Tactile Learner

the people who talk about pedagogical theory say that some students need to be doing something with their hands while learning in order to focus and pay attention. to their minds, doodling in class can be a help rather than a hindrance. i hope they're right since this is what i did in my class....hmmm

Bring on the Rules of Poetry

Tonight I had my first summer class at Chatham University. This is an experimental hybrid type of class. It is partly on campus/residency, partly on line. Three days on campus-- Wed 6-9pm, Thurs 6-9pm, Fri 9am-5pm, then four weeks of online connectivity, then three more days on campus. This class is called Bring on the Poetry and incorporates rhetoric and performance into the curriculum. I HAD to write down what the teacher, Jim Coppoc, said were his two rules of poetry (there are only two). I don't know if he came up with this off the cuff or if he has thought about it for years, but here they are:

Jim Coppoc's Rules of Poetry**

1. Have something to say
2. Don't f--k it up.

** for the purposes of this class, a poem is something that has an author (ethos) who attempts a purpose (wants the audience to think, feel, or act differently after the poem), with an audience, under a context (where it's delivered, how it's delivered, cultural context, etc.)