Rhymer’s Block—Rap / Poetry Writer and Rhyme Engine – Dictionary, Lyrics, Community, Slam, Notepad, Music, Poem, Bars, Genius

Rhymer’s Block is a community of rappers and poets who create their works in this app. When launched, Rhymer’s Block provides users with a “Rhyme Book” for writing their lyrics. By clicking “Add New…” users are able to write lyrics. After each word written, Rhymer’s Block provides users with a list of words that rhyme with it. So, if the last word written was “cat,” Rhymer’s Block lists kat, scat, that, at, fat, hat, rat, and many other words that rhyme after it. Other options in the Rhyme Book include an “eyeball” that highlights rhyming words using a color-coded system, a “share” option for emailing or messaging works, and a “lock” option for uploading works to Rhymer’s Block public wall known as “The Block.” On “The Block,” users can view other users’ works that are sorted by the number of times they are given “respect” (similar to “likes” on Facebook), and “The Block” categorizes works by Newest, This Week, or All Time. Plus, users can follow other users, which is recorded by the “Profile” section. Finally, the “Settings” option allows users to control if they see curse words, the rhyme bar, highlighted rhymes, or enable autocorrect.

Instructional Ideas

1. After reading a narrative text, teachers can have students respond to it by writing a free verse or structured poem. Teachers can require that the poem reflects the text’s theme, further characterizes a person from the text, or describes a major instance from the text. Poems can be emailed to the teacher for grading or copied and pasted to a class website.
2. After studying a particular poet, students can write poems in this app that reflect the style, subject, or time period of the poet studied. Poems can be emailed to the teacher for grading or copied and pasted to a class website.
3. Teachers can allow students to compose free-verse poems and post them to “The Block.” Students can then track the comments and “respect” they receive for their writing.
4. Teachers can choose a sampling of poems posted to “The Block” that have received the most “respect.” Teachers can connect their iPad to a projector and read aloud a poem they chose to their students. After reading the poem, teachers can have students begin to analyze them by asking: (1) What poetic structures or devices can you identify in this poem? (2) What message did you receive from this poem? (3) What is the best line or lyric in this poem? (4) If you were going to comment back to the author about this poem, what would you say? Students can respond to these prompts orally or in writing.
5. Students can conduct a close read or analysis of a poem posted to “The Block.” To do so, students would first have to pick a poem and then compose an essay that analyzes the poem’s meaning. Specific prompts for students to respond to include: (1) What is the poem’s central message or theme? (2) What do you suppose the author’s purpose was for writing the poem? (3) How is this poem supposed to appeal to its readers? When writing their analysis, students will need to cite specific lines in the poem to support their claims.

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