Showing posts with label Poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poetry. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

AP Lit: Hamlet Begins

This week we begin our work with Hamlet.  I'm currently trying out my iPad to type this so apologies for wonky formatting.  I bought a keyboard case for it but it is sorely lacking.

Monday we explored some of Shakespeare's thematic ideas that emerge in Hamlet: trust, knowledge, discomfort, awareness, observation, power, control. Of course these are just ideas and topics, not themes unto themselves -- what Hamlet forces us to consider, those will be the true themes of the play.

I didn't take any pics of our staring at one another, but that's a great deal of what we did.  And then  discussed how we felt, what we experienced; we also did an exercise in observation.

And just barely started the play.

Wednesday, we dig further into the play.  We will read a great deal of the text in class and do some close readings.

Friday, you will present your True Grit as poetry presentations and explore various productions of Hamlet.

Show Your Thinking.

Read: Hamlet Act I.  Due Friday.

Blog: Analytical and Design.  Potent Quotable.  Choose a line from the act I you believe captures the essential TONE of the play so far.  The attitude Shakespeare as author, creator, intent driven artist is bringing to the words of the play.  Playful? Pedantic? Satiric? Doleful?

Then take that one line and illustrate with either an original photograph of your own or an image from Unsplash.com.  Use fonts and your design skills to create a visual.  Post it along with a written or recorded explanation of your intentions behind your design.  Posting your intentions is necessary to meeting the standards for media and reading.

Blog:  Critical Creativity.  Color Palette.  Use ColourLovers.com to create a three to five color color palette for Hamlet Act I. Give each color a unique name that reveals your understanding of the characters thus far.  Explain your intentions to meet the reading standard.

Independent Book Project: design a solution to a problem posed by your free choice work and present that prototype next Tuesday.  Be certain to justify your prototype intentions based on the text evidence you uncover.  Empathize with your user, consider what truly meets the needs and how you know.  Present to class next Tuesday.

True Grit as Poetry.  Make the case that True Grit follows the structure, form, qualities of an epic, ballad, or sonnet.  Design a visually effective presentation to make your case.  Think about the aesthetic qualities of those poetic forms, consider the devices that best define them, consider tone, subject matter, associated with each.  This should be a challenging question to answers, case to make.

Saturday, December 3, 2016

AP Lit: Bieber to Barbara Allen -- Exploring the Ballad

We opened today with a listen to the Beeb's masterpiece,  "Sorry."


We took a look at the lyrics as we listened to this cover  by Ben Rector.



This led to a discussion of tone, of voicing, of speaker, of aesthetics and presentation and its influence upon interpretation.  Rector's rendition lends an authenticity we felt missing from the original -- which we also discovered was written by The Beebs and a team of hundreds (or maybe like three or four other people.)

From here we shifted about a decade back to The Avett Brothers "Ballad of Love and Hate."




We started making a few connections here, seeing a couple of possible patterns, but it really didn't kick in until we dove a generation or two back.




And we discovered it's an emotional song for many of us.  We also discovered a great deal interesting about its structure and form, about Dylan's use of internal rhyme and alliteration, and about the effect of the song being in two voices -- the father and the son.   We dove briefly into the biblical allusions evident in the text and then turned our attention to a female balladeer.




Dolly Parton has become synonymous with 1980s country-pop and become more known for her personal style  than anything else.  But here's the thing: for people in the know?  Dolly Parton is one of the greatest songwriters that has ever lived.  Period.   "Jolene" is one of her many masterpieces.  We had a brief discussion of this song and made some interesting points about whether or not Jolene actually exists or is just the manifestation of the speaker's insecurity.  I'm looking forward to returning to this song when we are talking about different lens through which to read and view literature -- a feminist lens on the poem I think could reveal some new insights.

We ran short on time though we did talk even more more about what we could uncover about the ballad form from these selections.  We noted that they tell stories, that they are often quite straight forward even if they make use of figurative language and metaphor, that there is often a dialogue or two characters at the very least.  The stories are usually sad and involve love or romance of some sort.

Before we ended the class we took a look at a few of the traditional ballads of Great Britain's past.

Barbara Allen was the first.  

Barbara Allen

Related Poem Content Details

In Scarlet town, where I was born, 
   There was a fair maid dwellin’, 
Made every youth cry Well-a-way! 
   Her name was Barbara Allen. 

All in the merry month of May, 
   When green buds they were swellin’, 
Young Jemmy Grove on his death-bed lay, 
   For love of Barbara Allen. 

He sent his man in to her then, 
   To the town where she was dwellin’; 
“O haste and come to my master dear, 
   If your name be Barbara Allen.” 

So slowly, slowly rase she up, 
   And slowly she came nigh him, 
And when she drew the curtain by— 
   “Young man, I think you’re dyin’.” 

“O it’s I am sick and very very sick, 
   And it’s all for Barbara Allen.”— 
O the better for me ye’se never be, 
   Tho’ your heart’s blood were a-spillin’! 

“O dinna ye mind, young man,” says she, 
   “When the red wine ye were fillin’, 
That ye made the healths go round and round, 
   And slighted Barbara Allen?” 

He turned his face unto the wall, 
   And death was with him dealin’: 
“Adieu, adieu, my dear friends all, 
   And be kind to Barbara Allen!” 

As she was walking o’er the fields, 
   She heard the dead-bell knellin’; 
And every jow the dead-bell gave 
   Cried “Woe to Barbara Allen.” 

“O mother, mother, make my bed, 
   O make it saft and narrow: 
My love has died for me today, 
   I’ll die for him tomorrow.” 

“Farewell,” she said, “ye virgins all, 
   And shun the fault I fell in: 
Henceforth take warning by the fall 
   Of cruel Barbara Allen.” 

And "Lord Randall" the second.
We will be looking at more ballads in the week to come, but first we must take a look at epics and get our 2nd synthesis essays in good order.

SHOW YOUR WORK.
This weekend read these openings of ancient, classical,  medieval and English Renaissance epics.

READ the 1st 20 lines of The Odyssey by Homer.

READ  the 1st 20 lines of Beowulf, the ancient poem of northern European origins.

Those two above are to give you some context for the epic form in its origins.

READ, NOTE & CREATE. For the next two, take the time to annotate, take notes, and/or sketchnote.  Bring LITERARY  3x3s of these selections by Dante and Milton to class on Tuesday, 12.6.16

READ.  the 1st Canto I of Dante's Inferno, a medieval story of descending into the underworld.

And finally READ.  Book 1 of Milton's Paradise Lost, the opening scenes depicting the beginning of the world according to Milton's take on Christian dogma.

UPDATE the Q2 BLOG TRACKER with your best evidence from November, as well as anything current.

WRITE to TURN IT.  Be prepared with 1st SUBMISSION DRAFT of your 2nd Synthesis Essay for THURSDAY'S class, 12.8.16. I want these back to you with plenty of time BEFORE the break.











Monday, November 28, 2016

AP Lit: Writing Workshop, Haiku & Blog Posts for This Week

Today we workshopped intros and thesis statements.  I got a ton out of it.  I hoped you did as well.

I don't have any pics of the work though, because I forgot my phone at home.  I'm doing ok.  Thanks for asking.

Here's the work for Wednesday and most of what's due on Friday.  Be prepared to read a ton of ballads for Friday.  Those are coming soon.  (And prepare this weekend to read some epic poetry of the epics.)

WRITE.  Revised.  Introduction and thesis statement for 2nd Synthesis.  (This is a change up from today's assignment.  I'm soft and crumpled like a wet newspaper in a hurricane.)

READ.  Haiku.

Overview of Haiku from Poets.org.

READ.

Haiku of Issa as translated by Robert Haas

Haiku of Basho from a variety of sources.

Haiku of Buson from a variety of sources.


READ.  The haiku inspired works of Matthew Rohrer available at PoetryFoundation.org.  Read the notes he has provided for his methodology and mindset behind these works.

READ.  Some of the other haiku available at PoetryFoundation.org or a Poets.org.  Go hunting.  See what goodness you find.

READ.  What this writer learned by writing haiku.  Think about our work with Meg Willing and what resonates here.

On Wednesday night, expect a collection of ballads to compose.

CRITICAL CREATIVITY BLOG POST.  Compose an original a haiku or ballad.  Consider the three different lenses we learned from Meg Willing:  poet, editor, designer.   Then design the cover for a volume of your poetry based on this one haiku or ballad you created.  

DESIGN THINKING BLOG POST.   EXPERIMENT Phase.  8 Box.  Poetry as Problem Solver Design Challenge.  Put yourself on a 4 minute timer.  Generate 8 ideas for addressing a problem in the school in 4 minutes.  Select one of your ideas.   Get three sticky notes/scraps of paper/index cards.   Storyboard that idea in action.  Put those three panels on a blank piece of paper.  Add context and explanation.  Mark it up.   Take no more than 30 minutes total from start to finish on this entire exercise.

Take a picture of your work.  Post on your blog along with any written or audio/video recording explanations we may need to understand your current ideas.





Friday, November 18, 2016

AP Lit: Poetry & Empathy & Problem Solving

Gonna keep this one short and to the point because it really outlines the work you need to do between now and next class and then over the Turkey Day break.

I added a reading/analysis piece that I did not mention during class.

We're diving into our first collaborative design challenge:

HOW MIGHT WE USE POETRY to SOLVE a PROBLEM at MT BLUE CAMPUS?
How might we use poetry to solve a problem at Mt. Blue Campus?

We've got to use our observations of the climate and culture at Mt. Blue to help us in this work, but more importantly we need to get to understand the users of our potential solutions and see what problems they are perceiving.

ASSIGNMENT 1. Empathy Interviews.  (Empathy PhasestInterview at least 3 Mt. Blue Campus students and/or staff.

Record/note answers to these five questions.


1. What day to day problems do you encounter?

2. How might these problems relate to a bigger problem you are seeing?

3.  How do you deal with the problems you encounter?

4. How do others contribute to solving those problems?

5. How do the problems you encounter affect the atmosphere of the school?


DUE. Monday, November 21.


ASSIGNMENT 2.  Sonnet Collection.  Investigate a number sonnets from the collection at Poets.org.

Curate a collection of least three sonnets, spread out across at least three different generations/schools/eras/, that share a common thread.  It may be subject matter.  It may be rhetorical.  It may be the placement or meaning of the volta.   It may be any sort of common thread.


Document your process of identifying and then forming this collection.  You may do so through an audio or video recording, written piece, sketchnote, any method you like, so long as you

a) document your process of curating your collection

b) explain your intentions for including each piece.


ASSIGNMENT 3. Synthesis Essay #2: Sketchnote & Introduction/Thesis Statement.
Just as last quarter, you are writing a multi-draft essay that discusses an observation, argument,  or understanding you have developed from our class readings as well as any other literature, film, music, art, culture, and/or life experience to inform  your argument.

For Monday, November 28, the Monday AFTER Turkey Day, complete a sketchnote that captures your intentions for your synthesis essay.  Think of a this as a visual map or outline of your essay.

THEN, compose a working draft of your introduction and thesis statement and be prepared to workshop these in class.


Tuesday, November 15, 2016

AP Lit: Sonnets & Sonnets & Sonnets . . .

Today we rocked some more Literary 3x3s, we learned about Jacques and Miles' literary design solutions, and we briefly wrangled with Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 "Shall I Compare Thee?"


We ran our first Literary 3x3 battle as well, seeing how quickly we could create Dalloway from our decks, while stealing from others' decks as well.  Grand fun.



The Hours in 3x3

Calling Quietly Out/Watching Behind Windows/Cornered By Wanting



Three Women Intertwined/Wrapped Within Strife/[?] Blooms Up -- The Hours

We also learned about Miles' Death of a Salesman mirror, his prototype solution to help Willy Loman deal with reality.




And we learned about Jacques' The Stranger glasses to help Meursault adjust his vision to a less objectivist point of view.


Finally we tackled Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, "Shall I Compare Thee" and it turns out the answer is no, no you shall not.

We talked briefly about sonnet forms, something into which we will dive MUCH further next class.

SONNET Readings to Complete for Thursday:
Shakespeare's Sonnet 25

John Milton’s “When I Consider How my Light Is Spent”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee”

Thomas Wyatt’s “Whoso List to Hunt, I Know Where Is an Hind” 

Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth”

Claude McKay’s “America,”

Molly Peacock’s “Altruism”

Choose two of the above to annotate & sketchnote.

Choose one of the above to create a Literary 3x3.   (It may be one of the two you annotated and sketchnoted)

Put pictures of your sketchnotes & annotations in your AP Lit IN Folder.

BLOG Posts for This Week.

ANALYTICAL POST.  Identify a thread streaking through two or more of the sonnets we read this week.  Discuss the idea you've uncovered and how the sonnet form, with its structures, shape and design, helps the poets deliver this intentional meaning.  In other words, why did the poets choose  the sonnet to express these ideas?

CREATIVE POST.   Two Images.  One Question.  Select one of the sonnets from this week.  Create a three-slide presentation that consists of two images and a single question.  The three slides should work together to capture the essence of the sonnet, the images functioning as metaphors/analogies for the ideas in the sonnet and the question being a core question the poet raises with the piece.   Write or record an explanation of your your choices.




Tuesday, November 8, 2016

AP Lit: Poetry Workshop w Meg Willing & Lit 3x3 & More

POETRY WORKSHOP.
Today we had a tremendous poetry workshop with  poet/editor/designer Meg Willing, who also happens to be an alumna of THE Mt. Blue High School.

She showed us how to look at a poem through three lenses: poet, editor, and book designer.  She used Marie Howe's "The Gate" as the centerpiece of this work.

We read the poem a number of times, she guided us through the poem through those lenses, and then we did some close readings.






This was followed by an exploration of rapid fire book designs for "The Gate."  This was lot like our 8 Box experience -- this time we had nine boxes & three minutes, followed by three minutes to expand three ideas on index cards.


We ended with just a short amount of time to play with cutup poetry -- an idea to which we will most definitely be returning in the near future *cough* next week I think *cough*




LITERARY 3X3
Coming up on Thursday . . .  Literary 3x3s done right.   We got away from these during Q1 and no longer.  They are powerful ways to move our thinking around and tackle analysis and we need to be doing them regularly and with great intent.   So . . .

Bring Literary 3x3s for The Hours, Mrs Dalloway, and Shakespeare's "Fear No More."

Here are the parameters for Literary 3x3s
  1. Criteria for an effective L3x3
    1. Three, Three-Word “Sentences”: loose grammar
    2. Powerful, Meaningful Diction: consider connotation vs denotation
    3. Every Word Counts: avoid prepositions and articles
  2. Upon forming the deck, lay out the L3x3s and then number the cards in a backside corner 1-9, so as to create an answer key.  Put your initials in the lower right corner of the numbered side of the deck.  On the word side of the cards, put the name of the text or abbreviation in lower left hand corner, creator in the lower right. This way you can mix up the decks and always get back to your starting position.

On Thursday, we have a short class, so we will be working with these Literary 3x3s and sharing projects.

Here's the blogging and reading for this week.
SHOW YOUR THINKING.

READ.  How to Read Lit.  "If It's Square, It's Sonnet"
BLOG POST. Written Analysis.  Select a power quote (a key moment in Foster's chapter) that you believe captures the essence of the chapter. Defend your choice.
Due. Friday 11.11.16

BLOG POST.  Reflection on Dallowinian Party.  What did you take from it?  What would you do the same?  What might you do differently? 
Due. Friday 11.11.16

READ. The Sonnets & Poetry Foundation Background on Sonnets -- Read all of the Highlighted Sonnets.

Read these in the service of your analytical blog post this week so you have some context for sonnets.  Be familiar with all of them for Tuesday, 11.15.16 for our work that day.
Choose one to annotate and Literary 3x3 for next Tuesday.  11.15.16 

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

AP Lit: Poetry Test Prep & Planning for a Dallowinian Party

You'll start today with some test prep via Abraham Cowley's "My Picture."  I've included the answer sheet so make sure you don't look at the answers until after you've done the practice.  (Unless you want to be THAT person . . . )

IMPORTANT. Put yourself on a 10 minute timer to answer those questions.

Take a few minutes to discuss your results and then turn to the matter of planning for the Dallowinian Party.

Here's what you need to do:


    1. Create a list of guests inspired by the characters of The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway. These should not be straight from the novels. Developing original characters challenges you to apply your knowledge of the source material.
    2. Determine a time period in which you want to set this story. Think about a setting that would add meaning and depth to the event, as well as would be fun to explore.
    3. Determine who will serve as the host.  
    4. Develop those characters and write brief profiles of those characters including such details as name, age, occupation, religion, a short biography as well as a description of their relationship to the host.
    5. Work as a class to build a map, flowchart or family tree of sorts making the extent to which the guests know one another, how they feel about one another, and any history they share.
    6. Collaborate on a list of “interruptions,” plot events or twists that may occur randomly during the party itself.  These might be “reveal a secret,”  “accuse someone of spreading a lie,”  “leave the room and discover a dead body,” or “confess your love.”

OUT OF CLASS WORK.
Read.  Mrs. Dalloway.  Finish the Book. 
Due. Friday 10.21.16

Blog.  Two Posts.
Critical Creativity Post.  A  Mrs. Dalloway employs color in meaningful, powerful ways.  Perhaps you have noticed this, perhaps  you have not.  (Pay particular attention to flowers, foods, skies, clothing and faces.)

Use Colourlovers.com  to create a custom palette of at least three colors relating to meaning in Mrs. Dalloway.  You will need to name the palette and each color within it.  Be certain to choose purposeful names and push your self to go beyond the concrete.  (Concrete:  "blue sky" because the sky was blue.)
Share your palette on your blog w/ explanations of your choices.

Monday, September 26, 2016

English 9: Who Am I (at the Moment) and Who Do I Want to Become Begins . . .

Last week we started our year long theme, though I didn't say anything about it being our year long theme because . . . uh . . . I'm not sure why.   But I didn't . . .

Who Am I (at the Moment) and Who Do I Want to Become is all about exploring our identities, our personalities, our values, our abilities, as they are right now, determining who we want to become in the future, and asking the most important question: how might we get ourselves from here to there?

Last week we looked at our multiple intelligences and our mindsets.

We used this survey from LiteracyWorks to help determine our multiple intelligences and took screen shots of our results.  Here's an example:
Later in the week we examined to extent to which we have growth and fixed mindsets.  We started by looking at objects in the room that represent how we feel about our intelligence.  We each chose one, took a picture of it that highlighted how it represents our feelings, and then put it back.



We watched this video that helps explain the difference between the two.


Two of the three classes did some work with scenarios, looking at how someone with a growth mindset would respond to a situation vs how someone with a fixed mindset would respond.

Then we used this inventory from Mindset Works to determine where our mindsets fall on the spectrum between fixed and growth.  

We took screenshots of the results again.   This time, however, we also found a sentence from the results that we believe describes us very well -- the inventory nailed it -- and a sentence that we were not so sure accurately describes who we are -- ehhhh..not sure sure about that one- -- and put those sentences in a Google doc.

To bring it all around full circle, we then wrote about how the object we found at the beginning represents our mindset -- whether fixed, growth, or somewhere in the middle.   We put that on a Google doc and then some folks started to copy and paste that information to their blogs.

Here's a sketchnote of how we went about doing this work. 

If you were able to get all of this work done in class last Thursday and Friday, you did not have homework.  Otherwise, you needed to finish completing the survey, finding the sentences that describe and do not describe your mindset, and then explain how that object represents your mindset.

It should be on a Google doc and placed in your English 9 IN folder.

Also in your English 9 IN folder should be your super power/kryptonite writing.

Now . . .  Monday and Tuesday . . .

Tuesday may look a little different but here's what happened on Monday . . .

We explored the basics of sketchnotes!





Then we worked with poetry Jenga and created a few poems in the moment.








Then we started reading "So What Are You, Anyway?" by Lawrence Hill, a story about a young woman on a plane dealing with some less than kind fellow travelers.  I explained how the Notice/Wish/Wonder graphic organizer works.

Then we broke into 4 Stations, each of which are described on the sketchnoted signs below with instructions.  Anything that was not completed in class became homework due at the next class.





Links to Roots 2 are over in the toolbar to the right under "Roots & Quizlet"



Tuesday, January 26, 2016

AP Lit 4B: Sonnets & Scouting

Hi folks,

This week we continue building our new routines for AP Lit.  I'm excited about it.  I think it is going to do a lot of really great things for us in here.

So here we go . . .

Dream Time.  Compose a haiku about sonnets.  5-7-5.  Bonus points and high fives for using a kigo, writing in present tense, and having a turn (kireji).  (10 min.)

No Red Ink.  Parallel structure.  We're starting our work with No Red Ink today.  We'll make sure everyone is logged in and able to access it. (10 min.)

Sonnets.

We'll start with sharing our experiences with the readings and a quick round robin.
Which sonnet did you choose annotate?
Choose one take away/annotation from that poem to share with the class.

Close read: "Sonnet 25: Let Those Who Are in Favour with Their Stars"
Focused SCOUTing.
S:  Diction.
C: Title.
O: Rhyme scheme and relation of the structure to the meaning; introducing the volta (more on this next class)
U: ___
T: Theme

On Demand Revisions.

We'll look at your revised On-Demand and see the extent to which the workshop helped.

SHOW YOUR THINKING.

Blog Prompt.
Image of a Sonnet. 
Step 1. Choose either the sonnet you annotated or another of your choosing from the assigned collection.  Post your annotations.
Step 2. Determine the rhyme scheme and organizational structure of the poem i.e. octave to sestet? sestet to octave? 
quatrain to sestet to couplet to couplet?
something else?
Step 3. Take a photo, find an image on Unsplash.com, or create an image to illustrate each structural unit of the poem.
Step 4.  Post your images in an order that reflects the sonnet.
Step 5.  Write or record your intentions.
Due. Next Class.


Read.  How to Read Lit Like a Professor
"If It's Square, It's a Sonnet."
Annotate.  Bring your annotations.
Due. Next Class. 
(We're using the basic premise of Foster's chapter next class as the spine of our lesson.  So please be familiar.)

Design. Indie Book Project Q3.
Due.  Next Tuesday. Feb 2.
Be prepared to share.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

AP Lit 3G: Sonnets & Such

Hi folks,

This week we continue building our new routines for AP Lit.  I'm excited about it.  I think it is going to do a lot of really great things for us in here.

So here we go . . .

Dream Time.  Compose a haiku about sonnets.  5-7-5.  Bonus points and high fives for using a kigo, writing in present tense, and having a turn (kireji).  (10 min.)

No Red Ink.  Parallel structure.  We're starting our work with No Red Ink today.  We'll make sure everyone is logged in and able to access it. (10 min.)

Sonnets.

We'll start with sharing our experiences with the readings and a quick round robin.
Which sonnet did you choose annotate?
Choose one take away/annotation from that poem to share with the class.

Close read: "Shall I Compare Thee . . ."
Focused SCOUTing.
S:  Diction.
C: Title.
O: Rhyme scheme and relation of the structure to the meaning; introducing the volta (more on this next class)
U: ___
T: Theme


On Demand Revisions.

We'll look at your revised On-Demand and see the extent to which the workshop helped.

SHOW YOUR THINKING.

Blog Prompt.
Image of a Sonnet. 
Step 1. Choose either the sonnet you annotated or another of your choosing from the assigned collection.  Post your annotations.
Step 2. Determine the rhyme scheme and organizational structure of the poem i.e. octave to sestet? sestet to octave? 
quatrain to sestet to couplet to couplet?
something else?
Step 3. Take a photo, find an image on Unsplash.com, or create an image to illustrate each structural unit of the poem.
Step 4.  Post your images in an order that reflects the sonnet.
Step 5.  Write or record your intentions.
Due. Next Class.


Read.  How to Read Lit Like a Professor
"If It's Square, It's a Sonnet."
Annotate.  Bring your annotations.
Due. Next Class. 
(We're using the basic premise of Foster's chapter next class as the spine of our lesson.  So please be familiar.)

Design. Indie Book Project Q3.
Due.  Next Tuesday. Feb 2.
Be prepared to share.



Wednesday, April 15, 2015

AP Lit: Poetry by Design Installation This Week

Hey folks,

Lots happening this week . . .

Hoping this post puts it all in context for you and serve as a schedule/checklist.


I'm going to organize it by component here.


INDIVIDUAL POEMS.
DUE: Wednesday Night.

Dan sent you a template for Pages.  (Only change I would make -- and I should've said this to Dan yesterday because he did run it by me first -- is move your name as poet to the bottom of the page.)

Please put your poem in this template, save, and EXPORT as PDF and send it to me.   (If you send me a Pages document I won't be able to open it.)

I will print these off on cardstock and we will then put them up in those nooks and crannies in the school where our users may not expect to see them.

We'll keep a map of them so we know where the poems are at in the building.


INTERPRETATIONS. 
DUE: Thursday Morning.

Mike sent a Poetry Project tracker.  Here you need to post three important pieces of information for the installation process.  
1. the poem you are interpreting
2. the type of art you are creating
3. the location where you want it

Anyone with Period 1G free?  We could use some help with the installing.  We'll use the Theater Workshop as our rally point.  Drop off art there.

EXPERIENCES.
DUE: Thursday Morning.

Staging in the Theater Workshop.   Then each group should get 'em up as quickly as possible during Period 1.

Poetry Jenga 3x3.  Need those 3x3s ASAP from those folks creating them.   Everything is cut and assembled.  Dan created a cool SketchUp model to help us design it.   We are going to go black Sharpie on plain wood.  We tried it.  Looks good.

Poet-trees.   We will be laminating and cutting today.  Assembling in the workshop.   These are looking great.

Poets Scale.  Assembling in the workshop.


RATIONALES.
DUE: Friday.

BLOG: 3+ Posts
Req'd:  Document your poetry as design work.  This is the stuff.
Due: Friday.



Sunday, April 5, 2015

AP Lit: Poetry as Design Challenge: Experiment Phase & More

EMPATHY & EXPERIMENT PHASES.

Monday and Tuesday, we have several vital signposts ahead of us.

One.  We need to explore some more poetry structures.  Sestina. Gazhal.  Villanelle.  This week.  In class.  (I promised no piling on.  I meant it.)


Two.  We need to examine results of empathy work and map our insights.


Three.  We have to determine which experiences we want to install and who will work on each.


Four.  We need a schedule for this next week and a half.  We will be installing on the 15th, due to step up day for the middle school crew.  Folks need to know what to finish and for when.

Five.  We need to engage the DEEP board so we can better keep track of who is doing what and when.

This is where it gets both nuts and amazing.  Just like any good design challenge should.

Reminder of Expectations.

1.  DESIGN a POEM.  Craft an original piece that evokes the theme of happiness or connectedness.  It must use at least 7 poetic devices from this menu.
Due. April 15.  Poem for installation.
Due. April 16. 1 page analysis.

2.  DESIGN an INTERPRETATION of a POEM.  Craft a visual/audio/tactile interpretation of any poem you feel suits this theme.  Consider using Poetry Foundation  as a starting point for  your search.
Due.  April 15.  Interpretation for installation
Due. April 16.  1 page analysis.  Use poetic devices from this menu as backbone of this analysis.

3. DESIGN an EXPERIENCE with POETRY.  Design an interactive experience for students on campus that uses elements of poetry and increases happiness and/or connectedness at Mt. Blue Campus.  This is where the crux of our design work occurs.
Due. April 15.  Installation.
Due.  April 16.  Collection of poems explored.  Three analyses completed using SCOUT & CRAP. 
Due.  April 16.  Documentation.  DEEP. Discovery. Empathy. Experiment.  Produce.  Req'd Blog Posts for the Week.  Have documentation of every phase and explanations ready for viewing.

This is also our pre-cursor to the big end of the year Watchmen installation.  This is really an extended flashlab to help us get accustomed to this work.

ASSESSMENT.

Blog.  3+ Posts.
Req'd Post This Week.  SHOW YOUR WORK.  DEEP.  Discovery.  Empathy. Experiment.  Any component of the installation.  Show it.  Record it.

AP Lit: Poetry as Design Challenge: Empathy Phase Into Experiment Phase

We had a powerful Thursday and Friday last week.

Empathy phase abounded with composite users and user mapping.

We created composite users on Wednesday and Thursday and the put them onto a spray chart to better define our core and fringe users.




This was certainly one of our biggest A-HA's above . . . we thought of other contexts where the users who MOST NEED a product those LEAST LIKELY to use it, and those with LEAST NEED are MOST LIKELY to use it.
And this is the tension we are facing with our Poetry as Design installation.



PIE.  This captures the project well.  Poem. Interpretation. Experience.  
That is what you are designing.  Three products.  
Perhaps we should make three point one four products.


On Monday, we should be getting first of our empathy conversation work.
I like that we are using the term empathy conversation.
The intention behind that choice makes me happy.  Talk.  Not mine.

We also need to find our users.  Figure out where best to install our experiences so that we are reaching the users where they are.   Map 'em.  See 'em.
Tuesday we will get these results.

Monday, March 30, 2015

AP Lit: Poetry as Design: Design Thinking Challenge: DISCOVERY Continues

Monday, we continued our work with our poetry as design challenge: DISCOVERY.

Where we are at so far:

How might we increase . . . 

Period 3B. Connectedness

Period 4G. Happiness

at Mt. Blue Campus through our understanding of poetry and design?


We have been ideating/brainstorming around possible installation features and experiences as well as starting to look at the sonnet form.


Today, 3B came up with four strong experiential installation features:

  • hide-a-poem/find-a-poem (find parts of a poem around the building)
  • suggest-aiku  (suggestion box that receives only haiku)
  • poet-trees (metaphorical & literal trees built of poetry)
  • poet scale (to which poet do you most align?)
There were others as well; these four simply emerged as the strongest contenders from our 8 Box into Storyboards ideating protocol.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will determine how best to practice empathy and identify user needs this week.  We will also start populating the DEEP board with this project so we can see who is working on what elements of the installation and making certain we hold ourselves accountable for the process.  (Tuesday, Period 4G will also be doing a fast paced version of 8 Box & Storyboard.)

In the meantime . . . 


ASSESSMENTS.

Blog.  NO REQ'D BLOGGING!  Fill in any req'd posts you might be missing. 

Read & Close Read.  Sonnet work for Wednesday/Thursday

Sonnet Work:
Read: "The Sonnet" chapter in "How to Read Lit" and annotate. 
Read: you’ve got a pile of poetry to read and it’s gonna be great.  We will be examining the sonnet form and discussing why it endures. There are  poems you need to read on the “Sonnet” page.  (The English, Petrarchan and Italian examples)  There are two Shakespearean sonnets you need to read as well,  ”Let Those Who Are in Favour”and “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”  
Annotate/sketchnote three of the above sonnets.  (Suggest SCOUT and CRAPify lenses.) Your choice.  


Poetry as Design Challenge.

a.  Design an original poem (must employ at least 7 poetic devices) and one page self-analysis

b.  Design an interpretation of a poem (visual, audio, dramatic) and one page self-analysis (identifies poetic devices at play in poem)

c.  Collaborate with classmates on interactive poetry infused installations to increase happiness/connectedness at Mt. Blue Campus.

d.  Portfolio of collected poetry for use in interactive installations and accompanying SCOUT & CRAPify analysis for three of those pieces.

Due.  Installations & interactives.  Wed April 14.   Portfolio, SCOUT/CRAPify, and self-analysis due Fri. April 16.  Documenting of design process.  Fri.  April 16.


Looking ahead.

Indie Book Projects.  
Due End of Week After April Break.

Watchman installation.
Due end of May.

Final Synthesis.
Final due at end of class in May.