I am so super excited about the multigenre paper!  I love the opportunity to be able to express creativity in so many different forms.  All of the different options of genres make it impossible not to find at least a few things that the student could be excited about creating.  Just like “I” poems, multigenre projects allow the student to “get into the head” of another person.  Not only does this make it more personal and meaningful, but it makes the student really want to bring the person to life. I think the student would almost do more research for the sole fact that he/she is more interested in the project. Not to mention, the succint form of each entry causes the student to take away the most important information…information that will most likely be remembered!  Students rarely remember information in traditional research papers–reason one being that usually they can’t choose what they’re writing about so there is no personal investment other than wanting a good grade, and reason two is that the information is usually so far removed from normal ”every day writing” that it is hard for students not to just cut, rearrange, and paste the information..forgetting it a week later.  The endnotes in the multigenre are nice, in that extra information can be included that may not fit, for example, in a Haiku.  I feel that my project will not only represent the person I’m writing about, but it will also be a reflection of ME.  Now I just have to figure out who in the world I want to write about! 

Haiku

I am Owen

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Concrete Poem— My First Group of Students   by Caroline Cunningham

What is so special about my first group of students?  The occasional apple received that means so much more than a piece of fruit.  The glow of a light bulb going off in a child’s head.  The hug still received after giving a lesson in hard love.  The warm smile of a student who knows she will be safe for the next seven hours.  I don’t yet know what it’s like to be a mother, but I am convinced that being a teacher must be the next best thing.

Each I poem gives a personal, first-person glimpse into a day in the life of…anything!  For example, Atlantic by G. Brian Karas helps us learn about the Atlantic Ocean through the first-hand account of….the Atlantic Ocean! In inantimate objects, I poems are great examples of personification. In any case, the reader learns about people, places, or things of the past, present, or future.  I poems capture the sights, sounds, feelings, and emotions surrounding the lives of even the most inhuman objects.  When reading an I poem, the individual seems to BECOME that person or thing, living vicariously through it; imagining the person or thing coming to life (if it isn’t already).  I poems teach the reader more about what the particular “I” comes in contact with: the environment, animals, people, sights, smells, etc.  Not only that, but (at least for me) I poems promote a sense of appreciation and beauty for things that we may see in every day life, yet we take for granted.  

• Mood-poems strike you differently at different times
• It portrays the author’s feelings and emotions with clarity
• Tone of the author
• Imagery-you can clearly see the picture the author has painted with words
• Rhythm, how the words flow
• Theme-it relays a message or lesson
• A good poem is one you can relate to, it “speaks” to you
• Reflection time-you gain new insight
• Vocabulary-do you have to analyze it too much to understand it?

“Sick” by Shel Silverstein

“I cannot go to school today,”
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
“I have the measles and the mumps,
A gas, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I’m going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I’ve counted sixteen chicken pox
And there’s one more–that’s seventeen,
And don’t you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut, my eyes are blue–
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I’m sure that my left leg is broke–
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button’s caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle’s sprained,
My ‘pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb,
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my spine is Weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is failing out.
My elbow’s bent, my spine ain’t straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is–what?
What’s that?
What’s that you say?
You say today is … Saturday?
G’bye, I’m going out to play!”

I was re-inspired by this article on “I” poems.  I never thought of using “I” poems as a before reading activity.  It makes so much sense to give students that prior knowledge before they read a novel.  I use “I” poems  a lot, but I have never used them outside of a pure language arts context.  I definitely want to start using them to incorporate other subjects, such as Kucan’s example with science (ex. researching plants and animals in a particular setting).  Also, I have only taught “I” poems from the character’s point of view.  I can’t wait to start trying this out with other literary elements, such as the setting.  I believe that “I” poems are very powerful, because I have been in complete awe with some of the works my students have created. Sometimes I forget how “deep” 10 year olds can really think! They are always very proud of their poems and love to share them with the class.  I normally give them the format and let them fill in the blanks…I think this really helps them.  In the beginning of the year, we read The Sign of the Beaver.  I wanted the kids to write “I” poems from the point of view of Matt or Attean (main characters).  This was their first introduction to the “I” poems.  All the kids did a fabulous job, but there were two poems that really stuck out to me.  Two of my students misunderstood the part about writing from the character’s point of view, and they it wrote from their own perspectives.  Even though they misunderstood the assignment, I found out a lot about those two  kids.  (I didn’t have the heart to tell them they did it incorrectly…I knew we’d write several more throughout the year).  One of the students who other teachers called “lazy,” wrote a very nice poem about himself (likes, dislikes, hopes, dreams, etc).  It made me so happy to see him write that I didn’t even care that he did the assignment wrong!  The other student’s poem put me to tears…he wrote about how his mom died when he was a baby and how he still cries at night (still brings tears to my eyes)!  It totally gave me a new perspective on poetry and on my students in general. All in all, I really agree with this statement from the article: Pearson and Fielding (1991) noted that “students understand and remember ideas better when they have to transform those ideas from one form to another” (p. 847).

Journal Invitation Word Document

Here is my Edward Tulane bunny!  Enjoy

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