Language Arts Residencies: One School
Connie Clark as Emily Dickinson
Performance audiences are to be grouped
3-5, 6-8 and 9-12
Emily Dickinson for grades 3-5
three day residency
Day 1: one or two 60 minute performances, followed by Clark's meeting with core classes for further Q/A on Emily Dickinson, poetry, and 19th century life;
Day 2: compose group poems, first as a whole class, then in small groups;
Day 3: present group poems to full class; students discuss response to these poems, and possible ways to strengthen them.
Emily Dickinson for grades 6-12
three-five day residency
Day 1: one or two 60 minute performances, or one full play performance, followed by Clark's meeting with core classes for further Q/A on Dickinson, her poetry, and 19th century life;
Day 2: focus on poetry in general , bringing in the works of many poets;
Day 3: focus on speaking the poetic line, stressing the vital importance of speaking poetry with the emotions intended by the poet to bring the poem to life; students select poems they wish to work on;
Day 4: students speak poems aloud after breaking into small groups, critiquing each other as Clark mingles and makes suggestions to them as they try again;
Day 5: students speak their poems for the entire class; class discusses its response to these poems, and other possible interpretations.
Teacher Workshop Included
One after school session with teachers on speaking the poetic line with the emotions intended by the poet, to enrich work on poetry in their classes.
© 1997, 1998, 2002 Connie Clark & David M. Walker