activities

1. Determine the students' prior knowledge in the area of poetry. As an introduction to the unit, the class will engage in a brainstorming session. Ask students "what is poetry," and record their responses on butcher paper. Write down any prior knowledge they have about poetry such as: names of poets, subjects of poems, themes in poetry, or words they associate with poetry. Also record their feelings about poetry (scary, fun, hard, unknown, etc...) as well as any questions they have already. Keep their answers to this brainstorming exercise and revisit these ideas at the end of the unit.

2. Begin discussion of working class poetry. As a class, discuss one poem together. Discuss the main idea, the themes presented in the poem as well as the ideas about work this poem presents. Then divide the class into small groups (3-4 students per group), and give each group a copy of a poem from either Working Classics or Walt Whitman. Have each group discuss the ideas and type of work presented in the poem, and how the type of work effects the characters of the poem. This discussion should be modeled after the previous discussion involving the entire class. After group discussions, share these ideas with the entire class. Be prepared to answer and ask questions to encourage further understanding of the poems. Continue this type of discussion with other poems from the two texts.

3. Futher explortion of poetry through specific poems. Have each group choose a poem from one of the texts. This can be a poem previously discussed in class or a poem they choose independantly.

Each group will research the author, the subject matter of the poem (any historical information), and the type of work discussed in the poem in order to understand it more fully. Questions that arise will be answered on an individual basis by the teacher. A day in the computer lab or library should be provided for research, and computers with Internet access are necessary.

In order to present their research to the class, each group will determine a way to depict their poem artistically. They can make a pamphlet, a song, a video, a newspaper article, a comic strip, a children's book, or a sculpture. They must convey information about the author, the work depicted in the poem, and information about the actual poem.

After each group presents their project to the class, these projects will be shared with a local nursing home or elementary school in order to share students' new knowledge of poetry.

4. Learn from specific people how work has effected their lives. Invite several guest speakers such as: a truck driver, postal worker, firefighter, carpenter, cafeteria worker, janitor, or cashier to class.

Prior to the speaker date, brainstorm questions to ask the guests as a class. Focus on areas such as: the importance of their work to their lives, the day to day routine of their work, their feelings about their work, and the reason they chose their work.

Have each group interview one guest, and then have each group conduct research on the Internet to find out more about the profession of the guest they interviewed.

Have each group turn their information into a poem about the person they interviewed, their work, and how this work effects their life. These poems should be in the free style of the working class poetry studied in class. Attention will not be on a specific form or style, but rather on content and informaion. This is to allow students to become comfortable with this new type of expression without pressure of fitting their thoughts into a specific poetic formula.

Publish these poems on a class web page so that parents, other students, and members of the community can learn about the jobs that were investigated as well as to see the students' new understanding about poetry.

5. Have each student investigate how the work they do has effected their life. In order to make this unit of study relevant to each student, have them think about the work that they do. This work can include: homework, team practice, baby-sitting, mowing yards, or any other work they do.

After thinking about their work and the impact it has on their life, have each student write a poem about this work. Like the group poem, attention should be on the information provided and not on the form of poetry.

Have each student provide feedback on two classmates' poems, and allow time for revision of each poem.

Publish each poem on the class web site.

6. Recall initial thoughts on poetry, and see if these have changed. Present the butcher paper from the first brainstorming exercise on poetry to the class. Discuss how their perceptions of this art form have changed or stayed the same, and what they have learned over the past two weeks. What do they know now about poetry or work that they did not know before this unit? Discuss questions that they still have about poetry, and the steps they want to take to answer these questions. End the unit by reading a few selections of poetry from the two volumes used previously.