Chicago State of Mind

This past Monday at Howe, we merged poetry & rap with their intuitive collaborator — basketball. We began by defining poetry — getting creative with words to express emotions. Then we explored other places where words are used creatively, quickly landing on music! As corny as it may sound, music is an incredible avenue to explore what we already know about form & structure (verse, chorus, bridge), wordplay (lyrics, rhymes, double-entendres), and style (genre)! Students named their favorite rappers and found themselves with an awesome list of poets. The theme of the day: Rhyme. With a basketball, we stood in a big circle, picked a word to rhyme with, and passed the ball to each other, with every catcher adding a new word. It was highly competitive and included some very virtuosic throws. Afterwards, we listened to Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”, and the students wrote their own versions, with one group penning “Chicago State of Mind.”