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Get LitStudent Workbook

A 12-Week Course in Literacy (and Life) Through POETRY

Diane Luby Lane

Copyright © 2013 by Yellow Road Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.

Order this book at www.GetLit.org/store

ISBN: 978-1-300-88659-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval systems with-out the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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“How soon the sunrise would kill me if I could not now and always send sunrise out of me.”

Walt Whitman

Table of Contents

Week 1: What is Poetry? Where is Poetry? Why Do I Need Poetry? 1

Week 2: Claiming Your Poem, Claiming Yourself 4

Week 3: Becoming Your Poem (Memorization) 11

Week 4: Reclaiming Your Voice (Recitation) 14

Week 5: Realize & Respond (Writing) 17

Week 6: Going Below the Surface (Re-Writing) 36

Week 7: Speak Up! (Reciting Your Own Words) 39

Week 8: Strength in Numbers (Becoming Part of a Group) 43

Week 9: Raise the Volume, Raise the Roof (Reciting as a Group) 46

Week 10: Creating a Symphony (Responding as a Group)* 48

Week 11: The Sum of the Parts (Group Recitation) 53

Week 12: Putting it Together (Dress Rehearsal) 56

Tips for the Final Performance 59

Conclusion 61

Vocabulary 62

My Word Palette 63

Appendix I 74

Appendix II: List of Poems (Titles & Authors) 77

Appendix III: Poetic Terms 86

Appendix IV: Get Lit Curriculum’s alignment to the Common Core Standards 92

About the Author 108

About Get Lit—Words Ignite 110

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A Message from Get Lit Founder, Diane Luby Lane

I believe in something called “synchronicity.” Synchronicity means there are no accidents. Assuming this is true, there’s a reason you’re holding this book in your hands right now. Look at it. Open it up. Flip through the pages. It’s yours. Write your name in it. Take charge. Move in. Do you ever feel like no one listens to you? Or that no one understands you? Or that some things are just too scary to say out loud? Nancy Rubin says, “Paper is the best listener in the world.” And Alice Walker says, “I know how poems are made…There is a place the fear must go. There is a place the choice must go. There is a place the loss must go. The leftover love. The love that spills out of the too full cup…” I am suggesting that this workbook is where you free yourself, and let go. All my life I was a voracious reader but I definitely didn’t read poetry. Instead I read Daniel Steele, and Norma Klein. I left the “classics” for the honors students down the hall. Poetry, to me, was frou-frou imagery about roses. And who were these dead, white male poets with long white beards? Why did they always look so miserable and what were they saying? It wasn’t until I saw actress Viveca Lindfors perform Walt Whitman’s “Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born…” that I finally understood and liked a poem. “I am stuffed with the stuff that is course and stuffed with the stuff that is fine.a novice beginning yet of myriads of seasonsof every hue and cast am Iof every rank and religion…” I joined her Guerilla Poetry Troupe and began memorizing ‘classic’ poems by DH Lawrence, Yeats, Whitman, and more, and performed them throughout New York City. During that time I was writing monologues. My first book had been published through Samuel French, but when I suggested to Viveca that I perform my own work, she said for every one of my monologues I memorized, I should memorize two of someone else’s. When I asked her why? She said, “Just try it and see.”

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So I did. And then I understood. There is something about having someone else’s words inside of you, especially when that someone is a master who expresses things you feel and think but don’t yet have the words to say. Or that someone’s words are direct, powerful and to the point. Or that someone has written words that move an audience to tears or bring them to uproarious laughter. When you recite those words suddenly you feel a power you never knew was possible. By ingesting someone else’s words, someone else’s viewpoint, you grow larger. You become someone else—a man, a woman, young, old, black, white, rich, poor, angry, empowered or in love. You think with someone else’s brain. Feel with someone else’s heart. You finally have words for things you’d never considered or for things you thought you were all alone in considering. You find friends in the writers whose work you memorize and there you find a more expansive version of yourself.

This is what happened to me as I read and memorized the work of other writers. Alone in my New York apartment their words made me stop feeling lonely. Their words saved my life. And if those words could save me, I knew they could save other people too. The words didn’t belong to the “scholars” down the hall—they belonged to the people. All people. In the words of Beat poet, Lenore Kandel, “It was time to take poetry out of the classroom and into the street!” Years later in San Francisco, I met James Kass and was introduced to the revolutionary work of the nonprofit he’d founded, Youth Speaks. Youth Speaks is responsible for bringing teen spoken word around the world through Brave New Voices and has been documented on HBO. During their first year I was director of their theatrical division, which is a fancy way of saying I taught six kids who were interested in acting, but I also visited schools and saw raw, live spoken word by teens and it blew my mind. Years later I toured my one woman show about books called Deep Sea Diving/Born Feet First with Jimmy Santiago Baca. Jimmy is a world-renowned poet who learned to read and write in prison. He founded Cedar Tree a nonprofit organization in hopes of transforming lives through writing and literature. The organization is committed to reaching incarcerated and seriously at risk youth. My work with Jimmy took us into juvenile detention centers, gang programs, schools and universities. It was heart breaking the way the boys in juvi surrounded us and asked for our autographs when we finished performing. They looked so young. So innocent. Most of them were in there for drug related crimes. Some of the boys were twelve years old and already locked up! It seemed so unfair. I vowed to do something about it when I could and what I did was start Get Lit, an in-school poetry program that would introduce kids to the thing that saved my life—books, poetry, spoken word. The in-school Get Lit program I started was so successful that when it ended the kids didn’t want to leave so I created an after-school program for them to attend. The kids memorized so much poetry I booked them for shows around the community. Then I started auditioning kids throughout

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Southern California in order to find the best performers and writers I could find. This was the start of the Get Lit Players who now perform for over 10,000 of their peers every year inspiring them to read, write, participate in the arts and become leaders in their communities. They’ve even performed at the White House. The program attracted the attention of former California Poet Laureate Carol Muske-Dukes who suggested we write “response” poems to the classics giving original spoken word poems even more meaning. Once that component was added Get Lit as we know it today was born. Today our “Lit Kit” is in schools throughout the nation. Students just like yourselves are opening up this very same workbook and discovering greater versions of themselves through the process. Your journey starts with your first poem. My first poem was by Walt Whitman. I wonder who will have written yours. In the words of Chan Vega from Ramon C. Cortines High School in Los Angeles “I will never forget the day my poem claimed me.” Enjoy!

Diane

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Promises of the Program

1. Get smarter2. Get to know yourself better3. Get to find a voice you didn’t know you had4. Get to learn how to listen5. Get to respond better to people6. Get to write great poems7. Get to surprise yourself and those around you8. Get to work as a powerful part of a group9. Get more confidence10. Get inspired, GET LIT!

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Week 1: What is Poetry? Where is Poetry? Why Do I Need Poetry?

Goal: To recognize the poetry in your life.

If you are a dreamer, come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer. If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire,

for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!Shel Silverstein

Inspire

What is your name?

Do you have a favorite author? Poet?

A poem/book you like?

Are you a reader? Of what?

Writer? What kind?

Performer? Of what?

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IgniteJump right in! Poetry exists in so many different forms. List the title of the following that you

like or at least know… If you don’t know one, fill it in later!

prayer

nursery rhyme

song

poem

2. Write down phrases, quotes, song lyrics that you like.

phrases

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quotes

song lyrics

3. Look for incidents of synchronicity (for example a billboard on your way to school that reads, “YOUR FATE HAS BEEN CHANGED”) in your everyday life. How does the world, the universe, or life speak to you through the words you stumble upon? WHAT WAS YOUR MESSAGE THIS WEEK? Look for it & write it down HERE along with what it means to you.

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Week 2: Claiming Your Poem, Claiming Yourself

Goal: To claim a poem, and let it claim you.

He made no distinctions: he read whatever came his way, as if it had been ordained by fate.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

InspireDo you pick a poem or does it pick you? The Week 2 quote comes from Love in the Time of Cholera. In the novel, Marquez describes Florentino as someone who made no distinctions when deciding what to read. He delved into the books/poems that came his way, believing they were meant for him and would provide the answers that he needed to find. Perhaps the universe is al-ways trying to speak to us if we’re watchful for signs. Do you ever feel that your dreams contain messages? Do you ever try to interpret those messages? There are many examples from literature and history where signs were valued. For example, in Native American cultures and even the Bible, those who could interpret dreams were highly valued members of the community. In Homer’s The Iliad, at four of the critical points in the story a bird appears and shows the will of the gods to the mortals. How can we learn to hear and understand the signs and omens meant for us? The poem you are about to choose will be perfect for you in some way. It will help you to understand who you are and the particular struggles you’re facing. Go through your selected list of poems, and choose the one that calls to you. We call this Claiming Your Poem. How do you know which poems are right for you? Emily Dickinson said, “If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?” Emily Dickinson seems to recognize poetry by the physical effects it has on her, at least metaphorically. So select poems that seem to stick and to capture you in some way. When you hear “your” poem there will be a sort of recognition. Your body will feel—this was meant for me.

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Inform

Some ways to know it when you hear it are:

• A word or phrase JUMPS out at you• It makes you FEEL something• You feel or hear a YES inside you• It makes you want to LEARN more about it• You like the RHYTHM• It EXPRESSES how you feel about something• You can picture yourself PERFORMING it

Ignite Start reading!

Common ConcernsMy Poem is TOO LongIf you’re nervous about the length of your selected poems you can memorize a section of it and learn the rest later. Don’t let the length intimidate you! My Poem is TOO ShortEven if you memorize a short poem, it will still be more than the average person on the street has done, who has never memorized a poem at all. Besides, you can always add another poem later.

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Homework

Read your poem every day and begin to memorize it.

Rewrite the words of your poem here. Write them just the way they appear on the page, paying attention to line breaks, spelling, indentions, spaces…remember, the poet has chosen all of these consciously and for a reason!

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Write down any words you don’t know the meaning of. Look them up and record their meaning. (Add this information to the Vocabulary section on page 62.)

What do you think this poem means?

What in particular made you choose it?

Are there unusual spellings? spacings? What do you think they mean in the context of the poem?

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What do you like about your poem?

What confuses you about your poem?

Who is the poet/author?

When was he/she born? Die (if relevant)?

Where was he/she born? Where did he/she spend most of his/her life?

What are 3 fun facts about your poet?

1st fact

2nd fact

3rd fact

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Any special awards or distinctions?

Any gossip?

This poet is like me because:

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Now practice giving a speech as if you are a professor from a local university…noting the following facts and saying them in your own words… “Hi my name is . The name of my Poem is . It’s written by . He/she was born in (date) and died (date if relevant) . He/she was born in (country) but spent most of his/her life in . One interesting thing about him/her is that . Another is that . And did you know that ? He/she won the award for . (Name of poet) is like me in that .”

Now write the whole paragraph over again in your own words.

**Keep a copy of your poem in your “Get Lit” folder.**A “Get Lit” folder is any folder you use to hold poems, quotes, excerpts from books, lines from songs, phrases from magazines or newspapers, pictures, clippings, and other writings/images that move you.

All of the poems, quotes and excerpts that you collect can become a part of your repertoire. You can use the other images to inspire future writing. So color your folder. Decorate it. Put stickers on it. It’s important to keep all of your work contained in one place. Of course you might also keep it on your phone, computer, thumb drive, etc. but it’s nice to have something tangible to hold in your hands too.

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Week 3: Becoming Your Poem (Memorization)

The magic of memorization is the key to making your poem a part of you.

Only through memorizing can poems beat with your heart and flow with your blood…

Carol Muske-Dukes

Inspire

Practice saying your name, the name of your poem and poet, a bit about the poet (what country the poet was from, the year of his/her birth and death, and some interesting facts) and what the poem has come to mean to you.

Your NameDo you like saying your name? Does it represent who you feel you are? You should introduce yourself before presenting yourself. Do you want to say your first and last name? Just your first? It’s up to you.

Name of Poem

If your poem doesn’t have a name you can say that it’s Untitled. Untitled by Walt Whitman, for example. You might add that it is from the book, Leaves of Grass.

Poet’s Life

Why do you have to talk about your author anyway? Knowledge about these poets and their lives is in the hands of a very privileged few. Most people are left out. It’s up to us to educate ourselves and break this pattern by sharing our knowledge with friends and families.

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Watch your body!

If every time you go to say your poem you find yourself rocking back and forth; hiding your face behind your hair; squeezing your hands together in strange ways; grabbing onto your mid section; cocking your head to one side and exposing your neck (as many girls do in a classic low status position) – stop! Put your feet apart, arms down at your sides and begin. Pretend you have 100 lb weights in each hand. It will feel awkward at first but it will eventually help you break away from the shy, awkward, unconscious movements of your body that have nothing to do with your performance of the poem.

Inform

Why memorize? When you memorize something, it’s with you forever. It flows with your blood and beats with your heart. It will be there with you when you walk on the beach with your boyfriend or girlfriend. It will be there with you when you hold your first child. It will be there with you when you comfort a friend over the loss of a loved one.

Common Concerns & What to Do With Them

I Can’t MemorizeThink about how many songs you know by heart. Could you imagine having to walk around with the lyric sheet? No! If you can memorize a song, you can memorize a poem. It will take 20 minutes and a little practice every day, and then you will have it for the rest of your life.

Memorization Techniques

• RECORD yourself reciting the poem and listen to it over and over again. – Break it down by stanza or line, not moving on until you have that part down.

• WRITE down each stanza several times, until you can do it from memory, without looking at the original.

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• Keep reciting until you can say it really, really fast, without stopping to think.

• TEXT it to yourself.

• Work with a PARTNER, having them hold the paper and test you.

• Repeat it throughout the week, while doing other tasks like washing the dishes, showering, or walking.

• OVERMEMORIZE! Know it inside and out.

Homework

Continue to memorize your poem and the information about your poet.

Be ready to recite them fully by next week & share it with at least one person.

Google your poem to gather any other interpretations or historical information on it.

Practice saying your poem with your feet apart, arms down at your sides and standing still. Practice saying the information about your poet, confidently, as if you were a visiting Professor.

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Week 4: Reclaiming Your Voice (Recitation)

Goal: To use your voice and be heard.

You lose the voice and that’s the greatest crime against your soul. You know, if you can stand up in front of people and speak of the beauty and the

nightmares that you’ve lived growing up in this world, as a distinct individual, and you can deal with the pain, it makes you that much more beautiful.

Jimmy Santiago Baca

Inspire

Tips for How to Stand & Speak• Begin practicing by standing still. Legs apart slightly for balance and power. Hands down

at your sides as if you are holding heavy weights. • Try and speak to the back of the room. If you are very shy and find yourself reciting the

poem to the floor, place a chair or choose a piece of furniture a few feet away from you. Keep your eyes up off the floor and look at the mark you’ve selected.

• Keep your head up, hair out of your face, and don’t sway.• When you finish reciting your poem, give yourself lots of praise. Remember, this is hard!

Learning to ListenActive listening is an important part of learning to understand and enjoy poetry. Choose a partner or other student in class to listen to. Tell them what you saw when he/she performed. Have them do the same for you (Use the listening handout in Appendix I).

Inform

VocabularyIf you are taking this course in a class, many of the poems of your fellow students will contain some challenging words. Write them in the back of your workbook (on page 62) and start and start reviewing what they mean.

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“Why Is It Important to Grow Your Vocabulary?”• If you don’t know the MEANING of a word in your poem, your performance will be

fuzzy and your audience won’t know what you’re talking about. • Having more words to choose from makes us more interesting writers. They are our

PALETTE, from which we create our work. How much fun would a painter have with the same three colors?

• True WORDSMITHS (like many modern rappers and recording artists) have wide and varied language skills which they employ to make their art.

Ignite

Choose a friend (or your classmates) to share your thoughts on what your own poem and each other’s poems mean.

It is your job to get the information to your friend or classmates as clearly as you can. Help them to understand what you’re saying by speaking slowly, and with some volume. Poetry isn’t everyday, ordinary speech. We need your help to hear it and to understand it. NoteReact to what you HEAR. If you hear a great line and want to react, REACT! It reminds your friend/classmate that what they’re hearing/saying is special and you are there to enjoy and APPRECIATE.

Homework

Listen and respond in the world. Keep working on your poem. What things do you learn about it as you work on it that you didn’t know beforehand? What is new? How does it change as you learn it, breathe it, live it?

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Did you receive any performance notes from your friend or classmates? What were they?

Continue to practice memorizing the poem. Do not consider it memorized until you can say it super fast. Run it in your mind, several times, every single day. You should be able to say it as fast as a song or a prayer or a phone number that you know perfectly.

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Week 5: Realize & Respond (Writing)

Goal: To understand what makes poems tick.

Read, read, read. Read everything- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master.

Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write.William Faulkner

First Things First

Vocabulary WordsReview all of your vocabulary words. This will begin to give you a greater facility for the English language. Words are weapons and wands. The more you know, the more power you have and the more you can create.

Inspire

Today you’re going to begin crafting your own masterpiece. One great way to get inspired is to respond or “have a conversation” with the classic poem you’ve chosen. Check out these examples. EXAMPLE: William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet who lived in the late 1800’s. He was part of a secret society that investigated magic and alchemy and is one of the most famous poets that ever lived. Anne Sexton was American. She was beautiful and a model but lived with mental illness and killed herself when she was in her 40’s. She wrote “The Big Heart” in response to a line (“too many things are occurring for even a big heart to hold”) from an essay by Yeats. “Too many things are occurring for even a big heart to hold.”William Butler Yeats

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Big Heart by Anne Sexton

Big heart, wide as a watermelon, but wise as birth, there is so much abundance in the people I have: Max, Lois, Joe, Louise, Joan, Marie, Dawn, Arlene, Father Dunne, and all in their short lives give to me repeatedly, in the way the sea places its many fingers on the shore, again and again and they know me, they help me unravel, they listen with ears made of conch shells, they speak back with the wine of the best region. They are my staff. They comfort me. They hear how the artery of my soul has been severed and soul is spurting out upon them, bleeding on them, messing up their clothes, dirtying their shoes. And God is filling me, though there are times of doubt as hollow as the Grand Canyon, still God is filling me. He is giving me the thoughts of dogs, the spider in its intricate web, the sun in all its amazement,

“Too many things are occurring for even a big heart to hold?”William Butler Yeats

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and a slain ram that is the glory, the mystery of great cost, and my heart, which is very big, I promise it is very large, a monster of sorts, takes it all in-- all in comes the fury of love.

What is Anne Sexton’s poem about?

How would you respond to “too many things are occurring for even a big heart to hold?”

Etheridge Knight was an African American poet who was born in the 1930’s. He spent his early years in pool halls and bars where he learned to ‘tell toasts,’ which are long memorized narrative poems performed with energy. He became addicted to drugs and went to jail for eight years for stealing a purse. There he wrote poems and upon publication of his first book, became the voice of the black aesthetic movement. He was beloved by many great poets including Gwendolyn Brooks. He died of lung cancer in 1991.

Gwendolyn Brooks is from Chicago and was born in 1917. She knew by age 7 that she wanted to be a writer and was published by 13. While still a high school student, she met poets Langston Hughes and James Weldon Johnson who encouraged her to keep writing. In 1950 she became the first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize and she was appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1960. Ethridge Knight wrote “The Sun Came” in response to Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, “Truth.”

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Truth by Gwendolyn BrooksAnd if sun comesHow shall we greet him?Shall we not dread him,Shall we not fear himAfter so lengthy aSession with shade? Though we have wept for him,Though we have prayedAll through the night-years—What if we wake one shimmering morning toHear the fierce hammeringOf his firm knucklesHard on the door? Shall we not shudder?—Shall we not fleeInto the shelter, the dear thick shelterOf the familiarPropitious haze? Sweet is it, sweet is itTo sleep in the coolnessOf snug unawareness. The dark hangs heavilyOver the eyes.

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What is this Gwendolyn Brooks about?

Here is Ethridge’s response:

And if sun comes How shall we greet him?

—Gwen Brooks

The sun came, Miss Brooks,—After all the night years.He came spitting fire from his lips.And we flipped—We goofed the whole thing.It looks like our ears were not equippedFor the fierce hammering. And now the Sun has gone, has bled red,Weeping behind the hills.Again the night shadows form.But beneath the placid face a storm rages.The rays of Red have pierced the deep, have struckThe core. We cannot sleep.The shadows sing: Malcolm, Malcolm, Malcolm.The darkness ain’t like before. The Sun came, Miss Brooks.And we goofed the whole thing.I think.(Though ain’t no vision visited my cell.)

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What is his response about?

Isn’t it interesting how many different responses to poetry there are! How many different interpretations to one piece of art? What are your thoughts about that?

Inform

Look at Poetic Terms & Structure (complete list is in the Appendix III) Here are a few… SonnetThere are 3 types of sonnets but we will focus on just one, the Shakespearean or Elizabethan, because that is the one found most often in English. What author is most known for the writing of sonnets?

Sonnet means “little song,” and generally it is 14 lines long. It divides thought up into four parts.

• In poetry, each “paragraph” is called a stanza• When a stanza has 4 lines, it’s called a QUATRAIN sounds like “cuatro” or 4 in Spanish,

so it’s easy to remember!• When a stanza has 2 lines, it’s called a COUPLET. 2 people in a couple so also easy to

remember!• Generally a sonnet has 3 quatrains and one couplet for a total of 14 lines.

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The beauty of a sonnet or any poetic structure is that it lends an architecture to vast subjects like “death,” “love,” and “birth.” It makes them manageable. These subjects are focused through the lens of the structure so that we can look at them, hold them in our hands, and wrap our heads around them. Is the poem you’ve selected in a sonnet form?

Go to http://magicalpoetryblimp.org/ for a complete list of poetic structures. Free Verse PoemAt the other end of the spectrum is the “free verse” poem. America was very influenced by European poetry and art until a particular American poet came along. His name was Walt Whitman. He lived during the time of the Civil War, the 1860’s. He had a long white flowing beard and a hat he took off for no man. He was unusual because he didn’t subscribe to “class values.” He counted working men, laborers, African Americans, and women as his friends. He said, “I am the poet of the body and I am the poet of the soul,” and celebrated both at a time when women were covered up and people didn’t talk about “such things.” He was funny, saying, “The scent of these armpits is an aroma finer than prayer!” Scandalous! His book Leaves of Grass, was burned and banned. He continued to work on it for the rest of his life and it is considered the foundation of all American poetry, meaning that Walt Whitman REINVENTED the way that poetry from our country sounded. He loved America with its broad spaces and rolling hills. He loved the language of the people he heard in the street and that of the Civil War soldiers. He didn’t want to sound like a European; he wanted to represent the unique voices of the people from America. So he abandoned the sonnet and other structures and wrote in a “free verse” style. What do you think “free verse” means? Unlike haiku and sonnet and villanelle, with strict rules and structure, free verse lets all that go. It means LET IT FLOW. Walt Whitman was the major precursor to modern poets writing free verse. He was the first to give American poetry its “sound.” Going forward forty years there was a young African American poet named Langston Hughes. He grew up in Jazz America and, living in Harlem, heard amazing sounds all around him. He too wanted to capture the world he experienced. He was searching for his own voice and for the voice of the “Negro” people living in America. He needed a new sound. So he took off on a boat to Africa to find himself and while sailing he threw all of his books overboard. He said, “I won’t

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be needing you anymore.” He just kept one. It was Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. Langston was also an adopter of “free verse” poetry. Often, with Langston it is called, “jazz poetry,” because his sound is often influenced by the impromptu jazz sounds around him. He lived in an AMAZING time when jazz was first coming alive—the 1920’s—a time called “the Harlem Renaissance”. Imagine, all we knew was the European, “classical music” influence of Bach and Mozart and Beethoven. This was a whole new sound, the first authentically American sound! Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, EXPLODING onto the scene. How could a poet not want, not need, to incorporate this revelatory spirit into his work? So he did. That’s free verse. But how do you create “poetry” without rules? How can you maintain any kind of a flow? You do so through poetic devices. Robert Frost, one of America’s premiere poets, said that writing free verse is like playing tennis without the net. So we see, it is not as easy as one might think!

Poetic DevicesLook in the Appendix III, pg. 86 of your workbook and refresh yourself on what “Alliteration” “Consonance” and “Assonance” mean.

Find some examples of alliteration from your poem:

Find some examples of consonance from your poem:

Find some examples of assonance from your poems:

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Shakespeare’s work is overflowing with them! Circle consonance, underline alliteration, and box assonance examples below. SONNET 29

When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast stateAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless criesAnd look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possess’d, Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope, With what I most enjoy contented least; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee, and then my state, Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate; For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

What does this sonnet mean?

Do you have anything you relate this to in your own life?

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Poetic devices like assonance, consonance, alliteration, provide musicality without such obvious techniques as “end rhyme,” for example. End RhymeRoses are red (A)Violets are blue (B)Sugar is sweet (C)and so are you. (B) Do you notice the pattern? The lines that rhyme are both the (B) sound. Often, children’s poetry uses end rhyme. Humorous poems do too because we find these end rhymes delightful. When you are talking to your friend and suddenly you say something that rhymes, you stop and point it out, right? “Hey! I just rhymed!” “I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it.” Ha ha . We love it! Also, it provides a sense of comfort and order, especially to children. Things are fair and have balance. They are as they should be. Without end rhyme, poetry depends on other, more inner, devices to give flow. Line BreaksWhat about “line breaks?” If I am suddenly overcome with the desire to write about my boyfriend and go on and on and on, spilling it all onto the page, is this poetry? What if I express myself very well? Not usually. (Baudelaire’s prose poems might be an exception. Or those of Czeslaw Milosz.) It might be an interesting essay. But a poem is hewn down to its marrow. To its bones. To its essence. We cut out all the fat. And when a thought has been expressed, we move on to the next line. (Check out the previously listed poems as examples.) MeterHow about meter? That’s the way that something sounds. Often it is related to the breath or heart beat. It is composed of stressed and unstressed syllables. It is the “pulse” or rhythm of a line. An example of meter is “iambic pentameter,” which is the meter that Shakespeare wrote in. The pattern is unstressed-stressed. A good example is the line “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” from Shakespeare. I’ll capitalize the stressed syllables and separate the feet for you below: [shall-I]-[com-PARE]-[thee-TO]-[a-SUM]-[mer’s-DAY] Try and recite this line with and without stressing the meter. Do you hear the difference? Which sounds better?

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Simile and MetaphorBoth compare two unlike things. Similes do this by using “like” and “as.” Metaphors do not. Similes

“My couch is like a giant marshmallow.”“My fingers are as cold as icicles.”“My apartment makes me feel as safe as if I were living in a fortress.”

Metaphors

“I love sinking into my marshmallow couch.”“I have five icicles on each hand.”“My apartment is my fortress.”

Why don’t we just say what we mean? What is the purpose of poetry? Why not say, “My love is great” versus “My love is like a summer day.” Comparing two different things, “love” and “summer day”, gives our imaginations someplace to go. Poetry, they say, is “the language of the soul.” Parts of us are stirred and awakened while listening to it that aren’t when we say, “My love is great.” Also, poetry is fun. It delights us. On a recent trip the Get Lit Players took to the White House, Billy Collins told a story about how the poet Kenneth Koch describes the difference between poetry and prose. Here’s prose: No dogs allowed on the beach. Here’s poetry: No dogs or logs allowed on the beach. No poodle however trim. No Dachshund unable to swim. And metaphors are like codes. Gwendolyn Brooks, in her poem Truth, writes, And if the sun comes, how shall we know him? Shall we fear him after so lengthy a session with shade? Do you think she is talking about the sun, literally? Or is she speaking about something deeper, like maybe good times, love, money—feeling comfortable, and trusting them when all we’ve ever known is the opposite?

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What are some similes from your poem?

What are some metaphors?

Review of Poetic Terms…look in the back if you have to!

How many lines (generally) in a Sonnet?

How many lines in a quatrain?

How many lines in a couplet?

How many lines in a tercet?

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What is free verse? Which poet “invented?”

What is a metaphor?

What is a simile?

What is meter?

Give an example of open form poetry:

Give an example of closed form poetry:

What is an excerpt? (If you have chosen lines from a book rather than a poem, you have chosen an excerpt. So you will say, for example, “I will be performing an excerpt from Faust by Goethe.”)

What is prose?

What is a stanza?

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What are line breaks?

What is alliteration?

What is consonance?

What is assonance?

And, finally…what do you think rap is? Open or closed form? Free verse or something more structured?

The answer is…both. But often, actually, rap is closed form and structured. There are elaborate rules of rhyme in rap. It is highly crafted. I tell you this to counter the thought that free verse is the most modern form of poetry. Not true. We want to be masters or at least understand both free verse and formalist verse and then choose which we will use. Now, take another look at your poem. Notice its poetic structure and all of the devices used to create it.

CIRCLE all consonance. UNDERLINE all alliteration. BOX all assonance. HIGHLIGHT all metaphors in yellow. HIGHLIGHT all similes in blue. Those are the bones of your poem, laid out before you.

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Ignite

Begin to write your own response.

ANSWER YOUR POEM - By writing a response to your poem you are “having a conversation” with your poet.

CHOOSE - Select the part of the poem you wish to “answer.” Is it a word, line, stanza, feeling? Put it at the top of a fresh sheet of paper. Then, start free writing without lifting your pen for 10-15 minutes. Record impressions in the present tense and in list fashion, noticing all of your senses. For example: • dark closet• afraid• bats• tangled hair• pillows• white birds• hanging chain• throat stuck• can’t breathe• wild vines• sulphur smell• scratching chain• hampered voice• mouse squeak• collapsed chakra feels fear etc..

(Sorry to take you through the twisted workings of my mind there!) You may choose to respond to your poem by “answering” in the poetic style it was written, but you don’t have to. If you don’t know how to begin—think about what word or phrase or feeling speaks to you? If you’re unsure, remember why you chose this poem. If you still don’t know, look again at the poem and choose what about it you like best. You will find something…begin by writing about that!

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Part Of The Poem I Am Responding To:

Go! At the end of 10-15 minutes, drop your pen. Read over what you’ve written.

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Tips• If you’ve rewritten the poem exactly as is, and inserted some of your own words, start

again. The point is not to adhere exactly to the original. The point is to use it as a springboard to create your own, personal poem.

• Don’t worry if initially the poems come out in “essay” form without the proper line breaks and shapes. The point right now is for you to create the raw material to work from. You do not have to start with a finished poem – the first step is to get the beautiful details out.

• If you are fortunate enough to have other people to work with, read your first draft out loud. Get feedback about the line or lines that most stood out. Which part was most interesting? Usually, one part of the free write will stand out and this is what you should begin your rewrite with, perhaps by writing it at the top of a fresh page.

• Have you gone as deeply as you can? And do you have strong details? Break them down until they are as specific as possible. A pretty day is generic. How can you break that general image down more, so that it pops off the page?

• And does your poem reveal something personal about you even if it is cloaked in metaphor? How’s the flow? Does it rhyme consistently on the ends, if that is your structure, or does the rhyme ‘fall out’ in certain sections? Does it employ poetic devices like assonance, alliteration, metaphor, simile, etc…? Have you cut all the fat – starting each new thought on its own line, employing line breaks? Do all that now.

Homework

Keep working on your response poem, incorporating the Tips from above. Don’t be surprised if you get ideas at unexpected times or inspired by random things. Be open!

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Week 6: Going Below the Surface (Re-Writing)

Goal: To get to know yourself and others better through your original work.

The best writing is re-writing.E.B. White

Inspire

Take a look at your classic and response poems. Is the link solid between the two poems?

What connects them and how is this connection apparent to other people?

InformNow that you’ve taken a little time away from your poem, reread it. Share it with someone. Is there something missing? Not clear? Go back to the details. What is seen, smelled, tasted, heard, and touched in the poem? If there aren’t enough details, go back to writing these details in list form under your poem’s title.

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Your Poem’s Title List some ideas. You can’t be too specific. Sherman Alexie has a poem titled, “On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City.” Poems don’t need titles, but they can help you keep focused.

Reduce the images in your poem down to their lowest common denominator. To the marrow. The bone. Then it will be interesting. Generalities are not. “One million people died” does not evoke the feeling that “one little girl was ripped from her mother’s arms” does. “We should all be kind” is not as powerful as “in the fifth grade I learned my first lesson in kindness…”

Often (but not always) poems work best in the present tense. Walk through your poem as if what is happening arnd what you are experiencing are occurring right now.

Example from “On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City”The white woman across the aisle from me says ‘Look,look at all the history, that houseon the hill there is over two hundred years old’,as she points out the window past meinto what she has been taught…”

Homework

Rewrite your response poem, considering and incorporating feedback. Keep all versions and don’t throw anything away. Now look at your masterpiece! It may take several drafts to get to this place. Keep going (on extra paper) until you get it OUT. Does it feel right? Look right? Say what you want to say? Do you feel sated? Picasso says, “I’ve said all I have to say.” Does it feel “done?”

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Record your FINAL POEM here:

Now, MEMORIZE it!

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Week 7: Speak Up! (Reciting Your Own Words)

Goal: To be exposed to different methods and styles of reading poetry out loud; to experiment with and apply the techniques you learn to your own poetry performances.

I remember the first time I heard Yeats reciting his poetry. I had researched a script for a

Bloomsday Joyce/Yeats tribute in New York City. The program concluded with a recording of Yeats reading “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.” Although I had studied and written about the poem,

it was not until after hearing Yeats’s sonorous tone, his inflections and rhythm, that the work gained new dimension. When I later visited the Lake Isle of Innisfree in Ireland, the memory of

Yeats’s voice reverberated through the landscape. The sound of the author’s voice resurrects the poet vividly in the imagination.

Poetry spoken aloud recalls the oral origins of poetry. In every culture, poetry emerges before writing. In traditional Native American societies, poetry was expressed in prayers and ceremonies,

as in the Navajo Blessingway Chants. In Babylon, in the early twenty-first century B.C., court entertainers sang for King Shulgi early versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh. During the fifth century B.C. in Greece, Homeric bards recited The Iliad from memory. These early spoken

performances have been revived in our own day as we witness the popularity of Slam, Hip Hop, Rap, and Cowboy poetry, as well as more traditional poetry readings.

Elise Paschen (from her introduction to Poetry Speaks)

First Things First

A great speaker can read from the telephone book and make it sound like Shakespeare. Unfortunately, a terrible speaker can recite Shakespeare and make it sound like the telephone book! Words on a page can fend for themselves. It is the reader who brings them to life in his imagination. But recitation is a different story. If we are going to recite our words, to say them out loud, we have many more choices and creative decisions to make. There are myriad ways to present the same poem and no two people will express the same nuances and subtleties.

Inspire

There are different ways to communicate or perform the same poem. For example, intimate (as if speaking to one person in a library), broad (as if reciting in a packed concert hall), or with a persona (in the style of a particular character).

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Inform

• Tips to make poetry performance come alive:• Body Language• Projection• Articulation• How to Hit the First Letter• Energize Lines• Be Specific about Who You’re Talking to• Eye Line• Why It’s Urgent• Definition of Words• Stick the Ending

The purpose of performing a poem is to move your audience and give them an emotional experience. If you are shy, and nervous about being seen, know that if you do your job well you will become less visible as the audience will see their own life and not you. Recite some of Dylan Thomas’ Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. Do not go gentle into that good night,Old age should burn and rage at close of day;Rage, rage against the dying of the light. First recite it poorly. Adjust your clothing, giggle, swing your hands, mumble. Ask a friend/classmate if they feel anything from your reciting of this poem. Then, do it again, erect, strong and committed. Now ask them what they feel. Is it different? Which version allowed your friend/classmate to get past just seeing someone perform, and actually have an emotional experience?

Body Hold it still. Legs apart. Weight distributed evenly. Arms down at your sides. (If you’re extreme-ly comfortable, you can let your arms go and use your hands for emphasis.) Projection Share your voice with the back wall or with the building across the street.

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Articulation Over ar-tic-u-late. Really move and open your mouth. No lazy tongues! Speak slowly and clearly. In everyday life people might ramble and speak quickly. “I have to find my pen and then buy some paper at the store.” But when we are performing or teaching we should over articulate and speak with greater precision. We speak with greater precision. This doesn’t sound odd. It sounds normal! The goal while teaching and or performing is to communicate, to make it easy for a lis-tener to understand. Pretend you are speaking to a deaf grandparent or a class of kindergartners if that helps you to slow down and speak more clearly. Hit the First Letter To give sentences some extra punch, underline and stress the first letter of words. Rage Against the Dying of the Lightversusrage against the dying of the light

Energize Lines Keep your energy steady through the end of the line. Americans have a habit of starting a sentence strong and then trailing off, as opposed to the British who keep energy the whole way through. Do not lose energy on the line! No dropping off the ends of sentences. The last word can often be the most important part of the line. And the last line can often be the most impactful part of the poem. Make sure that you hit it and it sticks! Who are you talking to? Is it your mother, a supportive crowd, a hostile crowd, a friend? Even if the person to whom you’re speaking is obvious only to you, approaching the recitation in this way will enhance it emotionally for everyone. Eye Line This is dictated by whom you’re talking to. If the poem is to a crowd your eye line is your whole audience. Either look in their eyes or right over their heads. If the poem is being said to one per-son (for example, your mother) pick one place on the back wall to look at or faze her over the entire audience. Urgency There must be a strong reason you are speaking these words. Make the stakes HIGH to create drama, excitement, and give it underlying emotion. Again, who are you talking to? And why?

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Definition of Words Take responsibility for every word in your poem. Know why every word is there and what they all mean. Stick the Ending Slow the last line of your poem down, so that it feels like an ending. And after you have fin-ished saying your poem, don’t move! Count to three before you relax and break the feeling of the poem. This lets the audience know you have come to an end and they will believe the emotions you have just revealed are real. After the three second hold, you may drop your head, relax your posture, and the audience will be clued to clap.

Ignite

• Perform your response poem with these notes in mind.• Stop to incorporate any specific performance notes you might be receiving from a teacher,

friend, classmate.• Once all the parts are strong, recite it all the way through.

Homework

Work on your performance of your response poem. From the pointers above, write yourself some notes to consider (for example, I’m going to recite this as if I’m speaking to my mother).

Keep going over the first poem you memorized.

Add the personalization & urgency you have found in your response poem to your classic as well.

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Week 8: Strength in Numbers (Becoming Part of a Group)

Goal: To learn how to operate as part of a group.

Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

Vince Lombardi

First Things FirstReview your list of vocabulary words and poetic terms. Keep your expanded vocabulary fresh!

InspireThe purpose of “group poems” is to learn to work together and co-create a work of art. It is also a chance to heighten the delivery of a poem by playing with the choral arrangement—using many voices rather than one. If possible, watch or listen to a professional group performance. You can find examples on your Classic Slam DVD/link.

InformFind a suitable group poem. Now find some people, classmates, siblings, friends, to perform it with. Two or more constitutes a group.

Divide the poems up as if it is a dramatic piece - assigning a solo or duet or trio or group parts to different lines and/or stanzas. Make sure that each group member gets a copy of your group’s poem broken up with the name of the person/people who are saying each line. All poems should be marked appropriately with the correct person’s name preceding each line. For Example: Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

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ALL: Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born?Person A: I hasten to informPerson B: himPerson C: or herPerson A: It is just as easy to dieALL: And I know it Continue breaking up the rest of the poem.

NoteThe more intricately broken up the poem is, the more impressive it will be. If you don’t want to work too hard, break it up in a more rudimentary way, like this: ALL: Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born?Person A: I hasten to inform him or her It is just as easy to dieALL: And I know it

Ignite

• Work together to come up with a master plan, a combination of each person’s ideas about how to assign the lines.

• Optional: Come up with a name for your group, to develop a group identity.• Work together to memorize your parts.• Then practice “reading” the poem together, taking turns. This will be very rough. It’s

okay; this is complicated work!• Use CUES (a countdown or a breath or the drag of your foot to cue the start of the poem).

This is necessary if the poem starts with multiple people.

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Group Poem – Title

Poem: Untitled, Walt Whitman (Decide who will say the title. Will it be everyone, or one person, or something else?)

Walt Whitman was a Civil War poet. etc…(Choose a group leader to talk about your poet. All should know the information. )

Put names in the margins.

Example:

(Jill, Diane, Max, Charlie) Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born(Jill) I hasten to inform(Charlie & Max) him(Diane & Jill) or her

Homework

Memorize your part and, if possible, meet with the rest of the group to practice together.

Learn about the author of your group’s poem. Be ready to discuss your poem, poet, and what the poem means to you the next time you are together.

Memorize Group Poem. (If the poem is fairly short, each person can memorize the whole poem –even though you have a smaller section to perform. If the poem is long, each person can memorize only their part. Choose a “group leader” to memorize the entire poem; so if a member of your group is absent, they can fill in.)

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Week 9: Raise the Volume, Raise the Roof (Reciting as a Group)

Goal: To practice your group recitation and start thinking about your Group Response Poem.

Light is the task where many share the toil.

Homer

First Things First

Now that you’ve spent some time apart, memorizing your own section and/or lines, get together to practice saying the poem as a group. If needed your group leader can maintain order and keep everyone on point.

Inspire

Watch some videos of a professional group doing something similar to what you’ll be doing.www.getlit.org

Inform

Discuss improvising without breaking character if and when something goes wrong. Each member has limited control of the entire piece. If the person before you forgets his line you don’t want the audience to know. You could say it for them and then say your line too. But you don’t want to jump in too soon! It’s a delicate balance.

Ignite

• Stand up in a straight line. You should look like soldiers (meaning no one is leaning against the wall and there are no large gaps between you). You should have a uniform ap-pearance (unless you’ve specifically planned something that requires you to arrange your-selves otherwise). Be creative if you’re particularly comfortable with movement, but it has

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to serve the piece! • Each person could start their section from a different place in the room to surprise the

audience.• Each person should know and talk about the poetic forms found in their particular section

or the group poem as a whole. • Group leaders begin by announcing the name of the poem and who its author is. Next,

they tell us about the author and any pertinent information about the piece. Or perhaps your whole group announces the name of the poem.

• The Group Leader counts off and your group begins their poem.• Discuss which parts of the poem can be tightened. Which parts POP and which parts still

need work.• Try it again.

REHEARSE it over and over again until you are as one. Do certain members need to come in more quickly? Do group lines need to be delivered with more energy? More precision? Practice group lines over and over until they are precise rather than dull and dragging. If you are in a class working with other groups, use the listening HANDOUT (Found in the back). Each group should watch and evaluate the others.

Homework

Practice all poems so far.

Begin jotting down ideas for a group response poem.

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Week 10: Creating a Symphony (Responding as a Group)*

Goal: Complete your group response poem.

It is amazing how much people get done if they do not worry about who gets the credit.Proverb

* As discussed in Keep in Mind below, this is a week that sometimes winds up being excised in 12 week classroom programs, because of time concerns. If this is the case, use Week 10 to review and to prepare yourself for your final performance. If you have been diligent and are completely up to date with your work, then proceed with the following Week 10 Plan.

First Things First

Perform your “group poem.”

Inspire Review the stylistic choices you have in responding to a poem. Will you answer the original poem directly? Present variations on a theme? Create a parody? Argue with the original poet? Agree? Jot down some ideas.

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Inform

Review and elaborate: Structure. Rhyme. Theme. Point of view. Emotion. Exposition (The Who, What, & Where of the poem). Is there anything you want to keep from the original poem? Will you repeat a line?

Ignite

Sit together with your group. Compare the notes you’ve each jotted down at home during the week. Then do a free write for 10-15 minutes about your group poem.

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Free Write on Group Poem When time is up, have each person read his/her response out loud. At the end, write the things you liked best about each response.

Discuss the responses. Is there one response that gives the strongest indication of which stylistic road your group should pursue? Or are there parts from each of them that can be used?

Understand that the purpose of this exercise is to choose the most interesting responses to “weave in” or use to create the “group response poem.” That said, if some of the responses are used but not all, that’s okay, no hard feelings. Decide what is best for the poem, not what makes everyone feel good. This is a collaborative effort and in the end, the best work will allow everyone to shine. Some in your group might be better writers while other are better performers. This exercise gives everyone an opportunity to show off where they’re strong. (Rather than to be great at what they’re great at.)

Common Concerns & What to Do With Them

The Response Poem Doesn’t Come Out in a Similar StyleThat’s okay at this point. Your group works together choosing the lines you want to incorporate and writing them down on one sheet of paper. Weave the best of the best together.

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You Don’t Know How to Incorporate Everyone’s Work

Options:• Maybe a great line is chosen from one person’s response and is used as a “through line”

of the poem. This means it is woven throughout the piece like a song’s chorus. Maybe the person who wrote it is the one who recites it. Or maybe it is a line for ALL to recite.

• Maybe one person’s response is brilliant and chosen in its entirety. Maybe the lines are broken up for several different people.

• Maybe lines are chosen from each person’s response poems (or some of them) and woven throughout the original.

• Be sensitive to which responses are woven in and which are left out. Choose the best work and let each person have a say.

• If someone’s words aren’t chosen for the poem, select them to have another big part – or perform some of the major lines. Everyone should feel important, although there is no denying great work and you’ll want to celebrate that by giving it a space in the group response poem.

Keep in MindAs mentioned above, in many class type situations, there won’t be time for you to respond to your group poems. If this is the case, skip this week’s plan and use the time for continued practice of classic, response, and group poems. Or choose to do it as something extra, on your own. We do Group Responses with our Get Lit Players and as part of the CLASSIC SLAM and it is truly awesome! It is so much fun to work as a team and make artistic decisions together. You can create truly mesmerizing works of art!

Homework

Continue to practice original, response, and group poems.

If a “Group Response” is being attempted, continue to email/phone each other to finish it and then practice it during the week.

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Week 11: The Sum of the Parts (Group Recitation)

Goal: To be excited and confident about your upcoming performance.

You will never do anything in this world without courage.It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.

Aristotle

First Things First

If you are taking this course in a class, then next week is probably your Dress Rehearsal. This means that next week you will spend half the class performing all of your poems (the original & response) for your peers. Who your “peers” are depends upon your school. It might be a class next door, or some other teachers. Any group of people will do. If you are not in a class, find a person to perform everything you’ve learned for. While writing, Stephen King calls this person his, “IP” or “Ideal Person.” They are supportive, knowledgeable, and someone you respect. They will give you their undivided attention and you trust their feedback and what they have to say. This person is your “go to” and if you’ve chosen correctly, will feel like a hand in a glove. Whatever happens during your Dress Rehearsal, don’t lose heart. All of your hard practice will enable you to perform professionally, with the focus required. BE BRAVE.

Inspire

Remember that the delivery of your poems has to be heard by an audience. You will have people in the audience (or for whom you recite) who have never heard poetry like you are about to perform. Maybe something you say will SAVE SOMEONE’S LIFE, or make them feel better, or teach them something. They have to HEAR it. Poetry deserves that. So, project, over-annunciate, and get your words to the back of the room!

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InformMalcolm Gladwell illustrates the importance of polish and practice in these quotes. He says: “Basketball is an intricate, high-speed game filled with split-second, spontaneous decisions. But that spontaneity is possible only when everyone first engages in hours of highly repetitive and structured practice--perfecting their shooting, dribbling, and passing and running plays over and over again--and agrees to play a carefully defined role on the court… spontaneity isn’t random.” “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”

Ignite

• Practice. Practice. Practice.• Run your pieces in their entirety, including your name, poem title, author, author info,

poem and response. Group poem and group response (if you wrote one).• Have the class or “IP” comment and give final notes.

Common Concerns & What to Do You Are Still Having Trouble Memorizing LinesFind a partner to run lines with. Reintroduce previously suggested exercises like writing down the words over and over or recording yourself saying them and listening to it on your iPod or phone.

NoteAt this point, you want to be, “performance ready.” (Most likely you won’t be! During this week you may feel certain that you will never get it together in time and that the final show will be awful! Don’t lose heart. This is a common feeling for Week 11!)

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Homework Continue to practice and rehearse all poems. Practice running your “Group Poem” over and over. Also, practice the original, author information, and response. Next week you will put it all together.

PROMOTE the final show to your family and peers. This is a great life skill! And if you’re not doing this course in a formal classroom, arrange an outside event for yourself and/or your group. Book a show at a library, perform at a family holiday, find a poetry open mic, work your classic poem/response into a speech for work, or whatever makes sense in your own life. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY—CREATE AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET IT OUT INTO THE WORLD!!!!!

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Week 12: Putting it Together (Dress Rehearsal)

Goal: Put the final touches on the show. Prepare for the big night!

The thing about performance, even if it’s only an illusion, is that it is acelebration of the fact that we do contain within ourselves infinite possibilities.

Sydney Smith

Bit by bit, putting it togetherPiece by piece, only way to make a work of art

Every moment makes a contributionEvery little detail plays a part

Having just a vision’s no solutionEverything depends on execution

Putting it together, that’s what counts!Ounce by ounce, putting in together

Small amounts, adding up to make a work of art

from “Putting It Together” by Stephen Sondheim

InspireIf you “go up on” or forget your lines you should pause and try to remember them but if you can’t – simply go on. Try to be as smooth as possible so that no one from the audience even detects that there has been a mistake. The audience doesn’t know the words of the poems and they won’t be able to tell if a word is left out or added here and there! Although you have done your work and are well prepared there will still be unexpected gaffes during the evening – there always are, even on Broadway! Once the performance begins you should relax, trust that you are ready, and have fun. The time for doing push-ups is not on the field. Now is the time to perform!

InformWhen you do your dress rehearsal, act maturely. No talking with students outside. No boring disclaimers to your audience like, “I’m not really ready. This will probably suck, etc…” Do not

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waste their time with excuses! You are instead giving them the humble gift of POETRY. Be worthy of it! And don’t “drop the ball.” This means, if you are performing with others, when one has finished, the next must step up immediately. No awkward pauses. You want to look PROFESSIONAL. You’ve come a long way and are ready to communicate and tell the truth.

Common Concerns & What to Do

If You Still Don’t Have Your Poem MemorizedYou may have to cut a portion of your poem and only perform the part that you know 100%. Better to nail what you know than flub what you’re not sure of. If you do the work and have everything memorized by the final show, you can perform it all at that time. You Speak Too LowThe goal is for your voice to fill the room and so aim for the back wall. Remember, the one to which you are dedicating each poem is there (even if in spirit). Do them proud. If you are performing a piece like, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!” then you should speak to your audience directly. You’re Looking DownYour eyes should be UP and either on the wall on the other side of the room, over the heads of the people in the room, or in the eyes of audience members.

What are some performance things you are still struggling with?

What are your fears about performance?

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What are you most excited about?

Ignite

• You file out to an assembled audience (Even one person watching will do).• If in a classroom situation, the MC executes her opening remarks.• The first person begins by saying his name, the name of his poem, the poet’s name, etc.

He recites the poem and response and completes his performance.• Each individual and each group performs in the order pre-determined.• The dress rehearsal proceeds with the group poems.• The MC thanks everyone for watching and listening and the poets receive final applause.• Recap with your class. Share thoughts about how that felt. Compliment anyone who was

exceptional. Congratulate all on their COURAGE including yourself.

Homework

What realizations did you have as a result of the Dress Rehearsal today?

Practice! Practice! Practice!

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Tips for the Final Performance

Goal: To have an amazing final show!

Success in any endeavor depends on the degreeto which it is an expression of your true self.

Ralph Marston

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive,and the true success is to labor.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Well, the day has arrived! All of your hard work has brought you here. Everyone is excited. Invitations have been sent. Snacks have been bought. Family, friends, schoolmates, principals, coworkers are on their way. This is the night you become poets, educators, performers, and scholars!

• Practice Arrive early to practice.

• Vocabulary Words and Poetic Terms Go over vocabulary words and poetic terms (and of course, a bit every week).

• Review My name is… I’ll be performing the poem… By… Poet/Author information… The Poem…

• The Response (You can introduce your response by saying, “This is my response,” or, “the response is entitled,” and it is by me, “your full name.”

• After you run through your poems, receive any last-minute performance notes. • Practice vocal/physical articulators and warm ups.• Now run the show from start to finish in the order you have decided upon. Practice

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entering as well. • Try not to stop, even if you make a mistake. Practice correcting yourself. Up your volume

if you’re coming in quiet.• DEDICATE this show to someone, living or dead.

CONGRATULATE yourself for how far you’ve come!

HAVE A GREAT SHOWor

PERFORMANCE FOR YOUR IP!

• At the end of your last poem, bow your head so that the audience knows you or the show is over and can APPLAUD.

• If you are in a group, then at the end of the show, all of the poets stand, step forward, and BOW.

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Conclusion

When I was two years old, my grandmother taught me to read,but with this pen and Get Lit… they taught me how to breathe.

Former Get Lit Student There isn’t much more to say. Please stay in touch by coming to www.getlit.org or visiting our Facebook page. Download your favorite quote or poem, or send us a video of you performing your poem! We want to hear from you!

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Vocabulary

Great writers, rappers, speakers are all wordsmiths, able to employ multiple words and play with what they’re saying through a wide use of language. Use the chart below to add to your existing vocabulary. In box a, write the word. In box b, write the sentence/phrase in which you found or heard the word. In box c, make an educated guess about what you think the word might mean using the context/clues of the sentence/phrase it was found in. In box d, use a dictionary, www.dictionary.com, or another to write a dictionary definition of the word. In box e, write your own original sentence using the word correctly in context (watch for parts of speech in box e! If the word is a noun, do not use it as a verb.) Record words from your poem here, other people’s poems here, or any others you come across in life and want to know the meaning of. Record them all here!

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My Word Palette

1a. Word: 1b. Word in context:

1c. Guess the synonym/definition using context clues:

1d. Dictionary Definition:

1e. Make up an original sentence using the word:

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My Word Palette





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Appendix I

Week 1 Handout: Some Poetic Devices to Start Working With RHYME is the correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when they are used at the ends of lines of poetry - e.g. Ball/Call. Cat/Sat. Love/Dove. ALLITERATION is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words - e.g. Little ladybugs like licking leaves. ASSONANCE is the repetition of the sound of a vowel, near enough to each other for the echo to be discernible – e.g. Crumble/Thunder. Hot/Monotonous. Proud/Round/Cloud. CONSONANCE is the recurrence of similar sounds, especially consonants, in close proximity. SYNCHRONICITY is when of two or more occurrences that are apparently unrelated seem to occur together in a meaningful way. (For example: you’re wondering if your boyfriend/girlfriend still loves you. Suddenly someone turns on the car radio and you hear the chorus of a song, “He’ll never love you again.”) Another word for synchronicities are omens or signs. Some believe that synchronicities are one way that the universe communicates with us personally. Some call them “waking dreams.”

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Week 4: Handout

Learning How to Listen

Name of Performer Name of Poem

Name of Poet What year was the poet born?

What did I understand?

What didn’t I understand?

What did I like?

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Which part was moving?

What is this poem about?

What did the performer do really well?

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Appendix II: List of Poems (Titles & Authors)

The following is a list of some of the poems that we regularly use at Get Lit. This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive list, but merely a jumping off point to get you started. Add many more that you love! (For additional poems consult your Classic Slam list of poems.) Adrienne Rich“Storm Warnings” A.E. Stallings“The Tantrum” Afeni ShakurUntitled- “When you’re not here…” Alfred Lord Tennyson“Flower in the Crannied Wall”“Charge of the Light Brigade” Alice Walker“I Understand How Poems are Made” Algernon Charles Swinburne“The Return” Allen Ginseberg“Howl” Amiri Baraka“Ka’Ba”“SOS” Amy Uyematsu“Deliberate”

Andrew Marvell“The Garden”“To His Coy Mistress” Andrea Gibson“Enough” Anna Akmatova“Lot’s Wife” Anne Sexton“The Big Heart”“Her Kind”“Unknown Girl In a Maternity Ward” Anonymous“I’m Living” “I’m Standing on the Earth” “Where Was I Before?” “I Waited” “I Think” “One Million Years” “For This One Single Moment” Arthur O’Shaughnessy“Ode” Beau Sia“Conquered, Colonized, Colonialized” Benjamin Alire Saenz“To the Desert”

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Billy Collins“The Lanyard”“The Death of Allegory” Bjorn Hakansson“You and I Are Disappearing” Bob Hicok“After Working Sixty Hours Again for What Reason” Bob Holman“The Impossible Rap (The Other Thought)” Bob Kaufman“The Poet” Carl Sandburg“Fog”“Chicago”“Choose”“I Am the People, the Mob”“Grass” Carol Muske-Dukes“An Octave Above Thunder”“Ovation” Charles Bukowski“Bluebird” Christina Rossetti“The Heart Knoweth Its Own Bitterness”“Who Has Seen the Wind” Christina Snow“Pictures of a Daughter, Viewed in Prison”

CK Williams“The Rampage” Claude Mckay“Romance”“Flirtation”“If We Must Die” Conrad Aiken“All Lovely Things”

Constantine P. Cavafy“Ithaka” Cornelius Eady“I’m a Fool to Love You” Countée Cullen“Incident”“The Wise” Dana Gioia“Becoming a Redwood” D.H Lawrence“Phoenix”“Escape” Dennis Lee“The Last Cry of the Damp Fly” Dorothy Parker“One Perfect Rose”Untitled: “Men Seldom Make Passes”“The Lady’s Reward”“Resume”“Afternoon”

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Doug Macleod“Lovely Mosquito” Dr. Seuss“Oh, the Places You’ll Go” Dudley Randall“Booker T. & W.E.B”“Ballad of Birmingham”“A Different Image” Dylan Thomas“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” e.e. cummings“you said is”“if i”“in just-““i carry your heart with me” “may I feel said he”“love is a place”“xaipe”“maggie and milly and molly and may”“anyone lived in a pretty how town”“pity this busy monster, manunkind” Edgar Allan Poe“Alone”“Annabel Lee”“The Raven” Edna St. Vincent Millay“I Shall Forget You Presently, My Dear”“First Fig”“Renascence”

Edwin Arlington Robinson“Richard Cory”

Elisavietta Ritchie“Sorting Laundry” Elizabeth Bishop“One Art” Elizabeth Barrett BrowningSonnet 43 “How Do I Love Thee?” Emily Dickinson“A Book”“God Gave a Loaf to Every Bird”“Contrast”“Hope”“Hunger”“The Wife”“The Sea”“A Day”“Enough”Untitled: “I’m nobody! Who are you?”Untitled: “If I can stop one heart from break-ing”Untitled: “Wild nights! Wild nights!”Untitled: “ I felt a funeral in my brain”Untitled: “The bustle in a house”Untitled: “A long, long sleep, a famous sleep”Untitled: “Me! Come! My dazzled face”Untitled: “I never saw a moor,”Untitled: “He ate and drank the precious words” Emily Bronte“I’m Happiest When I’m Most Away”“Ah! Why, Because the Dazzling Sun”

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Etheridge Knight“Belly Song” Ezra Pound“Cantico Del Sol” Francisco X. Alarcon“Dedication”“Flags

Frank O’Hara“Biographia Literaria” Galway Kinnell“The Cellist”“Saint Francis and the Sow” Garrett Hongo“The Legend” Gertrude Stein“A Very Valentine” Gill Scott-Heron“I Think I’ll Call It Morning”“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” Gregory Djanikian“Mrs. Caldera’s House of Things” Gwendolyn Brooks“The Preacher: Ruminates Behind the Ser-mon”“The Boy Died in My Alley”“A Song in the Front Yard”“We Real Cool”“Speech to the Young Speech to the Progress-Toward”

“To Be in Love”“Truth” Hafiz“Dropping Keys” Ha Jin“Ways of Talking” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow“Nature”“Children’s Hour” Jack Prelutsky“They Never Send Sam to the Store Any-more”“The Spider”“I Am Tired of Being Little”“My Brother’s Bug”“Unhappy South Pole Penguin”“We’re Fearless Flying Hotdogs”“I Should Have Stayed in Bed Today” James Tate“Deaf Girl Playing”

Jimmy Santiago BacaAnything from “Healing Earthquakes”“I’m Offering This Poem to You”“As Children Know”“Who Understands Me but Me” Joyce Kilmer“Trees” Judith Viorst“Learning”

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Joy Harjo“Fear”“She Had Some Horses”“And If I Awaken in Los Angeles” Karl Shapiro“Buick” Kim Addonizio“Scary Movies” Langston Hughes“I Too”“Homesick Blues”“Impasse”“Bouquet”“Being Old”“Mother to Son”“My People”“Still Here”“Ennui”“Dream Variations”“Merry-Go-Round”“Words Like Freedom”“Walkers with Dawn”“Theme for English B”“A Negro Speaks of Rivers”“The Dream Keeper”“Youth”“Memo to Non-White Peoples”“Expendable”“The Negro Mother”“Dark Like Me”“Note on Commercial Theater”“Harlem (A Dream Deferred)”“Life is Fine”“Harlem Sweeties”“Let America be America Again”

Untitled: “Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,…” Lawrence Ferlinghetti“Dog” Lenore Kandel“Small Prayers for Falling Angels”“Age of Consent”

Lewis Carroll“Jabberwocky” Li-Po (translated by Ezra Pound)“The River-Merchant’s Wife” Lisa Parker“Snapping Beans” Lucia and James L. Hynes“Oodles of Noodles Lucille Clifton“If Mama/Could See”“Shapeshifter Poems”“Miss Rosie”Untitled: “A woman precedes me up the long rope…”“Won’t You Celebrate With Me” Margaret Walker Alexander“For My People” Marilyn Nelson“How I Discovered Poetry” Marty McConnell

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“Instructions For a Body” Mary Ann Hoberman“Mosquito” Mary Howitt“The Spider and the Fly” Mary Joe Slater“Video Blues” Mary Oliver“Wild Geese”“The Journey” Mathew Arnold“Dover Beach” Maya AngelouUntitled: “Sunsets and rainbows, green forest and restive blue seas,…”“Life Doesn’t Frighten Me”“Phenomenal Woman”“Still I Rise” Mayda Del Valle“En La Cocina” Naomi Shihab Nye“The Art of Disappearing”“Famous”“Kindness” Nick Flynn“Cartoon Physics, Part 1” Nikki Giovanni“My First Memory of Librarians”

“All I Gotta Do”“Choices”“Harvest” (for Rosa Parks)

Ogden Nash“Grasshoppers Are Very Intelligent”“More About People”“The Terrible People”“Possessions Are Nine Points of Conversation”“Introspective Reflections”

Pablo Neruda“Poetry”“From Twenty Poems of Love” Paul Laurence Dunbar“Accountability”“We Wear the Mask” Percy Bysshe Shelley“A Dirge” Queen Elizabeth I“When I Was Fair and Young” Rainer Maria Rilke“The Drunkard’s Song”“The Man Watching”From: Letters to a Young Poet“Buddha”“Child in Red”“Dove that Ventured Outside” Rhina P. Espaillat“Weighing In” Robert Bly“Snowbanks North of the House”

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Robert BrowningUntitled: “That’s my last duchess painted on the wall” Robert Frost“Fire and Ice”Untitled: “Nature’s first green is gold”“I Have a Been One Acquainted With the Night”“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”Robert E. Hayden“Those Winter Sundays” Robert Pinsky“The Shirt” Ronald Koertge“What She Wanted” Rudyard Kipling“If”

RumiUntitled: “The breeze at dawn”Untitled: “Out beyond seas”Untitled: “I was sleeping, and being comforted by a cool breeze, when suddenly agray dove from a thicket sang…”Untitled: “Today, like every oth-er day, we wake up empty”Untitled: “Out beyond seas”“Each Note”“Buoyancy”“Not Here” Samantha Thornhill“House of the Rising Daughter”

Sam Sheppard“If You Were Still Around” Samuel Coleridge“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” Sandra Cisneros“My Wicked Wicked Ways”

Saul Williams“Amethyst Rocks”“Indigo” Seamus Heaney“Digging” Sekou Andrews“I’m a Rapper”“When I Grow Up” Sekou Sundiata“A Kiss In Time” or “Shout Out” Sharon Olds“The Glass” Shel Silverstein“Where the Sidewalk Ends”“Forgotten Language”“Listen to the Mustn’ts”“Put Something In”“Point of View”“Ations”“The Land of Happy”“Put Something In”“Ma and God”

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“Peckin”“Dreadful”“Pot of Gold”“No Difference”“Signals”“Rockabye Baby” Sherman Alexie“Good Hair”“On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City” Sylvia Plath“Mad Girl’s Love Song” T.S. Eliot“What the Thunder Said”“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” Ted Kooser“Abandoned Farmhouse” Toi Derricotte“Black Boys Play the Classics” Tupac Shakur“The Rose That Grew From Concrete”“In the Event of My Demise”“In the Depths of Solitude”“Family Tree”“Tears of Teenage Mother”“When Ure Hero Falls”“Or My Soul”“Liberty Needs Glasses” Victor Hernandez Cruz“Two Guitars” Walt Whitman

So many parts of Leaves of Grass!! (practically the whole book) WH Auden“The More Loving One”“The Unknown Citizen” William Blake“Infant Joy”To See a World Fragments From: Auguries of InnocenceWilliam Mathews“Onions” William Shakespeare“Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”“Sonnet XV: When I Consider Everything that Grows” William Butler YeatsUntitled: “What lively had most pleasured me”“Ephemera”“The Cradle Song”“When You Are Old”“To a Child Dancing in the Wind”“Adam’s Curse”

William Wordsworth“The World Is Too Much With Us” Eleanor Wilner“Without Regret” Yevgeny Yevtushenko“Birthday”“Fury”“Monologue of an Actress”

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List Your Favorites Here

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Appendix III: Poetic Terms

Alliteration The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables, as in “on scrolls of silver snowy sentences” (Hart Crane). Modern alliteration is predominantly consonantal.[1] AssonanceThe repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds, especially in stressed syllables, with changes in the intervening consonants, as in the phrase tilting at windmills.[1] Closed Form PoetryType of poetry that exhibits regular structure, such as meter or a rhyming pattern.[2] ConsonanceThe recurrence of similar sounds, especially consonants, in close proximity. [3] CoupletTwo lines. Free Verse PoetryPoetry that ignores “traditional” rules, such as rhyme or meter (or sometimes even line breaks). Heroic CoupletThis is a traditional form for English poetry consisting of rhyming pairs of iambic pentameter lines.

Example from Cooper’s Hill by John Denham:

O could I flow like thee, and make thy streamMy great example, as it is my theme!Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull;Strong without rage, without o’erflowing full.

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Iambic PentameterIambic pentameter is meter that Shakespeare nearly always used when writing in verse consisting of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables. [4]

Example:Now is | the win- | ter of | our dis- | content Lyric PoemA lyric poem is usually short and has only one speaker, who is not necessarily the poet (it could be a persona, or from another point of view), and expresses thought and feeling rather than action or storyline. A lyric poem conveys a sense of something personal. “Lyric” comes from classical Greece, where a lyric poem was written to be sung, accompanied by a lyre means it doesn’t describe a sequence of events or tell a story in terms of plot or action (this happened, then this happened, then this happened) – rather, is uses imagery to evoke a sense of feeling in the reader – the feeling the writer is trying to communicate, that the speaker in the poem is having towards the beloved, the person to whom he is speaking. MetaphorA figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance, as in “The assignment was a breeze.”

MeterMeter is the use of accented and unaccented syllables to create a specific, repeated rhythm. Narrative PoemA narrative poem relates a sequence of very specific events and lets the reader draw a conclusion from the way these events unfold. Open Form PoetryFree flowing, non-structured poetry. ProseProse is writing that uses sentences and paragraphs, as opposed to poetry which uses lines and stanzas. It is all writing that is not poetry. QuatrainA stanza of poetry consisting of four lines.

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RhymeThe correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the ends of lines of poetry – Ball/Call. Cat/Sat. Love/Dove. SimileA figure of speech comparing two unlike things, often introduced with the word “like” or “as”. Even though similes and metaphors are both forms of comparison, similes allow the two ideas to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas metaphors compare two things without using “like” or “as.” For instance, a simile that compares a person with a bullet would read as follows: “John was a record-setting runner and as fast as a speeding bullet.” A metaphor might read something like, “John was a record-setting runner. That speeding bullet could zip past you without you even knowing he was there.” [5] Sonnets“Little song”-- short, lyric poem. 14 lines long. In Renaissance Italy and in Elizabethan England, the sonnet became a fixed poetic form, consisting of 14 lines, usually iambic pentameter in English. There are three types of sonnets: Spenserian SonnetNamed after Edmund Spenser, the famous British poet. This type of sonnet is pretty rare these days. It consists of three four-line stanzas that are interwoven by overlapping rhymes (ABAB BCBC CDCD EE) and a couplet (two lines). Petrarchan“Italian Sonnet,” named after Petrarch, an Italian Renaissance poet who popularized the form. It is comprised of an OCTAVE (eight lines) and then a SESET (six lines). This tends to divide the thought into two parts. Shakespearean“Elizabethan Sonnet” contains three quatrains (four lines each) and a concluding couplet (two lines). This tends to divide the thought into four parts. It is comprised of three quatrains, rhyming abab cdcd efef, and a closing rhymed heroic couplet. Example:Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

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And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d; But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou owest;Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this and this gives life to thee. Writing Exercise for Sonnet (for “Response”)

• Write a fourteen line poem• Implement sonnet’s rhyme scheme• End with a couplet

Examples of end-rhyme words in this structure:

A madeB bedA laidB breadC tastyD muffinC hastyD puffinE lizardF greenE blizzardF meanG smokeG choke

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Example: “Worst Poem in the World”A young girl madeher green and gold bedbefore she laiddown her tasty, thick bread She said this is tastyafter biting a muffinbut she was too hastyso now is huffin and puffin Then she kissed her lizardwho was brown, black, and greenwhich soon caused a blizzardthat was hostile and mean and so I say now, make sure you don’t smokebecause if you do, you’re likely to choke Notice

• Three quatrains (four lines each)• A concluding couplet (two lines)• Tends to divide the thought into four parts

StanzasA group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem; a verse.[6] Stress & AccentThe emphasis given to a particular syllable or word in speech, typically through a combination of relatively greater loudness, higher pitch, and longer duration. SyncopationA general term for a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm; a placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn’t normally occur.[7]

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SynchronicitySecret messages from the universe or God or ancestors to you—you know these are “messages” because of the way you react to them emotionally. They beg you to pay attention to them. TercetA stanza of poetry consisting of three lines. VillanelleA villanelle has only two rhyme sounds. The first and third lines of the first stanza are rhyming refrains that alternate as the third line in each successive stanza and form a couplet at the close. A villanelle is nineteen lines long, consisting of five tercets and one concluding quatrain.[8]

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Appendix IV: Get Lit Curriculum’s alignment to the Common Core Standards

WEEK 1What is Poetry? Where is Poetry? Why Do I Need Poetry?

Overall GoalTo introduce poetry to your students and to let them discover where it exists in their own lives.

Academic GoalStudents will be able to analyze and compare how different poems present the same theme or idea by identifying what the poet emphasized, what the poet left absent, or how the poet wrote (style).

Common Core Anchor Standards

Anchor Standards - ReadingKey Ideas and DetailsCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.2 Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

Integration of Knowledge and IdeasCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.9 Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

Common Core ELA Standards

◦ CC 09/10 Reading #7. Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment◦ CC 11/12 Reading #7. Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play)

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VAPA StandardsGRADES NINE THROUGH TWELVE–PROFICIENT Theatre 1.0 ARTISTIC PERCEPTION Processing, Analyzing, and Responding to Sensory Information Through the Language and Skills Unique to Theatre

Comprehension and Analysis of the Elements of Theatre 1.2 Research, analyze, or serve as the dramaturg for a play in collaboration with the director, designer, or playwright. 1.3 Identify the use of metaphor, subtext, and symbolic elements in scripts and theatrical productions.

WEEK 2Claiming Your Poem, Claiming Yourself

Overall GoalTo have your students pick poems, or to let the poems pick them.

Academic GoalStudents will be able to evaluate a poem’s beauty by selecting a poem to recite and respond to.

Students will be able to justify why they chose the poem by writing a response that identifies words or phrases that evokes an emotion or has language that is fresh, engaging, or beautiful.


Anchor Standards - Reading - Range of Reading and Level of Text ComplexityCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.10 Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

Anchor Standards - Listening and SpeakingCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

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Anchor Standards - Writing - Research to Build and Present KnowledgeCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.


◦ CC 09/10 Reading #4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).◦ CC 11/12 Reading #4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.◦ CC 09/10 Listening/Speaking #4.b. Plan a recitation (poem). (standard abridged)◦ CC 09/10 Listening/Speaking #3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view and rhetoric. (standard abridged)◦ CC 11/12 Listening/Speaking #3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view and rhetoric, assessing stance and tone used. (standard abridged)

VAPA StandardsGRADES NINE THROUGH TWELVE–PROFICIENT Theatre 3.0 HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT

Role and Cultural Significance of Theatre 3.1Research and perform monologues in various historical and cultural accurate and consistent physical mannerisms and dialect.

WEEK 3Becoming Your Poem (Memorization)

Overall GoalTo help your students understand the magic of memorization, which is the key to making their poems a part of them.

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Academic GoalStudents will read and comprehend their poem by memorizing the entire text and clarifying words or connotations.


Anchor Standards – Reading - Craft and StructureCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.4 Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

Anchor Standards - Listening and Speaking- Comprehension and CollaborationCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.


◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Language #4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grades 09–12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Language #5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Reading #10. By the end of grade 9-12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9–12 text complexity band independently and proficiently. ◦ CC 09/10 Listening/Speaking #3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view and rhetoric. (standard abridged)◦ CC 11/12 Listening/Speaking #3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view and rhetoric, assessing stance, premises, links among ideas, word choice, points of emphasis, and tone used. (standard abridged)◦ CC 09/10 Listening/Speaking #4.b. Plan, memorize, and present a recitation (poem) that: conveys the meaning of the selection and includes appropriate performance techniques (e.g. tone, rate, voice modulation) to achieve the desired effect. (standard abridged)

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VAPA StandardsGRADES NINE THROUGH TWELVE–PROFICIENT Theatre

Creation/Invention in Theatre 2.2 Perform character-based improvisations, pantomimes, or monologues, using voice, blocking, and gesture to enhance meaning.

WEEK 4Reclaiming Your Voice (Recitation)

Overall GoalTo teach your students how to use their voices to be heard.

Academic GoalStudents will be able to recite with fluency, adapt speech to poetic form, and make effective performance choices for meaning or style. (continued from last week: Students will be able to comprehend their poem by memorization and word study.)


Anchor Standards - Reading - Craft and Structure Performance is judged by how well the interpretation is conveyed. The level of interpretation and analysis should be evidenced by the performance.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.4 Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.5 Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.6 Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.


◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Language #5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

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◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Language #3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Language #4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grades 09–12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Reading #10. By the end of grade 9-12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the grades 9–12 text complexity band independently and proficiently.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Listening/Speaking #6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.◦ CC 09/10 Listening/Speaking #4.b. Plan, memorize, and present a recitation (poem) that: conveys the meaning of the selection and includes appropriate performance techniques (e.g. tone, rate, voice modulation) to achieve the desired effect. (standard abridged)

VAPA StandardsGRADES NINE THROUGH TWELVE–PROFICIENT Theatre Development of Theatrical Skills 2.1Make acting choices, using script analysis, character research, reflection, create characters from classical, contemporary, realistic, and nonrealistic dramatic texts.

WEEK 5Realize and Respond (Writing)

Overall GoalTo help students understand what makes poems tick.

Academic Goal 1Students will be able to clarify and analyze unknown words, phrases, and figures of speech by referring to resources (references, online, adult/expert aid) appropriate to the poem.

Academic Goal 2Students will be able to analyze how poetic structures/genres affect the overall meaning of poem studied and response written.

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Academic Goal 3Students will write poetry that uses a variety of techniques so that text builds a coherent whole, conveys specific tone, creates a vivid picture, and uses narrative techniques.


Anchor Standards - WritingProduction and Distribution of WritingCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.


◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Language #4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grades 9–12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Language #5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. a.) Interpret figures of speech (e.g., euphemism, oxymoron) in context and analyze their role in the text. b.) Analyze nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Reading #5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Writing #3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

▪ a. Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events.▪ b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and mul-tiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.▪ c. Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth, or resolution).▪ d. Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.

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▪ e. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.

VAPA StandardsGRADES NINE THROUGH TWELVE–PROFICIENT Theatre Creation/Invention in Theatre 2.2 Improvise or write dialogues and scenes, applying basic dramatic structure (exposition, complication, crises, climax, and resolution) and including complex characters with unique dialogue that motivates the action.

WEEK 6

Going Below the Surface (Re-writing)

Overall GoalTo get to know each student and have them know themselves better through their original work.

Academic GoalStudents will be able to strengthen their response piece be engaging in a robust “writing process”.

The end product should provide a strong response that follows from and reflects on the classic poem.


Anchor Standard Writing - Production and Distribution of WritingCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.


◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Writing #5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for

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a specific purpose and audience.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Writing #10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Writing #3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

▪ a. Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events.▪ b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.▪ c. Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth, or resolution).▪ d. Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.▪ e. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.

VAPA StandardsGRADES NINE THROUGH TWELVE–PROFICIENT Theatre 2.0 CREATIVE EXPRESSION Creating, Performing, and Participating in Theatre Students apply processes and skills in acting, directing, designing, and scriptwriting to create formal and informal theatre, film/videos, and electronic media productions and to perform in them.

WEEK 7

Speak Up! (Reciting Your Own Words)

Overall GoalTo expose students to different methods and styles of reading poetry out loud; to help them experiment with and apply the techniques they’ve learned to their own poetry performances.Academic Goal: Students will be able to recite classic and response poem with effective choices that result in a performance that is particularly fresh, engaging, and beautiful.

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Anchor Standards for Language -Vocabulary Acquisition and UseCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Anchor Standards - Speaking and Listening Presentation of Knowledge and IdeasCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.


◦ CC 09/10 Listening/Speaking #4.b. Plan, memorize, and present a recitation (poem) that: conveys the meaning of the selection and includes appropriate performance techniques (e.g. tone, rate, voice modulation) to achieve the desired effect. (standard abridged)◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Listening/Speaking #6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Language #3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Literature #4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)

VAPA Standards

GRADES NINE THROUGH TWELVE–PROFICIENT Theatre Development of Theatrical Skills 2.1 Make acting choices, using script analysis, character research, reflection, create characters from classical, contemporary, realistic, and nonrealistic dramatic texts.

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WEEK 8*Strength in Numbers (Becoming Part of a Group)

Overall GoalTo help your students learn how to operate as part of a group.

VAPA StandardsGRADES NINE THROUGH TWELVE–PROFICIENT Theatre Connections and Applications 5.1Create projects in other school courses or places of employment, and processes from the study and practice of theatre, film/video, and electronic media.

WEEK 9*Raise the Volume, Raise the Roof (Reciting as a Group)

Overall GoalTo facilitate each group’s recitation of their group poem and to have them start thinking about their Group Response Poems.

VAPA StandardsGRADES NINE THROUGH TWELVE–PROFICIENT Theatre 2.3 Design, produce, or perform scenes or plays from a variety of theatrical periods and styles, including Shakespearean and contemporary realism.

*WEEK 8 & 9 SHARE THE SAME ACADEMIC GOAL & COMMON CORE STAN-DARDS

Academic Goal 1Students will be able to recite with fluency, adapt speech to poetic form, and make effective performance choices for meaning or style.

Academic Goal 2Students will be able to comprehend their poem by memorization and word study.)

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Anchor Standards - Speaking and Listening Comprehension and CollaborationCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.3 Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.Presentation of Knowledge and IdeasCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.


◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Listening/Speaking #6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Language #3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

WEEK 10

Creating a Symphony (Responding as a Group)

Overall GoalTo ensure that each group response poem is completed.

Academic GoalStudents will write poetry that uses a variety of techniques so that text builds a coherent whole, conveys specific tone, creates a vivid picture, and uses narrative techniques.

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Anchor Standard- Speaking and ListeningComprehension and CollaborationCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.1 Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

Anchor Standard- WritingProduction and Distribution of WritingCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.


◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Writing #5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Writing #10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.◦ CC 09/10 & 11/12 Writing #3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

▪ a. Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events.▪ b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.▪ c. Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth, or resolution).▪ d. Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.▪ e. Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative.

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VAPA StandardsGRADES NINE THROUGH TWELVE–PROFICIENT Theatre 2.0 CREATIVE EXPRESSION Creation/Invention in Theatre 2.2 Write dialogues and scenes, applying basic dramatic structure: exposition, complication, conflict, crises, climax, and resolution. 2.3 Design, produce, or perform scenes or plays from a variety of theatrical periods and styles, including Shakespearean and contemporary realism.

WEEK 11The Sum of the Parts (Group Recitation) 48

Overall GoalTo make sure everyone is excited and confident about their upcoming performances. Instill courage and determination in all the poets!


Anchor Standards - WritingNote on range and content in student writing - ExcerptThey [the students] learn to appreciate that a key purpose of writing is to communicate clearly to an external, sometimes unfamiliar audience, and they begin to adapt the form and content of their writing to accomplish a particular task and purpose. Anchor Standards - Language

Knowledge of LanguageCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Vocabulary Acquisition and UseCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

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VAPA StandardsCreation/Invention in Theatre 2.3 Work collaboratively as designer, producer, or actor to meet directorial goals in scenes and plays from a variety of contemporary and classical playwrights.

WEEK 12Putting it Together (Dress Rehearsal) 50

Overall GoalPut the final touches on the show. Prepare for the big night!


Anchor Standard -Speaking and ListeningPresentation of Knowledge and IdeasCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Anchor Standard -LanguageKnowledge of LanguageCCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

VAPA Standards5.0 CONNECTIONS, RELATIONSHIPS, APPLICATIONS Connecting and Applying What Is Learned in Theatre, Film/Video, and Electronic Media toOther Art Forms and Subject Areas and to Careers Students apply what they learn in theatre, film/video, and electronic media across subject areas. They develop competencies and creative skills in problem solving, communication, and time management that contribute to lifelong learning and career skills. They also learn about careers in and related to theatre.

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Careers and Career-Related Skills 5.2 Demonstrate the ability to create rehearsal schedules, set deadlines, organize priorities, and identify needs and resources when participating in the production of a play or scene. 5.3 Communicate creative, design, and directorial choices to ensemble members, using leadership skills, aesthetic judgment, or problem-solving skills.

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About the Author…

Diane Luby Lane is Founder/Executive Director of Get Lit-Words Ignite, Southern California’s leading nonprofit presenter of literary performance, education and teen poetry programs, and the Get Lit Players, an award-winning classic teen poetry troupe, who perform for over 10,000 teens each year. She is the creator of the Classic Slam, which is the largest LA based teen poetry festival in Los Angeles history and the only to combine classic poetry with spoken word. Lane is author of Words of Women, a compendium of original monologues for women published around the world and has appeared in numerous films, television shows, and national commercials. Her critically acclaimed one-woman show, Deep Sea Diving (AKA Born Feet First), has toured high schools, youth groups and colleges across America with poet Jimmy Santiago Baca. In recogni-tion of her work as an educator and creator of Get Lit’s ground-breaking literacy curriculum, Lane received the James Patterson Page Turner Award for promoting literacy and the KNX Hero Award. In 2012, Lane was honored as a recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Volunteer Service Award and Get Lit is a 2012 National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Award Finalist, dis-tinguishing it as one of the top 50 arts and humanities based programs in the country. For more information go to www.dianelubylane.com.

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A portion of every book sold goes to support Get Lit programs. For more information about Get Lit or to make a secure donation go to www.getlit.org

[1] Thefreedictionary.com[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_form (January 17, 2012)[3] Oxforddictionaries.com[4]http://shakespeare.about.com/od/shakespeareslanguage/a/i_pentameter.htm (January 17, 2012)[5] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_simile_mean (January 17, 2012)[6] Oxforddictionaries.com[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncopation (January 17, 2012)[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villanelle (January 17, 2012)

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Founded in 2006 in Los Angeles, Get Lit-Words Ignite is a leading nonprofit presenter of literary performance, education, and teen poetry programs. Get Lit uses the memorization and recitation of classic poetry as a launch pad for teen created spoken word responses, fusing the two forms of expression into compelling performances, conducted by teens in school, after school, and through the organization’s own select group of Get Lit Players. These poet ambassadors from throughout Los Angeles perform both classic and spoken word poetry, inspiring fellow teens to read, write, participate in the arts, and be leaders in their community. Each year, Get Lit reaches over 15,000 at risk teens in more than 45 high schools, turning students into motivated scholars inspired to stay in school and thrive. Most recently Get Lit has been chosen for recognition as a 2012 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award Finalist. This recognition distinguishes Get Lit as one of the top 50 arts and humanities based programs in the country.

For more information about Get Lit and the Get Lit Playersgo to www.GetLit.org.

About Get Lit—Words Ignite

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