Poetry Presentation
During the second semester, students will be assigned a date on which they must make a presentation related to a poem of their own choosing.
The presentation, which is intended--in part--as preparation for the IO the student will complete during the 12th-grade year, will work as follows:
The poem selected by the student must be available on either poets.org or poetryfoundation.org, cannot be greater than 50 lines in length, and cannot be a poem selected by another student.
The student will have six minutes in which to make the presentation (and should aspire to fill as much of the six minutes as possible).
The presentation will be made from behind the podium without the use of any visual aids for the audience.
The presentation should accomplish two primary goals:
The student should identify a global issue that can arguably be connected to the poet’s work. [Note: while this is an important element of the presentation, direct discussion about the global issue should comprise no more than 10 to 20% of the total presentation, with the vast amount of the time being spent instead analyzing the poet’s choices and explaining how they create deep meaning related to the global issue at hand.]
The student should provide an analysis of the poem explaining how the poet’s choices (of language, technique, style, etc.) shape meaning in relation to the chosen global issue. [Note: It’s important here for students to be careful not to produce what feels like either summary or basic interpretation (i.e., explaining what the poem is saying, starting at the beginning and simply decoding things in order throughout the poem); instead students must craft an argument around a clear thesis about how the poet’s choice(s) contributed to deep meaning in the work. Also note that the presenter should not read aloud the poem as part of the presentation; the expectation is that students will have read the poem before coming to class on the day of the presentation.]
The student will be allowed to make use of just two materials during the presentation:
A printed, clean copy of the poem (i.e., one without annotations)
At the six-minute mark (or at whatever point before that the student concludes the presentation), the student will be expected to defend the analysis by fielding any questions from the audience.
The presentation (along with its defense) will be marked out of 40 points (using Mr. Lochamy’s 40-point rubric) and will be assessed based on both the content of the presentation as well as the overall effectiveness of the student’s oral presentation.
Note: Students who do not present on their assigned day will risk receiving a score of a 0 for the assignment (unless there is an excused absence–for an unforeseeable absence–that explains the failure to present). Should a make-up opportunity be available for students who did not present on their assigned date (and who did not have an excused absence on said date), students in such a position will face a cap of 20 points for the assignment upon eventual presentation.