Initial response Close study Significance Informed reaction

Introductory activities

Begin by setting out some expectations and intentions for the upcoming unit of work:

  • Students will be exploring a range of poems from Maxine Beneba Clarke’s collection It’s the Sound of the Thing.
  • They will have an opportunity to write and perform poetry, reflecting on the creative process and their own decisions.
  • They will begin learning the skills of close analysis: reading and annotating a text and discussing its meaning.
  • They will also have an opportunity to explore poems in a form of their choosing, creating a presentation.

Personal response on reading the text

Encourage students to consider and discuss Clarke’s goals in authoring a text like this. It may help to listen to her interview with The Garret podcast, particularly 03:33–05:50.

It’s the Sound of the Thing is subtitled ‘100 new poems for young people’. In her Note on p. 1, Clarke states that poetry ‘can capture in so few words the essence of a life, a happening, a thing or a feeling’. Her aim is to convey this to ‘a new generation of readers, and hopefully encourage some poets-in-the-making’.

After some discussion, distribute sticky notes (or use a platform like Figma or Padlet) and guide students to:

  1. Brainstorm an everyday moment in their life.
  2. Write a four- to eight-line poem that captures the feeling or energy of that moment.

Students can stick their poems to the walls and undertake a gallery walk, reading and reflecting on their peers’ responses. Afterwards, invite them to talk about the moments they chose to capture.

Exploring poems

The following activities will introduce students to some unique forms of poetry, and give them an opportunity to engage with the subversive and collaborative aspects of Clarke’s collection. Use them at your discretion, either as starter activities to begin lessons or to break up subsequent learning sequences.

Picture poems

Read the poems ‘Leaves’ (p. 164), ‘Ice-cream Line’ (p. 174), and ‘Art is at the heart of all that we are’ (p. 103). Facilitate discussion around the following questions:

  • How does the arrangement of words enhance the meaning of the poems?
  • Pick one of the poems. What is more important for the reader: the words or the way they are arranged?

Students will then create their own picture poem by:

  1. Selecting a subject (offer some simple suggestions like a food, the weather, an animal, etc.).
  2. Sketching an outline of the subject on paper or their device.
  3. Filling the shape with text (NOTE: You may wish to stipulate that students complete this step prior to drawing, or support them by highlighting the differing contents – narrative, imagery, repetition – in Clarke’s examples).

Students can share their completed poems in a manner appropriate to your classroom context (e.g. display them around the classroom, organise a gallery walk, upload them to a central online resource).

List poems

Read the poems ‘22 Reasons I Can’t Sleep’ (p. 183) and ‘Things I Count to Keep Calm’ (pp. 76–77).

Students will create their own list poem based on one of the following ideas (or one of their own choosing):

  • Being stuck on a long car trip with someone annoying
  • Getting ready for a big performance or game
  • A student’s first day at a new school
  • Hiding under the bed during a game of hide and seek

Encourage students to experiment with the following:

  • Focusing each line on a single image, action, or detail
  • Using humour, exaggeration, or sensory language
  • Incorporating rhyme, repetition, or rhythmic structure

You may wish to invite students to recite their poems. Others who wrote about the same topic can agree or ‘check off’ the items on their list, or share different ones.

Found poems

Read the poems ‘Dog Park Notice’ (p. 190), ‘Sticky Note’ (p. 111), and ‘Text Shrug’ (p. 99). Facilitate discussion around:

  • Who the poems are potentially addressed to
  • The simplicity of the language
  • What the poems are expressing

NOTE: ‘Text Shrug’ contains the abbreviation ‘idgas’, which itself contains a mature word. Teacher discretion is advised.

Students will then create a short poem for someone else to ‘find’:

  1. Give each student a sticky note or other small piece of paper. Alternatively, ask them to bring in an object to write on (e.g. a receipt, ticket stub, envelope).
  2. Students will select someone to ‘find’ their poem (e.g. a friend, teacher, parent) and brainstorm a place they could leave it.
  3. Students then write their poem. Reiterate that this must be a short message to the recipient.

Facilitate distribution of the poems as you see fit. This activity can be extended by asking students to take photographs of where they ‘left’ their poem.

Analysis of poetry

As students will be analysing several poems from Clarke’s collection, they will need to be familiar with the key tenets of close analysis:

  • Context
  • Language
  • Form/structure
  • Performance

Depending on their prior knowledge and experience, your students may not require a full introduction to these concepts. Short descriptors have been provided below if necessary.

Context

Context refers to the place, time, author, and theme/issue of a poem. Understanding the circumstances behind a poem’s creation can help us to analyse its meaning and purpose.

Prompt students to discuss what they have learned about Clarke so far, considering:

  • Where might she have written the poems in It’s the Sound of the Thing?
  • Who did she write these poems for?
  • How did this influence her subject material?
Language

Language is a key consideration in any text study, but it is particularly important in poetry. Poems use a variety of literary devices to make meaning and express emotion. Examples include:

Appraise your students’ knowledge as you see fit. There are a variety of resources on Kahoot, Quizlet, Blooket, and so on to assist with this.

Form/structure

Form/structure refers to how a poem is put together. There are many different types of poems, and the ‘rules’ of a particular form dictate the way the writing is organised.

Students will not need extensive knowledge of structural features and conventions, only the basics:

Performance

Performance refers to the way in which a poem is delivered or received. Spoken word poetry is a distinct form, but the performance of any poem – including the speaker’s verbal and physical choices – can enhance meaning and engage audiences.

Students should define the following prosodic and paralinguistic elements:

You can demonstrate these elements using a recorded poetry reading. Options include:

Synthesising task

Students can demonstrate their understanding by applying the tenets of close analysis to a short poem or poetry-adjacent text of their choosing. Working individually or in small groups, they can complete the following steps:

  1. Select an (appropriate) text. You may need to guide students to choose acceptable material; they can use a poem from It’s the Sound of the Thing or an excerpt of a song (up to a verse/chorus) in line with fair dealing for education.
  2. Write the poem/lyrics on a blank sheet of paper or in a word processor.
  3. Practise annotation skills by identifying language techniques and structural elements in the text. What effect do they have?

Using their annotations, students will create a poster explaining what they believe the meaning of the text is, and how this is evident from the techniques/elements they’ve identified. The posters can be presented physically or digitally, and students should have an opportunity to peruse their peers’ work.

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The writer’s craft

Given the number of poems in It’s the Sound of the Thing, it is recommended that you focus on a handful that encompass a variety of techniques, forms, and opportunities for performance. Four have been selected for the purpose of this unit.

The following activities are agnostic in prescribing thematic ideas, giving space for teachers to develop interpretations with their students. The poems have been ordered to stagger the introduction of new elements, providing students with multiple opportunities to interrogate how particular features can be used to create meaning.

Each poem can be studied over the course of 90 minutes using the same format:

  • Introduce the poem by reading the preamble and defining the stylistic features. If needed, review the elements of Language and Form/Structure from the previous section (under Analysis of Poetry) and add them to an ongoing class glossary.
  • Read, annotate, and discuss the poem. The suggested activities are content- and skills-based, so you can employ whatever strategies are appropriate for your classroom context (e.g. worked examples, reciprocal reading, think-pair-share, individual analysis).

You can then have students complete one or more of the following additional activities:

  • Answer the provided analysis questions
  • Engage in a performance (this has been designed for a physical classroom but can be adapted for other learning environments)
  • Complete a short creative writing task (there are three options to choose from, differentiated in both length and complexity)

‘Confiscated’ (pp. 142–143)

‘Confiscated’ is similar to a ballad. It has an ABCB rhyme scheme, is arranged in quatrains, and uses six to nine syllables per line. In ‘Confiscated’, the speaker laments the loss of their phone, highlighting all the things they’re missing out on.

Review the relevant stylistic features as a class (PDF 01, 71KB).

Analysis
  • Who do you think the speaker is? Find three lines that provide information about the narrator.
  • How does Clarke use juxtaposition to convey the speaker’s emotion? Find two contrasting examples of how they feel with/without their phone.
  • How does the speaker’s emotion change throughout the poem? Highlight the stanzas that show this change.
  • How does Clarke use amplification to convey the speaker’s emotion? Find two examples where additional information has been added to exaggerate the speaker’s feelings.
  • Using your knowledge of language devices, find two additional techniques in this poem.
Performance

Place students in groups of three or four to prepare an oral performance of the poem.

  1. Using their annotations and notes from any discussions, students should collaboratively identify the tone and emotion of the speaker in ‘Confiscated’.
  2. Prompt students to consider physical and verbal elements that could enhance their performance. They should choose particular lines or moments to highlight, considering appropriate gestures and expressions as well as tone and intonation to convey emotion.
  3. Each group member will choose (or will be assigned) a character from the poem: the speaker, Dad, or Leroy/Jay. Depending on group size, they may wish to nominate a singular speaker/narrator.
  4. Allow time for students to rehearse, then have them deliver their performances.

Afterwards, facilitate discussion around the following questions:

  • Did hearing the poem performed feel different to reading it individually?
  • What parts of the poem felt more impactful? What contributed to this?
  • What emotions did students feel performing the poem?
Creative writing
Option 1 Add two more stanzas to ‘Confiscated’. Try to keep a similar structure and rhyme scheme.
Option 2 Write a sequel to ‘Confiscated’, describing what the speaker did once they got their phone back.
Option 3 Re-write ‘Confiscated’ with Dad as the speaker, explaining his perspective.

‘The Way Down the Block’ (pp. 4–7)

‘The Way Down the Block’ is a free verse poem, meaning it has no prescribed rhyme scheme or structural arrangement. In ‘The Way Down the Block’, the speaker reflects on the people and places in their local neighbourhood and the community they share.

Review the relevant stylistic features as a class (PDF 02, 69KB).

Analysis
  • Who do you think the speaker is? Find three lines that provide information about the narrator.
  • How does Clarke use repetition to convey the speaker’s meaning? Find two examples.
  • How do the stanzas change throughout the poem? Highlight the indents and line breaks that show this change.
  • How does Clarke use onomatopoeia to convey specific sensations? Find two examples where words have been used to add the feeling of motion or movement.
  • Using your knowledge of language devices, find three additional techniques in this poem.
Performance

Students will record an audio or video performance of ‘The Way Down the Block’ or a poem of their creation (see Option 3 below). Depending on your classroom context, you may decide to take students into your local community to film and record narration, or assign the task to be completed as homework in their own time.

Prompt students to consider the role of onomatopoeia in the poem and attempt to include appropriate sound effects to augment their performance. They can record the sounds themselves or add them from a source like Openverse.

Screen the finished audio/video pieces. Afterwards, facilitate discussion around the following questions:

  • Did being able to see/hear the environment described in the poem change your impression of it?
  • Did creating this text make you reflect on any parts of your world you haven’t thought about before?
  • Are there any other ways technology can evolve or enhance the way people engage with traditional text forms?
Creative writing
Option 1 Add another section/character to ‘The Way Down the Block’. Try to follow the poem’s existing structure.
Option 2 Write a poem about a place or event, incorporating repetition and onomatopoeia.
Option 3 Write your own poem in a similar style to ‘The Way Down the Block’. Mention walking through four different parts of your local community.

‘The Messy Room Limericks’ (pp. 23–25)

‘The Messy Room Limericks’ are limericks that follow some of the common features of the form. This includes the traditional AABBA rhyme scheme and a distinctive rhythm created by stressed and unstressed syllables. These limericks are about a teenage boy whose mother tells him to clean his room.

Review the relevant stylistic features as a class (PDF 03, 69KB).

Analysis
  • Who do you think the speaker is?
  • How does Clarke use punctuation to structure the poem?
  • How does rhythm function in the poem? How does this work together with the structure and rhyming patterns?
  • How does the limerick style contribute to the poem’s overall effect?
Performance

Students will deliver a whole-class performance of the poem. Use the first stanza to model a call and response-style reading as follows:

Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 Line 4 Line 5
Teacher Class Teacher Class Teacher

As you do so, emphasise and reinforce the rhythm that is created through stressed and unstressed syllables.

Depending on your class size, you may wish to place students in groups with assigned stanzas or allocate lines to individuals. Give students some time to practise their line(s). You might prompt them to accompany their performance with a physical action (e.g. clapping) to reiterate the rhythm of the poem.

When they are ready, the class will perform the poem. Afterwards, facilitate reflection on the following:

  • How did you feel being part of this performance?
  • How important is rhythm as a tool for poets?
  • What other examples of rhythmic or call and response texts can you think of (e.g. school carnival chants, jump rope songs, military cadences)?
Creative writing
Option 1 Add two more limericks to ‘The Messy Room Limericks’, describing the mother cleaning the house.
Option 2 Write a set of limericks about your own room/house.
Option 3 Write a set of limericks that humorously describe an interaction with someone in your family.

‘TikTok Dance’ (pp. 34–36)

‘TikTok Dance’ is another poem with quatrains and a loose ABCB rhyme scheme. Like ‘Confiscated’, some lines are repeated, but the poem is circular rather than linear, ending (almost) the same way it began. In ‘TikTok Dance’, Clarke comments on the way social media trends spread in the modern world.

Review the relevant stylistic features as a class (PDF 04, 69KB).

Analysis
  • Who do you think the speaker is? Find three lines that provide information about the narrator.
  • How does Clarke create rhythm in this poem? Label the different punctuation marks and record the number of syllables in each line.
  • How does the speaker’s emotion change throughout the poem? Highlight the stanzas that show this juxtaposition.
  • How does Clarke use repetition throughout the poem? Identify the lines and stanzas that are repeated.
  • Using your knowledge of language devices, find two additional techniques in this poem.
Performance

Students will create a dance sequence and transcribe it in a stanza of poetry. You may wish to begin by jointly interpreting and performing the choreography from ‘TikTok Dance’.

Give students time to prepare their dances in pairs or small groups. They can choose to adapt an existing trend or come up with their own. Prompt them to consider Clarke’s emphasis on simple and inclusive actions (e.g. clap, spin, jump, hop) and encourage them to incorporate these into their own choreography. They should also attempt to write a rhyming stanza that reflects the sequence of dance moves.

Invite the groups to demonstrate and then teach their dances to the rest of the class. Afterwards, prompt discussion around the following questions:

  • How did it feel to teach the class?
  • Did combining movement with poetry change the way it felt?
  • Do you think more people would enjoy or connect with poetry if it were presented like this?
Creative writing
Option 1 Add an additional two stanzas to ‘TikTok Dance’, using repetition and introducing a new character.
Option 2 Rewrite ‘TikTok Dance’ about a different trend that you have followed. Describe how it began and how it spread.
Option 3 Write a poem about an ironic situation in which the speaker’s expectations are subverted in a humorous way.

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Ways of reading the text

Considering significance

Once students have worked through the sequence of poems in the Close Study section, prompt them to revisit and reflect on Clarke’s interview with The Garret (or listen to it for the first time now, if it was not part of your Initial Response). Also revisit her Note on p. 1 of It’s the Sound of the Thing, reflecting on her intentions for the collection.

Display this 2023 book review and read through it as a class, drawing particular attention to the observations in the second paragraph. Students should discuss whether they agree or disagree with the reviewer, and whether their perspective of what poetry is – and their attitude towards it – has changed. Depending on time, this could be done as a whole-class debate or as an individual reflective writing task.

Rich assessment task

Research presentation

Students will conduct research and produce either a piece of short-form media (e.g. podcast, TikTok-style video, video essay) or a short presentation based on It’s the Sound of the Thing.

Present students with the success criteria for this task. They will be required to demonstrate their understanding in the following areas:

Form / structure Students should identify the form of their chosen poem(s), describe the conventions, and identify how those conventions have been used.

Extend students by prompting further research of other notable poems in the same form.
Language Students should present annotated copies of their chosen poem(s). This should include identification and discussion of specific language features.

Extend students by prompting discussion of other notable examples of these language features in poems, songs, or other texts.
Meaning / connections Students should document and present the ‘meaning’ or purpose of the poem(s) and make connections to other texts and/or their own lives.

Students can peruse the Index on pp. 194–195 and select one or more texts in a particular poetic form. You may wish to set parameters or stipulate requirements for particular forms (e.g. that students must analyse at least four haikus) depending on the number and length of the poems.

Depending also on your classroom context, you can make this an individual or group task. Either place the students in threes or allow them to form their own groups. For a greater degree of responsibility, give each group member a specific area to focus on.

Students should select their poem(s) and fill out the planning template (PDF 05, 50KB). They can then complete the rest of the task (researching the form, annotating their poems, and creating their presentation or short-form media) over two to three hours.

NOTE: You can allow more or less time for this task according to the number and length of the poems.

Once completed, arrange for students to submit their work and present to their cohort as you see fit. Both the presenter(s) and the audience can be extended through follow-up questions about the prepared content.

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Synthesise core ideas

Either of the following activities can constitute an end-of-unit Rich Assessment Task. If time allows, you can use one as a formative demonstration of understanding earlier in the unit (e.g. at the end of the Close Study section).

Rich assessment tasks

1. Close analysis

Students should compose a close analysis paragraph in response to one poem from It’s the Sound of the Thing. Distribute the assessment rubric (PDF 06, 55KB) and set out the requirements as follows:

  • Write 300–400 words
  • Discuss at least one language feature and one formal/structural feature

Beyond this, you should feel free to adjust the conditions to best suit your classroom context. For example:

  • You may prescribe the poem or allow students to choose freely (or from a curated list)
  • You can choose to give students annotation time or allow them to bring in an annotated copy of the poem
  • For remote/digital classrooms, you may wish to remove timed conditions and instead explicitly warn students against using generative AI

You can scaffold this task by explaining how to write a close analysis and utilising examples. Students should attempt to:

1. Present an interpretation of a central theme or idea in the poem. For example:

In her poem ‘Confiscated’, Maxine Beneba Clarke humorously presents the experience of a young person having their phone taken away, commenting on the anxiety young people can feel when they are separated from this crucial device.
2. Examine the features/techniques in the poem. For example:

One way this distress is conveyed is through the use of juxtaposition. The speaker worries that they’re missing out on enjoyable experiences like being invited to ‘play ball’ or ‘get a Freezie up the road’. Instead, as part of their punishment, they must ‘do my homework, and my chores’.
3. Explain how these examples contribute to the theme/idea. For example:

Through this, Clarke points out how children have become reliant on technology for social connection. Moreover, she shows how this obsession can distract them from other beneficial and necessary activities in their lives.

Remind students that their priority is not to define features or techniques. Instead, they should focus on how language choices can impact a reader, characterise key ideas, and/or present the author’s views and values.

2. Poetry folio

Students should compose a folio of poems. This will be accompanied by a description of their writing process. Distribute the assessment rubric (PDF 07, 53KB) and set out the requirements as follows:

  • Compose at least three poems
  • Write 200–300 words describing your writing process and explaining your decisions in relation to one of your poems

Again, you can make adjustments by:

  • Stipulating particular forms or an overall wordcount for the folio
  • Allowing students to refine their previous creative responses from the Initial Response and Close Study sections

When it comes to describing the writing process, it may help to outline some steps for effective justification:

1. Identify the purpose and context of the chosen poem. Explain the idea/theme and acknowledge the inspiration(s).

Prompt students to make connections to Clarke’s poetry, their own experiences, and other poems/songs/texts.

 For example:

My poem was inspired by Maxine Beneba Clarke’s poem ‘Confiscated’. I decided to write a sequel to the poem, focussing on how the speaker’s life changed once her phone was returned to her.
2. Explain the poem’s form and identify the structural conventions and formal features used.

Students should focus on the forms they’ve studied and discuss elements including rhyme scheme, stanza structure, etc.

 For example:

As my poem was a direct continuation of ‘Confiscated’, I chose to continue with the ABCB rhyme scheme, as seen in words like ‘…’ and ‘…’. This serves to …
3. Describe language choices and their effect(s).

Students can also be extended to make connections between their poem and the mentor text.

 For example:

‘Confiscated’ consistently used amplification to add emphasis to the speaker’s frustration. I continued this, but in a positive sense. Phrases such as ‘…’ and ‘…’ use amplification to …

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