Title: American poetry

Opening activity or hook: All of my LAR lessons open with a DOL or Daily Diagram, until I feel the entire class is capable of handling good grammar.

Objectives

• SWAT enjoy poetry
• SWAT identify various structures in formal and informal poetry
• SWAT identify how poetry has be part of the American literary experience

Materials needed: Basic things to make a journal, such as construction paper.

Time Factor: no more than one day on a poem, depends on the length of the class (some schools have double periods)

Prep: Everyone will be provided materials and time in class to make their own poetry journal (see attached). This might even be given as a homework assignment. Given the opportunity, many students (all ages) will happily play with crayons and scissors to the detriment of verbal learning. Class time is for working the verbal portion of the mind, not the spatial and craft section. This is also a golden opportunity for doodling during class, and that is fine, so long as it's about the poem being read!

Process and verbal directions: Basically, the student will read (either out loud or silently) each poem, and do a reflective journal entry for each poem. Class discussion will be informal and hopefully relaxed, with the teacher facilitating large group discussion. In some cases, it might be better to allow class to split into informal study groups (depends on age level: 11th grade tends to focus more than 7th grade; groups that don't focus on their own should be given limited group work, IMHO)

Poetry vocabulary

• Imagery
• Metaphor--a comparison between two dissimilar things
• Simile
• Hyperbole
• personification
• repetition--conveys the sense of importance to a concept in the verse
• "music" --the feel of the verse, for example, so much of Robert Burns verse sounds so much better it a Scottish accent
• line--where DO you break the verse? Example: Richard (Joni Mitchell) is really all over the place, goes from free verse and free rhythm to clean regular verse. It's even messier when you hear it to the music. But it ADDS to the feel of the poem.
• Iambic pentameter--
• onomatopoeia--when a word sounds similar to it's meaning....... like buzz, plop etc. "the Bells" is a good example
• Euphony, cacophony: Latin roots for good and bad sounds
• blank verse
• ballad
• WHY poetic form is used in older dramatic forms (eg easy to remember, most Shakespearian actors were illiterate)
• sonnet
• word games eg "All in a Golden afternoon" or "The Tale" from Alice in Wonderland
• allegory
• haiku

Assessment or closing activity: The test, the project, and the journal will each count for 1/3 of the overall poetry grade. The poetry grade will then be integrated into the overall American Lit grade (probably 50/50 poetry and literature). These sorts of overall assessments are easy to change depending on the grade level and any other external factors (such as IEPs, district guidelines and principals).

First assessment, some quotes from the various poems we have read during the unit should be included in the comprehensive test, and then identified. This is a simple objective assessment, and easily graded.

In addition, each student will have a Poetry Journal for their use during the course of this class. Every poem we read, a certain portion of time in class will be allowed to do a hand written response. Each student will have a sheet with the following outline, to help them analyze the poem a bit. As well, students should be encouraged to include in their journal entry things like "I liked it because��� " "I thought it stunk because���.. " and so forth (see #9). Illustrations should be allowed in the journal as well, encouraging the processing via multiple intelligences.

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Doing Journal responses: Here are some questions you might ask when you are faced with the task of reading and writing about poetry.

• 1. Who is the speaker? What does the poem reveal about the speaker's character? In some poems the speaker may be nothing more than a voice meditating on a theme, while in others the speaker takes on a specific personality.
• 2. Is the speaker addressing a particular person? If so, who is that person, and why is the speaker interested in him or her? In a dramatic monologue , the speaker usually addresses a silent auditor. The identity of the auditor will be important to the poem.
• 3. Does the poem have a setting? Is the poem occasioned by a particular event?
• 4. Is the theme of the poem stated directly or indirectly? Some poems, use language in a fairly straightforward and literal way and state the theme, often in the final lines. Others may conclude with a statement of the theme that is more difficult to apprehend because it is made with figurative language and symbols.
• 5. From what perspective (or point of view) is the speaker describing specific events? Is the speaker recounting events of the past or events that are occurring in the present? If past events are being recalled, what present meaning do they have for the speaker?
• 6. Does a close examination of the figurative language of the poem reveal any patterns? [this is the place to use your imagination and think outside the box]
• 7. What is the structure of the poem? [this is the point to draw in your knowledge of meter, allegory, metaphor, simile etc.]
• 8. What do sound and meter contribute to the poem? Alexander Pope said that in good poetry "the sound must seem an echo to the sense". onomatopoeia
• 9. What was your response to the poem on first reading? Did your response change after study of the poem or class discussions about it?

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Assignment or homework (follow up): some of the poems will be assigned as homework, it depends on how the flow of the course goes, time factors and so forth.

As well, each student will take (before the final grade is due) one poem they really like and do a special project with it. This might be 1) research into the author's life and times 2) a three-dimensional model of something in the poem (aka in the case of Beowulf, someone might construct a Heorot Hall along the lines of Edoras in Lord of the Rings, a basic Celtic/Nordic Longhouse) 3) do a story board or illustration of their favorite poem or 4) any other good ideas kids come up with, but they have to get it approved first. One good idea would be something like Beagle's "Behind Lord of the Rings": a compare and contrast essay about a poem. 5) another good project would be to write your own poem or song and perform for the class.

For those challenged artistically, provide a costume template (included as attachment to LAR portfolio). The easiest of all is to draw a costume over the top of this, and then embellish with beads, cloth etc. The point is, to allow even students with challenges to attempt some sort of multiple intelligence project.

This special project might even be a good assignment to assign to "pairs" though as I recall being a student in High School, students tend to get together and do homework as a group, anyway. The special project in Poetry should be easy, fun and enriching for the student.

Reflection

Poetry is such a difficult thing to assess, due to the very nature of the beast. Many of us have been through our own poetry courses during public school and college. One of the reasons I have never taken a poetry course in college, is that my 8th grade teacher TWISTED our arms to WRITE poetry and I HATED it. Poetry is something I write when I feel INSPIRED, and not as an assignment!

I have nothing but admiration for a talented poet, and indeed read poetry on my own when I find it, come across it or hear of a good author. I doubt seriously if I could teach a course on WRITING poetry, but I certainly can teach appreciation, or simple forms (such as writing Haiku). My personal thought is we teachers should pull in more musical lyrics to our modern poetry classes. I grew up in the Golden Age of Rock and was exposed to many masterful poems disguised as song lyrics. I've included many American songwriters in my attachments for this lesson plan. Playing the original songs, and discussing the rhythms is a valid portion of the course, and of course is exposure to fine arts.

Bibliography:

• Conrad and M. Schulz Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life. Writer's Digest Books, Cinnicinati, Ohio 2002
• Poetry for the Complete Idiot [details pending]
• Scudder, H.E. Longfellow's Complete Works (Cambridge Edition) Boston MA 1863