text: (This is part of the Slice of Life Challenge with Two Writing Teachers. We write about small moments each and every day for March. You come, too. Write with us.)
  Yesterday, I was collecting voices from across the world. Collecting and collating voices. It was all part of an impromptu digital adventure that emerged from a P2PU Course called Rhizomatic Learning. The course ended but our inquiry has not, and so when one of the participants began to write a style of poem that has 11 words on Twitter based on days of the week, I had this idea: what if each day, more and more people wrote and podcasted and shared poems from the week? And what if we pulled them all together?
  That was my job, and so yesterday, I was using Audacity to string together more than 30 audio files of podcasts from folks from all geographical spaces around the globe but whose footprints are all over my #11poem Twitter hashtag feed: Ron, Marianna, Tanya, Nick, Simon, Terry and Estelle. They generously lent me their words and their voices, and I stitched us together into this single podcast.
  Listen to it. Every time I do, I am amazed at how it blends and flows, and how the digital composing transforms each of our single poems into something larger and incredibly amazing. The shortness of the poetic style, the common themes, and the use of voice … even after listening to it many times as I was editing it together, I still find it amazing to hear.
  I’m still thinking about where we go from here. It feels as if there is something else that needs to happen with the collective podcast of poems, but I am not sure yet what that is. I’ll share out some of our resources tomorrow, and there will be an invite for you to remix us. For now, I invite you to listen to the voices.
  And write your own poem. You’re invited.
  Here is a visual collection of my poems from the week:
  Peace (in the poetry),
  Kevin
  This entry was posted in Poetry, Slice of Life and tagged #11poem, #rhizo14. Bookmark the permalink.
  Post navigation
  Previous
  Next
  13 Comments
  Richard Mitchell
  March 3, 2014 at 7:10 am
  Reply
  This is really cool! I think you could definitely use this in your classroom, especially if you have and use Audacity. That’s a great program. Thanks for sharing!
  smpeters
  March 3, 2014 at 7:12 am
  Reply
  Thank you so much for sharing. I love your idea of capturing a collective voice from around the world. Wouldn’t it be great to implement in our classrooms! Any takers?
  Carrie Finn
  March 3, 2014 at 8:20 am
  Reply
  What a fantastic idea! I love taking my student’s words and combining them to form poetry, but this goes above and beyond. Thanks for the inspiration today!
  Stacey
  March 3, 2014 at 2:43 pm
  Reply
  This is fantastic, Kevin! I’ve never used Audacity before. Definitely want to give it a try now that you’ve written about it.
  dogtrax
  March 3, 2014 at 6:38 pm
  Reply
  Audacity is an open source recording platform. Free.
  Bonnie K
  March 3, 2014 at 3:36 pm
  Reply
  Love the voices and the words. Such a cool project. I am breathless 🙂
  dogtrax
  March 3, 2014 at 6:38 pm
  Reply
  Thanks!
  Carol Varsalona
  March 3, 2014 at 7:56 pm
  Reply
  Love this global activity. My thought to add to the voices:
  Sunday
  Breath of life day.
  Spirit-filled, moving
  Toward a positive week.
  dogtrax
  March 3, 2014 at 8:38 pm
  Reply
  Anytime someone leaves me a poem, I consider it a gift.
  Thanks
  Kevin
  Fran
  March 3, 2014 at 7:58 pm
  Reply
  Wonderful! What a great way for students to focus on “phrasing” – an important facet of fluency!
  msward
  March 3, 2014 at 10:26 pm
  Reply
  I love this! The voices, your words flow together so effortlessly. What a beautifully collaborative piece. I would love to share this with my 10th grade students and challenge us to complete a similar activity in our daily writer’s notebooks.
  Mandy Robek
  March 3, 2014 at 11:21 pm
  Reply
  Fascinating. It all comes together smoothly and I would of imagined you did this together in one room. I want to give it a try.