2022 Post #28 -- Poetry Rocks!

by Aubrey Sebestyen

“It’s so boring.”

“I never understand it.”

“Not really my thing.”

Each year, my sophomores express their…misgivings with studying poetry. I know sighs of resignation are coming before the word “poetry” even escapes my lips.

“Poetry’s not your thing, huh?” I ask one who I notice has a set of AirPods sitting on her desk or (gasp!) an earbud in one of her ears. “What are you listening to right now?”

Billie Eilish. Jack Harlow. Olivia Rodrigo. The names flow out of them.

“Oh good!” I respond. “Poets!” I receive some skeptical side-eye, but I take advantage of technology at my fingertips and quickly pull up the lyrics to a song by one of the named artists (a clean version, of course) and project it onto my whiteboard.

As teachers we know making our lessons relevant to our students is the hook that can entice them to engage fully with content, and to do so in a meaningful, effective way. We need not start with Shakespeare or Whitman; the skills one needs to analyze and appreciate poetry are far more important than learning about any one specific poem or poet. So we begin with music.

I ask if the song up on the board, whatever it is depending on students’ musical tastes that semester, is a poem. Inevitably, most say no, and we engage in a debate over what defines a poem. We discuss ballads and lyric poetry. Sonnets. Odes. Elegies. Poetry isn’t just musical – it is music.

I model how to annotate the lyrics, asking for their input on literary devices or figurative language they notice. Allusions are particularly fun if it means they must explain to Millennial ol’ me the Hollywood gossip they refer to.

Then it’s their turn. My students’ job is to select a song they enjoy, ensuring it is a clean, radio edit that I have pre-approved for class, and to apply either a TPCASTT (Title, Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude, Shifts, Title Reevaluation, Theme) or SOAPStone (Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Speaker, Tone) analysis to the piece. They also must identify five different examples of unique literary devices or figurative language used in the song and be able explain how these contribute to the song’s theme, mood, or tone.

For the duration of the poetry unit, each student opens a class with their song-as-poetry analysis as the bell ringer (and sometimes get to play us out at the end of class with the song itself). It’s unique every day, is highly engaging, and reinforces their understanding of the elements necessary for poetry analysis. Best of all, it helps students see both “classic” poetry and modern music through a new and unifying lens. Rock on!

Further Reading:

Aubrey Sebestyen teaches 10th Grade English, AP Language and Composition, and PEN, an elective for academically gifted students, at Central Bucks High School East in Doylestown, PA, where she also serves as co-adviser for Phantasmagoria, a club celebrating student art, poetry, and music.

2020 Post #23 -- You Say, I Say

by Chris Kehan

I love using music in the classroom to teach reading strategies and of course to ignite writing.  "You Say" by Lauren Daigle is very inspiring.  Hand out copies of the lyrics and play the song.  Allow your students to listen to the song as they read along with the lyrics.  Discuss what they think the lyrics mean.

Have your students divide a page in half (in their Writer’s Notebooks) and label the left "You Say" and the right "I Say."  Have them list what the lyrics say from both vantage points (example: You say I am strong, I say I’m weak). 

Then have students think of someone in their lives that is close to them or knows them well (i.e. parent, friend, teacher, etc.)  They can jot what they think that person would say about them under the "You Say" column and how they might counter this under the "I Say" column.  Model your own "You Say, I Say" so they feel more comfortable doing their own. (example: You say I’m organized, I say it takes a lot of behind-the-scenes planning to look that way) 

Return to the part of the song that is the refrain/chorus and have them put their ideas into the format of "You say I am _____ when I ____." These lines will become their poem.  You can have students use line breaks and some white space between the "You say __" and "I __ " parts so it looks more like a poem.  They can close the poem with an "I believe" statement of their own.

"Most People Are Good" by Luke Bryan is another good song/lyrics to use to get young writers to jot down what they believe about things in their world.  They can write "I believe" poems using these lyrics as a mentor text.

Further Reading: 

Chris Kehan is a Library Media Specialist in the Central Bucks School District and a proud fellow of PAWLP (PA Writing & Literature Project) whose passion is teaching reading and writing to all grade levels and ages. Follow her on Twitter @CBckehan

2019 Post #20 -- Poem or Song?

by Jason Hepler

As a teenager in the 90’s, I admit that I still revel in of memories of Blockbuster Video, Doc Martens, and any and every Friends character. I also have a soft spot for Tupac Shakur. While he is no longer with us, his poetry is. I use his most popular piece, which is also the title for his published collection of poetry, “The Rose That Grew from Concrete” as a kickoff to Song Week, usually my third week of National Poetry Month.

Using Brett’s Poem of the Day routine, students enter with the poem projected (without the author) and the task to turn to a table partner and try to identify the underlying theme. While discussion can vary, many often find motifs of the diamond in the rough or the feeling of being dismissed. I then ask to identify a possible author, not necessarily a specific name, but rather consider those in our society who feel underrepresented and/or underappreciated. I have found this part extremely valuable discussion in a school that lives in a world of white privilege -- but that is a different conversation.

This leads to the eventual reveal of Tupac as the poet and our gameshow version of Tupac: Poem or Song? Students who are already grouped in tables compete by trying to identify whether some of my favorite lines are lifted from poems or songs, all PG rated of course. We use an interactive notepad (to click and drag) and rewards of candy to further motivate… though it’s really always about bragging rights.





This bit of silliness leads to the assignment for students to choose one of their favorite artists and select one verse of a favorite song to share and analyze for poetic devices/rhyme schemes that we have previously covered.

After the sharing the devices and schemes, I ask them to type up the verses and bring them to class for the following day. We take a minute or two for students to each cut their verses into lines. This creates anywhere from 20-30 different lines that we throw into a pile at our tables. Student groups are then tasked with fusing the various lines into a unique poem. While some end up being far from poet laureate worthy, you can only imagine the combinations we see when someone brings in “Strawberry Fields Forever” that gets paired with “Party in the USA” while a third partner has the lyrics to “She Thinks My Tractor is Sexy”.




The activity is obviously intended to further blur the line between poetry and music, especially for this still hesitant to embrace the head first dive. Admittedly, I was that student, and I know many are still out there who haven’t embraced the symbiotic relationship between the two genres.

Further Reading:

Jason Hepler lives his 90’s nostalgic life in Bucks County, Pa. He wears several hats at Holicong Middle School in Bucks County, PA, one of which is 9th grade English teacher.

2019 Post #17 -- Writing From a Lyric

by Brett Vogelsinger

I first used the song "A Long and Happy Life" by the band Delta Rae with my class to spark a Writer's Notebook piece about my students' roots.  "I was born to..." or "I was raised by... " make excellent starters for students to explore their heritage in words, perhaps even using quick images and figurative language as the songwriters do in the song.

Some of my students this year wrote lines like "I was raised by a strict Jewish mother and a free-spirited Catholic father" and "We were born to improve the world" and "I raised with brothers who tackled each other for fun" and "I was born to be everything my dad could not be." These lines are windows into my students' lives and afforded me views I might otherwise overlook.

This song is my Poem of the Day about a week prior to starting our personal narrative writing project, and it is the perfect way to start thinking about the stories that make my students the people they are today and the adults they are becoming. Try sharing this song or maybe one of your personal favorite. Find lines in the lyrics that empower new writing ideas for your students and help them to explore their roots.  In my classroom, we even begin to write as the song is playing.

I should also add here that Delta Rae often offers a free ticket giveaway for teachers on their summer tour, a drawing I won (thanks to some generous student nominations) for their Philly 2018 concert.  This band puts on one of the most phenomenal live music shows I've seen, and they have a genuine appreciation for the work of teachers.  I can't wait to see them in concert again in May! Much love to Delta Rae :)



Further Listening:

Brett Vogelsinger is a ninth-grade English teacher at Holicong Middle School in Bucks County, PA.  He has been starting class with a poem each day for the past six years and is the creator of the Go Poems blog to share poetry reading and writing ideas with teachers around the world. Find him on Twitter @theVogelman.