By now, you will have written and posted your “I am from…” poem on the OpenLab! You’ve now experienced and practiced public writing – where your assignment was not only to write a poem that describes who you are and where and what you are from, but also to share this work with our seminar – and by extension – with the world beyond by posting and sharing your poem on BMCC’s OpenLab.
You will now continue to work with the poem that you have written and create an audio version of your poem that you will record and share through the “Comment” function of OpenLab.
This will be an opportunity for you to revise your poem, if you wish, and to think about the difference in medium – and what it means to translate the written word to the spoken word – especially the poetic word! By creating an audio version of your “I am from…” poem, you will practice recording yourself, and be made to be attuned to your voice and how you use it to deliver your poem, and to reflect upon the difference in experience of voice that is enabled through the act of recording and listening. Listening to each other’s voices forces us as instructors to attune our senses in different ways from those that we are used to, and to attend towards our students holistically and to honor their unique voices.
This is a low-stakes assignment, meaning that you will receive credit for participating and uploading the assignment, but will not be graded. By making this assignment low-stakes, we’re hoping to lower the bar for participating in good faith, and to encourage creativity and experimentation.
How to complete and submit your assignment:
- If you prefer, revise your “Where I’m From” poem
- Reflect on how you will translate your poem from the written word to the spoken word:
- Read the poem out loud to yourself:
- How does it sound to you?
- Are there sections that made more sense when read on the page or screen rather than being read aloud?
- How long did it take you to read your poem?
- Read the poem out loud to yourself:
- Determine how you will record your poem
- Will you use a computer? A smartphone? A podcast booth?
- Consider how you can make the sound quality of your recording reflect your desires for your recording
- Would it be desirable to have absolutely no background noise? Consider recording your poem in a quiet and insulated space
- Could it be interesting to record your poem outside, where you might hear the noises of the street to add an interesting sound atmosphere to the audio recording of your poem?
- Check out this link for some tips on recording your poetry
- Record your poem, save it as an MP3, and then post it as a comment below your poem text:
(This assignment lovingly crafted by Ariel Leutheusser.)
