Objectives
This unit is intended to last for four weeks. By the end of the first week, students will be able to identify poetry as a specific form of writing and the elements of a poem. Students will explore figurative language, personification, imagery, structure and tone. Students will create heart maps, which will assist students in using descriptive words and thinking about their lives, their family, and their homes. During this week students will look at personal and public poetry, identifying what each looks like, and be able to identify these forms of poetry using examples of poems from Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein. We will look at poems as a whole class and ask students to “vote” on whether the poem is a public or private poem. Students will then work in small groups with two or three poems to decide which poems are public and private. These lessons will provide a working background for studying poetry and get their creative minds flowing.
During the second week, students will be introduced to Kenneth Koch’s “poetry ideas” and create poems using this method of poetry writing. Students will look at their neighborhood to write make observations and reflections. Using a modified version of “A Map to the Town,”1 students will create a poem using the directions of this poetry game. Students will have time to write/revise this poem and share out in the classroom. Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “Philadelphia” will be introduced next. It will be read aloud to students and the whole class will analyze it using theme and purpose of the poem. Students will be asked to share what stories they tell others about living in Philadelphia. Students will work together in small groups, creating a mind map of their stories. They will use these stories along with a class list of great things found in the city to write a class poem on Philadelphia.
The third week will include a walking tour of a historic section of Philadelphia. During this walking tour students will use their poetry journal books to record observations, images, reflections, wonderings about the sites. Carl Sandburg’s poem, “Chicago” will be introduced next. It will be read aloud, while students read along. In small groups, they will determine what the author is trying to say (purpose) and the tone. Students will use their notes from the walking tour and determine what stuck out for them as Philadelphians. They will use this information to write the first one or two stanzas of their poem. For the final stanza or two, students will compare what they think and feel about Philadelphia comparing this to what they have learned during the walking tour. Another idea would be have students gather information on how outsiders feel about Philadelphia and use that information to write the final stanza or two.
During the fourth week, students will analyze Walt Whitman’s poem “The Great City.” The poem will be read aloud while students read along. After discussing the purpose and tone, students will use the poetry idea - write about what Philadelphia is and what it is not. Students will work together to create a T-chart to list things Philadelphia is known for or what can be found in the city versus things that cannot be found in Philadelphia or things they are not known for. The T-charts will be shared and posted in the classroom for students to use to create their own poem. Using speaking and listening skills, students will create a podcasts of their poems.
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