what brought you to this course and what you hope to get out of the course
Enjoy a little music while you fill out the cards. I call this my "fresh-start" mix.
Now about me...
Aidan and me on Navy Pier
Mike McGuire (in bullet-point form)
married with a seven-year-old son named Aidan
grew up down the street in Mt. Greenwood
M.A. in rhetoric and composition from NEIU
B.A from UIC, double major in Enlglish (with a poetry writing emphasis) and psychology
sixth year at MVCC, 9 years in the community colleges
as a teacher, I hold my students to high stardards of excellence,
but I do all that I can to help them succeed (because I know that they can).
Aidan
Today's Objectives
to get a sense if this is the right course for you
to break/melt the ice with one another
to form groups and begin working in collaboration
to do a little fun writing
Collaborative Newspaper Poetry
To break the ice and do a little composing, let's try this.
Form groups of five.
In your groups, briefly introduce yourselves.
Consider why you are taking this course or why you care about poetry. You will write a poem to "get at" (if not answer) this question.
Remember magnetic poetry? Well, this is newspaper poetry. Find words to snip from the paper to create a poem, ransom-note-style.
Glue the clipped words to a sheet of paper to share with others.
Remember, you are five writers writing one poem. Work together.
Poems and Introductions
I bet you learned something about one another through this activity. Let's go around and see...
As a group, share your newspaper poem with the class
Next, each take a turn introducing yourself
Now, share something interesting you learned about someone else in your group through the process of working together. (Think not just about what you were told but also what you observed.)
Poets must be keen observers. It is about noticing the small but significant details of our lives.
