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Australian Poetry SLAM Activity

In this activity, students will be experimenting with new ideas and ways of expressing themselves through slam poetry. "Slam poetry" is a cross between traditional poetry and a performance (Edutopia, 2018).

1. Students are to first watch this informational video about the success of slam poetry in an American school to gain a better understanding of what it is and how students from as young as grade 6 can attempt and include themselves in SLAM.
Watch: https://youtu.be/D8eym-7jeo0 via Edutopia.org

2. Classroom questions:
-What is the purpose of slam poetry?
-What is happening amongst the students who practice slam poetry?

3. Students Watch an Australian Slam poetry Winner that is their own age to see what can be accomplished through poetry writing. watch: https://youtu.be/B3C-DO9FyEo

4. Students then brainstorm topics they would touch on in their own slam poetry that relates to them personally and the kind of life they live in their community.
The teacher can use the "Think, Pair, Share" strategy to gain more ideas from students as they bounce of one another.

5. Once students have decided on a central topic, students will individually free write bullet points or things that come to mind that they will use as a scaffold to create their own slam poetry.

6. Before students write their own slam Poems in full, Rewatch the video of the Slam Poetry Winner and discuss elements of the poem that are based on literary devices, word choice, the rhyming or non rhyming, the pace and the emotion conveyed.

7. Access to ICT's is necessary for students to do research and gain more holistic understanding of their particular topic.

*As a summative assessment, Students would perform their Slam Poems in class, and have the opportunity to perform in front of the school.

ADDITIONAL TEACHING NOTE:
Create a positive environment by encouraging students to explore any and every idea that they have and give frequent and relevant feedback, as well as encouraging peer reviewing.

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Blog post and Online Forum Activity

Students will look at how blogs can be used as a means of searching for and sharing literature online.

1. Students will explore online literary forums at http://www.online-literature.com/forums/forum.php

2. Students will browse the short stories, and poetry forums. and choose a modern 'amateur' text to compare against traditional literature.
Compare against: a Short story or poem that can be easily accessed by an Australian Author. Either from an Australian short story/ Poetry collection book (photocopied)

When comparing literature, students will be looking at the ways in which the blog and forum medium can influence the way people write literature as well as the opportunity for immediate feedback and connection amongst other authors and critics.

3. Students will write a Pro/Con List to writing in the modern day with access to online forums, and the traditional way of writing literature with expensive publishers and editors etc.

4. Students will then share with the class and the teacher their views, and ultimately ask what they believe is more beneficial to writers.

Questions for discussion with class:
1. Do you think that writing stories and poetry online is better or worse for the success of a writer? - why?
2. How would the fact that anyone can comment on your literature, if published online, influence how you continue to write if you were a writer?
3. Do you think that social media will continue to help or harm those trying to make a career out of writing? Why?

--> Students are to write these answers and hand them to the teacher at the end. - use this as an exit slip

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Australiana Fairy Tale Activity
Students will create their own Australiana Fairy Tale individually OR in pairs

Step 1. - Students will choose to work in pairs or individually, in order to dissect a traditional Fairy tale Narrative approved by the teacher
eg. Hansel and Gretel, The three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, jack and the beanstalk. etc.  You could change the offered selection to cater for the diversity and interests of the classroom.

Step 2. Students identify the main elements of the narrative:
1. Theme (the main idea or message of the story)

2. Plot (the sequence of events)

3. Setting (the time and place where the story occurs)

4. Characters (the people in the story)

5. Conflict (the opposing forces between protagonist and antagonist, arguments)

6. Climax (the high point of the story)
7. Falling Action (the set of actions bringing the story to its end)

8. Resolution (wrap-up of the story)

Students then brainstorm ideas on butchers paper in order to make their chosen story relevant and relatable to the Australian environment, by taking drawing from the elements in the original fairy tales. *Students can also use a simpler method by following the who, what, where, when, and how questions. eg.
Characters: Who is in the story?

Setting/Place: Where does the story take place?

Time: When does the story happen?

Problem: What is it that one or more characters wants to do or wants to happen by the end of the story?

Events: How do the characters solve the problem?

New context of the narrative will be either: Australian urban, Australian Outback, Modern Day Australia, Historical colonial Australia or indigenous Australia.

Students will be accessing their prior knowledge on Australian language, themes, stereotypes and context as well as conducting research to make their story accurate and authentic.

-Students to write dot points and notes together and then draft a short story version of their fairy tale.
- Students will also have access to online dictionaries and thesauruses in order to correctly use subject and context-specific language in their story.

When students are completing this activity, they are looking at how vocabulary and discourse changes the story for a particular audience due to textual patterns that change from Traditional European literature to Australian texts.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
The summative assessment for this activity would be the completed Australianised rendition of their chosen fairy tale.

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To navigate through the activities, hover over the respective activity post, and click on the 3 dots in the top right hand corner (...) This will lead you to expand the activity post, and show you the 3 sections of the activity. These include:
1. The Summary and link to the curriculum
2. Teachers Notes
3. References.

You will need to expand each of the sections individually to view them in order.

Enjoy this "Literacy as language in use" resource!

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Australian Poetry Analysis Activity

1. Students will read the poem, "We are going" by Oodgeroo Noonuccal AKA Kath Walker.
Poem can be accessed through Australian Poetry Library: https://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/noonuccal-oodgeroo/we-are-going-0719054#

2. Students to Listen and follow along to the reading by oodgeroo herself, through this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em7F0MmiLQw

3. With the guidance of the Teacher, students will then analyse the poem using the SMILES method with an in depth focus on the Meaning, Imagery, Language and Effect points. as follows:

S tructure  line length, organisation of text, rhyme scheme, syllables
M eaning  title, overall theme, message, subject
I magery  visual picture, literary features, symbolism, irony
L anguage  grammar, punctuation, use of words – simple, complex, lyrical, colloquial, ironic
E ffect  opinion, bias or message presented by poet
S ound  onomatopoeia, rhythm of spoken text.
(Jones, L. 2015))

Teaching Notes for "We are going" Analysis:
-This poem is prose that is 16 lines in length.

-The message of the poem is one of loss and regret. The old ways are gone and scattered, the animals have abandoned the sacred space and the old warriors no longer belong. Their connection to land has been severed through the arrival of ‘white’ Australia.

-Visual Imagery paints a picture of a magical past connected to the land ‘ we are the lightning bolt, we are the quiet daybreak’. The strangers are ‘shadow ghosts’ linked to the past but not belonging to the present.

-White men are compared with ants and strangers.

-The language is lyrical and whimsical, haunting and descriptive – no pidgin English here.

-There is irony in the statement ‘rubbish may be tipped here’ which suggests white man’s total misunderstanding of the ceremonial importance of the site. The effect of this language and subject is to produce regret in the reader.
(Jones, L. 2015)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
A great resource and additional in-depth analysis for this poem is a video by Leigh Morrisey,(2017) and can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5esrIZ7mKc

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Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2017). The Australian Curriculum: English. Retrieved 3 August 2018 from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english/?strand=Language&strand=Literature&strand=Literacy&capability=ignore&priority=ignore&year=11582&elaborations=true

Grand Slam: Performance Poetry Engages Students | Edutopia. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/video/grand-slam-performance-poetry-engages-students

Edutopia. (2010, April 14). Grand Slam: Performance Poetry Engages Students [video file]. Retrieved 10 August 2018 from https://youtu.be/D8eym-7jeo0

The Guardian. (2017). Solli Raphael, 12, becomes youngest winner of Australian Poetry Slam [Video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/B3C-DO9FyEo

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1. Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2017). The Australian Curriculum: English. Retrieved 3 August 2018 from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english/?strand=Language&strand=Literature&strand=Literacy&capability=ignore&priority=ignore&year=11582&elaborations=true

D Melanie. (2017, May 9). We are Going by Oodgeroo [Video file]. Retrieved 3 August 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em7F0MmiLQw

Jones, L. (2015) Classic Australian literature: lessons for life. Retrieved August 3, 2018 from https://www.australiancurriculumlessons.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Indigenous-Poems-Classical-Australian-Literature-Unit.pdf

Morrisey, L. (2017) We Are Going Analysis [video file] retrieved 4 August 2018 from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5esrIZ7mKc

Noonuccal, O. (1964) We are going retrieved 3 August 2018 from https://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/noonuccal-oodgeroo/no-more-boomerang-0719028

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This activity will address the following Australian Curriculum: English (ACARA, 2017)

Curriculum area:
-Students gaining an expanding vocabulary and grasp of grammatical and textual patterns sufficient to understand and learn from texts encountered in and out of school

1. English Strand: Language
English Sub-strand:
Expressing and developing ideas
Content descriptor and code:
Recognise that vocabulary choices contribute to the specificity, abstraction and style of texts  (ACELA1547)
Elaborations: experimenting with vocabulary choices in a range of written and spoken texts and assessing the different effects these choices generate

2. English Strand: Literacy
English Sub-strand:
Interpreting, analysing, evaluating
Content descriptor and code:
Apply increasing knowledge of vocabulary, text structures and language features to understand the content of texts (ACELY1733)
Elaborations: using print and digital/online thesauruses and dictionaries of synonyms, antonyms and homonyms and subject-specific dictionaries

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Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2017). The Australian Curriculum: English. Retrieved 3 August 2018 from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english/?strand=Language&strand=Literature&strand=Literacy&capability=ignore&priority=ignore&year=11582&elaborations=true

2. Literature Network Forums. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.online-literature.com/forums/forum.php

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Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2017). The Australian Curriculum: English. Retrieved 3 August 2018 from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english/?strand=Language&strand=Literature&strand=Literacy&capability=ignore&priority=ignore&year=11582&elaborations=true

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This activity will address the following Australian Curriculum: English (ACARA, 2017)

Curriculum area:
- An interest in expanding the range of materials listened to, viewed and read, and in experimenting with ways of expressing subtle and complex ideas to create effective and innovative texts.

English Strand: Language
English Sub-Strand: Text Structure and Organisation
Content descriptor and code:
Understand how coherence is created in complex texts through devices like lexical cohesion, ellipsis, grammatical theme and text connectives  (ACELA1809
Elaborations:
using cohesive devices when writing complex texts

2.English Strand: Literacy
English Sub-Strand: Interacting with others
Content descriptor and code: Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations, selecting and sequencing appropriate content, including multimodal elements, to reflect a diversity of viewpoints  (ACELY1731)
Elaborations: Researching subject matter on social issues and/or relationships and presenting ideas in particular ways to appeal to different audiences.

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This activity will address the following Australian Curriculum: English (ACARA, 2017)

Curriculum area:
- The skill and disposition needed to analyse and understand the philosophical, moral, political and aesthetic bases on which many texts are built.

English Strand: Literature
English Sub-strand:
Literature and Context
Content descriptor and code:
Explore the ways that ideas and viewpoints in literary texts drawn from different historical, social and cultural contexts may reflect or challenge the values of individuals and groups  (ACELT1626)
Elaborations: investigating texts about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history from different sources and explaining differing viewpoints

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This activity will address the following Australian Curriculum: English (ACARA, 2017)

Curriculum area:
- Fluency and innovation in listening to, reading, viewing and creating texts for different purposes and contexts

English Strand: Literacy
English Sub-Strand: Texts in Context
Content descriptor and code: Analyse and explain how language has evolved over time and how technology and the media have influenced language use and forms of communication (ACELY1729)
Elaborations: identifying and explaining how mobile technologies are influencing language uses and structures.