Slam Project: Preparation

Slam Poem Examples:

• "Lost Voices"
• "Simon Says"
• "When Love Arrives"

Slam Project.

Find a single partner to work with on this assignment. Please complete the following tasks:

#1: Learn some poetry terms*. Check the link and together, with your partner, divide up the definition for the following poetry terms (equally, that's 10 terms each). Write these definitions in your journal--and then plan to use some of them in your writing for this project. The list of poetic devices includes:

• Alliteration
• Allusion
• Anthropomorphism
• Assonance
• Chiasmus
• Connotation
• Epistrophe
• Euphemism
• Hyperbole
• Imagery
• Juxtaposition
• Litote
• Malapropism
• Metonymy
• Onomatopoeia
• Oxymoron
• Rhyme Scheme
• Synecdoche
• Synonym
• Verisimilitude

These 3 terms you don't need to write a definition for, but you should plan to use them in your poetry draft:

• Simile, metaphor, repetition

*There may be a test on these terms when you return from Regents testing week. 

#2: Look through the following pages on the action pages for this site. There are 3 pages. Pick a topic with your partner and learn how to write a slam poem of that type. See the models each topic gives you when you click the linked page for further details. Or choose your own topic after viewing some of these examples.

#3: Read the handout tips for poetry. Take this advice as you draft your slam poem.

#4: Together with your partner, write a draft of your slam poem. Your poem should be at least 10 lines in length and may be more.

• Make sure you share your file together. 
• Type your poem in Google docs and SHARE your file with your partner. 
• Make sure you both have lines and that you share the performance of your poem. Consider what gestures or repeated lines you might include to help you remember your lines.

Check the rubric for this project. Your goal today is to learn some poetry terms, choose a topic to write about, and write your draft. For homework, please memorize your poem. We will rehearse this poem when we return to school after mid-terms.

• "Shots Fired"
• "Rape Joke"
• "No Child Left Behind"
• "What Gender Are You?"
• "Cat Poem"

HOMEWORK: Memorize your slam poem that you wrote today in class.