I tried a lesson on Poem Art on An Hour of Code tonight. I was skeptical about how this would relate to anything I would do in a senior ELA class. However, this was an enjoyable and educational way to incorporate computer science and a lesson on mood in poetry.

I first learned about choosing a background colour and text effect that suited the mood of a poem. Below, I chose a yellow background and a typewriter sound effect. I thought this was a great introduction to visually representing mood.

Next, I focused on what sounds and images came to mind as I read a poem. I wrote, “A robin sitting in a nest singing proudly.” The bird song came through well in the animation; however, there was no image of a robin or nest. I found this particular lesson to be a bit of a dud even though its intention was great.

Next, I learned that the mood can change in poetry, so there was a lesson on coding line by line of a poem. Here, you can see that I have coded, “when line 1 appears, do rain effect,” and “when line 2 appears, set background to green,” etc. It was awesome to have the flexibility to show a deeper understanding of the poem.

Then, I learned about how to add and move sprites around my poem. You can see that my coding is becoming more complex and that I am using the tools I learned in previous lessons.

Overall, I enjoyed My Hour of Code and the lesson on Poem Art. I would use this program in one of my middle years ELA classes. This lesson is definitely an introductory lesson regarding the information it provides about mood, but it is still a helpful tool that I think would create a lot of student buy-in. In my current school setting (A Hutterite Colony), coding is not a skill that is important to teach; however, I see its value in other classrooms, especially with our government’s move to eliminate some previous core classes to make room for more electives. Our world and the needs of our students are constantly changing, and although change is hard, it is our job to adapt and do what is necessary for students to be successful in school and beyond.

Here’s a link if you’d like to check out my final poem art project!