Critical Learning

In this lesson, students will work collectively to explore how language can be an art form and how performance can not only heighten one's understanding of language but their ability to communicate ideas about language. Students will use critical thinking as they explore a variety of approaches to language as art.

Guiding Questions

How is language an art form?
How can language be performed?
How can we use performance to communicate an idea?
How does voice add texture to performance?

Questions directrices

En quoi la langue est-elle une forme d'art ?
Comment la langue peut-elle être jouée ?
Comment pouvons-nous utiliser la performance pour communiquer une idée ?
Comment la voix ajoute-t-elle de la texture à la performance ?

Learning Goals

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

  • Make poetry from a group of non-connected words
  • Use a poem to create a performance
  • Demonstrate how a variety of vocal techniques, including volume, chorus and echo, can enhance the meaning of language in a performance
  • Take the writing of another group and create a performance from it
  • Critique the work of peers
  • Identify performance choices and their impact on their audience

Buts d'apprentissage

A la fin de cette leçon, les élèves seront capables de :

  • faire de la poésie à partir d'un groupe de mots non reliés entre eux
  • d'utiliser un poème pour créer un spectacle
  • démontrer comment une variété de techniques vocales, y compris le volume, le refrain et l'écho, peuvent renforcer le sens du langage dans une représentation.
  • reprendre les écrits d'un autre groupe et créer un spectacle à partir de ceux-ci
  • critiquer le travail de ses pairs
  • identifier les choix de représentation et leur impact sur le public

 

Instructional Components

Readiness

Students will come to the lesson with Journal Response #1 completed. Readiness for work with poem will include contextual and biographical information about the poet and text.

Terminology // Terminologie

  • Choral speaking // Le chant oral
  • Exit card // Carte de sortie

Materials

  • Blank exit cards to be used for AfL at the end of the lesson.
  • PDF #1 Words // PDF-FR #1 Les mots - Copy and cut up words from PDF #1 and distribute to groups - each group should be given the full set of words.
Approximately 20 minutes

Minds On // Esprit en marche

Pause and Ponder

Whole Class > Review and Summary of Journal Response #1

Ask students to summarize and share their thoughts from Journal Response #1. 

Key Questions For Discussion: 
  • What connections can we make between movement and poetry?
  • How can movement be seen as a form of body poetry?
Questions clés pour la discussion :
  • Quels liens pouvons-nous établir entre le mouvement et la poésie ?
  • Comment le mouvement peut-il être considéré comme une forme de poésie corporelle ?

Small Group > Words to Poems

Divide class into groups of five and distribute the slips of paper from PDF #1 Words // PDF-FR #1 Les mots.

Instruct groups to organize the words into a short poem and re-write it on a sheet of paper. Invite students to repeat and reuse words or lines as they wish. Provide approximately five minutes for poem creation.

Demandez aux groupes d'organiser les mots en un court poème et de le réécrire sur une feuille de papier. Invitez les élèves à répéter et à réutiliser des mots ou des lignes s'iels le souhaitent. Prévoyez environ cinq minutes pour la création du poème.

Instruct groups to create a reading of the poem using choral speaking techniques (e.g., repetition and volume changes) to add meaning to the performance. Provide students with time to rehearse.

Demandez aux groupes de créer une lecture du poème en utilisant des techniques du chant oral (par exemple, la répétition et les changements de volume) afin d'ajouter du sens à la performance. Donnez aux élèves le temps de répéter.

Whole Class > Present

Invite groups to share the reading of their poems. Ask audience members to comment on the use of choral speaking techniques (e.g., repetition and volume).

Invitez les groupes à partager la lecture de leurs poèmes. Demandez aux membres de l'auditoire de commenter l'utilisation des techniques du chant oral (p.e., la répétition et le volume).

Teacher Prompts: What was effective in this performance? What changes could be made to make the performance(s) more effective? What impact would blocking and levels have on the performance(s)?

Invitations de l'enseignant : Qu'est-ce qui a été efficace dans cette représentation ? Quels changements pourraient être apportés pour rendre la (les) représentation(s) plus efficace(s) ? Quel serait l'impact du blocage et des niveaux sur la (les) performance(s) ?
Assessment for Learning (AfL)

Guide discussion of Journal Response #1 and provide formative feedback to group. Assess the willingness of the group to make connections between movement and poetry. Lead discussion and exploration back to lesson one's activities to allow students to re-engage with the terms from the lesson.

Assessment as Learning (AaL)

Provide opportunity for peer response and feedback in journals. Encourage listening and self-reflection.

Provide formative feedback throughout the poem-creation process.Allow students opportunities to critically explore the poetic work of other groups when poems are traded.

Engage with peer feedback and critique in performance.

Differentiation (DI)

Work to create a whole-class poem for use in a whole-class oral reading. 

Prior to the lesson, engage students with an interest in writing to create poems using the same words-to-poems approach. 

Utilize modern poetry as an exemplar for comparison between the student-created poems and published work. Allow for exploration and reflection back to anchor chart.

Provide students with the opportunity to pre-brainstorm a variety of words to be used in lieu of using PDF #1.

Create a new word list with only gibberish words or words from another language to establish extended connections between voice, language and meaning. 

After the second round of feedback, redistribute the poems to new groups.

Quick Tip

Have student groups use the website - poetry pathfinders - (see Hyperlinks)

to explore and create their own poetry for use in the unit.

Teacher may wish to create her or his own page of words in lieu of using PDF #1 Words // PDF-FR #1 Les mots.

Depending on the class, students may require more time to create and present their poems.

Link and Layer

Link back to anchor chart to ensure connections are made between the creation of the poem and their early brainstorming. Connect peer feedback to the anchor chart elements to allow synthesis of theory and practice.

Hyperlinks

Poetry Pathfinder
Approximately 45 minutes

Action!

Small Group > Sharing and Re-creating

Collect the poems used in Minds-On and re-distribute them so that each group now has a poem they did not write themselves. Instruct the groups to read the poem over individually in silence and then orally as a group. Ask groups to create a new performance of the poem that alters the original performance style done by the author group. Encourage groups to take into consideration the previous feedback from the audience. Remind groups to start and end the performance in tableaux. 

Provide groups with time to complete the new staging. Call upon each group to perform their  reinterpretation of the original poem. 

Whole Class > Feedback and Reflection

Solicit responses from the audience by asking "What did the changes do to the performance?"  and "What other changes could be made?"

Sollicitez les réactions du public en posant les questions suivantes : "Qu'est-ce que les changements ont apporté à la représentation ?" et "Quels autres changements pourraient être apportés ?"

Ask audience members to suggest three changes for each poem performance - one added movement, one alteration in vocal delivery and one other change of choice. Instruct performance groups to take note of these suggestions.

Demandez aux spectateurs de suggérer trois changements pour chaque poème - un mouvement supplémentaire, une modification de la voix et un autre changement au choix. Demandez aux groupes d'interprètes de prendre note de ces suggestions.

Small Group > Using Feedback in Performance

After all poems have been presented, challenge each group to return to the rehearsal process point to incorporate the three audience suggestions into the reading. Have each group re-present with the changes incorporated.

Une fois que tous les poèmes ont été présentés, demandez à chaque groupe de revenir au point de répétition afin d'intégrer les trois suggestions du public dans la lecture. Demandez à chaque groupe de faire une nouvelle présentation en intégrant les changements.

Solicit feed-back from the audience by asking "How did these changes affect the performance?" "What made these changes effective or not effective?"

Sollicitez les réactions du public en posant les questions suivantes : "Comment ces changements ont-ils affecté la performance ?" "Qu'est-ce qui a rendu ces changements efficaces ou non ?"
Approximately 5 minutes

Consolidation

Individual > Exit Card //
Individuel > Carte de sortie

Ask students to fill out an exit card answering the following:

  • One thing I have learned about poetry today is...
  • One thing I have learned about movement today is...
  • One thing I found challenging today was...

Demandez aux élèves de remplir une carte de sortie en répondant à la question suivante :

  • Une chose que j'ai apprise sur la poésie aujourd'hui est...
  • Une chose que j'ai apprise sur le mouvement aujourd'hui est...
  • Une chose que j'ai trouvée difficile aujourd'hui est...

Read over the exit cards to inform readiness levels for lesson three. If required, repeat lesson two for a 2nd day to allow students to engage more with the topic.