CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
1. Maya Angelou's Study Guide
2. The Shakespeare Connection
3. Breakinitdown
1. Maya Angelou's Study Guide
Teaching resource guide with poetry exercises
www.poetryfoundation.org/downloads/BHM_HighSchool.pdf
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2. Shakespeare Connection
Shakespeare as a form of performance poetry
As Shakespeare believed in the power of words to create new social bonds and worlds, spoken word poetry artists Mayhem Poets come on a mission to change peoples’ lives and reshape society's view of poetry.
Mayhem seamlessly mixes the power of personal expression with issues of diversity and acceptance. Hilariously random topics with mind-boggling hip-hop rhythms impart a hip and positive message.
Their goal is for audiences leave forever changed and, hopefully, inspired to study and write poetry themselves.ACTIVITY: RECITATION TO PERFORMANCE
- Choose a Shakespearean monologue or soliloquy
(see http://www.bardweb.net/content/readings). - Print it out large (18 points). Cut the paper into strips with only one or two lines of text, or even shorter, so ideally, each strip contains one thought or idea. Glue each strip to its own backing so that it can be easily held.
- Everyone: stand in a circle and read your line(s), one-by-one. Continue going around, having each participant read the line(s) in different ways, adding a gesture or movement, and finally, paraphrasing it in your OWN language.
PA Academic Standards for Arts and Humanities 9.1. D. Production, Performance and Exhibition of Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts: Use knowledge of varied styles within each art form through a performance of unique work
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3. Breakinitdown
The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop—and Why It Matters
[Summary of interview between author Tricia Rose and Beth Schwartzapfel]
Author Tricia Rose believes that what began as a spontaneous form of African American cultural expression, built from the only musical tools available to poor urban youth, has become commercialized into a dangerous commodity. What the record industry is selling, Rose argues, is not music, or fashion, or television shows like Pimp My Ride or Flavor of Love. It is selling blackness. It's a very particular and narrow concept of blackness that has little to do with real people and everything to do with valorizing violence, drugs, sexism, and materialism. It's a sort of modern-day minstrelsy. Commercial hip-hop artists, with help from record companies, package themselves into what they think white people want to hear, and then sell it to them.
"Artists are getting rich," Rose says, "but at what cost?"
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
- Watch Camera Phone by The Game, ©2008 Geffen, a self-described R&B and Hip Hop song.
- What stereotypes does this music video perpetuate? Do you see this music video as an art form? Do you see it as an advertisement?
- Register your opinion at http://www.breakinitdown.org/home.htm
PA Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening 1.2. Reading Critically in All Content Areas A. Read and understand essential content of informational texts and documents in all academic areas.
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