For our intro activity (ies) for Language as a Way of Knowing Unit, we’ll be playing with language a bit.

Here are a few things we’ll be doing, and they all relate to the “found” or serendipitous poetry concept- the fact you can manipulate everyday, mundane language into something more poetic.

***There are 7 activities. You need to choose 4, though you can do more (remix options count as 1). Please follow the instructions about posting and tagging so that searches will be expedited. If you can think of an alternative found poetry activity, please do it and post – it will contribute to our idea bank!

CREATIVE TASK I : BOOK SPINE POETRY

You will need to go the the library (they are expecting you) with your phone and spend some time perusing the shelves. Try to find at least 4-6 titles in order to create your poem, then shoot fairly close up.

REMIX opportunity: If you so desire, exchange 1-2 of your titles with a friend and see if you both can create new poem with entirely different meanings.

See the Galleries: http://100scopenotes.com/2013/04/02/2013-book-spine-poem-gallery/

Post photos to your blog AND to our G+ with the #bookspinepoetry

CREATIVE TASK II: BLACKOUT POETRY

This has been described by artist/author Austin Kleon as “if the CIA did Haiku”

If we don’t get newspaper, we can try it with Wired Magazines!

You can check out more of Austin’s work here:

http://austinkleon.com/category/newspaper-blackout-poems/

After you create yours we can hang them up, but please digitize it by taking a photo and posting to your blog AND our G+ with the #blackoutpoetry

CREATIVE TASK III: MAGNETIC POETRY OR WORD MOVER

Use either digital tool to create one or more poems from the words offered to you.

Magnetic: http://play.magneticpoetry.com/poem/Original/kit/

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/word-mover-b-30964.html

Export the poem as instructed on the site and post to your blog and to our G+ with #magneticpoetry

CREATIVE TASK IV: STORIFIED TWITTER POETRY

1. First think of a few hashtags. You can see the one I did for a Love Story here: http://storify.com/amyburvall/lovestory

2. Set up your Storify account if you don’t have one: http://storify.com/

3. Search for the hashtag in the corner after clicking on the Twitter bird icon

4. Sift through the tags to pull tweets  that create a sort of poem. You can extend this by adding relevant images as well (in Storify you can search other social media like Instagram and Flickr.

5. Publish your Storified poem (you will get a URL) and post to your blog AND to our G+ with the hashtag #twitterpoetry

OPTION: Instead of searching for tweets, you can search by tag for IMAGES (Flickr or Instagram) and then “add text” to your Storify

CREATIVE TASK V: CUT-UP METHOD

Check out the process and the history:

http://www.openculture.com/2011/08/william_s_burroughs_on_the_art_of_cutup_writing.html

In a small group, cut up magazines and drop the words on the table…see what kinds of poetry you can make!

Take a photo and post to blogs and G+ with #cutuppoetry

CREATIVE TASK VI: GOOGLE SEARCH FOUND POETRY

Think of an entry point and see what happens. Take a screen shot, You might want to do a couple of searches and splice together.

Post on blog as well as G+ with hashtag #Googlesearchpoem

CREATIVE TASK VII: @powerpoetry ‘s game:

#poetrywars http://blog.sumall.org/post/78149823317/how-poetry-big-data-and-technology-can-save-literacy

@powerpoetry should send you analytics regarding the “poetic quality” of your tweet”.

Take a screen shot and post to your blog and to our G+ with #poetrywars

Play BOT or NOT? (just for fun!)

This is like a Turing test for Poetry: http://botpoet.com/