Bobbi FaulknerApril 2007
I Poem Assignment Analysis
Part I--Reflections:
Reflection: Mini-lesson
The students had a harder time than I imagined with these concepts. So, I told them to think of insults they use with each other. For instance, one student said, “You look like a dog.” It’s not a nice comment—but it is a simile! This conversation really helped them to catch on to the concept of simile. Metaphor was a bit harder, but I gave a few examples that illustrated the concept. The class liked and connected to the examples I gave because they centered on other students in the class. One example was about a student, Oscar. He’s always bragging about how strong he is and showing off his muscles. So I asked the students what we could compare Oscar to that would illustrate the quality of strength. They responded, “A rock!” So our metaphor was, “Oscar is a rock.” Once we had this conversation, my students grasped more fully the concept of metaphor.
We practiced writing personification. We reviewed what we had learned about personification from the literary models of I Poems. At this stage, the literary models are the poems that were written in our class: Ms. Beverly’s, my poem about the frog, and my poem about VanceCounty. They wrote their own examples of personification and did well. I chose personification as a device to focus on because it seems to be the main vehicle of this type of poem—after all, the poem is told from the perspective of something nonhuman.
One student said, “So this is like the poem we wrote the other day about ourselves, only we have to write about our country?”
Success! I dread getting into MLA, though. I think I will change that requirement for now. I know MLA is something I will have to teach, but for now, I am just going to require a resources page where the students list the URLs of the websites used for research and the date accessed. This type of citation, though informal, will plant the seed that sources must be cited.
Reflection: Group Analysis of Literary Models:
The students were really serious and engaged in their group work. It’s really the first time this semester (and next week is the end of the first nine weeks) that they were totally engaged and couldn’t believe class was over when it was. My two newest ELL students struggled more with this analysis, even after we reviewed the concepts of personification, simile, and metaphor. In the future, these two students would be in separate groups. This time, I let them choose their groups, but I think that I will try to create a more heterogeneous ability group for this type of analysis in the future. Also, I will introduce the literary concepts sooner. Of course, for many of my students, the mini-lesson on figurative language was review because they have already had English I and II. But for others, this course is their first English class aside from those they took just to learn the language.
Research Reflection:
Before going to the library today, I gave students a list of possible facts to search for. They had so many questions about what to look for that I decided to give them a bit more guidance. Of course, these were just suggestions of information to find, not a requirement. The questions were: 1. How big is the state? 2. Where did the name of the state come from? 3. What tourist attractions are there? 4. Describe what the place looks like. Describe the climate. 5. What do people do for fun there? 6. What are some interesting facts? 7. What does the flag look like? 8. What kind of animals live there? 9. What kind of jobs are available? 10. What personal knowledge do you have about the state and/or country? The students very quickly found information on their places of origin. They were slightly more reluctant to sit down and read the research, but once they got started, even my most resistant boys were fascinated by the information they learned about their native countries.
Caleb was very excited to have found a picture of the cathedral he attended as a child. “Can I print it?” he asked hopefully. He did print the picture, and I was pleased that a hope I had for the project was realized: I had hoped that the students would integrate the knowledge they had about the subject they were researching with new information they discovered. The next day in class, I made a point of sharing Caleb’s find with the class. We discussed how research is often a time when we add new information to that we already know. Other students shared how it was neat to research where they were from because a lot of the history and geography they already knew, but seeing it described in English with pictures made it seem really important.
At this stage, I am pleased. This project is moving right along. But I fear Monday—the day that we devote to reading through the printed research and deciding what to include in the poems. I know that this process will be frustrating to some of these students. Several of them are still very dependent on their electronic translators, and I wonder how much of this research will make sense to them. I also know that the I Poem is an abstract way to present information, so I will need to do some direct teaching of how to do this. I think I will take some information out of the research and show them how to put it in an I Poem, using the overhead and a think-aloud approach. I will also have to do a lot of one-on-one help, which I don’t mind. But this class does have behavioral problems when I try to circulate and do one-on-one writing help. So we shall see.
Poetry Writing Reflection
The students were very serious today when they sat down to write their poems. To my delight and surprise, they concentrated and behaved well so that I was able to offer personalized help to every one. It was really neat to see how much information they were actually able to incorporate into their poems. We type them tomorrow and then they present them on Friday.
Presentation Reflection:
I wanted to get this project completed and graded so that it would count for this fist nine weeks. In the future, I would like to devote more time to the students actually practicing and rehearsing their poems so that their presentations are more fluent. I am glad that I incorporated a listening factor into the presentation rubric: the students paid great attention while other students shared their research and poem. Overall, I was pleased. The students were very proud of their work. I laminated the finished product, and they were excited to see something they created that looked so “professional.”
Part II—Analysis:
As I mentioned in my day-to-day reflections, I was very pleased with the results of this project. It definitely served the purpose of introducing research in a meaningful context. The impact on student learning was immense. These students really worked on a project through all of the stages of the writing process: from brainstorming a topic to publishing. Students learned a variety of concepts, from figurative language to research methods to presentation skills. I have enclosed a copy of the poems my students wrote for reference. Their writing is very detailed—information laden and poetic. For example, Sandy, an EC student in my class, wrote “I Am Huehuetenango.” This poem is sophisticated and shows a grasp of the concept of the I-Poem and of research. Until this project, Sandy had not shown proficiency in writing. She could not write a paragraph that made sense due to syntax problems and word choice errors, so her attempts at the five-paragraph essay fell short, further frustrating her. In this poem, she wrote, “I understand the languages are all different here/I say be strong and together/I dream of more medicines for the sick people/I try to have more freedom/I hope for more visitors to see my city/I am Huehuetenango, a pretty city.” This last stanza definitely gives a feel for the place Sandy called home for seven years.
Overall, my students were very motivated by this project. Every student completed the project from start to finish—which is a first for this semester. I have had problems with students completing assignments in the past. Also, just glancing at the scores students made on this project, I can tell student learning was impacted. Because the topic was personal and the format easily accessible, I think that students were more invested, more motivated to do their best. On the written portion of this project, scores ranged from 88-100. On the presentation portion of the project the scores ranged from 86-97. I am not an easy grader, so for all of my students to make at least a B on this project—that speaks volumes to me about its effectiveness.
My students’ writing did improve. We have since written a letter to an important person, and in these letters, I noticed sprinklings of similes and metaphors. The knowledge transferred. Also, my students gripe less about revising. I think that with their poems, they came to appreciate the value of tweaking and rewriting a piece, of putting forth the effort to making their writing as good as possible. They also behave a lot better during conference time in our writer’s workshop so that I can be more teacher than police.
I will certainly continue to use poetry as a means of integrating other curricula areas. Poetry is a passion of mine, and I often am told that there is no time for creative writing within the constraints of our cramped curriculum. So anyway that I can validate teaching with poetry, I do. This project is a favorite of mine, one that I am sure I will continue to use. I had honestly never thought of using poetry in this way before, but now that I have, I will continue to think of ways to integrate poetry into research. The impact this project has had on my teaching is simply that I will ALWAYS use poetry as a way to begin research. It’s SO cool!
1