Week 6 Days One & Two: Dramatic Poetry

This Wordle, done by Krista H. generated a lot of discussion on the video clip by Dr. Rafay Habib called Islam Against Terrorism: To a Suicide Bomber. The YouTube poem exemplified this week's focus on dramatic poetry.

http://www.wordle.net/



The lesson was done online with three discussion forums of about 8 people in each group. The discussion leaders were told ahead of time that they would have to come up with questions and facilitate the discussion. All three groups did a fantastic job. In addition to the Habib poem, two other dramatic poems were assigned: Thomas Hardy's Ruined Maid and Langston Hughes' Dream Boogie.

Here were some of the questions the Group 1 leader asked on Habib's poem:

1. What effect does seeing and hearing the poet have on the poem and the emotions it elicits?
2. Compare/contrast the tone of Habib's poem and Hardy's poem.
3. Do any stereotypes or prejudices come up when you heard the title or as you listened to the peom?
4.Do you think there could be any consequences (to the poet or to society) from this poem? It is on a sensitive subject!

Here are some answers to #3 and #4 from the students.

To answer question one for RE: Islam.
1. What effect does seeing and hearing the poet have on the poem and the emotions it illicits?

Watching the author of the poem recite it in front of camera for the audience to see and hear definitely charges many emotions. I saw the sadness in his eyes and felt the angst in his voice. This caused me to emphasize with the author. It caused me to understand what he was feeling and want what he was trying to sell.
Re: group 1

3. After listening to the poem written by Dr. Rafey Habib it has brought to my attention many other stereotypes that we see on a daily basis. Pretty much every ethnic group has a stereotype. For example when someone thinks of someone Jewish they joke about money, they stereotype that Jew's are cheap. When in reality its just a stereotype because not all Jew's are "cheap". Another stereotype that you will see almost every day is that against African Americans, some people think that because someone is black that they are a gangster or not smart, which is obviously a false judgment.


Re: group 1 9/28/2009 1:53 PM Reply
To answer question three for RE: Islam.
3. Do any stereotypes or prejudices come up when you heard the title or as you listened to the poem?

Of course, as soon as the video started. But, to clarify first, I had an uncle that I loved very much die during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Anyways, the stereotypes and the prejudices begin when I read the title. I thought to myself, how could this be true? An Islam against terrorism? Isn’t this what the religion is all about? Yet, after viewing the video, I held no prejudices, I was enlightened.


Re: Re: group 1 9/28/2009 1:59 PM Reply
I really appreciate the honesty of your post! We all have prejudices...they enable our survival. I think the distinction i have to keep in the front of my mind is that any kind of extreme brings negative results. Islam does not equate with terrorism, they are fundamentalists. I also like to think of the comparison to Christianity: Nazis are fundamentalist Christians. Most Christians don't agree with their views either. I think the poet is trying to separate the religion of Islam from people who take it to the opposite harmful extreme.


Re: Re: Re: group 1 9/28/2009 2:05 PM Reply
I really never thought of it that way. Thank you.


Re: Re: Re: group 1 9/28/2009 2:20 PM Reply
SORRY!!! i meant to say the KKK are fundamentalist Christians...not Nazis...my bad:)


Re: Re: Re: group 1 9/28/2009 3:02 PM Reply
I am Jewish, and it surprises me sometimes that some people think Jewish people have a prejudice or hatred of German people. I did not even know that anyone thought this until people asked me why I was taking German as my foreign language in high school if I hated Germans. When I said that I had absolutely no hatred for Germans, some people apologized for thinking I was Jewish. By this point I was very confused, and when I told them that I am Jewish, they seemed to have a hard time understanding the concept of a Jewish person not hating Germans. The thing is, before WWII there were a lot of Jews living in Germany. In fact, Yiddish, which is a Jewish language (Hebrew is mainly for religious ceremonies and stuff) is so closely related to German that you can understand someone speaking one language if you know the other.

I can understand Jewish people hating Nazis, but not all Germans were Nazis. Just as some people seem to think that all Muslims must be terrorists, it appears that some people also think that all Germans must be Nazis. I find this a ridiculous notion.


Re: group 1 9/28/2009 1:56 PM Reply
To answer question four for RE: Islam.

4.Do you think there could be any consequences (to the poet or to society) from this poem? It is on a sensitive subject!

Yes, I do think that there could be a consequence to both the poet and society. The consequence to the poet could include some type of assassination, considering the people that he is bashing are hostile. Another consequence includes society. This consequence, not necessarily a punishment, could include their opinions being changed.

Re: group 1 9/28/2009 3:07 PM Reply
I dont think anyone will kill him for this. If the terrorists kill him, it will only support his words. It would show that his words are true and they wanted to silence him. Like a ripple in a pond, this would cause a change in the opinions and views of many people around the world.

I do agree with you, however, on the point that this poem will have a positive impact on the world.

Re: Re: group 1 9/28/2009 3:13 PM Reply
I completely agree. Especially because the poem is aimed at such unstable people that will kill themselves to try to make a point. So chances are a terrorist could bomb his house or try to assassinate the poet.


Re: group 1 9/28/2009 2:04 PM Reply
3. Do any stereotypes or prejudices come up when you heard the title or as you listened to the poem?

When I heard the title I had a gut feeling that I knew what the poem would be about. And as I listened I realized I was correct. I found the poem to be very enlightening. Also, last week we learned about giving background information before the poem, and I thought the fact that the author spoke a little about his thoughts before reciting his poem was really great.

The other dramatic poem set to music that just about everyone enjoyed discussing and listening to was a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks called We Real Cool. They read the poem then watched and listened to this YouTube version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w-j952tOmY



Hearing the poem read aloud brought home the meaning and the tone of the poem to many of the students.

I was tickled pink with all the discussion of the poems and how one connects to the message in a poem.

Would I change anything about two two online lessons? Probably not, except maybe the choice of the poem by Neruda If you forget me. Many of the students didn't understand the theme of the poem. Perhaps that needed some contextualizing before they did their journal entry on it. Check it out and you decide if this was appropriate for a journal entry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aLC-g4U7zI