The Uses of Poetry in the Classroom

Lesson Plans

Lesson One – "Empathy"

Teacher Materials

• Transparency of the poem "John, Who is Poor" by Gwendolyn Brooks (number the lines)
• Transparency of my interpretation of the poem found below (your interpretation may differ)
• The book, Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art selected by Belinda Rochelle
• Transparency of the picture "Gemini I" by Lev T. Mills (it can be found in the book Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art selected by Belinda Rochelle)

Student Materials

• Three ring notebook
• Paper
• Pen/Pencil
• Three dividers

• Author Study
• Themes
• My Poetry

• To participate in a weekly poetry reading and writing workshops;
• To learn biographical information about poets;
• To produce a portfolio of their own poems;
• To publish their works; and
• To perform before a group of peers during a school assembly in February.

  Note:

  Post the objective somewhere in the classroom. Be sure to include the day of the week when you plan to conduct the workshop. Be consistent. If the day changes, notify students in advance and replace it with another day. After a few workshops, students can manage themselves.

My interpretation of the poem is:

Line 1 Implores children to treat John well or be nice to him.

Line 2 Indicates that John is lonely and lives alone.

Line 3 Tell us that John's mother works long hours.

Viewing and Analyzing

Place the poem on the overhead projector, and display the picture for everyone to see.

Have students write:

Line 1

Line 2

Line 3 and so on down the page (tell them to skip a line or two).

Have students write their "own" interpretation of each line of the poem. Give them five minutes.

Have a whole class discussion about the author's intended message. Ask students for one word that describes what Brooks is trying to convey.

Put the word "Empathy" on the word wall. Ask students whether they know the meaning of the word. Provide them with the definition, and ask students to analyze the poems for empathetic words or phrases. Ask them why we should feel empathy for John or for John's family.

At the bottom of the page the student is currently working on, have students create a diagram like the one below. Have students write the word "Empathy" and at least three other words or phrases that have similar meanings.

(chart 05.01.02.01 available in print form)

Allow students to share some of the synonyms from their diagram. Inform students that they will be using words from the diagram to write a poem that expresses empathy for a person, place or thing. This is also a good opportunity to review "nouns."

Use these strategies during weekly workshop. Look for opportunities during each workshop to introduce students to techniques used by poets to make their poems more exciting to read like figurative language. Require students to use these skills when they write their own poems.

Lesson Extension

Inform student that the next lesson will require a picture of a person, place or thing. Pictures can be taken from magazines, newspapers or personal photo collections. Make it clear that the object(s) in the picture will be used to write a poem with an empathetic message, so a picture with a celebratory scene may be inappropriate.

Write the word "ecphrastic" on the board or overhead projector, and explain to students that this is a type of poem. It may be difficult to find the word ecphrastic in a student dictionary, so provide students with the word meaning as defined by the Academy of American Poets: "Ecphrastic poems are now understood to focus only on works of art—usually paintings, photographs, or statues. And modern ecphrastic poems … have tried to interpret, inhabit, confront, and speak to their subjects." (Academy of American Poets) You may want to paraphrase this definition for younger students by simply saying "Ecphrastic poems are written about or to describe a painting, photograph, or statue."

Lesson Two – "Ecphrasis"

Teacher Materials

• A picture that you, the teacher, like that conveys empathy
• Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art selected by Belinda Rochelle
• Transparency of the following poem: "Incident" by Countee Cullen
• Transparency of the following picture: "Gemini I" by Lev T. Mills
• A list of sensory words (see, touch, hear, smell, taste)
• Note: The picture and poem can be found in the book.

Student Materials

• Portfolio
• Picture of a person, place or thing

• To participate in a weekly poetry reading and writing workshops;
• To learn biographical information about poets;
• To produce a portfolios of their own poems;
• To publish their works; and
• To perform before a group of peers during a school assembly in February.
• Note: Post the objective somewhere in the classroom. Be sure to include the day of the week when you plan to conduct the workshop. Be consistent. If the day changes, notify students in advance and replace it with another day. After a few workshops, students can manage themselves.

Viewing and Analyzing

On an overhead projector, have the students view the picture "Gemini I" by Lev T. Mills, then, read the poem "Incident" by Countee Cullen.

Ask students to recall specific details from Cullen's poems that may be reflected in the picture. Some possible answers are:

• There is a boy who appears to be reminiscing about an unpleasant event;
• The boy is black;
• The boy could be eight; and
• The word "Baltimore" appears on a sign.

Connecting

Ask students to refer to the diagram that was created in lesson one. Ask them to use one synonym from the diagram to explain how they might relate to what the boy may be feeling. An example would be:

I "understand" how he must be feeling because I had a similar experience when…

Modeling for students

Display your picture where the entire class can see it. Make a list on the board or overhead projector of everything that is happening in the picture. (Use the Independent Practice exercise below as your guide.) Make sure the list has sensory words and that the general theme conveys a sense of empathy. Using the information from the list, write a poem. Make sure students understand that each line should represent a complete thought. Allow students to assist with the process. It may be a good idea to refer back to "John, Who is Poor" by Gwendolyn Brooks and "Incident" by Countee Cullen while you are writing.

Independent Practice

Have the students tape their picture on the second page of the "My Poetry" section of their notebooks. They should complete the following exercise:

• Name everything you see in the picture, particularly things that grab your attention.
• Are there any prevalent colors?
• Can you detect any smells (e.g. food aromas, trash, smoke…?)
• Explain any action – how would it sound?
• Describe any emotions – what feelings do they convey?
• If you could touch something in the picture, how would it feel?
• Note: Write the above activity on the board prior to class to facilitate the process.

Cooperative Activity

Allow students to work together when editing.

Lesson Three - "Bullying"

Teacher Materials

• Words with Wings: A Treasury of African-American Poetry and Art selected by Belinda Rochelle
• Transparency of the following poem: "Primer" by Rita Dove
• Transparency of the following picture: "School's Out" by Allan Rohan Crite
• Note: The pictures and poems can be found in the book.

Student Materials

- Portfolio

Viewing and Analyzing

On an overhead projector, have the students view the picture "School's Out" by Allan Rohan Crite, then, I will read the poem "Primer" by Rita Dove.

In the "Themes" section of their notebooks, have student write "Primer" by Rita Dove at the top of the second page in that section. It is important that everyone's notebook be organized in the same fashion to simplify grading.

Place the poem on the overhead projector while somehow displaying the picture for the class to see.

Connecting and Independent Practice

Using the poem by Dove, have student write about a situation where they were either bullied, being the bully, or witnessed someone else being bullied. Explain that this information will be used to write a poem similar to "Primer." When writing the poem, students should be allowed to look at Dove's format but not mirror it exactly.