Poetry in Presentation

a Lesson Plan from John McIlvain

Assignment - Enhancements - Assessment Rubric

This Assignment was given at the end of a poetry unit that began with students reading and analyzing a number of poems and writing “imitations” of two or three of those poems. (Students then wrote a brief essay comparing their imitation to the original.) After this “study” of poetry, students wrote poems of their own which the teacher read and commented on. Students also shared these poems with one another. The following assignment was the culmination of this “creative” part of the poetry unit. Much of it was done in class and the assignment was completed within a week when students were already familiar with the PowerPoint application. HyperStudio, AW Presentation, Microsoft Word, MicroWorlds, a web editor, or any other multimedia application can be used for this assignment.

Assignment: Your assignment is to create a multi-media (Power Point or other) presentation of at least four poems you have written, at least one of which is an “imitation” of another poem. The poem imitated will also be included in the presentation. Your presentation will be viewed by your classmates and by teachers in the school.
Objectives (technology): You will: Learn to create a digital presentation Choose text and backgrounds suitable for the poems or design your own. Include buttons to links to each poem. Include a voice recording of the poems. (They do not need to be read by you) (optional) Add graphics and other elements (fade-ins etc.) that enhance the presentation.	Objectives (poems): You will: Choose the poems you have written that you feel will be most effectively presented. (Note: it is generally most effective to work with poems that can be presented on one slide.) Make sure that mechanical elements, especially spelling, are correct. Make sure the poem as it appears in the presentation faithfully reproduces line breaks and stanzas as you originally intended.
Required Elements: Your presentation should include: A title page/table of contents page with links 5-6 slides of your poems - remember to include the imitated poem Links between slides.

Enhancements to the assignment might include:

• Links to biographical and other information about the imitated poem
• Hyperlinked glossary to words and images(
• With PowerPoint or MicroWorlds, the poet's brief "Notes" and a suggestion that the reader also add (signed) Notes to poem slides
• Link to the poet's e-mail address
• With Word, "comments" inserted into the poems, with encouragement for the reader to do the same. This can also be scripted in HyperStudio (with NBA's or HyperLogo)
• Original music compositions
• The inclusion of the student essay, if it was assigned

 

Assessment Rubric

Poetry in Presentation - Assessment Rubric
	Unsatisfactory	Needs Improvement	Proficient	Mastery
Text	Text is difficult to read. Fonts seem to have been chosen at random.	Text at times difficult to read.	Text is easy to read.	Text is easy to read and placed appropriately in slides.
Design	Backgrounds and graphics seem haphazard and inappropriate for the poems. They make it hard to concentrate on the poems.	Backgrounds and graphics are inconsistent. One slide seems completely unrelated to another even when poems are similar.	The slides are easy to look at and consistent with one another. The backgrounds and other graphics are appropriate for the poems.	The slides are artistic. Graphics and backgrounds enhance the poems.
Navigation Links	Links do not exist or work properly.	Some links exist but not all work. They seem to be placed in odd places on the page. Viewer needs help to understand how to navigate the sight independently	Links are clearly placed and functional. Viewer is able to navigate the presentation independently	Links are clearly placed and graphically interesting. Viewer is able to navigate the presentation independently.
Sound	No sound except for bizarre effects when moving from slide to slide.	Poems hard to follow. Reader stumbles over words. Sounds when moving between sounds are more grab more attention than the poems themselves.	Poems are easy to follow. Reader speaks with confidence. Movement from slide to slide is not accompanied by distracting effects.	Readings seem to enhance the quality of the poems. Movement from slide to slide is seamless.
The Poems themselves	Poems are poorly written with misspellings, unintentional grammatical errors and no apparent direction. Metaphors are mixed or inappropriate, rhymes are forced, rhythm is non-existent, line length and endings seem haphazard. Imagery is either wildly inappropriate or non-existent.	Poems contain occasional misspellings and unintentional grammar errors. While the poems have arresting moments, they tend to fall apart in places. The rhythm breaks down from time to time, and sound elements such as rhyme can be jarring. Imagery while appropriate is often trite.	Poems are mechanically excellent. Their language seems appropriate to the topic as does the imagery. Figurative language is carefully chosen. The rhythm of the poems is consistent, and the rhymes and other sound elements ring true.	Poems are not only mechanically excellent, they are imaginative and fresh. The imagery seems at one with the poet’s intent. The rhythm and other sound elements in the poems all contribute to their excellence. The figurative language is apt and original. The audience cheers.