Introduction
Students chattering, feet clunking up the stairwell, chairs scraping along the floor, bags hitting the floor, desk, chair, the bell rings, my voice announces, voices cease, the wind blows, the ding of metal against the mast of a boat, and class begins. The sounds of the Sound School are similar to that of most schools. One distinguishing factor is the sounds of the water. We are located on the Long Island Sound and we are a vocational aquaculture school. Therefore, the sound of the sea is a guiding force in this unit on poetry. The sounds of the sea are central to many poems and you will find such poetry in this unit.
The Sound of Poetry explores songs of the sea, sounds of poetry and sounds of the sea. Through sea shanties and sea poetry, students study the elements of poetry with sound as the guiding force. In twelfth grade AP Literature, poetry constitutes a significant portion of the curriculum. The challenge of the unit is to guide students in prosodic analysis as well as evaluating the meaning, diction and syntax of the poetry. In addition to a variety of engaging exercises, students write a final essay analyzing a poem of their choice.
As an aquaculture and agriculture vocational magnet school, the Sound School attracts students that want educational material that relates to real life. Not all of the students are inclined toward agriculture and aquaculture, but a significant number of them are extremely interested, especially by the time they reach their senior year. It is frequently a problem at the end of the year when students are out on the water and conducting independent projects during your class time. I teach twelfth grade AP Literature. Although I do not teach to tests the AP test is something for which I must prepare them. In addition, the College Board requires that each AP teacher write a curriculum that follows certain guidelines and is approved by the Board. The exam has a heavy focus on poetry. Although I infuse poetry throughout the year it is important to have a single unit dedicated to it. One reason I place poetry at the front of the year is because of the exam's focus on poetry. Another emerging reason why I will place poetry toward the beginning of the year is because of this unit. As an aquaculture school that is on the Long Island Sound, it makes sense to focus the unit on the sound of poetry and on sea poetry. In order to utilize all of the resources at the sound school, like the Quinnipiack sailboat or Island Rover, I need to schedule trips on the water in the beginning of the year while the weather is still warm and the AP exam is still in the future. Poetry is a good starting point because it introduces students to the how of literature. Students are introduced to questioning literary forms more so than other genres. The succinct nature of poetry, and the use of literary devices and conventions creates a microcosm of literature for students to explore. In this unit there is a broad spectrum of styles of poetry for students to read, hear, compare, and analyze.
Using sound and sea as a focus for the unit, I believe the problem of having material that relates to real life may be solved. For career-minded, kinesthetic learners such as the Sound School students, poetry may seem frivolous or dull on their first encounter. Using the sea and how poetry speaks to them, students will hopefully find engagement. Most of them attend the school for a reason, and that reason usually relates to a love for water. Although I focus here on the students of my school in particular, there are students in all schools with an affinity for the sea. The material is accessible to all. Students make connections on the level of contact, but also one of the level of form making it a kinesthetic experience.
I require students to analyze the meaning, prosody, diction, and syntax of poetry, but they do not find it easy to draw connections between the sound of the poetry and the meaning. They usually grasp that initial feeling a poem evokes, but they struggle with identifying the actual elements of sound and have even more difficulty linking the elements of sound to the meaning of the poem. This is the exact problem my unit will analyze and solve with the guiding question of: "How does poetry speak to me?" This guiding question puts the focus once again on the student. What is it about the poetry that the students find alluring? They explore what they like. In addition, it focuses on the sound of the poetry. I have the students listen to one another reading poetry, listen to recordings of poetry and focus on what they hear. First, they focus on what they hear going on. Students listen for tone, rhythm, voice, alliteration, rhyme, repetition and accent. Only after they have done this do they delve into meaning.
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