ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

Poetry is a required element in the Langdon Area High School curriculum for 10th grade English. It is often difficult for students to understand how poetry fits into today’s media-filled society and how it can apply to their own lives. Young adults today also seem to have a difficult time relating to the elderly in their community. I am hoping to bring the youth to a better understanding of poetry and the elderly by implementing a video poetry project that will have the students discussing poetry and its impact on the lives on the elderly at Wheatland Estates, a local assisted living facility. From their interaction with elderly residents and their study of images and language in poetry, I hope to see the understanding of both deepen for the students. The following information, compiled by Mary Palmer, identifies a need based on ND State Assessment data: “In the 2002 ND State Assessment Test data for reading and language arts, two of the lowest scores for secondary students involved comprehending literature, especially understanding characteristics of various genres (61 average in 8th grade), analyzing how text reflects culture/historical eras (62 in 12th grade), and understanding how to interact with the text (63 in 12th grade); the other low scores involved engaging in the writing process. While this unit does call for writing, video poetry directly relates to comprehending literature, especially the genre of poetry, which can be carried out to other genres as well. This unit demands that students interact with their literature by understanding the background of the author and the era, by analyzing poetry specific techniques, but more than anything, it demands that students view literature (not just poetry) through the eyes of a new medium.”

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: 1. I want students to learn to interact with literature. They need to understand that literature, in this case poetry, can express a feeling that maybe couldn’t be expressed in any other way. Poetry relates to the human experience and is often a form of therapy.  2. I want students to interact with an older generation of people. The elderly can offer a perspective that young people today don’t see. In this unit, poetry provides the common element of discussion. It gives the students and the elderly a common language and topic to discuss. Most of the residents of Wheatland remember memorizing poetry when they were younger. Now they understand how poetry applies to the human experience. The elderly at Wheatland Estates can share their experiences with poetry and hopefully inspire the students to look at it through new eyes.  3. I want students to be able to create a project for an audience beyond their peers.  4. I want them to think about interpreting a poem in a way that will reach a larger audience that will include the residents at Wheatland Estates.
Goal(s):  1. Students will gain an appreciation of poetry.  2. Students will appreciate and respect the perspectives and experiences of elderly individuals.  3. Students will develop a deeper understanding of poetry and the role it can play in individual lives.  4. Students will utilize technology to present literary ideas and interpretations in a visual way.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: 1. What is the sense/feeling/mood/emotion of the poem? 2. What message is the poem giving about life? 3. What impact has poetry had on the lives of the elderly living at Wheatland Estates? 4. What impact does poetry have on your life now? 5. How can you convey the message of the poem in a visual way for an audience beyond your peers? 6. At the end of this unit, have you changed in the way you view poetry? 7. What impact will poetry have in your life in the future?
Objectives: 1. Students will identify 3 examples of literary techniques used in a poem such as personification, assonance, tone, alliteration, rhyme scheme, etc.  2. Students will understand the purpose, meaning, and mood of a poem in order to create a meaningful, representative video.  3. Students will conduct a 40 minute interview and be an active listener in order to understand how poetry has influenced that person’s life.  4. The student will compile at least 10 interview questions prior to the interview.  5. Students will work cooperatively with a team to create a storyboard that includes a minimum of 5 images and 2 audio components to outline their plan for conveying the poem’s message.  6. Students will use video editing software to merge scenes, sound and type to create their final project within a 3 week time span.  7. Students will present their final project to their peers and the residents of Wheatland Estates by the end of the semester.

Assessment

What quiz and test items e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding?  1. As we progress through a unit on poetic terms, I will test students using an objective format: multiple choice, matching, short answer.  2. As we move into the research, interview and video portions of the project I will measure their understanding based on the completion of each required element.  3. The project assessment will be based on a rubric that students will receive at the beginning of the project.  4. The rubric will outline the requirements for achieving an “A”, “B”, “C”, etc.
What academic prompts e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding?  1. Evidence of understanding will be assessed through open dialogue with students as they work in class on their projects as well as through evaluation of their research, interviews, and storyboards.  Questions for discussion may include: 1. What is the mood of the poem?  2. How does the author convey that mood?  3. Does the information you gathered through your research provide insight into the author’s mood/meaning/theme?  4. How can this be applied to life experiences?  5. We will also hold a discussion on the results of their interviews.  6. In a sense, we will hold a round-table discussion on the impact that poetry has had on the lives of those interviewed and how that can be incorporated in their video project.
What performance tasks and projects e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?  1. Performance tasks will include research on their chosen poem, author and time period that the poem comes from.  2. They will need to analyze the gathered information and create a video presentation that represents their findings. 3. The video must reflect information gained through their interaction with Wheatland residents.  4. They must show evidence of considering the residents as part of their audience. 5. They must be able to justify their decisions using evidence from their research.
What other evidence e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect? 1. Students will ultimately present their final video to the class and residents of Wheatland Estates.  2. That will serve as the basis of assessing the project.  3. During the course of the project, I will also collect interview questions, poem/author analysis summaries, and storyboards for assessing progress and focus. 4. Their final project will be assessed based on the rubric previously mentioned.  5. The students will also create a rubric to assess the project themselves.  6. They will need to include components for evaluating their understanding of poetry, their interaction with elderly residents, their cooperative work experience and the overall effectiveness of their final video.

Instructional Strategies

Poetry is a challenging genre of literature to teach. If you understand and enjoy poetry, it seems so simple. However, to those who see poetry as incomprehensible, it is necessary to find a way to make it something real and applicable to life. By implementing this project-based video, I hope students will recognize that poetry is a part of their lives. It can have meaning to them now and at later times in their lives. The project becomes inquiry-based when the students begin questioning how poetry applies to life. They have to research themes of poems and what influences an author to focus on that particular theme. They must ask questions not only about poetry but also of themselves and of the residents at Wheatland Estates. The project is problem-based as they work as a team. They must agree on a poem to use, work together to develop a common theme and vision for their video. They must draw on the skills of their teammates as they tackle video cameras and editing software that they may not be familiar with. They must work out scheduling conflicts so they may complete the filming of their footage by the given deadline. This project has poetry in the center of it but there are so many other elements that revolve around it. The students will broaden their own experiences and perspectives by listening to the experiences and perspectives of an older generation. Our society doesn’t provide many opportunities for that type of interaction anymore. The students will also gain insight in working together. They may not all see eye-to-eye and may each want to pursue their own ideas. This project forces them to cooperate, compromise, recognize differences and respect the opinions of others.