As a review of poetry and the connection to literary elements (with emphasis on figurative language) students worked in cooperative groups to produce photostory projects. Here are some examples:
While there are a few slides that "miss the mark" so to speak with examples and explanations given, overall I was able to see understanding of concepts. Slides in which mistakes were found or further explanation were needed were discussed in conferences held between teacher and group members.
Project background and rationale: Classes spent time learning the history of, reading, and writing poetry. This unit was a great time to incorporate examples and review of figurative language. The Georgia CRCT is fairly heavy in figurative language, so students really needed to be able to grasp the terms, not simply know definitions. We read poems together, groups were assigned poems to read and present, and students also wrote their own. In order to wrap up the unit, I asked that students create these photostory projects. There were a number of things this project allowed me to see:
1. Grasp and understanding of figurative language
2. Deeper understanding of themes and meanings of poems taught/learned together in class
3. Ability to transfer knowledge to new poem not previously studied
4. Ability to connect classroom knowledge to outside world
The specific tasks
The above-mentioned goals were accomplished by a variety of components being integrated into the project. Students had to include definitions of specific devices of figurative language. They also had to include an example of that device and were asked to place a picture representing the example on each particular slide. Then each group member had to recite a poem he or she had written during the course of the unit. Students had to show mastery of themes and ability to recall information by analyzing a poem previously discussed in class. Finally, students were asked to choose a song that was poetic to them and explain WHY they felt that way. This final piece connected the poetry found in books to the students' real lives. This also allowed the unit to "come together" as I had used Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven to introduce poetry on the first day.
View student instructions here:
Students were also given rubrics along with the instructions above. I have found that when students have clear expectations set forth and know exactly what the teacher expects, it makes a classroom run much more smoothly. As you can see, the largest weight of each student's grade was his or her independently written poem as well as the slides in which he or she has to make connections and/or analyze. While knowing the definitions was an important component, application was key.
The rubric:
Here is a sample presentation I used portions of when introducing poetry (some slides have saved writing on them from SmartBoard software). **This PPT was NOT originally created by me. I do not want to take credit, but wish to give an example of the types of concepts discussed.
Here is a sample of a handout given with guided reading type questions:
