Open Pedagogy Assignment
“WHERE I’M FROM” POETRY RESPONSE
1.Your Poem: due by Wednesday 09/02 by midday. Please post in Discussion Board 1.
2.Your Response to a Peer’s Poem: due by Saturday 09/05 by 9 a.m. Please post your responses in the discussion forum.
3.Your Audio, Video, or Visual version of your poem: Due by Saturday 09/12 by 9 a.m. in Voicethread 1 (or FlipGrid)
This semester, our theme is identity.
Your first informal assignment is to write a response to a poem, and then to transform it into a piece of multimedia work, using either video, audio, or visual art. You can create a video of yourself reading your poem, you can use props, or you can do a straight recording of yourself reading it, or include relevant sounds, or you can draw a representation of your poem.
STEP ONE: write your response to the poem. (DUE 09/02 BY MIDDAY)
Read the original poem, “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon.
You can also watch and listen to this video version of the poem.
Then open this shell. Create a copy by going to file, then make a copy. Fill in the blanks. Submit your version of the poem in Discussion Board 1. Click on the discussion board title, then Create a New Forum, with your poem. Please give your poem a distinctive title to reflect your unique content.
STEP TWO: respond to one of your colleagues’ poems. (DUE 09/05 BY 9 A.M.)
Read some of the poems in Discussion Board 1. Post a response to one of your colleague’s poems. Tell your colleague what you like best about their poem, and give them one suggestion about how you might translate this to video, audio, or imagery. It can be as simple as you like, such as including an object in their video, or adding the sound of a cat’s meow to their audio. We can discuss methods for enacting your ideas.
STEP THREE: Create your multimedia version of your poem. (DUE BY 09/12 BY 9 A.M.)
Make a video, audio, or visual interpretation of your poem. If possible incorporate one of your colleague’s suggestions. You can use your phone or computer to record, or you can use VoiceThread or FlipGrid (I think I will decide on one method for audio/video), or you can simply draw a visual of your poem on paper. Post your final product on VoiceThread or FlipGrid. (choices and instructions to follow.
This assignment counts as 5% of your final grade.
We will discuss your finished works in class on 09/19. Please note anything about your process that you would like to share or anything that you would like to ask your colleagues about their process.
Yolande, this assignment reminds me of the one I have my students take one; however, yours is more detailed and thoughtful. After reading through it and actually watching the YouTube video, I have one question: Is it a part of a much bigger project or does it stand alone? Thank you for sharing this food for thought as I tweak my own project.
Hi Eugenia, Thank you! I used Aimee Record’s syllabus as inspiration, and I am working on connecting all of the assignments so that they culminate in a final online zine. So the hope is that this assignment will lead to the next one, the Analysis Assignment, and that will lead to the next, and so on. I’d love to chat about this more!
I loved using this assignment with my remedial writing class but think I will use it in Intro to Literature, too. I did have trouble, however, getting students to make a video version of themselves reading the poem. I asked them to use Voice Thread and will consider having them use other platforms to increase participation.
Hi Christina, Thank you for this comment. I’ve been wondering whether VoiceThread will be practical for most of the students, and I’m thinking that FlipGrid might be a lot more user friendly for them, even if it takes a bit of time setting it up so they don’t have to create a login. I think it is probably worth it.