Overview
My curriculum unit focuses on the poetry of Walt Whitman and how his legacy is sustained in American poetry. Through the study of a wide variety of poems—from classic to contemporary—the unit introduces students to Whitman's innovative ideas and American poets, who, like Whitman, challenge conventional thinking and help us redefine our world. This creative act of re-imagining our world is revolutionary and the particular province of the poet. Through a variety of methods, I invite students to explore this province, learning how poets observe closely, raise provocative questions, embrace originality, and seek candor. I want students to see poetry as a form of creative expression. Like other creative arts, poetry makes you feel, think, and reassess. It can make you feel divine; it can make you feel uncomfortable; and it can, to quote the poet Robert Bly, make you "think in ways you've never thought before."1 Recently one of my students said that poetry allows the reader to experience "moments of recognition." The idea that poetry can provide the catalyst to small epiphanies about who we are and how we can negotiate a complex world is exciting and provides a basis for the kind of stimulating, trans-disciplinary curriculum my students crave. The unit helps students know themselves better and shows them how creative thinking is accessible to everyone. Students will come to understand why poetry is such a powerful art form, worthy of their attention.
This six-week unit is designed for an eleventh-grade American Literature class at a small alternative high school in the city of Richmond, Virginia. It is also designed to prepare students for the Virginia Standards of Learning end-of-course test in English. The ultimate aim of the unit, however, is to promote creative, questioning behaviors in my students.
| The weekly structure of this unit (which includes a Socratic seminar, model annotations, small group discussion, and creative exercises) offers students multiple ways to develop their appreciation of poetry and the creative process. Throughout the unit, I develop the thesis that there is an American poetic tradition—born in America with the work of Whitman—in which poets transgress traditional forms, ideas, and ways of seeing through their creative use of language. Students explore carefully selected, thematically-grouped poems (one theme per week) which encourage them to question their assumptions, think critically about complex subjects, and see language as a tool of great power. |
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