Content Objectives
Poetry and the Common Core State Standards make a perfect pair. By using poetry as a form of literature I will be able to meet the needs of all my students, regardless of their Reading Levels. Poetry is best appreciated when read aloud; therefore it benefits both the strong and struggling readers. Students will be challenged to meet the CCSSELA-Lit.RL3.4 as they read poems to determine the meanings of words, phrases as they are used in the text. In Langston Hughes's poem "Catch" students may be puzzled by the word choice,
Big Boy Came
Carrying a Mermaid (3)
A natural discussion will ensue after reading "Catch" that might begin simply with, "Who is Big Boy? Why is he carrying a mermaid?" Students will be distinguishing between literal and non-literal language.
There is no right answer to these questions, only interpretations based on responses to specific features of the poem. Children love to tell tall tales and here is a perfect example of such a tale! No matter how much we explore the question of whether Big Boy was really carrying a mermaid we will never know the answer. Children will learn a lot from arguing these points in an opinion piece of writing (CCSSELA-W.31). Whatever the case it's the journey, not the destination that matters.
We will be looking at poetry as if we are peeling back the layers of paint and wallpaper of an old building. Students will be pulling the words out of the page, analyzing the placement of those words, and what the writer intended them to mean. We will also focus on how each part, or stanza builds on the previous one to create the total picture (CCSSELA-Lit.RL3.7). Another activity that works well in a multi-grade classroom such as mine is to engage in Compare and Contrast exercises. We will compare our work to the poems of Langston Hughes both in structure and in subject. In our mixed level reading groups we can look at how two poems of a similar theme differ in nature, yet mirror each other. Why do some poems rhyme? Where is the rhyme? Why is there no rhyme? Why does this word come up so often? How is the placement of the word on the line (short, or long) important to the overall look and feel of the poem? These are all examples of the type of dialogue I see us having as we read Hughes' poems.
Second and third graders tend to take things for granted without really any deep thought. They are only 7-9 years old, after all. Their worlds consist of the tangible, the here and now. They need help to dig deeper, and look closer to see how a text is constructed (CCSSELA-Lit.RL.3.7). This is where time spent focusing on such aspects as "beats" in a poem can point out how the mood of the poem is created.
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon (4)
Right from the start "The Weary Blues" sets the reader up to be lulled into the lazy rhythm of the poem. It has a pulse that moves it throughout almost like a lullaby would to an infant. Later there is repetition almost like a chorus in a popular tune. Something about that repetition makes you want to sing it, or chant it so that you can hear it again and again. When students focus on these aspects of the text and begin to make connections with the mechanics of the text, they start to see how the words the author used are there to emphasize a specific mood, or possibly create an image in the reader's mind of the character, or setting.
My students will have the opportunity to take a step back in time and get a snippet of what it was like in 1920's Harlem. Through their exposure to photographs, recordings of Blues and Jazz singers of that time period, and videos of the Cotton Club, I hope to recreate the atmosphere of The Harlem Renaissance. In listening to the crackly recordings of songs sung by Bessie Smith, Cab Calloway, and other jazz greats, students will begin to get the flavor of the sights, sounds, and smells Langston experienced walking down the street. We will look at how community shapes a person's worldview and begin to examine our own a little more closely through writing, drawing, and even recording.
Collaboration is a lifelong skill. In order to have any kind of discussion there needs to be a protocol. Students will help develop norms for ways to engage in comments on material read in class. They will learn to respond to their classmate's presentations with informed thinking and appropriate questioning that will demonstrate not only their comprehension of the subject, but the success of the presenter.
Ultimately we will write poems ourselves. The act of planning, revising, editing and finally producing poems will be the icing on the cake of our Poetry Café. Students will learn that writing takes time and doesn't just come out prepackaged, and ready to go by sticking words in slots, but takes time, patience, and perseverance.
The joy of performing in our Poetry Café will be the pinnacle of our experience. I will expect students to have memorized at least one Langston Hughes poem and have one poem of their own to share. We will practice the skills involved in Public Speaking such as pace, volume, intonation, eye contact, and even posture.
Comments: