DAY 25 - Quiz and Memorizing

Today, you took the quiz covering Units 1-3 in vocabulary, up through Lesson 10 in Sentence Diagramming, and MLA formatting.  At the end of the quiz, you had the opportunity to work alone or with another person on memorizing your poems.

RECITATIONS BEGIN TUESDAY, so your only homework is to work on your recitation.  Be aware that speaking your poem in front of others is much different that reciting it in your own head.  Be comfortable reciting your poem in front of others.  I am sure your parents would love to hear you, and would be happy to help you find ways of enhancing your interpretation.

DAY 24 - Interpreting Poems for Presentation

Today, we did lesson ten in the Sentence Diagramming Workbook: Commands! Most of you found it easy, but there were still some issues about determining direct objects, predicate nominatives, and the placement of adverbs. Make sure you review those lessons!

A BASIC OVERVIEW OF WHAT WE HAVE COVERED SO FAR:
Subjects and verbs

• What the sentence is about, and what the subject is doing.

Definite and Indefinite Articles

• the/a/an

Predicate Nominatives

• a noun that renames or further defines the subject and which follows a linking verb

Linking Verb (with many thanks to http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/linkingverb.htm):
The following verbs are true linking verbs:

• any form of the verb be [am, is, are, was, were, has been, are being, might have been, etc.], become, and seem. These true linking verbs are always linking verbs.

Then you have a list of verbs with multiple personalities:

• appear, feel, grow, look, prove, remain, smell, sound, taste, and turn. Sometimes these verbs are linking verbs; sometimes they are action verbs.

How do you tell when they are action verbs and when they are linking verbs?

• If you can substitute am, is, or are and the sentence still sounds logical, you have a linking verb on your hands.
• If, after the substitution, the sentence makes no sense, you are dealing with an action verb instead.
• Here are some examples:
• Sylvia tasted the spicy squid eyeball stew.
• Sylvia is the stew? I don't think so! Tasted, therefore, is an action verb in this sentence, something Sylvia is doing.
• The squid eyeball stew tasted good.
• The stew is good? You bet.

Attributive Adjectives

• Adjectives that come right before the nouns they describe

Predicate Adjectives

• An adjective that follows a linking verb and modifies the subject

Possessive Pronouns

• My, your, his, her, its, our, and their - modify nouns and appear next to the nouns they modify. Diagrammed like other adjectives.
• Mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours and theirs - never next to the nouns they modify. Can be subjects (Yours is blue), predicate nominatives (That car is his), and direct objects (Eat yours)

Direct Objects

• A noun or pronoun that receives the action of a verb. Combine the NON-LINKING verb in the sentence and the question what? or whom? to see if there is a direct object.

Questions

• Diagrammed like a regular sentence--only the capitalization tips you off that it's a question.

Adverbs

• Modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. They go under whatever they modify.
• Adverbs answer how, when, where, to what degree and with what frequency.

Commands

• Have an implied subject, indicated by an "X" on the subject space of the diagram.
• The remainder of the diagram is completed like any other sentence.

You will have a minimum of five sentences to diagram tomorrow.

You spoke in small groups with classmates about your poems today. After reading aloud, you explained your poem's meaning and answered questions about it. Collectively, you brainstormed ways of gesturing, inflecting, enunciating, pausing, emoting, and raising and lowering voice volume to convey that meaning.

HOMEWORK

1. Study for quiz. It will cover vocabulary from units 1-3 (emphasis on unit 3, with sentence matching, picking the correct sentence out of a group, and writing your own sentences), MLA format (2 pairs of quotes for which you must pick the correct one and explain why it is correct, and you will be given one quotation to incorporate and cite in a sentence of your own), and sentence diagrams (no fewer than five).

2. VERY IMPORTANT!!! Your poem must be fully memorized by TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14th. On that day, we will draw names from a hat, and those picked will recite their poems for judging. The remainder will go on Thursday, October 16th (if you are in group 2) or on Friday, October 17th (if you are in groups 4 or 6) (Wednesday is PSAT day and Thursday is E day, when 2 sections don't meet). Your recitation scores will count toward your first quarter grade. I and your classmates will judge your recitations. You have had enough experience in judging now that you should fully understand each of the separate criteria, and you know that the first question to ask when watching a recitation is "Is the presenter's interpretation sound, and does the presenter make that interpretation accessible to me?"

Have a good night and holler with questions.

DAY 23 - MLA Format - Final Evaluation

Today in class, we covered Lesson 9 in the Sentence Diagramming Workbook: Adverbs. To diagram them effectively, you need to have a really good understanding of just how adverbs work.

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs, and generally answer the questions how, when, where, to what degree, and with what frequency?

• The cat waited patiently for its dinner. [modifies the verb waited]
• Phil waited for an especially hungry fish to take the bait. [modifies the adjective hungry]
• After dinner, the cat rested quite comfortably on the sofa. [quite modifies adverb comfortably, and comfortably modifies verb rested]

Adverbs frequently end in "–ly," though some common adverbs, such as always, soon, rather, very, not, never, and well do not. Not all words that end in "-ly" are adverbs, however; friendly and lovely are adjectives. Need some review on adverbs? Here are a few sites:
http://www.english-zone.com/grammar/pos-adv.html
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adverbs.htm
http://www.esldesk.com/grammar/adverbs.htm

Just as attributive adjectives, adverbs go beneath the nouns they modify. But adverbs can modify other adverbs, too. What then? The same principle applies: the word goes underneath the word it modifies.

After we finished the sentence diagrams, I had you correct each other's MLA worksheets using an answer key.

Then, we moved on to the last recitation evaluation we will do: "Facing It," by Yusef Komunyakaa, as recited by Branden Emanual Wellington. This one was a bit different. Before you made an evaluation, we read the poem together and I asked you to answer the following questions:
o What is the speaker’s attitude toward the subject and how does it change?
o What are the speaker’s circumstances and what is his/her relationship to them?
o What is the speaker’s emotional state and how does it change?
Then I had you watch the recitation, and look for clues about how Mr. Wellington interpreted answers to the same questions. Were his answers the same as yours? How do you account for the difference? Is it OK for judges to have a different understanding of the poem if the reciter's version is sound? Whose version should prevail in the judge's evaluation? Only after these questions were answered could you evaluate his performance.

YOUR HOMEWORK FOR TONIGHT:
You are, IN WRITING, to have your entire poem paraphrased, line by line, into your own words, and you are to be prepared to explain its larger meanings. Your paraphrased lines will probably be longer and wordier than the original. That's OK.

HOW TO PREPARE:

1. You should do some research on your poem and poet to make sure you understand the poem's meaning as best you can.
2. Count syllables and look at the rhyme scheme, if any. Consider line breaks. Why has the poet chosen to do as he/she did?
3. Consider both the literal meaning of the each line, the figurative meaning suggested by each line, and the figurative meaning of the poem when taken as a whole.
4. Look for shifts in mood/tone. What causes these shifts and how are they signaled?
5. Consider the FUNDAMENTAL questions that must be understood about ANY poem:

• Who is speaking in the poem? (From what perspective is the poem told?)
• Under what circumstances?
• With what attitude?
• With what emotion?
• With what desired effect on us?
• HOW DO YOU KNOW?

Writing out these answers will help you.

DAY 22 - Evaluation continued, and MLA format

Today, after you took a quick quiz in which I asked you to write the poet, title and first ten lines of your chosen poem, we covered Lesson 8 in the Sentence Diagramming Workbook. Questions! Here is where capitalization is absolutely key! Compare the following. Which is the question?

The first one is the question, and the way you can tell is that the verb is capitalized, because the verb starts the question. Remember, punctuation is never used in a sentence diagram.

Again, please review predicate nominatives, predicate adjectives and direct objects. Come up with whatever rules of thumb you can to tell the difference. I am happy to help!

Today, we did a final evaluation of a poetry presentation. We reviewed Joshua Kelly reading Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est." To see the presentation again, click here.

Some people graded him lower than others, citing his quavering voice, uneven pacing, and lack of accompanying gestures. Others defended these, saying they were consistent with the poem's meaning and the speaker's perspective.

Ultimately--and this is important--the poem's meaning must dictate all choices. You may be one for subtlety, but does the poem demand dramatic interpretation? You may like a rapid pace, but does the poem call for a more contemplative tone?

By the end of this week, you'll need to have your poem fully memorized, and be aware of where your own gestures, inflections, facial inflections and volume changes will occur.

Tonight, for homework, we are backtracking a bit. I asked you to complete a worksheet on employing MLA format properly. You can find both the worksheet and the reference document you need to complete it on the wikispace.

HOMEWORK:

1. Complete the worksheet passed out in class.

COMING UP:

For Thursday, you will need to have your poem fully paraphrased, line by line, into your own words. You should do some research on your poem so you can explain its form and meaning.

On Friday, we will have our third and final vocabulary quiz of the quarter. It will include words from all three units (mostly unit 3, but 1 and 2 will be included as well); sentence diagramming up through lesson 10; and MLA format rules.

DAY 21 - Evaluation continued

Today, we completed the last five words in Unit 3 of the vocabulary book.  The quiz for unit three will be late next week, and will include MLA formatting material that we will cover in the next several days.  We also got through Lesson 7 of the Sentence Diagramming workbook, which covered direct objects.  In order to tell what a direct object is successfully, the book recommends you ask Whom? or What? about the subject and verb.

For example, Jack kicked the ball.  Jack is the subject, and the verb is kicked.  So, Jack kicked what?  Jack kicked the ball.  The ball is the direct object.

Here's the problem: let's say you have the sentence, Jack became a doctor.  The question works here, too (What did Jack become?), but doctor isn't a direct object: it's a predicate nominative.  Predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives follow linking verbs (e.g. forms of be, become, get [when it means become], smell, taste, seem, appear, sound, look and feel).  Direct objects, when there are any, follow non-linking verbs:

These sentences all have direct objects (they'll follow a straight up-and-down line in a sentence diagram):

Jacked kicked the ball.

Amy liked the movie.

Jack bruised his shin.

Amy told a secret.

These sentences all have predicate nominatives or predicate adjectives (they'll follow a backslash in a sentence diagram):

Jack became a doctor.

Amy felt powerful.

Jack got angry.

Amy is a critic.

These sentences all have non-linking verbs AND no direct objects.

Jack swore.

Amy stared.

Jack cheered.

Amy ran.

Be sure you understand exactly how predicate nominatives, predicate adjectives and direct objects all operate.  If you have questions, bring them with you to class.

After we covered that information, you judged two recitations, available online.  Scroll down on the page to Teal Van Dyck reciting "Siren Song" by Margaret Atwood and Shawntay Henry reciting "Frederick Douglass" by Robert E. Hayden.  There are two more that we will look in the next class.

YOUR HOMEWORK: 

1. Complete 5 sentences on the wikispace.

2. Memorize the first 10 lines of your poem, the poet and the title of your poem.  You will need to be able to write down all of them from memory by the next class.  This will count as a reading quiz!

DAY 20: Evaluating a recitation

Today, we covered the next five words of Unit 3 in the vocabulary book, and Review Exercises for Lessons 4-6 in the sentence diagramming work book. We talked about each of the terms the grammar book has covered so far: helping verbs, modal auxiliaries, linking verbs, predicate nominatives, predicate adjectives, attributive adjectives and possessive pronouns.

Then, we looked at the criteria for judging poetry presentations. The information below is taken from the Poetry Out Loud website:

For Students: Evaluation Criteria

PHYSICAL PRESENCE
This category is to evaluate the physical nature of the recitation. Consider the contestant's posture, use of eye contact, and body language.

Advice for the student:

• Use good posture and be attentive.
• Look confident.
• Engage your audience. Look them in the eye. If you have trouble with that, focus past them to the far wall and keep your head up.

Qualities of a strong recitation:
The competitor will appear at ease and comfortable with the audience. He or she will engage the audience through physical presence, including great body language, confidence, and eye contact—without appearing artificial. All qualities of the contestant's physical presence will work together to the benefit of the poem. Nervous gestures, poor posture, and lack of confidence or eye contact with the audience will detract from a competitor's score.

VOICE AND ARTICULATION
This category is to evaluate the the auditory nature of the recitation. Consider the student's volume, speed, use of voice inflection, and proper pronunciation. At the National Finals, contestants will use a microphone; when appropriate, one should be used in school and state competitions as well.

Advice for the student:

• Project to the audience. You want to capture the attention of everyone, including the people in the back row.
• Proceed at an appropriate and natural pace. People may speak or express themselves too quickly when they are nervous, which can make a recitation difficult to understand. Speak slowly, but not so slowly that the language sounds unnatural or awkward.
• With rhymed poems, be careful not to recite in a sing-song manner.
• Make sure you know how to pronounce every word in your poem. Articulate.
• Line breaks are a defining feature of poetry, with each one calling for different treatment. Decide if a break requires a pause and, if so, how long to pause.

Qualities of a strong recitation:
All words will be pronounced correctly, and the volume, speed, pacing, and phrasing will greatly enhance the poem. Pacing will be varied where appropriate. Scores will be lowered as a recitation falls short on one or more of these elements.

APPROPRIATENESS OF DRAMATIZATION
Recitation is about conveying a poem's sense primarily with one's voice. In this way, recitation is closer to the art of oral interpretation than theatrical performance. (Think storyteller or narrator rather than actor [get in touch with your inner Morgan Freeman].) Students may find it challenging to convey the meaning of a poem without acting it out, but a strong performance will rely on a powerful internalization of the poem rather than distracting dramatic gestures. The reciter represents the poet's voice during the course of a recitation, not a character's. The videos of outstanding student recitations (as well as examples of poets reading their own work) will help illustrate this point. Appropriate dramatization subtly enhances the audience's understanding and enjoyment of the poem without overshadowing the poem's language.

Advice for the student:

• Do not act out the poem. Too much dramatization can distract your audience from the language of the poem. Your goal should be to help audience members understand the poem more deeply than they had before hearing your recitation. Movement or accents should not detract from the author's voice.
• You are the vessel of your poem. Have confidence that your poem is strong enough to communicate its sounds and messages without a physical illustration. In other words, let the words of the poem do the work.
• Depending on the poem, occasional gestures may be appropriate, but the line between appropriate and overdone is a thin one. When uncertain, leave them out.
• Avoid monotone delivery. If you sound bored, you will project that boredom onto the audience. However, too much enthusiasm can make your performance seem insincere.

Qualities of a strong recitation:
The dramatization subtly highlights the meaning of the poem without becoming the focal point of the recitation. The performance is more about oral interpretation than dramatic enactment. A low score in this category will result from recitations that have affected character voices and accents, inappropriate tone, distracting and excessive gestures, or unnecessary emoting.

LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY
This category is to evaluate the comparative difficulty of the poem, which is the result of several factors. A poem with difficult content conveys complex, sophisticated ideas, which the student will be challenged to grasp and express. A poem with difficult language will have complexity of diction and syntax, meter and rhyme scheme, and shifts in tone or mood. Poem length is also a factor in difficulty. Every poem is a different combination of content, language, and length, and the judges should score accordingly based on their independent evaluation of each poem.

Advice for the student:
For competitions beyond the classroom level, select poems of various styles, time periods, and tones. This diversity of selection will offer a richer and more complete performance. Note the additional poem-selection requirements for state and national contests.

EVIDENCE OF UNDERSTANDING
This category is to evaluate whether the performer exhibits an understanding of the poem in his or her recitation.

Advice for the student:

• In order for the audience to understand the poem fully, the performer must understand the poem fully. Be attentive to the messages, meanings, allusions, irony, tones of voice, and other nuances in your poem.
• Be sure you know the meaning of every word and line in your poem. If you are unsure about something, it will be apparent to the audience and judges. Don't hesitate to ask your teacher for help.
• Listen to track 4 on the audio CD in which poet David Mason introduces Yeats "The Lake Isle of Innisfree." In his comments, he advises you to think about how you should interpret the tone and volume and voice of your poem. Is it a quiet poem? Is it a boisterous poem? Should it be read more quickly or slowly, with a happy or mournful tone? Your interpretation will be different for each poem, and it is a crucial element of your performance. [This is very reminiscent of the tone work we did on DAY 19. See that blog entry for details]

Qualities of a strong recitation:
The meaning of the poem will be powerfully and clearly conveyed to the audience. The student will display an interpretation that deepens and enlivens the poem. Meaning, messages, allusions, irony, tones of voice, and other nuances will be captured by the performance. A low score will be awarded if the interpretation obscures the meaning of the poem.

OVERALL PERFORMANCE
This category is to evaluate the overall success of the recitation, taking into account the above criteria, the Diversity of poem selection, and any other factors that may impact a judge's perception of the student's performance. Note that points in this category are doubled in weight. [This is a gut check grade and takes into account certain intangibles, like attitude and confidence. You have a sense of it when people are performing at their best, and when a performance makes the audience better for having seen it. As you continue to look at other poems recited, try to articulate exactly what goes into this gut check.]

ACCURACY
A separate judge will mark missed or incorrect words during the recitation, with small deductions for each. If the contestant relies on the Prompter, points also will be subtracted from the accuracy score. Eight points will be added to the competitor's score for a perfect recitation.


After covering this material, I then had you work in small groups to evaluate two performances (click here to see the videos). By the end of class, you were more comfortable employing the evaluation criteria and judging others as you yourself will be judged.

Your homework is to add 5 more sentences to the wikispace, and to memorize the next four lines of your poem. If you decide to switch your poem, please let me know. You must be committed to a final choice by Friday.

DAY 19: Tone & Poetry

OK, the groups are all back on the same page now--ten words into Unit 3 and up through Lesson 6 in the Sentence Diagramming workbook.  Hooray for Predicate Adjectives and Possessive Pronouns!

Today, we considered poems as a story off shifting emotions.  I gave you a list of terms that could be used to describe emotional tone.  I asked you to circle those terms which might be appropriate to the following scenario: an older an remembering his first unsolicited but welcome first kiss.  Once you had the terms circled, I asked you to apply them to a color and gradation of that color.  "How completely insane," many of you thought.  Perhaps so.  However, the reason I wanted you to do this is so you would start to think creatively, and in a more nuanced fashion about emotion overall.

Clearly, it worked, because when you heard Kay Ryan reciting James Leigh Hunt's poem "Jenny Kissed Me," you were convinced she had it all wrong.

Jenny Kissed Me

Jenny kissed me when we met,

Jumping from the chair she sat in;

Time, you thief, who love to get

Sweets into your list, put that in!

Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,

Say that wealth and health have missed me,

Say I'm growing old, but add,

Jenny kissed me.

In fact, you thought her recitation was completely off.  Too bitter and sad for a happy memory, you said!  Too vindictive!  According to you, this is a melancholy man seeking warmth at the fading fire of a memory, but her reading seemed not to acknowledge the happiness of  the memory itself.  Well, right on!

I asked you to think of three specific questions about all three of the poems that you chose last night:

1. What is the speaker's attitude towards the poem's subject (the speaker in the poem itself)?

2. Under what circumstances is the speaker speaking?

3. What emotions is the speaker experiencing?

You should use the list of tone words to help you.

Of the three poems you have chosen, the poem for which it is easiest to provide substantive answers for is the poem you should use.

Your homework for tonight is to:

1. Write sentences on the wikispace for the new words.

2. Memorize the first 4 lines of your poem, as well as the poet's name and the poem's title.