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Writing Rhythm Poems
Students write poems in which they “see,” “hear,” and “feel” rhythms, practicing using different parts of speech.
 2 hours (can be over several sessions)
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individual, partner, whole class
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CA Writing Standard 1.0: Students progress through the stages of the writing process.
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Click here for a look at a sample student poem.
Plan
 | Read several poems from the book as a group (for example, “Birth of the Blues” (p. 8) or “Sounds of Swing” (p. 15). Discuss with the students the role of sensory imagery in poetry. Ask: How does the poem make you see, hear, or feel the scene? What are other ways that a poem can use the senses to make something come alive? Ask students to identify examples of how the senses are used in these poems.
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| Talk about the use of language patterns in the poems–how the words have a rhythm of their own, and how the poem structure helps create that rhythm. For example, in “Birth of the Blues,” the pattern is “I see the (noun) in . . . ” In “Sounds of Swing,” the pattern is the (compound adjective) (noun) of (person). Focus on the parts of speech that your class is studying: verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, and so on. Pull out examples of rich vocabulary and language patterns based on these parts of speech.
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| Generate a discussion about the importance of using descriptive language in poetry. Encourage students to refer to a thesaurus as they write their poems. Have them create their own language patterns using the parts of speech you're studying.
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Draft
Ask students to use their senses to create poems of their own that follow the structure of the book. Have each student pick a time period from the book and describe the era through the sentences “I See the Rhythm of . . . ,” “I hear the rhythm of . . . ,” and “I feel the rhythm of . . . ” (For a template, download the worksheet in the “Materials” section.)
Revise
Ask students to share their first drafts (on the worksheets) in pairs and give each other feedback. Have them use that feedback to revise their work and rewrite it on regular paper, creating second drafts. Encourage them to look at how line breaks are used in i see the rhythm and to experiment with line breaks of their own in these drafts.
Edit
Ask students to edit their second drafts for publication, checking spelling and punctuation. Read through the drafts and mark errors. Encourage students to use a word wall, a dictionary, or other classroom reference tools as they correct their work.
Publish
Publish the poems by posting them in the classroom or creating a class anthology.
Other Writing Activities
| Genre Study: Discuss the different kinds of language, sentence structure, and punctuation that the poems and the timeline use. Ask students to practice both kinds of writing as they create chronological books of their own. (Whole class)
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| Creative writing: Ask students to write first-person narratives based on a particular era. Pick a time period that students have already explored together in class, so they have some knowledge of the experiences of individuals during those times. Then ask them to imagine themselves in those moments. For example, they could respond to the “Origins” painting and text by writing narratives beginning “When I was on the boat I . . . ” or to the “Black Rock” section beginning “I am here to protest . . . ” (Individual student)
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Family History Timelines
Students interview family members about their family histories and create timelines for these histories.
3 hours (over one week).
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Generate a discussion about how we learn about the past. When students volunteer that we read books, ask them about other ways to learn about history, such as songs, poems, interviews, or family stories. Discuss oral histories and interviews as a way to learn about time periods and events.
As a homework assignment, ask students to talk to their family members (parents, grandparents, godparents, or family friends) about the students' family histories. Link these questions to the chronology of the book. Have students ask questions such as: Where were our family's “origins”? What were our family members doing during the era of “ragtime”? Have students take notes on the family interview worksheets.
Have students share interesting facts they learned with the class. Discuss the differences and similarities in the various family histories.
Using the i see the rhythm chronology as a model, have students create timelines of their family histories.
Other Social Studies Activities
| A Historical Geography of Africa and the U.S.: Using a map and colored pushpins, have students trace African American migration in the chronology, beginning in Africa with “Origins,” through the South in “Slave Songs” and “Blues,” and moving North with the Great Migration in “Ragtime.” Discuss the factors influencing migration: Why did these people leave their homes? What were they moving away from? What were they moving to?
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| Comparative History of the African Diaspora: View The Roots of Rhythm (New Video Group, 1994), a video that describes the influence of African musical traditions on Latin American music. Explore the history of slavery in Latin America and discuss the role of people of African descent in Latin American cultures.
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Seeing Rhythms
Students explore the connections between music and images by creating their own “rhythm pictures.”
1.5 hours
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whole class
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CA Visual Arts Standard 5.0: Students apply what they learned in visual arts across subject areas.
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Tape recorder or CD player; recordings of selected songs (see Resource List for ideas); pastels or crayons; drawing paper
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Play African or African American music for the students and discuss what that music might “look" like. Ask students: Would the rhythm move in waves, fly around like polka dots, or glide in straight lines?
Ask students to move to the music and explore the different ways their bodies can respond to the rhythms. How does what something sounds like connect to what it feels like? How does a body move in response to rhythm? What patterns can a body make? How could you move your arm or hand as you draw a rhythm? How does what something sounds like connect to what it looks like? Discuss the connection between rhythms and visual patterns.?
Have students create their own visual images of music using patterns to show the rhythms. Ask them to listen to music featured in i see the rhythm with their eyes closed first, then begin to draw. When a song ends, they must move on to a new artwork to convey the rhythm of the new music.
Other Art Activities
| Artistic Storytelling: Compare the paintings in i see the rhythm with Jacob Lawrence's work
in The Great Migration (HarperTrophy) and Romare Bearden's in I Live in Music (Stewart, Tabori, and Chang).
(See Resource List for more information on these books). How are the paintings similar? How are they different? How does each book tell a story through art?
(Small group)
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Fractions, Rhythms, and Beats
Students use rhythms and beats to understand the relationships between fractions and whole numbers.
45 minutes
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whole class
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CA Math Standard 3.0: Students understand the relationship between whole numbers, simple fractions, and decimals.
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CD or tape of a song mentioned in i see the rhythm. (Also helpful: a
metronome and/or a songbook with sheet music for the song.)
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Have your class listen to a song featured in i see the rhythm. Replay a small portion of the song for the class and ask them to clap, stomp, or pat out the rhythm of the song. Experiment with several other parts of the song until students have practiced clapping different rhythms.
Ask the group to clap out a steady beat. (A metronome set to 60 can help.) Explain to the class that these beats are whole notes. Then, ask some students to clap twice as fast, while others continue clapping out the original beat. Explain that these new claps are half notes and you can clap out two half notes in each whole note. Continue the demonstration with quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenths.
Explore the connections between these concepts and mathematical notation for fractions. Ask students how many half notes fit in a whole, how many quarters in a half, and so on. Draw diagrams demonstrating the relationships of these fractions to each other and to the whole. Ask students to make connections between the images and the beats. Explain that the visual and rhythmic comparisons are different ways of expressing the same idea.
Return to one of the original rhythms that the class clapped out. Ask them to clap out the rhythm again, slowly, and to identify the different types of notes.
Other Math Activities
| Fractions, Rhythm, and Beats: Listen to a song mentioned in the book, look at song in a songbook and clap, stomp, or pat out the rhythm of the song. Then, ask students to clap out a steady beat and explain that these beats are whole notes (a metronome set to 60 can help). Ask them to clap twice for every beat and explain that these are half notes. Continue with quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenths. Explore the connections between these concepts and mathematical notation for fractions. Talk with students about how many half notes fit in a whole, how many quarters in a half, etc.
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