Poetry Project
Poetry Project General Information
The group poetry project will be done during the month of April. Students will receive detailed handouts with all the information they need to successfully complete this project. (The handout and additional info. are copied below.) Also there is even more information here on the website in the FILES section, including a Poetry Web Quest. (All students will visit the computer lab at school to be introduced to the project.)
Groups will choose a theme and a famous poet as topics for their project. The book will have three separate sections: theme poems, poet section, and original poetry. Please talk to your child about the project and encourage him or her to do their best!
Poetry Project 2008 (Handouts)
A poetry project web quest is available on our classroom website under FILES.
Links to helpful web sites are in another section of this website.
Section I.
-Choose a theme.
Examples: war, spring, autumn, seasons, youth, friendship, dreams, food, courage, walking, home, dance, ships, cars, children, siblings, flying, travel, windows, doors, school, angels, justice, tolerance, a historical event, civil rights, magic, fences, illusions, the sea, fishermen, sailors, hearts, peace, flowers, royalty, art, drums, light, money, walls, music, trees, clothes, baseball, appearances, mirrors, America, Alabama, etc!
Be creative! You probably want to look at some poems first, before choosing your theme. Each group must have a different theme.
-Locate at least five poems that are representative of your theme, and include them in your book.
You may xerox or print them from other sources or very carefully retype them. Be sure to include the title and poet's name for each poem. Include the bibliographical information for the source of the poem (book title and author or complete web address).
-Write a very short explication (basically a summary) of five of the poems in this section to explain how the poems relate to the theme.
Section II.
-Choose a famous poet.
Get ideas from our literature book, the library, and online. Choose someone well-known who has staying power. No two groups may choose the same poet. I need to approve your final choice.
Examples: Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Ogden Nash, Alice Walker, Christina Rosetti, Lord Byron, Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth, Longfellow, Edgar Allen Poe, Matthew Arnold, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edgar Guest, etc.
-Research the poet's life and work. Write a 1 ½- 2 page biography in your own words.
Carefully check your spelling, grammar, and punctuation. This should be typed and double-spaced.
You must provide all the bibliographical information for the source you use to locate your information (book title and author or complete web address).
- Include at least five poems by the poet you chose.
You may copy or print the poems from other sources or very carefully retype them.
You must provide all the bibliographical information for the source you use to locate your information (book title and author or complete web address).
Section III.
-Include three original poems by each group member.
These poems should be your best work. You should prewrite, draft, and revise your work before including it in your poetry book. The original poems should be neatly typed and double-spaced.
Other Information to Include
-Give your book a title and design a cover for it. Organize all information in a 1" binder.
-Create a table of contents to show how your book is organized; it should list every item included in your book. (There is a sample table of contents to show you the order the items should be in.)
-Design a special cover page for each section.
-Include art work to make your book more attractive. Draw it yourself, create computer art, neatly cut pictures out of magazines or coloring books… do anything you like as long as it is neat and appealing!
Proofread all of your work very carefully. Neatness is very important!
You will more than likely work in a group. You will only have a little class time to work with the other members of your group probably on two or three different days. Otherwise, you will have to divide up the parts of the project and work on your own at home, or plan to get together outside of school. Completed poetry book is due April 30, 2008.
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POETRY BOOK TIPS AND HOW TO DESIGN YOUR TITLE PAGE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS
(Use this handout in addition to the handout you already received!)
- BINDER- Purchase a binder, at least 1". The kind with the plastic on the front where you can drop in your cover design is best. Plastic page protectors throughout the book are not required, but they do look nice.
- PAPER- Colored paper, paper with special backgrounds that match your theme, paper with borders, or borders created on the computer look nice.
- ARTWORK- The more good, quality artwork you have the better. Pages with no pictures are boring to look at. Remember, there are millions of sources for artwork (clip art, hand drawn art, pictures cut from magazines, personal photographs, photos downloaded from the internet, etc!).
- THEME POEMS- You should have a wide variety of poems by different poets and from different sources. They should NOT all be the same. Some might be funny, some serious, some for kids, some more complex, etc. The one thing they all have in common is they all relate to the theme chosen by your group. (One can be song lyrics, as long as it is appropriate for school.)
- USE OF INTERNET- Be careful finding poems online. The poems you use should also be published in books and should be written by legitimate, well-known poets. Some of your poems should come from BOOKS!
- EXPLICATIONS- These are short summaries of five poems in the theme section. You should basically explain the meaning of the poem as your group members interpret it. All the group members should discuss these poems and work on the explications together. Each explication should be about one paragraph, about five to seven sentences long. Put all the explications together, in the same order as the poems, at the end of the theme section.
- Don't just include the first five THEME POEMS you find, or the first five poems that you find by YOUR POET. Look over several, and choose five (or more) that your group members like and think you basically understand.
- ORIGINAL POEMS-are poems you write yourself! They do NOT have to be on your theme. They can be about anything you want, as long as it is appropriate for school. They should be written in lines, like traditional poetry. They do not necessarily have to rhyme. They should have rhythm ( a pattern of stressed and unstressed sounds) when read aloud. You should use poetic language and some poetic devices (i.e. repetition, similes, metaphors, etc.) Share you original poems with your group members and your parents. Get their suggestions. Revise and proofread.
- BIBLIOGRAPHY- Anytime you do a research project, your teacher will require you to tell where all your information comes from. Instead of writing a very formal bibliography, AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH PAGE IN THE POET AND THEME SECTION (for each poem and the poet's biography), TELL WHERE EACH POEM (AND BIOGRAPHICAL INFO.) CAME FROM. If the poem or info. came from a book, give the author or editor's first and last name and the complete title of the book. (Underline the title of the book.) If the poem or info. came from the internet, give the complete web address.
- Neatness counts! Correct spelling and punctuation are important!
- Typed pages should be double-spaced!
- SAVE YOUR WORK ON YOUR COMPUTER at least until projects are turned in and graded.
- POEMS IN THE POET SECTION DO NOT HAVE TO BE ON YOUR THEME!!!
- EVERY POEM IN YOUR BOOK should have title and poet's name at the top and bibliographical source at bottom!
How To Design Cover, Title Page, and Table of Contents
Cover- should include title of the book, theme, poet, names of all group members (class period and date are optional)
Title Page- This is the first page of your book. It should include your theme, your poet, the first and last names of everyone in your group, your class period, and date the project is due (April 30)
Table of Contents- This is the second page of your book. The list below tells you how to set up your table of contents. (Remember, each section of your book needs a cover page with artwork on it.) Follow the rules for capitalization in titles. Poem titles should be in quotation marks.
Table of Contents
I. Theme Section
-List the title and authors of the poems in order (at least five).
-Explications- Place all the explications together at the end of the theme section in the same order as the poems. (You should only explicate the first five poems in the theme section.)
II. Poet Section- The Life and Works of…Biography of the poet
Poems by the poet you chose (at least five)- List the titles in order.
III. Original Poems
List the titles and poets in order (Below there is an example:)
Sample Table of Contents
I. Rain"Rain" by Shel Silverstein
"Rain Comes Down" by Edna St. Vincent Millay
"Thanking Heaven for the Rain When It Rains" by James Whitcomb Riley"The Rainy Day" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
" Songs About Rain" a song by Gary Allan
Explications
II. The Life and Works of Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou's Biography
"Alone"
"Phenomenal Woman"
"Poor Girl"
"Still I Rise"
"Woman Work"
III. Original Poems
" Why I Love Winter" by Ann Adams
"Friendship" by Ann Adams
" Girls Can Be Mean" by Ann Adams
" A Mother's Love" by Junie Jones
" My Dog Spot" by Junie Jones
" Summer at the Lake" by Junie Jones
"Attitude" by Suzy Smith
"Getting Good Grades" by Suzy Smith
" My Boyfriend" by Suzy Smith
