A Particular Turn of Phrase. Poetry as Memoir A Demonstration Lesson for CTWP San Marcos June 9, 2011

Transcription

1 A Particular Turn of Phrase Poetry as Memoir A Demonstration Lesson for CTWP San Marcos June 9, 2011

2 My real life My family My fur children My teaching life Denton RDSPD M.Ed. in Reading TSD My writing life Who am I? 1st Grade to Algebra Austin Poetry Society Story Circle Network

3 A Little More on TSD Established in 1856 Oldest continuously running public school in Texas Serves approximately 550 students from ages 0-22 Day and residential students Students from all over the state Students with moderate to profound hearing loss ASL and English as the languages of instruction Many students with significant additional disabilities Average age of enrollment at TSD: 16 years old

4 What s the Big Idea? Today s lesson will focus on using poetry as an entry into memoir or lifewriting (aka: personal narrative) The theory behind the lesson: Reader-Response Theory (Rosenblatt) Social-Learning Theory (Vygotsky) Engagement and the Art of Teaching (Cambourne)

5 Reader-Response Theory Louise M. Rosenblatt Literature as Exploration (1938) "There is no such thing as a generic reader or a generic literary work...the reading of any work of literature is, of necessity, an individual and unique occurrence involving the mind and emotions of a particular reader." "The reader's attention to the text activates certain elements in his past experience -- external reference, internal response -- that have become linked with the verbal symbols. Meaning will emerge from a network of relationships among the things symbolized as he senses them. The symbols point to these sensations, images, objects, ideas, relationships, with the particular associations or feeling-tones created by his past experiences with them in actual life or in literature.

6 Social Learning Theory Lev Vygotsky Thought and Language (1962) Mind in Society (1978) Through others, we become ourselves." "What children can do with the assistance of others might be in some sense even more indicative of their mental development than what they can do alone. "A word devoid of thought is a dead thing, and a thought unembodied in words remains a shadow." What a child can do in cooperation today, he can do alone tomorrow.

7 Engagement and the Art of Teaching Brian Cambourne The Whole Story: Natural Learning and the Acquisition of Literacy in the Classroom (1988) "We achieve what we expect to achieve: we fail if we expect to fail. We are more likely to engage with demonstrations of those whom we regard as significant and who hold high expectations for us. "Response must be relevant, appropriate, timely, readily available, non-threatening, with no strings attached. "Mistakes are essential for learning to occur. "Engagement is a compelling concept, especially when trying to explain learning failure. It suggests the clutch mechanism of a car engaging the motor If the clutch does not engage properly, all that results is useless revving of the motor; the car does not move."

8

9 Our Purpose After the activity, we ll reflect on what it was like to be part of a community of writers, what was fun and not, how that applies to our students. We ll also talk about ways we could extend and differentiate learning for our particular students. For now, take off your teaching hats, roll up your sleeves, and get ready for our topic: A Particular Turn of Phrase: Poetry and Memoir

10 Why poetry is cool

11 Poetry as Memoir? Memoir is a piece of personal narrative - a story you tell about an experience Many poems are written from or sparked by personal experiences, even if told using specific literary rules and language Even if not called memoir, we should consider these pieces lifewriting, and they can be very moving and accessible

12 Quotes from lifewriting poets Read the quotes from the three poets on your handout: Soto: The poems keep alive the small moments which add up to a large moment: life itself Shihab Nye: If I wrote things down, I had a better chance of saving them. Johnson: You could not tell lies when you wrote poetry. Poetry was sudden impact and the truth.

13 Poetry to Narrative Listen to the poems being read to you (don t worry, you ll get a packet with all of them and more in a few minutes). After each one, take a few deep breaths and ask yourself if you connected with something the author had to say. It might not be the theme or content of the poem, but the way s/he said it. While you re listening, you might write down a word or two, but don t try to copy a long phrase. I want your brain engaged with the writing more than your memory-retrieval system.

14 Billy Collins: The Lanyard

15 More Poems Listen to some more poems The Rescue C. Rylant Wash-a-Teria A. Johnson Oranges G. Soto Dead Pig s Revenge (excerpt) M. Serros

16 Your Turn Which poem spoke to you most? What specifically did it say to you? Why was it important or evocative? Now you get your packet. Find that poem, or another that speaks to you even more strongly. For 7-10 minutes, I want you to write some piece of lifewriting NOT in poetry form inspired by or in response to the poem. If you want to use one line as an epigraph at the beginning of your piece, you may do so.

17 Sharing Time Please feel free to share your writing You may wish to tell which poem inspired or informed your piece Audience: Listen for things that move you to give specific, sincere feedback

18 Extension: Found Poetry What is it? Basically, any poetry created by using the non-poetic words of others. Look at road signs, magazine ads, bumper stickers, etc. as examples of found poems, but not other poems, song lyrics, etc. One method of creating found poems is by recording lines heard in conversations over time, such as Naomi Shihab Nye s One Boy Told Me

19 Naomi Shihab Nye: One Boy Told Me

20 Finding Poetry in Text Method one: Cut and Paste Find pieces you like from newspapers and magazines and literally cut and paste them into forms you like, ransom note style Method two: Play Blackout Mark out all of the extraneous words until what you are left with is only a series of short words and phrases Imagine this as a letter that might be censored during wartime

21 (cont d) Method three: Choose and Rearrange Read a short piece of text and highlight words or short phrases that have a strong appeal to you Don t spend too long thinking about why they appeal or how they might go together. Just underline, circle, or highlight quickly Give yourself about 3 minutes to write these words phrases into a poem. You may keep them in order or rearrange them (phrases stay phrases no fair inserting a word from another phrase into a line). Play with shapes, line breaks (end-stopped vs. enjambment) Reread. See if the poem evokes something in you, even if it doesn t make sense to your more rational/prosaic mind

22 Instructions: Found poem from a memoir Give several memoir selections and ask them to pick one. Allow a few minutes to read the selection. Remind students that they re reading for feeling and tone, not for deep comprehension. Have them select words and phrases by underlining, crossing out, etc. It s best to keep the found word/phrase list somewhere between words. (Some of us are wordier than others.) Also, don t allow students to copy at the sentence level. I tell them, This is the time to pick the juiciest morsel, not load up at the all you can eat buffet. We won t have time to do this activity today, but if you play with it later, you may want to upload a piece to the NWP E-Anthology:

23 So back to reality

24 Q & A Warning: Q s may come from me as well as you. Warning: A s may come from you, me, or be left unanswered for later discussion.

25 Thank You! Feel free to contact me at any time! And UPLOAD a piece of writing to the NWP E-Anthology!