Remember
Author: Michelle Holland (with thanks to Levi Romero)
Author's Website:
Added: August 5, 2007
FOR: Middle school, high school, and adults – writers of all levels
TIME: 60-80 minutes – one visit – modify the exercise to fit your time and audience
MATERIALS: Paper, pens/pencils, white/chalkboard, example poems written using this exercise
GOAL: Students will extend their vocabulary, incorporate metaphor and imagery, and use repetition as a poetic device to write a “signature” or autobiographical poem.
SUMMARY: Students will extend their vocabulary, incorporate metaphor and imagery, and use repetition as a poetic device to write a “signature” or autobiographical poem.
DIRECTIONS: 1. Introduce the idea of a “signature” poem. What is a signature? Everyone has a name, and everyone can write, but each signature is unique. We all have the same tools, but we want our expression to be individual. How do you create a poem about yourself, unique to who you are, yet accessible to an audience of your readers? Let the students know that the outcome of this exercise will be a poem of more than ten lines that will reflect enough about who they are to be like a signature.
2. Read Joy Harjo’s “Remember,” or another poem that invites the students to begin thinking about their own experience in the world. What do they remember?
Remember
Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star's stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is. I met her
in a bar once in Iowa City.
Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother's, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe. I heard her singing Kiowa war
dance songs at the corner of Fourth and Central once.
Remember that you are all people and that all people are you.
Remember that you are this universe and that this universe is you.
Remember that all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember that language comes from this.
Remember the dance that language is, that life is.
Remember.
Use the poem to generate conversation. What are “alive” poems? Why is the universe you? Why do we need to remember? Stress the connection between who we are as individuals to who we are as part of the larger human and world landscape. Stress the language they use to define their world/themselves. What language is passed down? What language/word represent who they are and/or where they come from?
3. Provide students with paper, and a copy of “Where I’m From,” by George Ella Lyon. Read it with them. Point out the following:
• specific imagery the connects the speaker with the world/landscape
• use of repetition
• use of specific terms that reflect culture and heritage
• use of alliteration/assonance
• metaphor/comparison
• use of format
4. Provide students with the format of the poem, and review the suggestions in the parentheses. The format is include in "Example Poems."
5. If the students seem stuck, use the board to do some brainstorming. Write the column headings on the board, number 1-5 below it. Have the students use the phrases in the parentheses as column headings on their paper, and brainstorm each one in terms of their specific experience. Remind them to reflect on what is unique to them, what is their signature for each of these column headings. Fill in the column headings on the board with them, using your own experience, and theirs.
Example ordinary item
1. Dixon number 2 pencils
2. iPod shuffle
3. paperclips
4. cowboy hat and spurs
5. Tom’s organic toothpaste
6. Ask the students to select the examples they like the best for their own poem, and ask that they use the format to begin writing. Suggest they use the format to begin filling in the blanks, and shaping the poem, then use their paper to write a final draft.
7. As they get going, read a couple of examples from previous classes for inspiration. Have a couple of students read their first few lines. Point out use of poetic elements and devices:
• specific imagery the connects the speaker with the world/landscape
• use of repetition
• use of alliteration/assonance
• metaphor/comparison
• use of format
8. Encourage the students to incorporate poetic elements in their poems. Give the students a set amount of time to complete the poem, with enough time at the end to hear a few poems from the class.
9. As the students work on their poems, allow them to experiment, to omit parts of the format or add parts or modify to fit what they want to write. Emphasize that the format is a guide to encourage them to be as particular as possible, but they can break from the format whenever they feel the freedom to do so.
10. When most of the class has completed a draft of the poem, have students volunteer to read theirs out loud to the class. Encourage everyone to write out a clean draft on their paper.
STANDARDS: STRANDS, CONTENT STANDARDS, BENCHMARKS, AND PERFORMANCE STANDARDS:
Below are the possible Performance Standards that could be addressed by this exercise:
Strand: Reading and Listening for Comprehension
Content standard I: Students will apply strategies and skills to comprehend information that is read, heard, and viewed
Benchmark I-C: Demonstrate critical thinking skills to evaluate information and solve problems
Grade 9 Performance standards
3. Create and use criteria to evaluate the effectiveness of communication.
4. Represent abstract information (e.g. concepts, generalizations) as explicit mental pictures.
Grade 11 Performance standards
2. Use critical analysis to gain meaning, develop thematic connections, and synthesize ideas by:
interpreting effects of figures of speech and the effects of sounds
analyzing stylistic features such as word choice and links between sense and sound
3. Analyze effectiveness of one’s own writing
Strand: Writing and Speaking for Expression
Content standard II: Students will communicate effectively through speaking and writing
Benchmark II-B: Apply grammatical and language conventions to communicate
Grade 8 Performance standards
7. Revise writing for word choice, appropriate organization, consistent point of view, and transitions between paragraphs, passages, and ideas
Benchmark II-C: Demonstrate competence in the skills and strategies of the writing process
Grade 9 Performance standards
2. Use descriptive language to create images in the mind of the audience
Grade 10 Performance standards
1. Write to stimulate the emotions of the reader
Grade 12 Performance standards
1. Use and apply grammatical, metaphorical, or rhetorical devices to inform and persuade others
Strand: Literature and Media
Content Standard III: Students will use literature and media to develop an understanding of people, societies and self
Benchmark III-B: Identify and make connections among literary works
Grade 8 Performance standards
2. Describe how tone and meaning is conveyed in poetry and expository writing through word choice, figurative language, sentence structure, line length, punctuation, rhythm, repetition, and rhyme
3. Identify significant literary devices (e.g., metaphor, symbolism, dialect, irony) to understand the author’s meaning and perspective