Poetry Assignment for Thursday Rubric

Please forgive my flippant tone in the following. Sometimes it's helpful to cut the bull and take it by the horns, so to speak.

A: You have understood and applied various and effective poetic techniques into your previous draft and it shows. Your work is considered "art" - original and exciting!

B: You have understood some basics about poetry writing and techniques. Your poem is improved, but it isn't there yet. Perhaps it doesn't communicate an idea or tries to cover too much ground. Whatever the case, it falls short of "masterpiece." But you tried. And that's above average.

C: You knew you wrote a poem, but are ignoring the tools and poetic techniques to make your work communicate effectively. Perhaps your piece is slightly better than your previous one, or you made another laundry list and called it poetry. You did the assignment (probably without joy) and you get an average grade for an average effort.

D: Your work is late, incomplete, or below grade level and the writing you "crafted" is probably only a "c" level. You can't be bothered traditionally with writing poetry. You don't understand it or you don't like it and your own work shows this clearly by being cliche, not effective, or just plain--blah. You put a tiny bit of effort, (you turned something in by the absolute deadline) but less than the average person or student.

F: You didn't complete the assignment. Can't be bothered. I can't be bothered to give you more than an "F".

Creative Well Went Dry? Talk to someone. Learn something new. Read a poem or a book. Inspire yourself. Lower your standards for just this once, until you have a draft written--then engage in the crafting process.

Poetry

Please watch this film. How does this apply to creative writing? Be prepared to share your thoughts.

Today, please do the following:
1. Continue editing your previous work. Your "new" poem drafts will be due next class. I should see some progress with them.
2. Read Kooser's article on Writing About Feelings. Pick out 3 things that you find useful from this article.

Kooser and Poetry

Poems are generally about single events, things (objects both natural and human-made), or people. By presenting this subject clearly and definitively, a poet is able to say something about how we "as humans" or "as readers" or as "an observer" relates to the subject, object, event, etc.

Our mistake is to try to cram too much into a poem. Poems should be single snapshots of the subject. They should be careful and crafted--not a fast-food taco.

Today, in your poetry groups, spend some time completing the following poems by Ted Kooser. For each poem list whether the poem is about a: 1. Character 2. Event 3. Setting or 4. Object. Discuss and list with your group. Turn in the list at the end of this exercise.

Poetry drafts: go back. Take all your poems thus far and trim them. Focus them on single subjects (events, settings, objects, or people). If you have more than one focus, trim it down to one focus.

TASK: revise all your previous poems into new drafts.

HOMEWORK: Please complete Ted Kooser's article for homework.

Workshop Groups: Political Poem Pointing

1. Take a few minutes to read/watch the sample poems from last class.
2. In your workshop groups, select one of the poems you have created last class to share with your group. Read this poem with your group.
3. Each group member should indicate a word, phrase, or line that they liked. The writer should indicate how often a line or phrase is selected and mark a check mark next to the line.
4. Do this exercise with each member's selected poem.
5. After all members have completed the exercise, break up and go back to the "writing" board. Remove only the lines that were selected and begin a second draft with only that line (throw away the rest of the poem...not literally). There is no need to follow the idea of a "political poem" or the exercises that CREATED the first draft.
6. Write a new poem draft. Call this draft two.

8th period: selecting a poetry book.

Political Poem Samples

Sample political poems:

Langston Hughes poems

Katie Makkai "Pretty"

After Their Death Judith Jordan

Taylor Mali On What Teacher's Make

Hey You by Adrian Beivans

Saul Williams: Coded Language

Star Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Keys

Scott Wiggerman: Photograph

Storm by Tim Minchin

Political Poem Draft & Workshop Group Exercises

Today, please get into the following poetry groups:
Group A: Angela B, Gus, Desire, Ashley, Kaisean
Group B: Brianna, Cassidy, Angela R., Carolyn, Emily
Group C: Erin, Madeleine, Shannon, Hannah, Donyel
Group D: Nora, Temielle, Mariah, Taylor, My
Group E: Gracie, Harrison, Samantae, Gabriela

Gather in your group. Pick one member to be a recorder who will take notes for the group. Each member should in turn give one word that comes to mind. After going through the group with each person submitting one word for three times, stop and then list a setting or event that can be defined. For example: azure, cobalt, dandelion, rain shower, etc. then setting/event: a birthday party, walking on the beach, playing with a tire swing, etc.

After getting some ideas on the paper, allow each poet to select a few words and/or event from the list (don't discuss the words, just pick them and write them on your own paper/journal). Use these words to create a poem in 30 minutes. At the end of this time, come back together and share your DRAFT.

Period 8, please complete the following:

Types of Political Poems

1. The Revolutionary Poem
•Poems which advocate (support) an overthrow of a government or a culture

2. The Patriotic Poem
•Unlike the revolutionary poem, the patriotic poem supports or advocates an aspect of a government or a culture. Reflects an attitude that recalls fundamental principles of a government or culture.
•You may find a lot of this kind of poetry written by minorities (they are supporting a particular culture). Women’s lib poetry; black, Asian, latino, etc. poetry; gay poetry, etc. Any poem celebrating a culture would fall into this category.

3. The Protest Poem
•A poem of criticism that challenges basic concepts of important human issues (censorship, freedom, democracy, pursuit of happiness, etc.)

4. The Universal Political Poem
•Everything else.

Pick one of the types of political poem types. Write a political poem draft by the end of class today.

Annie Hall

Please take the next 38 minutes to work on your film scripts. These should be nearing completion (if not already completed).

For those of you who are done with your script, please review the Annie Hall materials from the previous posts.

Further information about Annie Hall can be found here at IMDB.com.

Annie Hall won four Oscars:

Best Actress: Diane Keaton
Best Director: Woody Allen
Best Picture: Charles Joffe
Best Screenplay: Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman
Woody Allen was also nominated for Best Actor.

As you watch the film, note the following:

--This plot is an archetype of the Romance plot: boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back after much ado.
--Much of the humor revolves around Diegesis (the world of the film). Note when the script breaks this convention and what the effect on the viewer is at those moments.
--Woody Allen is a fan of silent film (particularly slapstick) notice when the film becomes quiet, when physical comedy is presented to us as reality, and scenes that include silly physical jokes or chase scenes. These are all homage to the yesteryear of film.