Poetry Performance
Objective
Big Idea
Word Roots Warm-Up
Today, we will add to our list of Greek and Latin roots. Students will continue to keep these notes in their binders until we have taken a short formative quiz.
Starter
To start today's lesson, I read "How to Eat a Poem" by Eve Merriam Twice to the class. The first time I do it with a mysterious tone, and the second time I read it with an excited and enthusiastic tone.
When I'm done, I open the floor for a conversation about my two different readings. First I ask for observations about the differences between the readings. If I've gone over the top enough (who, me?), the students will be able to comment on the different feelings I gave the poems by how I read them.
I share that this is what we're going to focus on today: the idea that poetry has an extra element aside from figurative language, sound, and structure. How a poem is received relies heavily on the person who is reading it aloud.
Getting Down to Business
This activity can be found in Brian Moon's Studying Poetry, a fantastic book that helped me get excited about sharing poetry with students!
To prepare for today's activity, I have copied the Limerick reading assignment so that students can do this activity in groups of 3 or 4.
As is outlined on the sheet, students will read, prepare, and rehearse a choral reading of their limerick.
After the groups have prepared, they will take turns performing their limerick. This is a fun activity, and the students really do enjoy the opportunity to be dramatic!
Did They Get It
Once every group has had a chance to perform, we move into the reflection portion of today's lesson. It is in the reflection that they are really working at a Common-Core level.
The reflection questions are meant to make them think about how a reader interacts with a poem when it is going to be read aloud.
I collect this as a formative assessment. It is the final formative assessment before we move into analyzing poetry for writing and discussion.
