Mobile Activity Design, Part 1

Mobile Activity Design

Assignment:  Found Poems: What are they, and how do they work?

1. SMART Objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely):

1. Explain what found poems are.

1. Write a found poem following one of the following forms: sonnet, haiku (must write two if choosing this form), or limerick (must write two if choosing this form).

1. Identify the poetic form in which they wish to write and properly execute the form.

1. Learn the proper metrics for each of the following forms: sonnet, haiku, and limerick

1. Understand that poetry is “found” everywhere; it is the combination of words that really matters.

1. Apply media to the creation of found poems.

B. Tools and Resources:

1. Tablets or computers equipped with microphones

1. Internet access

1. Gmail accounts.

1. Access to Google Docs to create a final presentation of the poems as a class

C. Where will this activity take place?

    Activity will take place in class, in the computer lab, and at home as assigned homework.

D. How long will this activity take?

    The activity will be assigned on a Friday, and each student’s rough draft will be due on Monday. Revisions will be completed in class on Monday in small groups, and the creation of the final shared presentation will be completed in class on Tuesday.

E. Plan:

1. Introduce students to found poems:

1. Define found poems: A prose text or texts reshaped into poems.

1. Review different poetic forms from previous unit (sonnet, haiku, and limerick).

1. Provide examples of each of the forms (also provided in previous unit):

1. Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

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,

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 fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

2. Haiku: Matsuo Bashō

An old silent pond...

A frog jumps into the pond,

splash! Silence again.

3. Limerick: Edward Lear

There was an Old Man with a beard,

Who said, 'It is just as I feared!

Two Owls and a Hen,

Four Larks and a Wren,

Have all built their nests in my beard!'

2. Each student selects a poetic form. If they choose haiku or limerick, they must write two poems.

2. Give students options for where to collect their words. Students may find words:

1. on Facebook

1. on Twitter

1. in their favorite novel

1. on t-shirts they see throughout the day

1. in an online newspaper

1. in other pre-approved locations

2. Students will be required to take pictures of the text from which they create their found poem. If they are using online sources to find words, they may either take screenshots or actual photos. These photos will be emailed to the teacher along with the rough draft of the poem(s) before class on Monday. Students will also post their poem on Google Docs so their peers can help edit on Monday.

2. Students will be required to record themselves reading their poem allowed upon completion (this will be done in the media center on school computers using the recording application already installed on the computers).

2. Students will work together on a Google Drive presentation in which each of them will complete one slide that includes the final version of their poem, where they found their source material, and a recording of them reading their poem aloud.

F.  Before sending students off to complete their assignments, the class will write a practice poem using material from an online newspaper.

G.  Backup plan

If no technology is available to the students, this activity can be completed using a pencil and paper. Students will be given access to the school library where they can use novels, magazines, biographies, and any other print material they can find to create their poems. Instead of the culmination of this project being a class Google Drive presentation, each student will be required to read their completed poem aloud to the class and explain where they found their source material. If this unit is to be completed without the use of technology, it will still take the allotted number of days.