Makey Makey Poetry

Makey Makey Poetry at Aloha High School

This was done with a tenth grade Advanced American (pre-AP) class. This is the final project for a poetry unit during which students had written quite a few original pieces. In class, we read a lot of paired poems. By this I mean that they read poems that were paired by title or similar subject; for example, we read “Mushrooms” by Sylvia Plath and “Mushrooms” by Margaret Atwood (same title but very different) looking at how they used similar techniques and imagery to very different effect and messages. For this final project, the students have written their own paired poems (either in groups of 2-4). They also created symbolic objects for each stanza, line, or poem (it was their choice) and these symbols are what were used with Makey Makey to trigger the pre-recorded audio file of their poems saved in Scratch.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email jody_jones@beaverton.k12.or.us.

​Continue to the bottom of the post to see some more integration ideas!

Lesson Plan

Elementary

Interactive Maps or Pictures: Studying the solar system? Have students color or draw a picture of the system and then program the makey makey to open a video or audio recording on each individual planet when touched or activitated. Same principle can be applied to all posters (Life Cycle of a Salmon, Oregon Trail, Maps of the Neighborhood or School) and even dioramas! 

​OBOB Voting System, have book covers set up to "tally" votes for most liked or read book.

​Diagram a Math Equation or Story problem. Have students create a poster that solves the problem each step of the way.

---

Middle School

Interactive Book Shelf! Have Each Book Cover on a Bulletin board in the classroom or library trigger a video book review/trailer by touching it. Could be displayed on a TV or Chromebook near the bulletin board. ​

​Diagram a Math Equation or Story problem. Have students create a poster that solves the problem each step of the way.

Science: Poster of Inquiry Process or a current lab (each object matched a makey makey that details that part of the sequence).

---

Have more ideas? Please share in the comments!