Course Requirements:
Midterm: 20%
Presentation and Analysis: 20%
Daybook Portfolio: 20%
Poetry anthology: 20%
Class Participation: 20%
To pass the course, you must complete each requirement, and comply
with the attendance requirements outlined in the
general
course policies.
All assignments are graded holistically according to the terms of
my grading rubric.
Midterm Paper:
For this paper, you are to read a
novel in
verse and write an analysis. An analysis is not the same thing as a
review, which is evaluative in nature. Instead, a literary analysis for
a verse novel will look at the poetic forms and images and discuss the
ways in which they work and they ways in which they contribute to the
theme or subject matter of the book. The paper should be a minimum of 4
pages long, and for grad students, it should include any relevant
research on the book. See paper policies (the link on the left there)
for further details.
This is due on March 7th.
Presentation and Analysis:
You must perform a poem. If you are nervous about going live, or have some
hoopy ideas for setting and costume, you can do a YouTube-type recording,
which can (and will) be shared in class. Remember that the poem should be
child-friendly. In addition to the performance, you must write a 3-4 page
analysis of the poem, including attention to imagery, language, form, tone,
etc.
Daybook Portfolio:
You will keep a
daybook
throughout the semester. It is my fondest wish that it will become your
closest companion, and that you will take it with you everywhere, but you
must bring it to class each day, with a glue stick. Anything can go in
it--random thoughts, more developed musings, things you want to remember,
poems, pictures, mementos, etc., as well as assignments we do in class. On
April 11, you will turn in a portfolio
which includes the following:
Throughout the semester, you have been asked to write
both in class and out of class and to collect that writing in your daybook.
You should now collect that work in this folder by selecting and
photocopying entries from your daybook. You will copy two entries that
demonstrate who you have been this semester as two of the following:
- A collector
- A poet
- An analytic thinker
- A reviser
In order to reflect on the entries you copy, on a
sticky note explain how the entry demonstrates the qualities. For instance,
you might choose two entries that demonstrate moments of writing when you
were a collector. Copy these entries, put them in your folder, and
write a brief explanation on a sticky note of how this illustrates you as a
questioner. Repeat the process for another quality. This equals four entries
total with four sticky note explanations, one on each entry.
You will also:
- Look back through your daybook and copy two
moments of learning that stand out for you. Describe each moment on a
sticky note attached to a copy of the entry.
- Copy one entry where you have written something
that you especially liked. Explain why you liked it on a sticky note.
Overall, your folder will have seven daybook entries
with one sticky note explanation attached to each entry.
Poetry
Anthology:
Each week, you will be asked to read about specific poetic forms in
the book, Handbook of Poetic Forms. You
must choose one of the entries and do one of the following tasks:
1) Create your own poem that corresponds to
the form.
2) Develop an innovative teaching
technique and write up a microlesson that teaches that concept or form to a
class of secondary students.
3) Locate a good example or set of examples
from the a children's poem and describe why it's such a good example of the
entry.
Each Monday, you will meet in small groups and share your responses. Your
group will vote on the best one of the group for the week, and that person
should forward it to me via email. I will compile a class anthology of these
best responses and post it so that you will have access to it forever and
ever.
Additionally, you should collect all of your own responses and organize them
into an electronic anthology--no paper submissions, please, because they
will be due at the end of the semester, in lieu of a final exam, and I don't
want to store them in my office, wondering when or if you are going to pick
them up. You will likely have three sections: 1) sample original poems, 2)
teaching ideas, and 3) examples of various terms; however, if you are
extremely creative, you might have all poems, or if you aren't necessarily
interested in teaching at any level, you might have no teaching ideas. There
are no limits to how many items you have in each section, but there is a
requirement that you experiment with at least 6 different forms for writing
your own poems. Future teachers, think of this as a portfolio piece that can
be shared with principals, as well as a resource for when you have a
classroom of your own.
This is due
the last day of class.
Class Participation:
As I hope you have learned by now in your years
here at ISU, class participation is more than just showing up. I have a
punitive attendance policy to cover the issue of whether or not your
warm body is in class. This is different. Engaged class participation
means that you share your ideas with the rest of the class (none of this
"I'm just a quiet person" nonsense). Not talking in class is
either selfish or lazy--it means you are withholding ideas and questions
from others, or you are not taking the time to prepare, or that whatever has
you distracted is more important than the community around you. Conversely,
I've heard people say that they don't talk because they don't want to
"dominate the discussion." Believe me when I tell you that won't happen. I've
been teaching one level or another for over 20 years, and I have ways of making you
talk, and ways of keeping one person from dominating the discussion. Don't make me use them--most of them are annoying. This class will
be as lively or as boring as you make it, and you will get out of it
what you put into it.
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