The 8th grades ELA classes have spent the last two weeks exploring the wonderful world of poetry. In addition to learning all about the terms and technicalities of poetry and reading some classics from Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou and Edgar Allan Poe, they’ve been writing their own poetry.
Not only have they been writing their own poetry they’ve been sharing it as well. In class, every student is asked to perform their poems. Public speaking is as much the name of the game in this unit as the poetry itself. Students are asked not only to evaluate their own public speaking performance, but also give critical feedback to their peers as well.
Students seems to really be enjoying the poetry unit and while there are a few students who might not be too thrilled about the public speaking aspect, they’re getting used to it as the unit progresses. Students who are particularly concerned about speaking in front of the class have the opportunity to use a computer app called Seesaw.me to practice. They can videotape themselves and review their performance, perfecting it before that ever so scary performance in front of the class.
The poetry unit will be ending next week with a Poetry Slam involving both Mrs Ciardullo and Mrs Rack’s classes. The students are looking forward to it!
