Alexander Hayner

TE 407L
Poetry Lesson

Digital Poetry
Target Audience:
Detroit Denby High School…11th grade English…4th period (1:05-2:15). My class has
been studying classical poetry (Shakespeare, Frost, Yeats, Austen) for the past two weeks,
and now we are progressing into more modern poetry. We will also take this progression
even further to the likes of “digitally enhancing” works of poetry, both modern and
classical.

Issues for Observation:

Does the “poetry lighting” distract students? Does the lighting obstruct vision, and/or
does it make the room too dark to read and write notes on students’ desks? Are
technological presentation materials clear and beneficial? Does the teacher allow ample
time for students to express opinion? Does teacher talk too much?

Objectives:
1. Educate students on importance of atmosphere for poetry reading (and studying in
general)
2. Present feminine-inspired poem and conduct productive and meaningful
classroom discussion.
a. Pave the way for future study in feminine literature
3. Demonstrate how media/visual aids strongly impact (and possibly alter) the tone
and mood of a poem.
4. Allow the demonstration of media-based poetry to pave the way for a “digital
poetry” assignment.

Materials Needed for Lesson:

- laptop computer with internet access
- projector and projection screen
- classroom with windows
- candles and matches
- principle’s/school board’s approval for having candles in the classroom

Materials Needed for Assignment:

- Piece of poetry (borrowed or original)
- Movie-making software
o If not personally owned, can be obtained from school media center or
public library.
- Internet access (for visual and audio clips)
Background Information on Unit:
This eleventh grade curriculum focused on inspiring appreciation and passion about
poetry started off with analysis of the love sonnets of Shakespeare. This was transitioned
from a previous reading of Shakespeare’s Othello, providing smooth transition with the
old-English language. From the sonnets, my class has analyzed poems of love, hate, joy,
and curiosity from various classical English authors (Keats, Frost, and Austen to name a
few). Analysis of poems consists of identifying the speaker, the motive of the poem, the
audience, and the desired outcome from reading and experiencing such poetic verse.
Analysis has been demonstrated in small groups, large discussion groups, and individual
1-page reflection papers. Though we have been analyzing poetry for 2 weeks now, the
students have yet to have the opportunity to compose their own individual poetic works.

Presentation:
Before students arrive to class, teacher sets up the classroom to create a “poetic
environment”. To create such a mood, overhead lights are turned off and candles (4-6)
are placed around front of room. Windows are left open to let in natural light unless
extremely sunny (shades are drawn in this case).
Reasoning: The creation of a “poetic mood” presents the ultimate visual aid
without students consciously knowing it. Also, by having the classroom set up
before the students walk in, the students are immediately engaged in learning and
class can begin without any time being wasted.

Text of the poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is displayed on the projection screen via
a projector connected to the teacher’s laptop. Teacher initially instructs class to read the
poem silently and think about what the poem is trying to say and demonstrate. Teacher
then calls on a student to read the short poem (25 lines) aloud while other students listen
and follow along the project text. After conclusion of student’s reading, teacher conducts
short discussion. Questions: What is the mood of the poem? Who is the narrator? Who
is the audience? What is the message? Does this relate to reality, or is it a fictional
concept?
Reasoning: This short teacher-dictated discussion gets students thinking and
allows them to form an initial opinion on the piece of poetry. By dictating the
discussion, the teacher emphasizes on the key concepts (narrator, audience, etc.)
of the poem. Also, by reading the text silently and then listening to one student
read the poem out loud, the class as a whole observes two different ways to
embrace a poem—an activity that paves the way for our digital viewing.

Concluding the discussion, teacher then brings up a digital video on YouTube.com of a

producer’s artistic representation of the poem. Class observes the digital poetry, then the
discussion continues. The topic of class discussion is now turned to a pivotal question:
How do the visual and audio effects affect the poem’s mood, tone, and overall reception
by the audience? Do you see a change in you own reception and opinion of the poem
now that you saw it with visual and audio enhancements? Do you like the poem more as
its original presentation or digital enhancement?
Reasoning: I feel this presentation of the “digitally modified” poem will spark
some interesting and worth-wile discussion among the class. I feel that when
 poems are set to images and music, it greatly alters the way they can be perceived
by the audience. I feel my students will respond in a similar way, and by seeing
the effectiveness of audio and visual enhancements, I an interest will be sparked
in the upcoming digital poetry assignment.

After discussion comes to an end (or teacher ends it), students are presented with a
handout regarding the basis of their next major assignment: digital poetry. Handout
outlines the criteria of the assignment, holding that each student must take a poem
(original or borrowed) and set it to music and images, as we saw with the “Barbie Doll”
poem.

Assessment:
Assessment can be gauged initially by observing the caliber and quality of the discussion
about the poem. I feel the best way to analyze the discussion is through
comparing/contrasting the discussion before watching the digital presentation and after
watching it. Observation of the opinions paired with initial thoughts on the poem
provides insight as to how digital poetry will affect each individual student, as well as the
class as a whole. Final assessment of the lesson (and unit), will obviously be heavily
weighted with the quality of each student’s original digital poetry movie.

Follow-up Lessons:
Lessons for immediate and long-term future of this unit can be easily drawn out. The
next week of classes can have students working on comprising their own digital poetry
movie. Trips to the library/media center can allow students without laptops access to
necessary materials.

Due dates can be initially set for rough-draft peer review sessions, where students view
their peers’ works-in-the-making. This is beneficial for students because it allows them
to get feedback from other viewers, an aspect they can not get from solely watching it
themselves.

On the date of the final project deadline (usually around 2 weeks after this initial
presentation), the teacher can hold a “film festival” where all of the final versions of
digital poetry are shown. Depending on the class, it may be appropriate to also allow the
students to vote on a “Best in Show” award for the top few digital poetry videos.