Chapter+10

Prosody is the study of a poem's structure. This includes stanzas and lines, as well as meter. There are also feet within the line with stresses on syllables. Stanzas are the poems "paragraphs". Most poetry seems to be in verse, this may seem hard to write because it is hard for some people to rhyme or form a metered rhythm to their text. However, it is said blank verse is more controversial and harder to write. It does not have recurring stanza patterns or rhymes. Blanmk verse is used more often with dramatic materials. Shakespeare and Frost both used this effectively. Poetry is something students enjoy more so as children. It is a sing-songy way of relating a story, in which a child can catch on quickly and predict what word will be used next. Children tend to remember these stories/poems easier because of the rhyme and will say the story right along with you as you read it. These are fun for children, but ask a middle school student to write a poem and you will enocounter all manner of hissy fits! Poems tend to have too many restrictions for students to enjoy writing if they are thinking about writing them. However, after you teach them about poetry and how to write it, many students will write it on their own, with their own rules, but conforming in a way to poetry's main elements of rhyme and meter. Poetry can be useful in prompting students to write a short summary of a section in the book, or a definition of a term. They will have to truly think about and understand the material. They will have to also choose their words carefully so they fit in with the rhythm and do not become to wordy and break the rhythm. Activities: Assign students a definition or one theme in the chapter. Students then create a poem to define the word or theme and read them aloud to have other students guess what the theme/definition is. A good poem to use is a Cinquain poem (5 lines). 1st line: 1 word (subject/noun); 2nd line: 2 words (2 adjectives that describe line 1); line 3: 3 words (action verbs that relate to line 1); line 4: four words (feelings or a complete sentence that relates to line 1); line 5: 1 word (synonym of line 1 or a word that sums it up) (Dr. Quinn found on Teacher Guided actitivities)

Have students put the poem to music such as Amazing Grace or the Gilligan's Island theme song to classify.

Have students read a poem, clapping out the stresses.

Videos: media type="youtube" key="H6-sBlOeeEk" height="315" width="560" [] media type="youtube" key="ArrR66OSa0Q" height="315" width="420" [] media type="youtube" key="p226OX39OLs" height="315" width="420" [] media type="youtube" key="9H2htG2bv20" height="315" width="420" [] Folger Library is a great video source for Shakespeare/poetry! These videos would be used as examples of performing poetry in the classroom.