The Yellowjacket Anthology of Poetry

-a webquest for middle school students

Process

Step one: Explore . Read some poems and find a poet that interests you either for his/her poetry or way of life. Check out the library or the resources page for starting points.

Step two: Gather all of the necessary biographical and bibliographical information on your selected poet. Refer to the task page for a list of the necessary information.

Step three: Select the poem or poems that will be included in the anthology.

Step four: Find a picture of the author. If the picture is not found on-line, you may use one of the school's scanners to digitize it.

Step five: Prepare your argument for the poet's inclusion in the anthology. Because the essay must be four to five paragraphs long, you should come up with at least four reasons for inclusion. For example, was the poet a trailblazer in style like E.E. Cummings? Was the poet a Poet Laureate like Alfred, Lord Tennyson? Why should he/she be remembered?

Step six: Write the persuasive essay. Type the essay using MS Word, and save it in the MrZagClass folder on the network drive.

Step seven: Make the PowerPoint presentation.  Refer to the task page for a list of the necessary information. Save it in the MrZagClass folder on the network drive.

Step eight: Learn the selected poem or poems. Learning the poem does not mean that you have to memorize the poem. You should be able to comfortably recite the poem to the class without interruption. 

Step nine: Proofread everything. Look at the evaluation page to predict your success based on the rubrics. This must be a quality product!

Step ten: Double-check the task page to make sure that you have included everything. Make sure that everything is saved in the MrZagClass folder on the network drive. Finally, sit back, relax, and read some poetry.