Connecting the Visual to the Verbal in the Classroom

Model Lesson Plans

As part of this unit I will outline three lesson plans that should provide a general outline for how I intend to weave the study of ekphrasis and ekphristic poetry into my existing world literature curriculum. If you remember, my intent was always to increase the rigor and scope of my classroom program by using the study of poetry and art to not only build background and broaden our classroom use of literary text but to also engage my students in deeper and richer interaction with both written and visual text. I want them to develop and nurture a deeper, more confident approach to interpreting written and visual text. I want them to realize that knowledge and understanding increases as they move deeper and deeper into the reading of most written and visual text and that there is meaning and reasoning behind the specific choices of writers and artists. More importantly, I want them to realize that this knowledge and understanding can be directly applied when they engage in other forms of expressive, vocational or academic communications.

To make things easier, I will begin with my introductory lesson. As indicated earlier, as part of my anticipatory set, I will begin the class by having my students complete an Entrance Pass asking them to respond to the following question: Do you agree or disagree with the adage "a picture is worth a thousand words"? When students appear to be finished, I will then have them turn to their shoulder–partners and using the A–B Conversation––which only means the A's talk while B's listen and repeat with B's talk while A's listen––share their responses. Next, I will have two or three students volunteer to share their thoughts on this topic and use their responses to segue into my introduction to ekphrastic poetry. I will make this transition to direct instruction by telling my students that we will be taking a closer look at this very same issue, which has often been argued among poets and artists and openly expressed at times through ekphrastic poetry. I will then say that examining this conflict often allows us to examine other conflicts, especially cultural ones, and that the text involved in reading these images, both the visual and the written, engages us in an examination of time and place.

At this time I will distribute a graphic organizer to my students that will allow them to record their immediate observations on the photograph, "The Napalm Girl," taken by Nick Ut, and the poem, "War Photograph," written by Kate Daniels, in an organized manner. Both of these works are available on the Internet through reliable sources and can be accessed that way without violating copyright laws. The graphic organizer will only be the familiar Three–Two–One format asking students to record three specific details, two inferences, and one connection on both the photograph and the poem. After sharing their responses first with their shoulder partners and then as a class, I will present the following questions to the class and we will discuss their responses:

1. What situation or incident do you think is described in the poem? What key words or phrases led you to that inference?
2. Where do you think this situation or incident may have occurred? What key words or phrases support your reasoning?
3. When do you think this situation may have occurred? What type of connections have you made that helped you reach that conclusion?
4. Now, based on what we have discussed and read, what do you think the poem, or even the poet, may want us to know or understand?

Our discussion of the poem will then segue into a small group exercise where each student–led group will be given its own ekphrastic poem and related work of art to examine and discuss as well as the same graphic organizer, which they will use to record their findings, and set of general questions to guide their discussion. For your convenience, I have included a list of those exphrastic poems and artwork in the appendix of this unit. As part of my assessment strategy, each group will then share their works and conclusions with the class and allow some time for student and teacher input, clarification, or feedback. Furthermore, I will employ an Exit Pass strategy where the students record two or three things they learned as a direct result of this activity, one thing about the lesson they would share with a friend, one new insight they have about the subject, and a "newspaper heading" for the lesson.

Another lesson in our study of ekphrasis will be linked to our study of the epic hero and the understanding that all cultures have their own epic tales. It will most definitely require two class periods and a third for the showing of the film, Kieta: The Heritage of the Griot. As always, as part of my anticipatory set, I will begin with a question asking my students to identify one of their favorite cultural super heroes, where an individual, one with an unexpected power or resource, is destined to save a community or civilization from certain slavery or annihilation. After their responses are shared with shoulder partners, we will develop a classroom list of the characteristics of an epic hero and I will share with them a working definition for it. This will allow me to introduce the Sundiata, the epic tale of Mali, and I will share with my students Will Eisner's graphic adaptation of the work. As you may have guessed I will highlight the ekphrastic elements in this retelling and ask my students to comment on why Eisner may have made some of the choices he did and how his version helps us identify the important components of an epic tale. This will be followed by a student–led, small group activity where each group will study various parts of the legend that are specific to the more ekphrastic and heroic elements. I will have them record their observations, again using the familiar Three–Two–One strategy. Students will report out their findings and all will have the requisite background for a more enjoyable viewing of the film. My assessment of both their understanding of the literary work and the film will be a one page memorandum evaluating first the characteristic elements of an epic, including the literary use of ekphrasis, and then how the filmmaker's use of a "story within a story" better helped viewers understand the culture conflict within this particular African community.

To continue with my plan to thread the study of ekphrastic poetry throughout an existing unit, I plan to use Percy Shelley's poem, "Ozymandias," as part of my anticipatory set for the novel Things Fall Apart. When my students enter the classroom there will be a picture, displayed on the screen at the front of my classroom, of the statue of Ramses II, the statue to which Shelley refers in his poem, and the question: What really keeps a culture alive – its monuments or its stories? My students will respond to the question on paper, or an Entrance Pass, and they will share their responses with their shoulder partners using the A–B Conversation method as explained earlier. I will then distribute copies of the poem, along with the general set of questions I have used with earlier lessons, and have the students, working in small groups, analyze the poem and the argument Shelley poses. I will assess informally by having the small groups report out their ideas. This lesson, although no more than forty minutes, will excite the type of intellectual curiosity I want them to bring to the reading of Things Fall Apart. Although there are no monuments in this novel, Achebe is trying to rebuild African history by telling a truly African story. Therefore, this examination and discussion of Shelley's poem actually provides an interesting segue to a very thought–provoking African proverb: Until the lion has its say the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. I am hoping that the discussion of Shelley's poem better prepares my students for the discussion of the African proverb and a thoughtful and reflective approach their reading of the novel.