In Honor of...

Subject Area: Language Arts

Grade Level(s): 6-8

Duration of Activity: Two to four, 55-minute class periods

Description of Activity:

As the final activity of a unit on poetry, the students will write poems honoring their loved ones, living or dead, and at a "Night of Honor" celebration present these poems to those being honored or to persons close to the honorees, including relatives or family friends. One benefit of this activity is that the class will grow closer as they learn about the people that their classmates treasure. If they are available, the students can include photographs of those being honored. Teachers can adapt or expand this activity to include other ideas that the students wish to incorporate in the presentation and program as part of the celebration.

Objectives:

• The students will review examples of poetry written to honor someone and brainstorm memories about someone they wish to pay tribute to themselves.
• The students will use the memories they have noted to write poems in the form of rhyming couplets.
• The students will combine their poems in a class Microsoft PowerPoint presentation that will be shown during a "Night of Honor" celebration hosted by the class.
• The students will read or recite the poems aloud as their particular slide/slides are shown during the celebration, explaining the memories to the audience if the students choose to do so.

Materials/Equipment:

• Computers with Internet access
• Examples of poetry honoring a person or persons
• Microsoft PowerPoint or other presentation software
• Microsoft Word or other word-processing software
• Diskettes, one per student, or access to a shared network drive for purposes of saving files
• Scanner
• Digital projector or NetTV for showing the class presentation
• Handout 1: Teacher’s Example Poem
• Handout 2: Example Poems by Students
• Handout 3: Rubric for "Night of Honor" Poem and Microsoft PowerPoint Slide(s)

Prerequisites (skills or background needed):

• Basic knowledge of how to use a digital projector
• Basic knowledge of how to create slides using Microsoft PowerPoint or other presentation software
• Basic knowledge of how to use Microsoft Word or other word-processing software
• Arrangements made by the teacher for use of a mobile laptop lab or traditional computer lab if there is an insufficient number of computers in the classroom
• Arrangements made by the teacher with the school administration for a suitable night to host the "Night of Honor" celebration

Procedure

Teacher Component: The teacher will

1. place this quotation by Robert Frost’s on the board: "Poetry is when emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words."
2. discuss with the students what this quotation means, guiding them to focus on the concept of emotions they have felt about people and events in their lives. Point out that poems can be created by putting those thoughts and emotions into words.
3. refresh the students’ memories regarding rhymed couplets. Explain that couplets can be used in writing any type of poetry. Visit the Web site The Craft of Poetry: Couplet / http://www.uni.edu/english/craft/couplet.html and review the site with the class using a digital projector or NetTV.
4. distribute copies of Handout 1: Teacher’s Example Poem and Handout 2: Example Poems by Students and read and discuss the poems contained in the handouts.

   Note: After this lesson has been taught one time, teachers may want to use examples from former students. Examples from well-known poets may be used as well.

5. demonstrate the process of writing the poems beginning with brainstorming memories to developing those memories into rhyming couplets. If concept-mapping software is available, students may want to use that software during the brainstorming portion of the lesson plan.
6. field questions during the class discussion that will help the students begin to think about events and people from their past. Questions that might be asked include:
   • What are the happiest, saddest, scariest, and/or most sentimental times that you can remember?
   • Who were the people involved in those memories?
   • Can you think of special family gatherings, holidays, birthdays, or vacations?
   • What about neighborhood or church events that spark memories as well?
7. allow time for the students to write their poems using word-processing software for ease of editing during the creative process. Specify how and where the students are to save the files.
8. review the students’ poetry and suggest any necessary revisions. Allow peer editing if the students wish to have classmates review their poems.
9. ask the students to design and create slides for a class PowerPoint presentation using Handout 3: Rubric for "Night of Honor" Poem and Microsoft PowerPoint Slide(s) as a guide. Students should create rough drafts of their slides before creating the actual slides with the software. Each class member should create one slide. They can copy and paste their poems into the presentation slides from the word-processing files. Encourage students to incorporate clip art objects, sounds, and animations into their slides.
10. indicate the manner in which the students should save their files, either to diskettes or to a shared network drive. Establish a file-naming convention that will insure that no files are overwritten when they are combined into one presentation. Beginning each file with the student’s last name will usually protect against any problems of this nature.
11. set aside time for scanning photographs of those being honored into digital format. Remind students to obtain permission from an appropriate adult for any photographs they want to bring to school to use in the presentation.
12. establish one classroom computer as the location for the class presentation. Allow the students to take turns inserting their saved presentation slides into the class presentation until it is complete.
13. instruct each student to use word-processing or presentation software to create an invitation for the person that they will be honoring.
14. allow student groups to be in charge of various aspects of the "Night of Honor" celebration. Possible groups would include (a) refreshments, (b) greeters, (c) projector manager, (d) program distributors, (e) master of ceremonies, (f) background music providers, and so forth.
15. oversee the planning for the event and insure that each student has someone coming to participate in the activity.

Student Activities: The students will

1. review the meaning of a poetic couplet and join in the opening class discussion.
2. review poem examples presented by the teacher in Handout 1: Teacher’s Example Poem and Handout 2: Example Poems by Students.
3. begin to brainstorm memories of the persons to be honored in their own poems.
4. write rhymed couplets based on their memories using word-processing software. Save the poems to diskettes or shared network drive so that they can be reviewed, revised, and then copied and pasted into the PowerPoint slides when the slides are created.
5. submit the poems to the teacher for review before keying in the final versions of each poem.
6. obtain permission from an adult family member or friend to bring photographs of the honorees to school and scan the photographs into digital format, saving the digital files as directed by the teacher.
7. create rough drafts on paper of presentation slides honoring the persons about whom their poems are written.
8. create the actual presentation slides, each of which includes the poems, photographs, appropriate clip art objects, and animations of the students’ choosing using Microsoft PowerPoint or other presentation software.
9. save the presentation slides to diskettes as directed by the teacher.
10. combine the slides by taking turns inserting them into one presentation located on a designated classroom computer.
11. create individualized invitations for the honorees for the "Night of Honor" celebration using word-processing or presentation software.
12. work with assigned groups to plan and prepare for the "Night of Honor" celebration under the guidance of the teacher.
13. participate in the presentation of the slide show by reading the poems as part of the "Night of Honor" celebration.

Accommodations:

• Students may work with a partner as they brainstorm and remember events and people from the past.
• Students will be paired with peers willing and capable of helping them complete the technology component of the lesson plan.
• Students will be allowed to work on their assignments during study hall or free time if permissible with the school administration and/or other teachers.
• Students may find using rhyming dictionaries such as The Scholastic Rhyming Dictionary by Sue Young (ISBN# 0-590-96393-7) to help them write their couplets. They may also use online rhyming dictionaries such as:

  Rhyme Zone
  http://www.rhymezone.com/

  Online Rhyming Dictionary
  http://www.rhymer.com/

  WriteExpress Online Rhyming Dictionary
  http://www.lyricalline.com/onlinerhyme.html

Extension Activities:

• The "Night of Honor" celebration can be videotaped and copies sent to any honorees who are unable to attend the celebration.
• Copies of the poems printed using word-processing software or a printed copy of the presentation itself can be bound into booklets to give to the honored guests. Honorees also could be given special copies of their individual poems printed on good quality paper and/or framed.
• The poems could be placed on a class Web page of honor using a Web site such as Homestead.com / http://www.homestead.com. Students’ work could also be published at sites that publish teen writing such as Weekly Reader—Read / http://www.weeklyreader.com/teens/read/, PostPoems / http://www.mecca.org/~graham/day/poetrypost/submit.html, or ReadWriteThink: Student Materials: Stapleless Book / http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/stapleless/index.html.

  Teachers should note that parental permission is required for publishing online the work of any student under the age of 18. Bellingham Washington School District has a good example of a letter that can be used for this purpose. It can be found at Parent Permission Form for World Wide Web Publishing of Student Work / http://www.bham.wednet.edu/parent.htm.

• The students’ poems could be submitted for publication in various print resources. Read magazine is an example of a periodical that publishes students’ work.
• The students could write reflections on or responses to one another’s poems.

Integration:

• Language Arts
• Technology

Assessments:

1. Conference with students about progress in brainstorming and development of couplets after the first day. Keep anecdotal records of each student conference.
2. Use Handout 3: Rubric for "Night of Honor" Poem and Microsoft PowerPoint Slide(s) to assess the poem and the presentation slide(s) of the poem to be shown for the "Night of Honor" celebration.

URLs:

• The Craft of Poetry: Couplet
  http://www.uni.edu/english/craft/couplet.html
• Rhyme Zone
  http://www.rhymezone.com/
• Online Rhyming Dictionary
  http://www.rhymer.com/
• Write Express Online Rhyming Dictionary
  http://www.lyricalline.com/onlinerhyme.html

Curriculum Frameworks

Mississippi:

Sixth Grade, Seventh Grade & Eighth Grade

1. Communicate for a variety of purposes through forms of writing using processes of reading, writing, listening, and viewing for an expanding audience.
2. Speak coherently in order to express ideas and opinions for a variety of purposes and audiences.
3. Complete projects and tasks in an organized and coherent manner.
4. Develop self-monitoring skills to work independently and cooperatively.
5. Participate cooperatively while engaging in small group activities to analyze and interpret information, to make decisions, to solve problems, and to produce a given product.
6. Discover the history and inherent beauty of cultural expression in language and literature.
7. Read and use print and non-print media to experience the rhythm, energy, and pictorial qualities of language.
8. Read, analyze, and respond in written and oral language or other art forms to increasingly challenging literature and other resources.
9. Demonstrate continuous progress toward control of grammar, mechanics, and usage of Standard English in oral and written communications.
10. Acquire and use vocabulary, spelling concepts, and sentence structure for specific situations, purposes, and audiences.
11. Use language to record observations, to clarify thoughts, to synthesize information, to analyze and evaluate language, etc., in order to facilitate continuous learning.
12. Construct meaning by applying personal experiences, and by reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.

National Educational Technology Standards (NETS):

5. Apply productivity/multimedia tools and peripherals to support personal productivity, group collaboration, and learning throughout the curriculum.
8. Select and use appropriate tools and technology resources to accomplish a variety of tasks and solve problems.

TerraNova:

Reading/Language Arts

01 Oral Comprehension (Level 10, 11)
Demonstrate both literal and interpretive understanding of passages that are read aloud.

Use writing or other means to respond to literal and interpretive questions about passages that are read aloud.

05 Identify Reading Strategies (Level 11-21/22)
Demonstrate awareness of techniques that enhance comprehension, such as using existing knowledge, summarizing content, comparing information across texts, using graphics and text structure, and formulating questions that deepen understanding.

Write responses that interpret and extend the use of information from documents and forms, and that demonstrate knowledge and use of strategies.

Link and Feedback to Author(s):

Michelle Byrd, New Hope Middle School, Columbus, MS
Michelle.Byrd@lowndes.k12.ms.us