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Hi everyone!

Thanks Andy for setting up the Wiki. Here's a template I've made for each of us to follow when designing our section. Don't stress about matching it up exactly.



Also, here's a link to the VELS we're addressing:

**[]**
Just tick the two boxes next to English and you'll find the Standards and Learning Focus.

What a storm outside! Makes you just want to cozy up inside and.....design...English units.....

-Danielle Thanks Andy and Danielle - off to a flyer.

Here's a rationale/intro, as promised. I think it sets out pretty clearly what i had in mind for the unit and the way we will approach it, however I'm aware that it may not be agreeable to all of you (or any of you) so please, if you have any suggestions I will not be offended if you want to change bits and peices. I think it's important that we get a rationale/intro that we can all agree on because that will go a long way to making sure that all of the sections that we do individually flow and work well together. I did this without having a look at the VELS you posted Danielle, but I think it would be good to follow what i've written with a para or two specifically adressing the VELS.

So here it is. Look forward to your feeedback.

Cheerio J



Mr Wonderpants eh. Not going to ask how you got that name.

Here are some docs that I found some time ago about teaching poetry. A couple are really cheesy and probably best ignored, but the Poets on teaching poetry is good stuff.

Also Andy, i was doing some research into potential for including hip hop into my lessons, and came across a hilltop Hoods track that would suit your apocalypse theme really well. The track and the lyrics are available on the hilltop Hoods website: []

It's the last track on the State of the Art album, called Fifty in Five. The lyrics are on the "extras" tab.

If you need some help finding war poetry, I am happy to make some suggestions too.

Cheerio

J

Hey James - thanks for that. To be honest I'd struggle to remember what it is to teach poetry in a conventional way let alone in approach that is innovative/alternative/post-modern etc

Some suggestions for war/apocolypse type poetry would also be appreciated. So far I've got some Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brookes and a couple of extracts from Shakespeare but I'd welcome any other ideas...

Cheers, Andy.



Andy, if you're looking at potentially including music lyrics into your war/apocalypse/human annihilation poetry unit, some suggestions:

-I was Only 19 (Herd version) -Imagine (John Lennon) -Fortunate Son (CCR) -War (Edwin Star) -London Calling (The Clash) -Subterranean Homesick Alien (Bob Dylan) -For What Its Worth (Buffalo Springfield) -Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2) -Belfast Child (Simple Minds) -War Pigs (Black Sabbath) -Electric Funeral (Black Sabbath) -Blackened (Metallica) -Eve of Destruction (Barry MacGuire) -We Shall Overcome (various) -Another Brick in the Wall (more dystopic than apocalyptic, but y'know...)

I'd look at speeches given by Dr. Martin Luther King.

AND if you really want to go into crazyland, check out Gregory Corso's BOMB. He's one of my favourite beat poets. It's in the shape of a mushroom cloud. The poem is pretty abstract but it could be fun for students to perform or make their own concrete poetry. Here's the text: []

-Danielle

Hi again Andy. Try [|here]for some Aussie war poetry. Bruce Dawe is another whose done some good war poetry. James

HERE GOES...

Hi Guys

OK - so I have to admit that the whole poetry thing has thrown me a little and I feel like I'm trying to keep my head above water while I work out the difference between sonnets, stanzas, limericks, couplets...etc, etc.

So (more for my sake than that of this unit) I've pulled together a glossary of terms relating to poetry. I have of course found definitions for each of these terms but-rather than plagiarise-I think I'll work on my own. I'll throw it up here now in case you guys have any other terms you'd like to add... you never know, I may be able to create an computer/research lesson out of it with students working in groups to provide their own definitions and examples for these terms...

Carly

Hey Carly

I really like this idea and I think we should include it as an appendix to our unit. My only caveat is that I think that it is important to use these sorts of terms in a lesson as a means to an ends rather than an ends in themselves. To explain a little more, I think the most important thing in doing poetry in the classroom is the enjoyment and the personal response that poetry can engender. If the technical terms can be used to help students explain why they respond the way they do, then that is great. If the students look at a book of poems and are asked to list all the ones that use iambic pentamenter, not so helpful. Does that make sense?

Cheers

J

Hi everyone!

How are you going with your units? Mine's nearly there...just one more section and a polish. I should have it posted here by Saturday afternoon at the latest. At this time I have to bow my head and admit that I don't think I will be able to portray the part of 'assignment consolidator' or the person who puts all the assignments together, makes sure everything looks right and submits them. I have a big teaching job interview on Tuesday and need to prepare, and on top of that those damn Professional Placement reflections have yet to be done. If no one else can do it I'm happy to, but one of you would be doing me a massive and wonderful favour if you took on the task!! -Danielle

Also, an advance apology--my unit is really, really long. Like 30 pages or more. But that's with lots of space and a bunch of resources in the appendices. Is anyone else finding themselves with a lengthy assignment?

Hey Crew,

I'm working on this sucker all today (Friday 21stOct) if any of you are doing the same and feel like discussing anything...

Cheers, Andy.

I'm hoping to get a bit done sneakily at work this arvo and then get it over the line tonight. Might be a late one. J

Hey Guys

I did a heap of work on this last weekend but wouldn't mind adding one other activity plus proofing before I'm happy with it. The last activity I thought about writing was based around students creating their own DVD/MP3 of a poem they had written - particularly as poems are written to be heard. I could tailor this to suit just the Love/Friendship side of this unit or throw it out there as the final task for the unit itself (that way giving students a choice over what kind of themes/format they would like to use).

Anyway - I'll attach what I've done here now to and look at finalising tomorrow (stuck at work til late tonight - joy).



Hey you lot.

I'm plugging away at my lessons here, hoping to get them done tonight, but may not get them up on here til tomorrow evening. I'll put my hand up to stick them all together and send them in to Rayner in a single document. hope you're doing better than me.

James

Sounds like we're all enjoying the weekend! Carly, your plan looks great. James, thanks for volunteering. I'm writing about grief poetry and funeral songs for my unit right now and was starting to plan my own funeral thinking of the upcoming week of work. You organising the lot saves some sanity. You're all gems. Keep up the great work. Nearly there! -Danielle

Hey Crew,

I'm still here! My creation is weighing in at around 30 pages too! Looks like Rayner will have his holiday reading set out for him. James - realistically I doubt I'll have mine done before around 7-8pm Sunday. I've finally made some headway today and actually have a defined plan/idea/materials but I've still got to properly write up the discussion questions/activities for each lesson. I'm performing tomorrow from 10am til 12am (3 gigs and 500kms driving!) and again on Sunday until 2pm so I won't be hitting it again until after then.

If thats going to make collating a nightmare I'm happy to take it on (although I'd still probably need a hand from someone here and there - my Word chops are fairly neanderthal with regards to presentation etc)....

Keep me posted.

Cheers, Andy.

Hi Guys

OK - put the finishing touches on this this arvo and re-loading it here now. I've included the rationale that James wrote in the top section (which by the way is great - thanks, James!).

If it's easier, you may just want to add your bits to this (we could call it the master document) or you could just tell me to get back in my box. I'll check back here tomorrow to see how it's all going.

Andy - I may be able to help you with the finishing touches in terms of Word skills - but this will depend on what time the finishing product is ready to be formatted. I have a manic week coming up at work so it will be difficult to devote any time to it after tomorrow night... keep me posted though.

Carly



p.s - I don't mind which section mine ends up as - so cut and paste where ever it suits!

Hi everyone. Congratulations, Carly! It looks great.

I'm all finished save the section Rationale. I think I've probably written it already somewhere within the rest of my unit but I have to shut it down for the night. Will punch one out and send it this way by early tomorrow. Sorry for the delay. -Danielle

Hi guys

This is taking heaps longer than I thought it would. Had hoped to get it licked tonight but I'm hitting the wall in a big way. I may not get my bit up 'til Monday morning I reckon, tomorrow night at best. Three thoughts (need structure at this hour otherwise will go awry): 1. How's this for a deal - whenever one of us puts our final sections onto the master document we make i clear that we've finished our bit. whichever of the four of us finishes last can do a quick clean up and send it to Rayner. Sound OK? 2. I've made a couple of changes to the master document that Carly put up, mainly to the contents page and added a bit to the rationale based on a comment by Danielle about lessosns and parts. Tracked changes in the substantive part in case anyone objects. Feel free to change it if you do. 3. We still need a bit on VELS. Anyone want to put up their hand?

Here's the latest Master: Cheers James

Sounds good, James. I should have mine in there in a couple of hours. This is taking wayyy longer than I intended as well! I've made a few adjustments to the master doc as well, like justifying the margins and petty stuff like that!

I'll put up my hand for VELS consideration. I'd imagine it would be fairly similar to the VELS write-up from out last assignment. If you think there is something you've covered in your unit that I haven't addressed in the VELS, let me know, or just add it in.

-Danielle

Oh, by the way--I think we'll all have to include a signed assignment sheet with our submission. Carly--would you mind uploading yours to the wiki?

Hey Campers, Just checking in 3.30pm Sunday - guessing I'll be here most of the evening, I'll be watching this space... :) Cheers, Andy

Hey guys,

I've finally finished my section and have added it, as well as the VELS consideration, to the Master Copy. Here is the __**latest version**__ as well as my signed assignment coversheet:



Hi All

Wow, Danielle - that's pretty comprehensive! Looks terrific. Unfortunately, I can't upload my signed cover sheet from home (no scanner/printer) so will have to do this first thing tomorrow morning at work. If we've managed to email this to Raynor before then, then I'm happy to send him through an email with that attached separately.

Carly

Hey James!

Think its just you and me. I've done four out of my five units so I've only got an hour or two to go.

Where are you at? Give me a bell if you prefer - 0407 451 971. I'll be up until at least midnight - working tomorrow so I need to do that reflection piece for the professional placement subject...

Cheers, Andy.

Evening Andy

Had a morning tea at a friends house this morn then one year old birthday party at the Botanical gardens this arvo in the sun. Friend popped in for dinner so I'm just hitting the screen now. I'm nearly over the line too. If you load yours up tonight, I'll have half an hour tomorrow morn at work to put mine in, polish up any loose formatting ends and send it in.

Border Crossings on PBS is great studying music.

Hey again James,

1am and I'm just about to paste my section in. My Department of Education PC laptop just carked it this evening too!! Praise the Lord for Dropbox but I'm now on my housemates Mac and windows keep appearing and disappearing at random! Imagine the ape with the bone at the beginning of 2001 a Space Oddessy and thats pretty much how I'm looking right now trying to figure out how to "right click" on this thing.

Should have the whole thing re-attached with my section in 5-10 minutes (just in case you're thinking of doing the same)..

Cheers, A

Okay, I think I've figured it out! I've "submitted" my coversheet through the Monash portal with an attached doc that says the assignment is coming via James as part of a group submission. This worked fine for the last group assignment I submitted and I don't think anything has changed (?). Besides which I don't own a scanner. Thinking about it, at this point I don't even a working computer! If anyone spots anything blaringly wrong with my units let me know and I can always feign sickness/death at work tomorrow afternnoon to correct it. The poetry unit has been something of a challenge for a number of reasons, not least of which was the fact that I've barely ever studied poetry (let alone taught any!). A lot of my time on this unit was spent staring blankly at the computer screen waiting for divine pedogogical inspiration to strike. Hope you're all doing well - good luck getting the rest of your stuff handed in... Cheers, Andy.

Hello all.

I've just submitted our tome to the OCLC. I reckon it looks pretty good. Now on to the final essay for the other subject. Aaargh.

On another note, I'm thinking of heading to the Victorian State Final of the Australian poetry Slam on November 18 at the State Library. Anyone else keen?

Cheerio for now

James



Thanks, James - looks fantastic. Poor Raynor, 118 pages is a whole lotta reading!

Great job guys and thanks for all the guidance on this from a distance. Now to finish the diversity essay (can't wait til this semester is over).

Carly

Thanks Carly. One last thing - I only attached Danielle's and my cover sheets. not sure if you need to send one in like andy did or not. Cheers. James

Oh wow, it looks great, James! Thanks so much for polishing that up. I'm glad you changed the font slightly too; looks more professional this way. My husband and I saw some amazing slam at the Footscray Community Arts Centre a few weeks ago and have been craving more, so maybe we'll see you on the 18th! Good luck on your essays, guys! Great working with you! -Danielle

Hey Guys - definitely be up for a poetry slam on the 18th. Can't wait to get my life back!! Shoot me an email or sms James - doubt I'll be back here again.

Thanks for everything guys - have a great summer.

Cheers, Andy