Anthology scoring methods and applications

Anthology Scoring

Poetry scoring: The construction of an analogy of poetic devices by the student

One method of grading students upon their comprehension of various poetic concepts (or prosody) is asking them to construct a portfolio that requires them to assemble a series of excerpts from poems that conform to certain poetic concepts studied in class. Depending on the level of the students and the grade, these concepts may include basic ideas such as oxymoron, personification, alliteration, and also more, higher-level abstract poetic ideas such as mixed metaphors. Instead of asking students to identify these concepts on a selected list of quotations provided by the current reading list from the anthology, teachers can make use of student's different learning styles by allowing students to tailor the assignment to suit their own interests and needs.

Teachers can provide a list of poetic concepts and examples from the class anthology that illustrate the required poetic devices. Then teachers can ask students to create their own portfolio of poetic quotes that illustrate the poetic devices from the anthology and/or from the students' own reading experiences. The students, so long as they are accurate, do not have to adhere to a single 'right concept,' but they must have an independent research and creative component to their portfolio. The type of creative device can be based on their choice, and the suggested options of the teacher can reflect student's different learning styles.

For example:

Visual Learners:

Visual learners often have trouble grasping different literary terms such as consonance or mixed metaphors. To help visual learners become more engaged with the assignment, students can have the option of illustrating the different excerpts of poetry that they use, once they have found appropriate literary selections that accurately illustrate the list of poetic devices provided by the teacher. Students who are visual learners may derive special pleasure from illustrating ideas such as 'oxymoron' or 'mixed metaphors' which, if literarily illustrated, can create a certain amount of visual humor. For more conceptual ideas like allusions, students can still enjoy creating pictures -- for example, the student can illustrate the poem and also the selection from literature or history to which the lines are alluding. The student may enjoy the independent nature of the assignment, and the fact that it is like creating an artistic project, rather than regurgitating literary materials. Students can then present their artwork to class.

Auditory learners:

Auditory learners may have great fun with this poetic portfolio and presentation assignment. They often enjoy reading poetry out loud, and enjoying the sounds of various poems. Encouraging them to find other poems that illustrate poetic concepts and ideas may be the beginning of a lifelong love of higher-level poetry. Auditory learners may enjoy presenting their portfolios to the class, and reading the selections or acting them out loud. This can be a teaching device for the other students, as quite often hearing and speaking poetry is a better way of understanding how poetic devices function. Students with a musical inclination may enjoy setting the poems to music, or using song as well as poetry excerpts to illustrate how popular songs contain poetic devices.