Classroom Activities
Lesson 1: Presentation of Research and Socratic Seminar
Procedures and Objectives
Students bring their completed homework assignments to class and I begin instruction with a pair and share activity. Students will work with a partner and discuss their chosen images and explanations. Through this discussion students will determine the best representation of innocence and experience by selecting one image for each. They must also combine or rewrite their explanation to justify their thinking.
The class will then move to the carousel (or rotating review) activity.
At the completion of carousal, students then sit in a circle and begin the Socratic method of discussion.
As students move through discussion, they will decide on one definition of each concept that will remain on display for reference as we study William Blake's poetry. It is my hope that these definitions will be added to or modified as new ways of looking at innocence and experience are discovered through poetry.
Lesson 2: An Introduction to William Blake and Analysis of "The Chimney Sweeper"
The second lesson begins with a lecture providing background information on William Blake. I will supply students with guided notes and they are responsible for filling in information as I move through the lecture. Major concepts to explore include a brief biography of Blake and a brief historical background of the time period in which he lived. For this portion of the lecture, I focus on the Industrial Revolution and provide information on the chimney sweep, as well as Blake's ideas about the importance of childhood, the corruption of human lives in the name of social progress, and what Blake believe to be the purpose of the two contrary states of the human soul. Furthermore, I will cover ideas that fueled the Romanticism period.
We will then turn to the first set of poems for study: "The Chimney Sweeper" from Songs of Innocence and "The Chimney Sweeper" from Songs of Experience. Using the document camera, I will introduce Blake's first illustration of "The Chimney Sweeper" from Songs of Innocence. Students observe the image and answer the questions in Activity I. After a brief discussion, students complete Activity II by writing a brief description of the scene depicted on the poem. Students share their responses. Ask questions such as: How did they organize their descriptions (top to bottom, bottom to top, side to side, etc.) and what do they know of chimney sweeps and how did this affect their response? We then move to Activity III, where students complete the bubble chart by filling in the elements of the image that appeal to the senses (imagery). From this chart, students should determine the mood of the image and express their ideas in a complete thematic statement.
After studying the illustration, students then complete an annotation of the poem. Discussion of the poem follows. At this point, students will revisit their original definition of innocence to identify any changes in their patterns of thinking.
The above activities are repeated for "The Chimney Sweeper" from Songs of Experience. Once students have an understanding of both poems, discussion of innocence and experience as they relate to the two poems ensues.
The activities for analysis of "The Lamb" and "The Tyger" are the same as above.
Comments: