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Digital Poetry — Make Words Zoom and Fly Across the Room!
By
Christy Crawford
on March 31, 2011
- Grades: 1–2, 3–5, 6–8
(7)
All you need is a computer, projector, and an Internet connection to give students the power to make their words larger than life. Digital poetry can turn a typical school poetry slam into a multimedia event. Read on to captivate the most tech-savvy wordsmiths, grab links for your interactive whiteboard, and partake in some 21st century word play.
All you need is a computer, projector, and an Internet connection to give students the power to make their words larger than life. Digital poetry can turn a typical school poetry slam into a multimedia event. Read on to captivate the most tech-savvy wordsmiths, grab links for your interactive whiteboard, and partake in some 21st century word play.
Software and Online Tools for Digital Poets
PowerPoint, Animoto, and Keynote will allow your students to make words and images dance across a screen, but nothing beats Prezi. Think of Prezi ("The Zooming Presentation Editor") as PowerPoint on steroids. In seven easy steps, Prezi can be used to get kids passionate about poetry — passionate enough to practice their verse as if they were rock stars performing for their fans. Check out Anna rehearsing "Hope and Faith in Japan" and Jonathan and Jacob rehearsing "Firebird" for local poetry slams:
Step 1:
There are several college courses devoted to creating visual poetry. Show your students the work of digital collegiates at PBS or visit the BBC. Use the visual poems on these sites to inspire young digital natives to create presentations.
Step 2:
The YouTube generation loves a good video how-to. Show your students a Prezi tutorial. Every few minutes, in between students' "oohs" and "aahs," stop the video so they may paraphrase the steps. (Take a quick look at the tutorial below. It is simple and entertaining.)
Step 3: You've got them hooked. Allow poetry teams to brainstorm topics and begin drafting. Or allow students to use Prezi to bring their favorite poem to life. Take a look at Natalie and Ella's digital version of a Georgia Heard poem. (Click the video's Play button. The Fullscreen and Autoplay features will appear when you roll the cursor over the word "More" on the bottom, right-hand corner of the video.)
Step 4: After revision and editing, offer time to search the Web and download copyright-free images and videos to insert into Prezis.
Step 5: Have students review premade Prezi "cheat sheets" (how-to dittos) before clicking on their Prezi canvases. For younger students (3rd and 4th graders), consider creating a simple Prezi poem as a class project before diving into partner work. During the guided exercise, let advanced class members commandeer your mouse or touch pad.
Let the digital drafting begin! Make sure poets pay careful attention to the size and position of their screen words and the intended purpose of zooming in and out of text and images. (For tips on using effects wisely, see a previous post on student documentarians and the "Ken Burns Effect.")
Step 6: Allow students to critique each other's work before final edits are due.
Step 7: Practice the presentations. The moving text and visuals demand that speakers rehearse verses again and again to create an experience for their audience.
Put Prezis on an interactive whiteboard or use a projector to blast them across a school wall or gymnasium. Place a step stool beside your whiteboard for shorter poets who need to be boosted in front of or adjacent to the projected image.
Are your students currently using Prezi for poetry or nonfiction presentations? Please comment below. My 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders would like to collaborate online with other Prezi students.
Wonderful Interactive Poetry Web Sites
Check out these super sites on your interactive whiteboard or in your tech lab to get kids playing with words.
1. Were you a fan of magnetic poetry kits for the fridge? If so, you'll love MagPo's online games for kids.
2. Get your students to test their knowledge of poetic phrasing with Read Write Think's Line Break Explorer. (The audio on this interactive tool will help a young poet understand the importance of line breaks for meaning and rhythm.) Students can also use Read Write Think to whip up, print, and even e-mail acrostic poems, 19 different shape poems, or diamante poems.
3. Want an incredibly unique shape poem? Check out Tagxedo. This genius word cloud generator will highlight the most frequently used words and turn your children's poetry into custom shapes. Upload your poetry doc and your image of choice. Install a Silverlight plug-in and then click to modify your colors and fonts. (Yes, expect to print a lot of Justin Bieber-shaped poems!)
4. 
Get ready. Thursday April 14th is National Poem in Your Pocket Day.
If you have a mobile tech device, don't settle for just one "poem in your pocket." Check out the New York Times for great poetry apps to carry dozens of your school's favorite poems, find a rhyme for any word your students conjure up, or use apps to create your own magnetic poetry.
What digital resources will you use for National Poetry Month? Please share!
Comments (7)
November 16, 2011 at 7:47 a.m.
I would like to show the video of some of your students rehearsing their poems, but can no longer find it on this page.
April 18, 2011 at 2:28 p.m.
Pamela,
Check out http://prezi.com/profile/signup/edu/ for Prezi's new educator/student accounts. The accounts are FREE!
My kids have been using their own e-mail accounts to sign up but I have a master list with each e-mail address and password. Sometimes managing so many accounts is tedious; however, it has been worth it. Fourth graders, fifth graders and their families have created numerous Prezis at home and over the summer. I have a few parents that used Prezi for work AFTER their children schooled them on the tool! When the child is able to become the teacher to her parents, it is totally worth the stress of managing more than 100 accounts!
April 11, 2011 at 1:22 p.m.
I love prezi! How do you manage accounts for the students?
April 5, 2011 at 5:10 a.m.
Elizabeth,
Wonderful! Make sure you check out http://www.poetryforge.org/ for some flash poetry fun. Their interactive site is now one of my favorites.
Christy
April 4, 2011 at 11:28 p.m.
Thank you so much for sharing these websites. I will definately include some of these in my technology center!
April 3, 2011 at 10:52 p.m.
Mitch,
Fortune 500 companies present their ideas with amazing new media tools every day. It is time to put this same technology in the hands of children, to allow youth to express their thoughts and ideas in the same vibrant manner.
And I agree-- e.e. cummings would have been rocking digital poetry!!!!!!
March 31, 2011 at 8:02 p.m.
What an excellent follow-up to your last post.
Alternative media that are made possible with technology make presenting our ideas more engaging and more meaningful. They don't replace the existing vehicles, but add dimension to the toolbox that writers and thinkers have at their disposal.
Poets always have thought beyond the text--playing with sound, shape, and time in ways that other writers rarely do. The resources you've shared here add the possibility of motion (Prezi), hyperconnections (Tagxedo), and more.
e.e. cummings would have loved this!
Furthermore, these new media tools surely have possibilities that we can't even imagine...
...but our kids can, and together we will shape writing and learning and teaching.
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