This is the result of the two days of work by the students. First, they had to identify the themes of the Harlem Renaissance and then they were asked to apply those themes to their own lives. This particular piece comes from an extremely diverse group of students: two boys-- one first generation Asian American, one Austrian immigrant, and two girls-- one Mexican American and one European American. I think their diversity shows in the piece not because they talk about all the ways they have individually lived out the themes of the Harlem Renaissance, but because they found a theme that was relevant for all four of them and dove into that theme of self-expression as young men and women living in a society that holds prejudices against teenagers.
If you have trouble reading the student's handwriting, there is a second page with a typed out version of the piece. The green and pink colors represent which student was speaking when. A large part of Spoken Word pieces is the layering of voices and the students wanted to make sure that aspect of Spoken Word was a part of their piece.
If you have trouble reading the student's handwriting, there is a second page with a typed out version of the piece. The green and pink colors represent which student was speaking when. A large part of Spoken Word pieces is the layering of voices and the students wanted to make sure that aspect of Spoken Word was a part of their piece.
Understanding: These students had a deep understanding of the themes of the Harlem Renaissance. Initially, I hesitated to give them a grade on this section because there is little evidence in this specific piece that is discernible as understanding. However, I choose to not only keep this section but also give the students a 10/10 because I was able to watch them go through the process of picking a theme and creating their Spoken Word piece. They were heavily invested in sticking true to the theme of the Harlem Renaissance, and at one point Kate* said to her group, “Langston Hughes would not have approved that line, we need to change it.”
Analysis: Similarly to the Understanding section, I gave the group a 10/10 partly because of what I saw them create and the way in which I saw them create their piece. The other part of their analysis that earned them a 10/10 was the fact that they were able to understand and analyze the tone of poets like Hughes and McKay. Over the duration of the week, I has students look at quite a few poems and analyze them for message, theme, and tone. This group of students picked up on the tone from those poets. Instead of simply taking the theme of self-expression and running with it, they analyzed the tone and voice of the Harlem Renaissance and used that same tone to create their piece.
Application: This piece gets a 10/10 for application because of every reason I mentioned above. The students understood the themes, thought critically about the poets’ views and tone, and connected deeply to their own lives. They were able to create a well-developed Spoken Word piece in roughly 30 minutes.
Connections: In this section, I gave the students an 8/10 because I felt they could have pushed themselves and added a line or stanza to connect back to the Harlem Renaissance. It wasn’t required that students explicitly connect their work back to the Harlem Renaissance, however because of how in tuned this group was with the tone and theme from the poets of this time, I think they could have drawn on that knowledge they had to connect themselves back into history
Analysis: Similarly to the Understanding section, I gave the group a 10/10 partly because of what I saw them create and the way in which I saw them create their piece. The other part of their analysis that earned them a 10/10 was the fact that they were able to understand and analyze the tone of poets like Hughes and McKay. Over the duration of the week, I has students look at quite a few poems and analyze them for message, theme, and tone. This group of students picked up on the tone from those poets. Instead of simply taking the theme of self-expression and running with it, they analyzed the tone and voice of the Harlem Renaissance and used that same tone to create their piece.
Application: This piece gets a 10/10 for application because of every reason I mentioned above. The students understood the themes, thought critically about the poets’ views and tone, and connected deeply to their own lives. They were able to create a well-developed Spoken Word piece in roughly 30 minutes.
Connections: In this section, I gave the students an 8/10 because I felt they could have pushed themselves and added a line or stanza to connect back to the Harlem Renaissance. It wasn’t required that students explicitly connect their work back to the Harlem Renaissance, however because of how in tuned this group was with the tone and theme from the poets of this time, I think they could have drawn on that knowledge they had to connect themselves back into history