EXPLORING OUR VALUES THROUGH POETRY
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Youth
WORKSHOP 1: LISTENING AND SPEAKING WITH POETRY: AN INTRODUCTION
BY KAREN HARRIS
© Copyright 2008 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 6:46:43 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Breathe-in experience,
breathe-out poetry.
— Muriel Rukeyser
The primary activities of this first workshop provide the orientation and vocabulary that will engage and support participants as they move into the program curriculum and deeper into poetry. Activity 2, The Poet's Tools, contains a substantial amount of information that provides the basis for future discussions of poems. Your presentation of the material needs to engage participants, and you should not belabor the information itself. Participants do not need to learn the poetic devices that you will discuss; they simply need to understand the material. Post the poet's tools, which you will list on newsprint during the activity, for future reference throughout the program.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
ACTIVITY | MINUTES |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: What Is a Poem? | 10 |
Activity 2: The Poet's Tools | 15 |
Activity 3: Building a Poem | 25 |
Faith in Action: Creative Engagement with Tough Issues | 15 |
Closing | 5 |
Alternate Activity 1: Five Questions | 10 |
Alternate Activity 2: Covenant Building | 10 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
During today's introductory workshop, participants will share their feelings about poetry. Chances are you enjoy poetry and that is one reason why you volunteered to lead this program. However, it is possible that not all participants enjoy poetry. How will you feel if some youth bring negative preconceptions about poetry into the workshop? Do you have a personal story you can share about a positive experience with poetry? The group you are leading will have a much better experience if you share with them your enthusiasm and love of poetry. People of all ages prefer teachers who love what they teach.
WORKSHOP PLAN
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Gather around the chalice. While a volunteer lights the chalice, ask the group to focus on the word "poetry" in silence. After about fifteen seconds, invite participants to speak freely into the space a word or two that they associate with the word "poetry." When everyone who wishes to speak has had a chance to do so, close by saying,
May the space we create here today be wide enough to hold all our
individual ideas and deep enough to allow those ideas to grow, to fruit, and to provide seeds for new beginnings.
To introduce today's workshop, say,
Welcome to a different way of interacting with poetry! You do not need to be a poetry expert to gain something from these workshops; you simply need an open mind and a sense of adventure.
Regardless of what your experience with poetry has been until now, the intent of this program program is to liberate us from preconceptions, help us become more curious about poems and how they are made, and help us engage with poetry on our own and as a group.
We will read and discuss many poems, but our primary purpose is not to simply analyze or decode them. Instead we will explore the ideas and language of the poems. We will try some activities individually and together and use poetry to be open to ourselves, our personal truths, and to one another. Because our discussions will center on our personal thoughts about poems, there are no right or wrong answers. At the end of the program, we will have an opportunity to present a Poetry Slam during which we will showcase our work and the work of others.
Including All Participants
In order to create space for less assertive participants to speak, allow several seconds of silence to pass before closing the chalice lighting.
ACTIVITY 1: WHAT IS A POEM? (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants share their experiences with poetry and imagine how this program will be different.
Ask the youth to share their ideas and feelings about poetry. This opening discussion is the threshold of both today's workshop and the entire program; make it welcoming. Invite participants to share their prior experience, prior knowledge, and preconceptions about poetry. Honor all responses and listen for a sense of where this group is beginning its journey with poetry. This short exercise will engage participants in the work and learning to come and prepare you to lead this particular group.
If needed, use these questions to prompt discussion:
If you like, share these definitions of a poem, from the American Heritage Dictionary (from Dictionary.com. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004) : 1. A verbal composition designed to convey experiences, ideas, or emotions in a vivid and imaginative way, characterized by the use of language chosen for its sound and suggestive power and by the use of literary techniques such as meter, metaphor, and rhyme. 2. A composition in verse rather than in prose.
.
Do not expect to arrive at a definitive definition, and certainly do not expect a consensus! Direct participants to keep the above questions and issues in mind today as they move deeper into poetry.
Have two volunteers read aloud Handout 1, "Introduction to Poetry." Allow about thirty seconds between the readings. Ask participants, "Does your prior experience with poetry relate to what Billy Collins expresses about discussing poetry?" Allow time for youth to answer, and then ask, "Why do you think he titled the poem "Introduction to Poetry"?
After discussing these questions, inform participants that during the workshops you will try not to "beat poems with a hose." However, you will facilitate discussions about what each poem means, and it might be useful to have a common vocabulary to use in these discussions. You will introduce some vocabulary words in the next activity.
Including All Participants
Photocopies of poems should always be in an easy-to-read font and font size. Be prepared to help struggling readers with difficult words.
ACTIVITY 2: THE POET'S TOOLS (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
In this activity, you will present participants with a common vocabulary to use in poetry discussions.
Offer the group two reasons for reading a poem aloud twice:
Ask participants to open the hymnal Singing the Living Tradition and find reading 490, Mary Oliver's poem "Wild Geese." Invite two volunteers to read the poem aloud. Allow thirty seconds between readings.
Refer to the two questions you have written on the newsprint or dry erase board. Explain that when approaching a poem, it is helpful to ask two kinds of questions. The first kind (What do we have here?) helps us examine what is happening in the poem and identify which particular phrases or lines confuse or confound us. In the process, we become familiar with the poem and can make sure that everyone has a basic understanding of it. At this time, we also share our first impressions of and immediate feelings about the poem.
Lead a discussion about "Wild Geese" to explore the question, what do we have here? Use these prompts:
Next, move on to the second kind of question (What's the big idea?). Explain that a poem's big idea is its heart and soul: what the poem says about life, human nature, and the world. A poem's big idea is similar to the moral of a story. Use these questions to encourage discussion:
Point out that it is normal to end a conversation about a poem's meaning without a consensus. However, we can name and identify the tools an author uses to construct a poem. Direct participants to the four items you listed on newsprint. These are the "tools" you will discuss.
Focusing on one tool at a time, invite participants to volunteer what they already know about each one. (In the next discussion, focus only briefly on the tools that participants explain clearly now.)
Explain that a poet's work involves many choices. Poets have certain tools of language available to them, and they decide which to use to make a poem. We will look at some basic tools.
Read the descriptions one tool at a time, and refer to "Wild Geese" for examples of how Mary Oliver used or ignored that tool. Invite participants to contribute their own examples from the poem.
POETRY TOOL | DESCRIPTION | EXAMPLES IN "WILD GEESE" |
Figurative Language | Language used in a way that extends beyond the literal, or surface meaning. It usually uses the "not-thing" to describe the "thing." Figurative language often comes in the form of metaphor and/or imagery. | ... the soft animal of your body... ... calls to you like wild geese... |
Form, Line, and Stanza | Some choices a poet can make about Form, Line, and Stanza: ? Where to break the lines and the stanzas ? How to organize them ? How long or short they will be ? How the form will reinforce or otherwise relate to the poem's content | The indentation of "love what it loves" on its own line. Why? The use of a dash as punctuation in third-to-last line. Why is it there? What is the relationship between long lines and shorter ones? What is the effect? |
Sound, Rhythm, and Repetition | A poet may use alliteration (repeating consonant sounds) and assonance (repeating vowel sounds). She/He may also use repetition of individual words, lines, or whole stanzas, much like a song uses a chorus. Some choices a poet can make about Sound, Rhythm, and Repetition: ? The number of syllables the words will have; where to place stresses ? Where repetition will be used ? Where soft sounds and hard sounds will be effective; how various sounds will play off one another ? How sound will reinforce or otherwise relate to the poem's content | Repetition of the word "meanwhile" and the phrase "you do not." Why? What is the effect? "Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine." This is an odd sentence construction. What does the insertion of "yours" in the middle do to the sound of the line; to its rhythm; to its meaning? |
Form and Tone | A poet may use an open form or a form with a rigid structure such as a sonnet or a haiku. Some choices a poet can make about Form and Tone: ? How the form will serve the tone and the content ? Whether the language will be formal or informal ? How the tone and the form will work together | Why is "Wild Geese" only one stanza? Does the poem have a form? If so, what is it? What is the tone of "Wild Geese"? Is it casual or formal? Does it remind you of a conversation or something else? What role does the tone play in the effect this poem has on you? |
Save the newsprint on which you have listed the poet's tools. Post it for future reference.
ACTIVITY 3: BUILDING A POEM (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
In this activity, participants manipulate supplied words to make poems.
Form small groups of three to five participants. Provide a sheet of newsprint and a marker for each group. Direct the groups to transform the article into a poem. To do this, group members decide how to lay out the words to achieve a poetic form. They may not change any words, yet they should strive for maximum emotional effect. Allow five minutes for groups to write their poem.
When everyone is finished, have one person from each group read the group's poem aloud. After each presentation, ask the group why they decided to break lines and stanzas where they did. When all the presentations are complete, ask the participants:
Next, have the groups create another poem using the same newspaper article as their raw material. This time they do not have to use any words from the article. Their only directive is to write about the same subject, using the poetry tools you discussed earlier. Point out the list of tools that you have posted and encourage youth to refer to it as they work. Provide additional newsprint as needed.
Allow at least ten minutes for participants to write the poems. Then invite them to read their poems aloud. Ask them to identify which tools they used and to describe how. Provide support during the discussion, referring to the list of tools as needed.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Use the Closing designed by your group or the one provided below.
Recite together Reading 712 from Singing the Living Tradition:
Do not be conformed to this world,
But be transformed by the renewing of your minds.
— Romans 12
Extinguish chalice.
FAITH IN ACTION: CREATIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH TOUGH ISSUES (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants will think of creative ways to engage with difficult issues in their lives.
The poem "Introduction to Poetry" urges readers to engage with poetry in a new way—a way that is liberating and playful, yet could lead us to a deeper understanding. What other aspects of your life could benefit from the use of a different lens? A difficult class in school? A stressful relationship? A talent you are working to develop?
Ask participants to spend a few moments in silence identifying one aspect of their life with which they wish to engage differently. Participants should focus on that aspect while you invite them to:
... hold [the issue] up to the light like a color slide
Have you been missing something concerning your relationship with this issue? (After reading each question, wait one minute before proceeding.)
... drop a mouse into [the issue] and watch him probe his way out
Can you envision an end to your conflict with this issue?
... walk inside [the issue's] room and feel the walls for a light switch
Can you pinpoint the most troublesome aspect of the issue?
... waterski across the surface of [the issue] and wave to anyone else involved
What can you do to increase the pleasure you receive from engaging with this issue? Is there anyone who can help?
Distribute journals or have participants get them out. Invite participants to make notes in their journals about insights they gained from this activity. When everyone has finished writing, inform youth that many people journal as a spiritual practice. We often consider depth of reflection as the main difference between a journal and a diary. Often a diary simply lists the day's activities, perhaps with notes about how the reader feels. A journal is more often used to record reflections on topics, especially those the writer might wish to return to later.
During this program, participants will use their journals in two ways: to write poems they can refer to later and for reflection. Point out that the Taking It Home piece youths will receive each week includes a reflection question. Participants' journals provide one place where they might reflect upon the question when they are outside of the workshop.
If you are storing journals in the meeting space, collect the journals. For privacy sake, keep them in a secure location. If participants are taking journals home, remind them to bring them next time you meet.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Use the experience of this first workshop to evaluate
Workshop 2 gives the group the opportunity to design its own Opening and Closing. Decide if you wish to do that or if you will continue to use the ones you used in this workshop. Review the plan for the next workshop and decide who is responsible for advance planning.
TAKING IT HOME
Breathe-in experience,
breathe-out poetry.
— Muriel Rukeyser
DURING TODAY'S WORKSHOP...
We discussed our previous experiences with poetry and feelings about it in general. We shared what we hope this experience will be like, read a poem, and composed a poem from a newspaper article. We examined terms and questions we will use in future workshops to "hold poems up to the light."
REFLECTION QUESTION:
In what way(s) is poetry different from prose (like the newspaper article)?
EXPLORE THE TOPICS FURTHER WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS...
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: FIVE QUESTIONS (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Ask participants to write on their page, "A poem is... " and then close their eyes.
When all eyes are closed, read the following questions aloud:
Have participants open their eyes and begin writing their thoughts about these questions. After five minutes, invite participants to share their responses with the group.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: COVENANT BUILDING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to create a group covenant to guide them in their work. Use the following discussion prompts as needed:
Work with participants to create the covenant. Allow time for participants to think and reflect. List responses on newsprint. Encourage positive wording. If participants do not suggest them, share the following guidelines based on those proposed in the UUA Youth Advisor's Handbook:
Review the covenant. Then ask, "What should happen if someone breaks the covenant?" Have participants use "I" statements to point out which guideline has been broken; for example, "I feel the remark was belittling," instead of "You made a belittling remark." Resolve the problem and review the solution in light of the covenant. Revise the covenant as needed and make sure the group agrees with the change. Explain that the covenant will be posted and that the group can revisit, add to, and revise it so it remains meaningful. Thank participants for creating the covenant as a group and for sharing the responsibility of upholding it.
EXPLORING OUR VALUES THROUGH POETRY: WORKSHOP 1:
HANDOUT 1: INTRODUCTION TO POETRY
Billy Collins, "Introduction to Poetry" from The Apple That Astonished Paris. Copyright 1988, 1996 by Billy Collins. Used by permission of the University of Arkansas Press, www.uapress.com.
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
FIND OUT MORE
The publisher McGraw-Hill has an Online Learning Center, which offers a glossary of poetic terms (at highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072405228/student_view0/poetic_glossary.html) that you might find useful.
eNotes (at www.enotes.com), an online educational resource, has a study guide (at www.enotes.com/wild-geese/) to "Wild Geese." The site also has biographical information on both Mary Oliver (at www.enotes.com/oca-encyclopedia/oliver-mary) and Billy Collins (at www.enotes.com/authors/billy-collins).
Here are two books that might be useful if you wish to explore additional methods of working with youth and poetry:
Lies, Betty Bonham. The Poet's Pen: Writing Poetry with Middle and High School Students. (Portsmouth, NH: Teacher Ideas Press, 1993).
Somers, Albert B. Teaching Poetry in High School. (Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1999).