tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8785551376156413252024-02-07T04:00:48.460-08:00Magnetic Poetry MastersThis blog has the popular magnetic poetry loaded with the actual words of master poets themselves. Rearrange Walt Whitman's "O Pioneers!" to make a new poem. Or rearrange Shakespeare to make a new sonnet. The magnet poetry game works with interactive white boards (Smart Boards or Promethean), so it can be a classroom teaching tool. Rearrange poems to sound brilliant or just practice making simple sentences.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878555137615641325.post-46503743888302049192012-12-09T19:27:00.003-08:002013-01-12T20:01:05.362-08:00Saving Can Be PoeticI know it is not poetry, but <a href="http://zeitprice.com/">Zeitprice.com</a> has caught my attention for saving money. Zeitprice as a huge database of prices on oil changes, haircuts, childcare, and internet service providers. For example if you need to know how much an <a href="http://zeitprice.com/">oil change at Wal-mart</a> is, ask Zeitprice and they know even for your specific location. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878555137615641325.post-34898577657114261912012-12-09T19:24:00.001-08:002012-12-09T19:24:41.887-08:00Gutenberg and Librivox For TeachersGutenberg and Librivox are two essential tools for teachers. What are they? Gutenberg is the largest (that I know of) database of public domain texts. They have poetry from all over the world, free, and in multiple digital formats. It is easy to find a poem to copy and print. It is also easy to compile poems into a textbook or coursepack. What's even better is that many of the texts on Gutenberg have linked audio so you can listen as you read through Librivox. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878555137615641325.post-44223406184147026062011-12-10T10:52:00.000-08:002011-12-10T10:52:40.788-08:00New Ad For Levi'sLevi's has another ad using poetry. This time it is Charles Bukowski's "The Laughing Heart" that gets the MTV treatment. For all the controversy that surrounds these ads (see the YouTube comments if you don't know what I mean), I think it is great to have poetry as part of pop culture. Not every poem is meant for a mass audience, but the mass audience can get something from poetry. <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xn1V9v-v5us" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878555137615641325.post-45259738600160548172011-04-22T10:16:00.000-07:002011-04-22T10:16:23.389-07:00Common Core Curriculum Loves the MastersThe Common Core, a new set of curriculum standards being adopted across the country, loves poetry. When the suggested reading list came out, the list included many of the masters featured here: Whitman, Shelley, Shakespeare, cummings. All of their writing has the complexity and vocabulary building muscle that the new curriculum seeks. Many teachers are lamenting the loss of popular YA literature, but I'm glad the masters of the written language are getting top billing. Those popular novels will continue to excite young readers but the masters of poetry excite a deeper part of the soul.<br />
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What better way to dive into these poems than to deconstruct them as you can here, rearrange them, make new sense out of old language?<br />
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Part of the message of the Common Core is that for too long teachers sought out the writing that students wanted to read rather than making students want to read great literature. It is possible to make students excited about Shakespeare and Shelley, but to do so one has to tap into the moral centers of these complicated works, draw out the underlying dilemmas that make them enjoyable across cultures and generations. As they struggle with these dilemmas, teachers can draw them into the language and teach them to swim.<br />
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I have nothing against YA novels or popular books like Twilight. They excite a whole generation of book readers. Yet, often the moral dilemmas in these books do not reach the psychological depths of their predecessors. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878555137615641325.post-51126362891548298242011-04-16T09:48:00.000-07:002011-04-16T09:48:02.690-07:00Teaching Romantic PoetryTeaching Romantic poetry in high school can be daunting. The language is outdated and the texts are too long to fit neatly in to a six week unit. But the value of digging into Shelley's <i>Prometheus Unbound</i> far exceeds any short story. The text contains all of the philosophical pondering of a treatise while telling a story. The solution is not to cut Romantic poetry out of a high school curriculum. Instead, cut Romantic poetry down to a manageable size. Have students work with bite-sized pieces of the poem. A 10-line section of excellent poetry has all the drama of a much longer work.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878555137615641325.post-90218328663590880322010-10-16T10:39:00.001-07:002010-10-16T10:41:16.247-07:00Arranging Sentences to Learn Grammar<a href="http://userpages.umbc.edu/%7Ekillgall/">This author </a>claims arranging and rearranging sentences written by masters of the language help students learn grammar. It is called sentence composing. Try it with the magnetic poetry posted here.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878555137615641325.post-65612452881762462042010-07-12T20:43:00.000-07:002010-07-12T20:53:45.311-07:00Grammar Games to Play with Magnet PoetryMagnetic Poetry games can be powerful teaching tools.<br /><br />Here is a quick list of games to play using internet based magnet poetry games <a href="http://magnetpoetrymasters.blogspot.com/p/shakespeare-sonnet-magnet-poetry.html">like this one.<br /></a><br />1. Have students make poetry: I know this one is obvious, but it remarkable how beautiful the poetry can be. The students will be proud of themselves.<br /><br />2. Have students practice making simple sentences: Magnet poetry games are loaded with enough nouns and verbs to make a few simple sentences. Have students practice making as many sentences as they can or challenge them to make it into one long sentence.<br /><br />3. Have students sort words into parts of speech. Designate the four corners of the screen as places for four parts of speech and challenge students to drag words to the correct corner.<br /><br />Here are three other magnet poetry sets to try:<br /><a href="http://magnetpoetrymasters.blogspot.com/p/ee-cummings-magnet-poetry.html">e.e. cummings,</a> <a href="http://magnetpoetrymasters.blogspot.com/p/magnetic-poetry-body-font-family.html">Walt Whitman</a>, <a href="http://magnetpoetrymasters.blogspot.com/p/prometheus-unbound-magnetic-poetry.html">Percy Shelley</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878555137615641325.post-18233263522971263882010-07-12T20:36:00.000-07:002011-05-15T09:17:15.545-07:00Magnetic Poetry WIth Promethus UnboundShelley might be a little too complex for magnetic poetry, or maybe you can use his words to sound like a genius. I love the way Shelley's sentences can float along the edge on comprehension without ever being too clear or too opaque. It's a skill few other poets can manage.<br />
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I loaded this <a href="http://magnetpoetrymasters.blogspot.com/p/prometheus-unbound-magnetic-poetry.html">magnetic poetry game with words from Prometheus Unbound by Percy Shelley. </a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878555137615641325.post-63086343404796564232010-07-12T20:10:00.000-07:002010-07-12T21:04:20.743-07:00Making Romantic Poetry Sexy Again<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://avenidabooks.com/avenida-textbooks/briefly-romantic"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 188px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsv4y8Drx58SD03JKj8gPaCwUN9H8n8RTA7JliWXquvbBpluZgRL4bsgfB2LWNzbflrrnYpOj15f8Ab8CumB6jQUAGEPamwrZUgTMgn8wCVMp-UDKk_lcNVqs_ka6ikckhmmh4IzrTybA/s200/BRA2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493236741841874354" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYx_a-Gnnpvqb6kQWVxMNTuYSDxooZRDsU3dOQezbGrbXHPoCkknc9WvzaEI9SZmWP1J3NKZYk43JnAkXO0QCue9J_9QeiOIZ0heHxQf9uEdpl3gFydGJy4nuunSVW0Jvh2MKdZHgS2eF0/s1600/BRA2.jpg"><br /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003V8BHCS?ie=UTF8&tag=whattodowithl-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003V8BHCS"><br /></a><a href="http://avenidabooks.com/avenida-textbooks/briefly-romantic">This collection of Romantic Poetry</a><a href="http://avenidabooks.com/avenida-textbooks/briefly-romantic"> </a>renews some poems by Shelley, Byron, and Keats by cutting them down to size. For some reason people aren't interesting in reading 1,000 pages of Don Juan or Prometheus Unbound any more.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878555137615641325.post-55971133411643220722010-02-20T14:45:00.001-08:002010-02-20T14:45:53.364-08:00e.e. cummings Magnet Poetry<a href="http://magnetpoetrymasters.blogspot.com/p/ee-cummings-magnet-poetry.html">Use the words of e.e. cummings to make new mud-luscious poetry. </a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878555137615641325.post-80647993003410186032010-02-07T17:37:00.000-08:002010-02-07T17:38:55.327-08:00Shakespeare Sonnet Magnet Poetry<a href="http://magnetpoetrymasters.blogspot.com/p/shakespeare-sonnet-magnet-poetry.html">Shakespeare Sonnet Magnet Poetry</a><br /><br />Write like the Bard himself with this Magnetic Poetry edition that uses words from a Shakespearean Sonnet.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-878555137615641325.post-60219242451258163862010-02-07T16:02:00.001-08:002010-07-12T20:21:11.301-07:00Whitman's "Pioneers! O Pioneers!"<a href="http://magnetpoetrymasters.blogspot.com/p/magnetic-poetry-body-font-family.html">Whitman's "Pioneers! O Pioneers!"</a><br /><br />You have to dig this poem used in the Levi's commercials.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HG8tqEUTlvs&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HG8tqEUTlvs&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />I placed these words into a <a href="http://magnetpoetrymasters.blogspot.com/p/magnetic-poetry-body-font-family.html">magnetic poetry game</a> so you can rearrange them. Make something triumphant.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Pioneers! O Pioneers</span><br /><br />Come my tan-faced children,<br /><br />Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,<br />Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes?<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />For we cannot tarry here,<br />We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,<br />We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />O you youths, Western youths,<br />So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship,<br />Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />Have the elder races halted?<br />Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied over there beyond the seas?<br />We take up the task eternal, and the burden and the lesson,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />All the past we leave behind,<br />We debouch upon a newer mightier world, varied world,<br />Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />We detachments steady throwing,<br />Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep,<br />Conquering, holding, daring, venturing as we go the unknown ways,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />We primeval forests felling,<br />We the rivers stemming, vexing we and piercing deep the mines within,<br />We the surface broad surveying, we the virgin soil upheaving,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />Colorado men are we,<br />From the peaks gigantic, from the great sierras and the high plateaus,<br />From the mine and from the gully, from the hunting trail we come,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />From Nebraska, from Arkansas,<br />Central inland race are we, from Missouri, with the continental blood intervein'd,<br />All the hands of comrades clasping, all the Southern, all the Northern,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />O resistless restless race!<br />O beloved race in all! O my breast aches with tender love for all!<br />O I mourn and yet exult, I am rapt with love for all,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />Raise the mighty mother mistress,<br />Waving high the delicate mistress, over all the starry mistress, (bend your heads all,)<br />Raise the fang'd and warlike mistress, stern, impassive, weapon'd mistress,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />See my children, resolute children,<br />By those swarms upon our rear we must never yield or falter,<br />Ages back in ghostly millions frowning there behind us urging,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />On and on the compact ranks,<br />With accessions ever waiting, with the places of the dead quickly fill'd,<br />Through the battle, through defeat, moving yet and never stopping,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />O to die advancing on!<br />Are there some of us to droop and die? has the hour come?<br />Then upon the march we fittest die, soon and sure the gap is fill'd.<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />All the pulses of the world,<br />Falling in they beat for us, with the Western movement beat,<br />Holding single or together, steady moving to the front, all for us,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />Life's involv'd and varied pageants,<br />All the forms and shows, all the workmen at their work,<br />All the seamen and the landsmen, all the masters with their slaves,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />All the hapless silent lovers,<br />All the prisoners in the prisons, all the righteous and the wicked,<br />All the joyous, all the sorrowing, all the living, all the dying,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />I too with my soul and body,<br />We, a curious trio, picking, wandering on our way,<br />Through these shores amid the shadows, with the apparitions pressing,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />Lo, the darting bowling orb!<br />Lo, the brother orbs around, all the clustering suns and planets,<br />All the dazzling days, all the mystic nights with dreams,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />These are of us, they are with us,<br />All for primal needed work, while the followers there in embryo wait behind,<br />We to-day's procession heading, we the route for travel clearing,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />O you daughters of the West!<br />O you young and elder daughters! O you mothers and you wives!<br />Never must you be divided, in our ranks you move united,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />Minstrels latent on the prairies!<br />(Shrouded bards of other lands, you may rest, you have done your work,)<br />Soon I hear you coming warbling, soon you rise and tramp amid us,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />Not for delectations sweet,<br />Not the cushion and the slipper, not the peaceful and the studious,<br />Not the riches safe and palling, not for us the tame enjoyment,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />Do the feasters gluttonous feast?<br />Do the corpulent sleepers sleep? have they lock'd and bolted doors?<br />Still be ours the diet hard, and the blanket on the ground,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />Has the night descended?<br />Was the road of late so toilsome? did we stop discouraged nodding on our way?<br />Yet a passing hour I yield you in your tracks to pause oblivious,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!<br /><br />Till with sound of trumpet,<br />Far, far off the daybreak call--hark! how loud and clear I hear it wind,<br />Swift! to the head of the army!--swift! spring to your places,<br />Pioneers! O pioneers!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0