Elements+of+the+Project

Now that we have changed our curriculum, instead of teaching poetry throughout the different time periods, poetry is now taught as one unit. As a result, the students needed to understand how poetry changes throughout the time periods before we started reading the poetry from the different time periods. As a result, I wanted them to gain the information on their own and present what they learned as opposed to me giving them notes. I find that through seeking for the knowledge on their own they gain a better grasp of it. They can internalize and analyze the information as opposed to memorizing it.

After instruction to introduce poetry, the students had to choose a partner. They then had to research the time periods given. Using the information they found, they had to create a poem, discussing the techniques and content in that time period, but each stanza had to change stylistically depending on the time period discussing. For example, if exact end rhyme was a technique used, then their poem discussing that time period had to have exact end rhyme.

They had to visually place their poem into a Powerpoint, with pictures that represented the time period's history as well as techniques. They then recorded their voices reading the poem using voicethread. It was then all posted on edmodo so that students could provide comments.

The following is the lesson plan I used to teach this lesson:

The following is the informational handout the students received in order to complete the project.



The last link is the rubric the students were given.



Students were already familiar with edmodo and Powerpoint. We use edmodo a lot for student collaboration in and out of the classroom. They are able to post information and respond to the information posted, or send messages directly to the teacher. We used edmodo as a means of posting the projects so that students had access to the other projects. They could then verbally respond, through the means on voicethread or respond in written format through edmodo.

Instruction was needed on voicethread. They were able to pick is up quickly.

[|Edmodo][|Voicethread]

Samples of Student Work:

[|Student Work]

[|More Student Work on Edmodo]