Category Archives: Poetry Month

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Collaboration: Performance Poetry

Today, 3rd grade visited the media center for performance poetry centers. These centers were a collaborative project planned by Shelley Olin (media paraprofessional), Glennda Shealey (3rd grade teacher), Laura Glenn (parent), and myself (Andy Plemmons, media specialist). These centers follow the huge kickoff we had last Thursday with Ishues.

During three 45-minute blocks, the third grade classes rotated through 3 out of 4 centers. Students chose the 3 centers they most wanted to experience and teachers grouped them accordingly. At Laura Glenn’s center, students explored how movement can be incorporated into poetry. She had the students interpret various poems in movement as well as try out specific types of moves. At Ms. Olin’s center, students explored the poetry of hip hop. Ms. Olin brought in her laptop and played various tracks for students as well as used the collection of poetry called “Hip Hop Speaks”. With our student teacher, Ms. Frannie, students explored videos of performance poetry and crafted a list of “noticings” from what they saw. Videos included poets such as Jill Scott, Coleman Barks, Ben Harper, and Maya Angelou. With me, students explored poems for multiple voices and read poems from books such as Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, The Friendly Four, and Big Talk.

The students will now participate in writing workshops in their classrooms to craft their own performance poetry. They will perform these poems in their classrooms on Friday for their families.

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Ishues: Performance Poetry

Today launched another collaborative project in the media center. The entire third grade is studying performance poetry. Glennda Shealey, a third grade teacher, and Shelley Olin, the media center paraprofessional, were the lead collaborators in this project. I also collaborated in a smaller role with the project.

In today’s kickoff, Ishues, a local hip-hop artist, came to share his spoken word, poetry in motion, and rap with students. He was accompanied by his manager, Life, who also offered his own spoken word and drumming to the students. Every poem, rap, and spoken word that these men offer students features a positive tone with no foul language. They delivered a message of positivity to students asking them to always believe in themselves even when others try to put you down. Ishues and Life had students participating in making sounds, drumming, interpreting movements, and speaking poetry during their presentation. The student energy was on fire by the time they left the media center.

On Monday, students will rotate through 4 centers in the media center: hip-hop lyrics, poetry & motion, poems for multiple voices, and performance poetry. The centers will be led by a parent, the media paraprofessional, one 3rd grade teacher, and myself. After these centers, students will write their own performance poetry in writing workshops and perform their poems for their families on May 14th.

View our teacher tube video of the performance

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More Book Spine Poetry

Classes have continued to come in to learn about book spine poetry. Yesterday Mrs. Boyle’s class came and explored a variety of poetry. We ended by creating a book spine poem together. I selected several books and passed them out to student volunteers. As I handed each book out, I said the title and the student repeated it. The students lined up in a straight line holding their books and we read the poem as it was. Then we talked about ways to rearrange it. I offered suggestions and students offered suggestions. With each suggestion, students would move in line to the appropriate place. Here is the poem that we ended up with.

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Poem In Your Pocket Day 2010

Our poetry cafe came to a close today after two very busy days of open mic poetry readings.  Today was our official Poem in Your Pocket Day.  We kicked off the day on BTV with a video of book spine poetry, a reading of “Pocket Poem” by Bobbi Katz, a poetry reading from a student, and our principal sharing a poem from his own pocket.

Our cafe opened at 8AM and stayed busy the entire day.  All students, teachers, and staff in the school carried poems in their pockets and wore a “Poem in Your Pocket Day 2010” sticker.  Students shared poems they had written as well as poems they found in books.  Several incredible moments happened during the day.  When Ms. Olin went to do lunch duty, she saw students asking each other to share their poems.  Our principal went outside to recess on both of our school playgrounds and heard students saying, “Do you have your poem?  Let me hear it”.  In the media center, we saw several students who hardly ever speak go up to the microphone and share their poem.  We saw students do some impromptu multiple voice poems and choral reading.  We also heard a beautiful reading of Eloise Greenfield’s “Honey, I Love” from a 3rd grader.  We had several adults who also shared at our open mic.  Our school secretary, aka “The Queen”, shared a poem about being a queen.  Our technology integration specialist, Steve Piazza, shared a poem he wrote about pockets.  Meg Inscoe, a first grade paraprofessional, shared a limerick about her class.  Our media paraprofessional, Shelley Olin, shared two poems that she wrote about things she loves and dreams.  Several teachers, including Ms. Em, shared their poetry as well.  The list could go on and on.  The day was just filled with wonderful moments.

It was sad to take down all of the cafe decorations after school, but we have these pictures to help us remember this wonderful day until next year’s Poem in Your Pocket Day.

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Poem in your pocket day (preview)

National Poem in Your Pocket Day is celebrated at the end of every April, but due to CRCT testing, we are holding our day on April 15th.  Today, some classes already came to our poetry cafe and read poems at our open mic.  I’ll post pictures tomorrow of the 2-day event.

Until then, I hope you’ll enjoy some of the Teacher Tube poetry videos that students have created by looking at our poetry page on the media center webpage.

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Book Spine Poetry

Recently, I discovered an interesting kind of poetry called book spine poetry while reading the  100 Scope Notes blog.  This poetry is a type of found poem where you gather books that have titles that speak to you in some way as a poet.  You arrange the books in a stack and let the titles on the spines become your poem.

Recently, two classes gave this type of poetry a try.  As students photographed their poems, they imported the pictures into Photo Story and recorded themselves reading their poems.  Take a look at what they created.

Listen to Mrs. Freeman’s Class Poems

Listen to Mrs. Selleck’s Class Poems

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Photography & Poetry

Students in fourth and fifth grade have been coming to the media center this week to explore writing poetry from photographs.  We studied several mentor poems by poets such as Jane Yolen and J. Patrick Lewis.  These two authors have collections of poems that are written from photographs, so we explored the language that these poets dreamed up simply by studying a photograph.  Next, students carried digital cameras on a nature walk around the school.  I instructed them to use a poet’s eye to look for possible photo opportunities that spoke to them.  Along the way, I pointed out possible photos that I saw.  This model helped students narrow in to things they might photograph.  For example, I saw a spider web that was woven into a small bush.  When I saw it, it reminded me of a big puff of cotton candy.  I shared with students that this would be a great line in a poem and was something I was likely to take a picture of.  Back in the media center, students imported their photographs into their documents.

In lesson 2, we continued exploring mentor poems for possible structures for our own poems.  We looked at similes, personification, I am poems, and list poems.  Students imported their photographs into a Word document and began typing their own poem.  The teachers, my paraprofessional, my student intern, and I all conferenced with students about their poems.  Students who had time also created a Photo Story with their photo and poetry.  Others simply printed their poem for use on our annual Poem in your Pocket Day.

Check out some of their poems and photos below.

A link to Zach’s poem

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5th Grade Poem in Your Pocket

As promised, here is a clip from the 5th grade’s poetry reading during Poem In Your Pocket Day. These students wrote some amazing poems and got up in front of the entire 5th grade to read them. Bravo!

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Poem in My Pocket Day 2009

What a full day! Everywhere you turned today at Barrow, someone was sharing a poem. I saw custodians, secretaries, teachers, and students stopping one another in the hallways and sharing their poetry. The media center was very busy today with poetry readings all day. Students read poems that they wrote as well as favorite poems that they selected. I loved seeing somany students sit in front of their peers and share poetry. The end of the day was a special treat when the whole 5th grade came and shared their poetry. For 90 minutes, they shared. Everyone shared one poem and then a line formed for students to read more. We finally had to cut the line off so we could go home! Here are some pictures from our day in the media center and a few video clips.  I hope to load a video of the great 5th grade poems tomorrow.  What a great way to end National Poetry Month!

Also,  check out our very own Ms. Olin, who wrote a poem just for today’s Poem In Your Pocket Day.

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Poem In Your Pocket Preview

It’s hard to believe that our month-long poetry celebration is coming to an end, but we’re going out in style. Tomorrow is Poem In Your Pocket Day. The teachers and I have worked with students to write and select poetry to carry in our pockets tomorrow. Poems were also placed in the lounge for faculty and staff to put in their pockets. Now, the media center is transformed into a poetry cafe and we have back-to-back classes the entire day to come and read poetry. Each table has a tablecloth, poetry books, battery-operated candle, and die-cuts. Students will enjoy a lollipop while listening to their peers and teachers read their poems. Here are some pictures to give you a sneak peek at what our poetry cafe will look like tomorrow.   We’ve encouraged everyone in the school (teachers, students, paraprofessionals, secretaries, custodians, lunchroom staff, EVERYONE!) to carry a poem tomorrow.  It’s going to be great.   See you tomorrow.