1. After many, many reminders that they would have to orally present their poetry to the class, and warnings that any no-shows would be given a zero if they chickened out, I was very happy to see that (nearly) everyone was there prepared to go with a little enthusiasm about it even. And since we were inspired to do poetry by the movie we watched, The Dead Poets Society, where their literature-loving teacher Mr. Keating after he put the boys through the exercise of standing up on his desk to see the world from a new perspective, what better location for these Kenaston students to present their own poetry than from atop my own teacher’s desk!! It was a little thrilling for some, it seemed, and less moving for others, but everyone put in a good effort so I have to say I was quite pleased with the class! (And, as a token for their hard work and (as of late) good attitudes, they got Timmies. lol)
2. Once our presentations were over, students wrote a figurative language test. They were told last week we’d have this test, and I reminded them yesterday during our poetry class. It was also listed on that three-weeks-till-we’re-done chart they got … three weeks ago.
3. Once they were all done that test, and just shortly before the bell went, they got their next assignment – an informal interview assignment. They have to talk to three people, a parent, a teacher they respect, and a role model, and ask them two questions that relate to the values that adult has learned since their youth. The kids have a handout they have to fill in after their talk with each person, they’ll have to synthesize and share with the class what ‘important life lessons’ they learned about and they’ll also have to create a blog entry about it. The idea here is to look to the people they trust in their day-to-day lives, instead of just reading literature, to get a similar message. This conversation sharing our results will happen on Friday. (It’s a little short notice, I’m sorry, but I was sick on Monday and didn’t make the sheet for you.)

Here’s a video made by the lead singer of The Tragically Hip, Gordon Downie, for the poem “Yellow Flowers” written by one of my favorite Canadian poets, Al Purdy. You’ll hear a man’s voice narrate the poem in the video – that’s actually Al from his recording of his poetry. I think Downie’s done a really wonderful job of, firstly, interpreting this poem but also of making poetry more accessible to young people who wouldn’t otherwise be so interested. Watch it and leave me a note about what you think of it!