12.13 - Poetry Out Loud Recitations

We started class today by reviewing the “Poetry and Language” sheet that everyone worked on yesterday with the substitute. To review this sheet, I shared a copy which I had completed for my poem (Poetry and Language exemplar). In looking at this example we covered the following two main points for unfamiliar words and familiar words.

1 - Unfamiliar Words - If there are words that you don't know, look the words up in the dictionary. Then explain what that part of the poem means accounting for your new understanding of the word.

2 - Familiar Words - For words that you do know, look up their meaning in the dictionary to get a sense for how they are different from other similar words (e.g. how is "terrible" different from "bad"). Then discuss how that word relates to the meaning of the poem (why did the author say "terrible" when they could have said "bad"? How does "terrible" affect the meaning of the poem).

Everyone had about fifteen minutes to revise previous responses if necessary or complete the assignment. Further revisions or work on the assignment should be completed for homework if it was not completed in class.

We then took a look at the Poetry Out Loud competition scoring rubric that we will be using to assess students' performances. I went over the rubric with everyone and then we watched a sample Poetry Out Loud performance for the poem "The Song of Powers."

We then created a presentation order on a volunteer basis. I ended up presenting my poem, "To a Mouse". Recitations are being recorded so that I can assess the overall performance in class and then go back and assess the accuracy of the recitation later. This is also helpful if anyone has a question about why they received a particular score. People will be able to recite their poem another time if they wish to improve their score.

We will finish presenting poems on Monday.


Homework:

Be prepared to present your Poetry Out Loud recitation for Monday if you did not present today.

Finish the “Poetry and Language” sheet if you did not do so today in class.

Complete or revise assignments as necessary.