Poet Research Paper

JMS Poet Project
“Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.” - Leonard Cohen

CLASS CHALLENGE: 30 POETS in 3 MINUTES

7th Grade Classes - Dennis/Summerour

Task: Our goal is to introduce 30 poets (nearly!) in 3 minutes each (90 minutes total). Since we only have 3 minutes for each poet, we will need to be creative and organized with our research. You will only have 3 minutes to bring your poet to life!

Let’s break down our task into steps:

STEP 1: We have a list of 30 famous poets. Everyone will need to choose ONE poet.

STEP 2: As a class, we will brainstorm questions to plan our research. First question: “What questions do we need to ask about our poet to be able to cover his or her life in 3 minutes?” Next, we will analyze and evaluate our list of questions and choose the most important ones for our project.

Note: Since we only have 3 minutes to present your poem, your teacher would like you to complete an analysis of one of poem written by your poet. What poem do you think best represents your poet’s work?

STEP 3: How will we organize our research notes to carefully collect information? How will we record what resources we use (to give credit to our sources)?

STEP 4: What resources will help us find the answers to our questions? (Ms. Pals, our library media specialist, has collected books, magazine articles, websites, and database recommendations to save us time!)

STEP 5: Create a visual aid to support your 3 minute presentation. What would be the most effective visual aid for my audience (the class)? Examples: PowerPoint, poster, PhotoStory, Comic Life, FLIP camera, etc. Since we only have 2 days to complete the visual aid, which one should we choose? (Note: think about what access you have at home to technology.)

STEP 6: How will we know if our presentations are ready for our audience? What if Mr. McGlennen or Ms. Corbett came for a visit? Would we be proud for them to hear our 3 minutes? How could we create a rubric to judge ourselves BEFORE we actually present? What other ways could we prepare ourselves?

REMEMBER: No one cares about a boring list of facts! A good presentation makes us care about the poet. Turn your facts into a story for your audience--use vivid details and examples. You should leave your audience wanting to know more! J

INTERNET RESOURCES:

GALILEO Databases:

Use Quick Links at school. At home, log into http://galileo.usg.edu with school password.

Shel Silverstein

	5	4	3	2	1
Research Process	Focused and on-topic Organized in note-taking Cites all sources Uses reliable, quality sources Answers questions completely with detailed information rather than by opinion (or by memory) Summarizes, paraphrases, and quotes correctly to avoid plagiarism Uses time wisely	Focused and almost always on-topic Mostly organized in note-taking Cites sources Uses reliable sources Answers questions completely with information rather than by opinion (or by memory) Summarizes, paraphrases, and quotes correctly to avoid plagiarism Uses time wisely	Focused and mostly on-topic Somewhat organized in note-taking Cites some sources Uses an unreliable source Answers most questions with information, but some is based on opinion Summarizes, paraphrases, and quotes to avoid plagiarism Could budget time more carefully	Lacks focus and is often off-topic Notes are disorganized Does not cite sources Uses unreliable sources (example: uses a student-created website!) Answers some research questions but most is based on opinion Some problems with plagiarism – student does not use summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting correctly Does not budget time	No focus and off-topic Notes are disorganized and incomplete. Notes don’t answer research questions Gives opinion rather than information to answer questions Uses summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting incorrectly and shows problems with plagiarism Wastes class time
POINTS	25 23	22 20	19 17	16 15	14 0
Visual	Helps audience to understand poet Creatively answers some of the research questions Organized, neat and professional Catches eye of audience No distracting images On-topic and focused	Helps audience to understand poet Answers some of the research questions Organized and neat Catches eye of audience A few distracting images On-topic	Helps audience to understand poet Answers a few research questions Organized Some distracting images Somewhat on-topic	Does not help reinforce your poet to the audience Does not answer research questions Somewhat disorganized Contains distracting images Somewhat off-topic	Off-topic Doesn’t help answer research questions All images, no content Distracting images and/or text Messy, disorganized Confuses audience
POINTS	25 23	22 20	19 17	16 15	14 0
Presentation	Focused and organized Answers the research questions completely Creatively uses answers to *tell an exciting story* Uses 3 minutes to the fullest! Voice projects to the whole audience Shows preparation and is ready to present Grabs audience’s attention with an exciting “hook” Leaves the audience wanting more!	Focused and mostly organized Answers the research questions Creatively uses answers to *tell a story* Uses 2 ½ to 3 minutes Voice projects to the audience Shows preparation and is ready to present Grabs audience’s attention with an “hook” Leaves the audience wanting more!	Focused but somewhat disorganized Answers most research questions Uses answers *tell a story* Uses less than 2 ½ minutes Voice projects to most of audience Shows some preparation Some attempt to “grab” audience’s attention Finishes without an exciting ending	Unfocused and disorganized Answers some of the research questions Instead of telling a story, student gives a list of facts Uses less than 2 minutes Does not project voice to audience Shows little preparation Makes little attempt to “grab” audience’s attention Leaves the audience bored!	Unfocused and very disorganized Does not answer research questions Gives a boring list of facts Uses less than 1 minute Does not project voice Not ready to present Doesn’t “grab” your audience’s attention or leave them wanting to know more
POINTS	25 23	22 20	19 17	16 15	14 0
Poetry Analysis	Includes 10-9 elements of the following: metaphor, simile, personification, rhyme scheme, internal rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, tone/mood, and theme	Includes 8-7 elements of the following: metaphor, simile, personification, rhyme scheme, internal rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, tone/mood, and theme	Includes 6-4 elements of the following: metaphor, simile, personification, rhyme scheme, internal rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, tone/mood, and theme	Includes 3-2 elements of the following: metaphor, simile, personification, rhyme scheme, internal rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, tone/mood, and theme	Includes 1-0 elements of the following: metaphor, simile, personification, rhyme scheme, internal rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, tone/mood, and theme
POINTS	25 23	22 20	19 17	16 15	14 0