Poetry Videos
Student-Created Poetry Videos in the
AP Classroom

Nicole
 Sylvia Plath’s “The Mirror”

Overview
 Goals
 Procedures/advice
 Controlling time
 Assessing
 Mistakes

Goals for students
 Literary analysis
 Sensitivity to all aspects of poem-imagery, sounds, structure, pace, repetition
 Universal themes

Goals for teacher
 Alternate assessment of students’ understanding
 Know students better
 Recommendation letters
 Encourage leadership, teamwork, problem solving, divergent thinking

Rationale for goals
 Choice/effect principle
 Long-term memory of learning goals
 Significant project--worth the energy
 It’s permanent--so make it good

Additional benefits
 Pride, fame
 VPC club/film festival
 Lasting memory beyond high school
 Show to other classes
 Comparative interpretations

Joey
 Ann Stanford’s “The Beating”

Why this project and not another?
 Control
 Quality
 Inherent essence to convey
 Much to unpack
 Tradition to build and improve upon

Others I’ve tried with moderate success:
 Scenes from a play or novel
 Exposition
 Farewell speeches
 Lines from a play
 Updated literature

Joe
 Wilfred Owen “Dulce et Decorum Est”

Procedures and advice
 Plan
 Film
 Edit
 Directors’ cuts

Pre-filming
 Give assignment parameters in general
 View old poetry videos
 Go over rubric
 Present great titles; limit selection
 Make choice
 Paraphrase poem
 Write analysis
 Storyboard or outline
 Practice read through

Gathering footage
 Vintage VHS files converted
 Importing files from their own cameras
 Deadline for out of school imports
 Class time--sharing cameras, sharing actors--limit, after that study hall time
 Collect stills as well; Photoshop effects
 Scan photos

Edit
 Students talk it through as they edit
 Clip, rearrange
 Re-shoot, gather more footage; conference with peers
 Monitor sound track--unity with cuts in and out
 Add special effects and transitions

Mariah
 Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a funeral in my brain”

Sound track
 Find a quiet space
 Watch screen and videotape, not minding what is in the picture
 Import, split audio track, delete video
 Line up

DVD
 Gather a few stills or short quick times
 Make chapters
 Place images
 Done!

Tyler
 Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”

Directors’ cuts
 Studens plan or write commentary after viewing
 Students go in room alone with camera on tripod; view film (muted or not) as they speak
 PIP

Kacy’s Director’s Cut
 A. E. Housman’s “Oh Who Is That
Young Sinner?”

Controlling time
 Be merciless
 Point out what is out of your control-computer time, camera access
 Post dates
 Big sign ups
 Learn from others’ mistakes
 Fake deadlines

Controlling time
 Money
 Advice on limiting scope, being realistic, limiting amount of footage
 Using study hall time; before and after school time
 Announcing project a month or two before it’s even officially started

Danielle
 Emily Dickinson’s “Apparently with No
Surprise”

Assessing
 Ground rules
 Rubric
 Choice/effect charts
 Directors’ cuts
 Academy Awards

Tony
 Ann Stanford’s “The Beating”

Mistakes We’ve Made
 Organization
 Saving, deleting
 Budgeting time
 Misunderstanding the poem
 Too literal, too figurative

Kate
 Katharyn Howd Machan’s“Leda’s Sister and the Geese”