5-10 minutes to complete your draft. Try to write relatively quickly, but focus on a single IMAGE or impression or emotion you are trying to describe. Consider the 4 different themes. For PART 2 of the draft, rewrite the same poem, but focus on one of the different themes. Consider how this changes a poem.

Poems should have a structure. They look different sitting on a page. They are not written like prose is written. They are special. However, they should be written using punctuation. Paragraphs in poems are called stanzas. When we change the topic or scene, we can start a new stanza. 

Poems are written using line breaks. Line breaks are important--because they mean something in a poem. A long line slows the pace of your poem. A short line speeds up the pace of your poem.

Structure: Dice poem exercise... Get ready to write. Follow these rules:

• Select a subject from your journal list. Or, since you're going to use dice, choose one of these themes: chance or fate, gambling, randomness, something unpredictable, games, probability, etc.
• Select 2 dice from the pile.
• Roll both dice to determine the # of lines for your poem.
• As you write each line, roll both dice to determine the number of words in each line of the poem.
• Write that poem in your journal for participation credit.

Take 10 minutes to do this. If you like your drafts from your journal, type up your work and print the file next door. Turn it in to me to read and I'll place the draft in your writing portfolio.

If you finish early, watch this video about advice writing poetry and jot down advice you want to remember in your journal (this is participation credit for your journal--and you may learn something!):

• What Makes a Poem (5 min.)

HOMEWORK: If you have completed your baseline poem draft, your baseline non-fiction draft, and your "Who's Writing This" draft, you have no homework. By now, you should have several pages written in your journal. If you did not complete these assignments, please do so for homework and turn them in late. [Late penalty applies]. Feel free to continue to write in your journal. Each page you write gains you more credit.

EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY: The Rochester Fringe Festival opened this week. Take a catalog and go see a performance this week (the festival runs through next Saturday, Sept. 21--take a friend or family member with you because it's more fun to see a show with someone!) My own original play "The Fighting Girl's Guide to Politics" is opening this weekend on Saturday and Sunday at the School of the Arts during the Fringe. Ms. Gamzon is directing an original play written by one of her friends and colleagues called "Colma". Ms. Accorso also has a play that she wrote in the Fringe. Go see our work, or go see any other show. 

HOW TO GET EXTRA CREDIT: Write up a short summary of the show you saw. Then, comment on the performance. What did you learn about PERFORMING (acting, directing, viewing, etc.) from watching the show. What did you (or your friends) think of the show? Turn in your "review" and gain extra participation credit for this marking period. You may repeat this option as many times as you like. Go see 30 plays, get 30 points of extra credit! Etc.