Symphony of Patterns is one of the most peaceful of the classes at SCATS. Room lights were dimmed, the campers were all working diligently at tables, and Taylor Swift songs were playing in the background. That’s right, Taylor Swift.
Campers are learning all about the elements and patterns of poetry using the lyrics of Taylor Swift songs. The mnemonic they use to remember the elements is TSWIFT; theme, speaker, choice, imagery, figurative language, and tone.
The songs are an easy entry point into the more complicated aspects of poetry. Because of their familiarity with the songs, they are able to quickly identify specific examples of the different elements. Today they are working on idioms, both identifying them in the pop star’s songs and incorporating them into their own drafts of original poems.
For their final project, they will take a Swift song of their choice and use any part of it to create an original poem. Their poem must meet all the criteria established in the TSWIFT rubric. The students will have to explain how their poem meets each element of the rubric. Classmates will analyze each other’s poems and question authors to determine how well their end product matches their intent. SCATS campers have loved the class according to teacher, Rasema Hodzic. They work well when they are in groups and independently. Maybe a little T-Swift in the background would help us all relax!
