Lesson Videos for the Classroom
Understanding the NEW Original Poetry Rubric
(13:14 min)
In this video, Jackie Trimble explains
the new Alabama original poetry rubric,
which was created in 2020.
Dr. Trimble is Prof. of English and Chair of
the Department of Languages and Literatures
at Alabama State University.
CLICK HERE for the AL Original Poetry Rubric.
CLICK HERE for the National Anthology Rubric.
Choosing Poems (8:03 min)
I this video, Davis Thompson, English teacher
at Auburn High School, gives suggestions
on how to select poems for a Poetry Out Loud competition.
Hint #1: Don’t just pick one from the A’s.
CLICK HERE for the Poetry Out Loud
National Anthology poems.
Choosing Poems 2 and 3 (6:45 min)
Davis Thompson, Auburn High School
English teacher, gives suggestions
on how to strategically select poems 2 and 3
to get better scores from the judges in a
Poetry Out Loud competition.
CLICK HERE for the Poetry Out Loud
National Anthology poems.
How to Interpret a Poem (19 min)
Jennifer Horne is the Poet Laureate of Alabama.
In this video, she talks about interpreting, approaching and engaging with a poem, using Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poem Recuerdo.
How to Read a Poem (19:13 min)
Daniel DeVaughn is a teacher at UAB and
a writer at Alabama Writer’s Forum.
In this video, talks about how to read and
analyze a poem using Rita Dove’s poem
Teach us to Number Our Days.
CLICK HERE for Rita Dove’s poem.
How to Write a Poem (23:31 min)
In this video, Daniel DeVaughn talks about how to write a poem using 4 published poems:
When I hear the Learn’d Astronomer by Walt Whitman
Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
A Blessing by James Wright
Crossing by Keetje Kypers
Writing a Social Challenge Poem (14.35 min)
Jonathon “JP da Poet” Peterson is a
self-taught, award-winning, spoken word poet.
In this video, he talks about how to write a poem
about a current social topic using as an example
his latest poem, If Black Lives Mattered.
Writing Poetry Workshop Part I (16:07 min)
Dr. Jacqueline Trimble is a Professor of English and
the Chair of the Department of Languages and
Literatures at Alabama State University.
In part I of her 3-part workshop, Dr. Trimble discusses the elements of poetry: Form, music, line, subject, and language. Students are asked to read 3 poems:
The Illiterate by William Meredith
My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun
by William Shakespeare
Spoon Ode by Sharon Olds
Writing Poetry Workshop Part I (15:44 min)
In part II of this workshop, Dr. Trimble talks in detail about how to approach a subject. For example,
“Verbs gives life to line”, and
“Take the "‘ings’ out of your poems”.
Students are asked to read 2 poems:
American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin
[“I lock you in an American sonnet that is part prison”] by Terrance Hayes
The Possessive by Sharon Olds
Writing Poetry Workshop Part III (15:29 min)
In part III of this workshop, Dr. Trimble
talks about line as a unit of attention.
Students are asked to read 2 poems:
The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams
won’t you celebrate with me by Lucille Clifton
Click on the image to access
Dr. Trimble’s PowerPoint presentation
of her Writing Poetry Workshop.
Reciting Poetry, Part I (12:44 min)
Ronald McCall is an award-winning actor, a vocalist, director, and teaching artist.
In this video, he talks about how to effectively communicate a poem. Poems recited in this video:
Frederick Douglass by Robert Hayden
We Are Seven by William Wordsworth
We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Reciting Poetry, Part II (23:45 min)
In this video, Mr. McCall talks about recitation, research, performance, and the 10 elements of drama.
Poems recited in this video:
Come, said my Soul by Walt Whitman
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, (340) by Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson at a Poetry Slam by Dan Vera
Performing with intensity (15:52 min)
Jahman Hill is an award winning poet, playwright, professor, and co-founder of the Flourish Alabama
In this video, he talks about
the 3 P’s in performance poetry:
PRONUNCIATION
PACE
PAUSE
Movement for Storytelling (21:11 min)
Eric Marable Jr. is a creative and teaching artist from Birmingham, AL. Eric has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alabama with a major in theatre/minor in creative writing.
In this video, he talks about purposeful and intentional movement.
Poetry Out Loud is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
It is a partnership with the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the Alabama Arts Alliance.
Original Poetry State Awards are provided by the Alabama Writer’s Forum.
