Create an awesome biographical poem about yourself or someone else with this simple template. Perfect for students as an English/literacy activity, or even for use in art class as part of a larger art project!
Biographical poem template
Title: [Name's] Biographical Poem
Line 1: First name
Line 2: Three adjectives that describe the person
Line 3: Sibling of (or child of) [name(s) of siblings or parents]
Line 4: Lover of (three things or people the person loves)
Line 5: Who feels (three feelings and when or where they are felt)
Line 6: Who needs (three things the person needs)
Line 7: Who gives (three things the person gives to others)
Line 8: Who fears (three things the person is afraid of)
Line 9: Who would like to see (three things/places the person would like to see)
Line 10: Resident of (where the person lives)
Line 11: Last name
Example poem:
Title: Emma's Biographical Poem
Emma
Cheerful, Creative, Curious
Sibling of Alex and Jamie
Lover of painting, reading, and dogs
Who feels happy when with friends, excited during holidays, and calm in nature
Who needs love, adventure, and support
Who gives kindness, laughter, and help
Who fears spiders, heights, and thunderstorms
Who would like to see Paris, the Grand Canyon, and a Broadway show
Resident of Brooklyn
Smith
Showing posts with label Fun stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fun stuff. Show all posts
Thursday, August 8, 2024
Book spine poetry
What is book spine poetry?
Book spine poetry: An overview
Introduction
Book spine poetry is a creative and unique form of poetry where the titles of books, as they appear on the spines, are used to create poetic compositions. This art form involves stacking books in such a way that the titles, when read sequentially, form a coherent and often evocative poem. It's a playful yet profound way to engage with literature, turning book titles into verses.
The concept
Book spine poetry utilizes the physical design of books, particularly the spine where the title is prominently displayed, to craft a poem. Each book title acts as a line or a part of a line in the poem. The poet selects and arranges books, typically from their own collection or a library, to form a meaningful or aesthetically pleasing sequence of words.
The process
Creating book spine poetry involves several steps:
Book spine poetry can vary widely in style and substance. Some poems are short and whimsical, while others can be long and profound. The creativity lies in the selection of titles and the interpretation of how they relate to one another when placed in sequence.
Conclusion
Book spine poetry is a delightful and imaginative way to create poetry. It combines a love for books with a creative use of language and visual aesthetics. Whether for personal enjoyment or public sharing, it offers a novel way to appreciate and interact with literature.
Book spine poetry: An overview
Introduction
Book spine poetry is a creative and unique form of poetry where the titles of books, as they appear on the spines, are used to create poetic compositions. This art form involves stacking books in such a way that the titles, when read sequentially, form a coherent and often evocative poem. It's a playful yet profound way to engage with literature, turning book titles into verses.
The concept
Book spine poetry utilizes the physical design of books, particularly the spine where the title is prominently displayed, to craft a poem. Each book title acts as a line or a part of a line in the poem. The poet selects and arranges books, typically from their own collection or a library, to form a meaningful or aesthetically pleasing sequence of words.
The process
Creating book spine poetry involves several steps:
- Selection of books: The poet begins by selecting books with titles that have potential poetic qualities. This often includes titles that are evocative, descriptive, or emotionally charged.
- Arrangement: The selected books are then arranged in a stack. The order is crucial as it determines the flow and meaning of the poem. The poet may experiment with different sequences to achieve the desired effect.
- Refinement: Once a preliminary arrangement is made, the poet may refine the stack, replacing some books with others, adjusting the order, and ensuring the poem conveys the intended message or emotion.
- Presentation: The final stack of books is often photographed and shared, making book spine poetry a visual as well as a literary art form.
Book spine poetry can vary widely in style and substance. Some poems are short and whimsical, while others can be long and profound. The creativity lies in the selection of titles and the interpretation of how they relate to one another when placed in sequence.
Conclusion
Book spine poetry is a delightful and imaginative way to create poetry. It combines a love for books with a creative use of language and visual aesthetics. Whether for personal enjoyment or public sharing, it offers a novel way to appreciate and interact with literature.
Monday, July 26, 2021
Making paper airplanes
My paper airplane, the “Robertson Express”, came in 1st place and then a respectable 3rd for amount of time in the air this morning during a STEM camp I'm assisting with. As a youngster, we made and launched paper airplanes behind the teacher’s back. Now there’s a class that teaches us how to make them!
If you're interested in learning a variety of folds and designs for making paper airplanes, then you'll definitely want to check out this Web site, Fold 'N Fly.
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Milwaukee Brewers Happy music video
A co-worker of mine, who also works for the Milwaukee Brewers, recently shared this with me, and it's too fun not to share it with you. Here's a fun tribute to the Brewers done to Pharrell Williams' hit song, "Happy". Enjoy!
Friday, March 27, 2020
Fun activity with a favorite video game
Lately, I've been reading a book called, Falling in Love with Close Reading: Lessons for Analyzing Texts - and Life, written by Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts, and published in 2014.
In a previous post I recently published here on this blog, I adapted a fun activity/lesson from the book for you to try involving your favorite song. In this post, I have from the book another activity/lesson for you involving your favorite video game. Let's get started.
The post involving songs has its focus on examining text closely. This lesson involves looking at the structure of something. See, authors, editors, screen writers, movie directors, playwrights, engineers, builders, inventors, scientists, artists - video game publishers - etc., etc., all create with a structure in mind. It's this structure - essentially, the way and the order in which something is assembled, packaged, and presented - that gives the final product its meaning, purpose, function, and value.
For this activity, you'll need paper, a pen or pencil, a plot synopsis of your favorite video game, and a couple video clips from the game you selected. If you have more than one favorite game in mind, great! That just means more practice - and more fun! But let's focus on one game at a time. You can come back and repeat the steps for the next game.
Now, to find a plot synopsis of your game, simply enter into your favorite search engine something like [insert name of video game here] narrative, or [insert name of video game here] synopsis. For the video clips, try searching on YouTube. Ideally, we want one of the clips to be early in the game, and the other one sometime later on. You can try search terms in YouTube like [insert name of video game here] opening, or [insert name of video game here] cutscene.
Here's our overall goal, what we want to accomplish by engaging in this exercise - let's listen to the authors of the book here for a moment:
Reflect on, and write about, what you learned and discovered by reading the synopsis and viewing the video clips. Here are some questions to guide you in this process:
Is the video game telling a story? If so, how is it telling a story? What is the story about? Who are the main characters of the story?
What is the dialogue between the characters (if any) telling you?
Are there flashbacks in time? Are there written or verbal descriptions of anything? Are there any other unique elements/effects being utilized? If so, what purpose(s) are these parts serving? Do they offer insight to a larger story, or theme, or message?
Look at the order of things - why, do you think, the game's creators chose the order of events and effects that they did? Would there be things not making sense if the order was changed, even slightly?
After going through this exercise, you may be surprised at what you learn about your favorite video game(s)! As the authors of the book point out, "In fact, some students have been surprised during this brief study, saying, 'I didn't even realize this was telling a story the whole time!'" (Lehman and Roberts, 2014, p. 55).
We'll close with another observation by the authors, this one involving a class of sixth graders:
The next time you play that favorite video game of yours, don't be surprised if you find yourself thinking about it differently after this activity!
Happy Learning,
Mr. Robertson
Feel free to share your favorite video game and thoughts after completing this exercise in the comments section below. We'd love to hear from you!
In a previous post I recently published here on this blog, I adapted a fun activity/lesson from the book for you to try involving your favorite song. In this post, I have from the book another activity/lesson for you involving your favorite video game. Let's get started.
The post involving songs has its focus on examining text closely. This lesson involves looking at the structure of something. See, authors, editors, screen writers, movie directors, playwrights, engineers, builders, inventors, scientists, artists - video game publishers - etc., etc., all create with a structure in mind. It's this structure - essentially, the way and the order in which something is assembled, packaged, and presented - that gives the final product its meaning, purpose, function, and value.
For this activity, you'll need paper, a pen or pencil, a plot synopsis of your favorite video game, and a couple video clips from the game you selected. If you have more than one favorite game in mind, great! That just means more practice - and more fun! But let's focus on one game at a time. You can come back and repeat the steps for the next game.
Now, to find a plot synopsis of your game, simply enter into your favorite search engine something like [insert name of video game here] narrative, or [insert name of video game here] synopsis. For the video clips, try searching on YouTube. Ideally, we want one of the clips to be early in the game, and the other one sometime later on. You can try search terms in YouTube like [insert name of video game here] opening, or [insert name of video game here] cutscene.
Here's our overall goal, what we want to accomplish by engaging in this exercise - let's listen to the authors of the book here for a moment:
As we look at the most popular games out there, most have one thing in common - a compelling story that stretches across the game and gets us to invest in the character we are playing. In video games, the same structures are often used as in books - ways of organizing - like the plot mountain, or techniques like descriptions and dialogue. Let's see if we can find these structures in the games we play. (Lehman and Roberts, 2014, p. 55)Next, read the synopsis of the game that you found, followed by viewing the video clips that you located.
Reflect on, and write about, what you learned and discovered by reading the synopsis and viewing the video clips. Here are some questions to guide you in this process:
Is the video game telling a story? If so, how is it telling a story? What is the story about? Who are the main characters of the story?
What is the dialogue between the characters (if any) telling you?
Are there flashbacks in time? Are there written or verbal descriptions of anything? Are there any other unique elements/effects being utilized? If so, what purpose(s) are these parts serving? Do they offer insight to a larger story, or theme, or message?
Look at the order of things - why, do you think, the game's creators chose the order of events and effects that they did? Would there be things not making sense if the order was changed, even slightly?
After going through this exercise, you may be surprised at what you learn about your favorite video game(s)! As the authors of the book point out, "In fact, some students have been surprised during this brief study, saying, 'I didn't even realize this was telling a story the whole time!'" (Lehman and Roberts, 2014, p. 55).
We'll close with another observation by the authors, this one involving a class of sixth graders:
...we read through the first part of the synopsis of the popular game Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Sony Computer Entertainment 2011). Together, we used our structure chart (see Figure 4.2 on p. 54) and determined that the first part of the synopsis is the 'exposition,' which includes a flashback to Drake as an orphan and ends with him meeting his mentor, Sully, who teaches him to become a thief. The class then briefly talked together about the purpose of that part. First, they noticed that the flashback helped us understand Drake and even care about him. One student said, 'Drake is lost and alone as a kid, so maybe we feel bad for him, like it's OK that he is stealing things. Or at least a little bit more OK.' (Lehman and Roberts, 2014, pp. 55-56)Lastly, with our participation in this fun learning activity, we're further enhancing a number of skills, and you may not even be aware of it. Just as with the activity involving your favorite song, we're working on our listening, writing/communication, reading, and critical thinking/reflection skills. We're building new connections in our minds, and creating new meanings and understandings. As the authors state, "The first step in studying structure is being able to notice it. As students learn to see the parts of things, the steps involved, they develop the ability to see how those parts work and interact with each other" (Lehman and Roberts, 2014, p. 56).
The next time you play that favorite video game of yours, don't be surprised if you find yourself thinking about it differently after this activity!
Happy Learning,
Mr. Robertson
Feel free to share your favorite video game and thoughts after completing this exercise in the comments section below. We'd love to hear from you!
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Fun activity with your favorite song
Lately, I've been reading a book called, Falling in Love with Close Reading: Lessons for Analyzing Texts - and Life, written by Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts, and published in 2014.
I've adapted a fun activity/lesson from the book for you to try here, one involving your favorite song. If you have more than one favorite song in mind, great! That just means more practice - and more fun! The song or songs you have in mind must have lyrics for this activity, though. They can't be instrumentals. Come, let's dive in.
First, you'll need paper and a pen or pencil.
Next, think about your favorite song. Feel free to pull it up on your computer/listening device, if you'd like, but this isn't necessary. As you think about/listen to this song, what's coming to mind? What is the song about? What message, or messages, is the singer trying to convey? What images do you have? Jot this all down, whatever comes to mind. There are no right or wrong answers.
After you've completed these steps, look for the written lyrics to the song online. Print them off, if you can. Otherwise, have them up on your device's screen.
Read the lyrics. And don't just quickly scan them over. Really spend some time with them. It's important to examine them closely.
Now, jot down what the lyrics appear to be saying. What is the song about? What message, or messages, is the song trying to convey? What images do you have? Write it all down. Again, there are no right or wrong answers here.
Finally, look at what you wrote down the first time (after thinking about/listening to the song), and then take a look at what you wrote down the second time (after a close examination of the song's lyrics). Compare and contrast in a third writing. Synthesize and reflect. Are there any major differences between the first two writings that stand out? Any similarities? Any new ideas that emerged in your second writing after a close reading of the lyrics?
There are several main takeaways here. First, it's easy to form preconceived notions about something without really diving into the available evidence. Now, in many cases throughout life, forming preconceived notions about something without truly examining evidence may, thankfully, prove to be relatively harmless. But in other cases, it goes without saying, this can certainly be very dangerous or even fatal, for ourselves and for others.
In this instance, fortunately, we just happen to be considering a favorite song of ours, and the preconceived notions we're trying to break here may simply be differences in moods. For example, coming into this activity, perhaps you've always identified your favorite song with a joyful occasion. Maybe this song causes you to think about your favorite vacation spot, or a love interest, or what you believe was a more care-free time in your life. After going through this exercise, though, perhaps you now realize, after truly listening to the lyrics through reading them, the song doesn't have much to do at all with happiness. And vice-versa - maybe a song that you've always associated with a more unpleasant or complex time, place, or event in your life, it turns out, is actually a little sunnier in its outlook after a deeper examination of it. If the song tells of a story, maybe you realize now that you had a completely different interpretation of that story before engaging in this exercise.
Lastly, we're further enhancing a number of skills with this fun activity, and you may not even be aware of it. We're working on our listening, writing/communication, reading, and critical thinking/reflection skills. We're building new connections in our minds, and creating new meanings and understandings.
The next time you listen to that favorite song of yours, don't be surprised if you find yourself thinking about it differently after this activity!
Happy Learning,
Mr. Robertson
Feel free to share your favorite song and thoughts after completing this exercise in the comments section below. We'd love to hear from you!
If you enjoyed this activity, check out this other exercise involving your favorite video game!
I've adapted a fun activity/lesson from the book for you to try here, one involving your favorite song. If you have more than one favorite song in mind, great! That just means more practice - and more fun! The song or songs you have in mind must have lyrics for this activity, though. They can't be instrumentals. Come, let's dive in.
First, you'll need paper and a pen or pencil.
Next, think about your favorite song. Feel free to pull it up on your computer/listening device, if you'd like, but this isn't necessary. As you think about/listen to this song, what's coming to mind? What is the song about? What message, or messages, is the singer trying to convey? What images do you have? Jot this all down, whatever comes to mind. There are no right or wrong answers.
After you've completed these steps, look for the written lyrics to the song online. Print them off, if you can. Otherwise, have them up on your device's screen.
Read the lyrics. And don't just quickly scan them over. Really spend some time with them. It's important to examine them closely.
Now, jot down what the lyrics appear to be saying. What is the song about? What message, or messages, is the song trying to convey? What images do you have? Write it all down. Again, there are no right or wrong answers here.
Finally, look at what you wrote down the first time (after thinking about/listening to the song), and then take a look at what you wrote down the second time (after a close examination of the song's lyrics). Compare and contrast in a third writing. Synthesize and reflect. Are there any major differences between the first two writings that stand out? Any similarities? Any new ideas that emerged in your second writing after a close reading of the lyrics?
There are several main takeaways here. First, it's easy to form preconceived notions about something without really diving into the available evidence. Now, in many cases throughout life, forming preconceived notions about something without truly examining evidence may, thankfully, prove to be relatively harmless. But in other cases, it goes without saying, this can certainly be very dangerous or even fatal, for ourselves and for others.
In this instance, fortunately, we just happen to be considering a favorite song of ours, and the preconceived notions we're trying to break here may simply be differences in moods. For example, coming into this activity, perhaps you've always identified your favorite song with a joyful occasion. Maybe this song causes you to think about your favorite vacation spot, or a love interest, or what you believe was a more care-free time in your life. After going through this exercise, though, perhaps you now realize, after truly listening to the lyrics through reading them, the song doesn't have much to do at all with happiness. And vice-versa - maybe a song that you've always associated with a more unpleasant or complex time, place, or event in your life, it turns out, is actually a little sunnier in its outlook after a deeper examination of it. If the song tells of a story, maybe you realize now that you had a completely different interpretation of that story before engaging in this exercise.
Lastly, we're further enhancing a number of skills with this fun activity, and you may not even be aware of it. We're working on our listening, writing/communication, reading, and critical thinking/reflection skills. We're building new connections in our minds, and creating new meanings and understandings.
The next time you listen to that favorite song of yours, don't be surprised if you find yourself thinking about it differently after this activity!
Happy Learning,
Mr. Robertson
Feel free to share your favorite song and thoughts after completing this exercise in the comments section below. We'd love to hear from you!
If you enjoyed this activity, check out this other exercise involving your favorite video game!
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Weekend dance party
A couple of fun videos of the Peanuts Gang to kick off the weekend. As you'll quickly discover though, these aren't the usual Peanuts tunes...
A special thanks to Mr. Robertson's sister, Amy, for finding these videos a while back.
Enjoy!
A special thanks to Mr. Robertson's sister, Amy, for finding these videos a while back.
Enjoy!
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