Poetry as Sound and Object

Content Objectives

In this curriculum, fifth-grade students will thoroughly explore the works of three influential figures from the Harlem Renaissance: Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Jacob Lawrence.

This unit has been carefully designed to meet the District of Columbia's Common Core State Standards, ensuring it caters to students’ diverse needs and interests. It is also aligned with the district’s reading and social studies curriculum and customized to accommodate different reading abilities. Various learning tools and strategies have been incorporated to make the content engaging and meaningful for students.

Structured around reading literature and informational objectives, writing objectives, listening, and speaking objectives, this unit seeks to foster an appreciation of the “sounds of poetry” and the “object of art” and understand the connections between historical events and contemporary issues.

Students will use the artwork or illustration from Langston Hughes’s Black Misery to notice and wonder about the writer's feelings and thoughts. Then, they will closely read and annotate the poem to determine how the speaker reflects upon racism (R.L. 5.1). Also, they will figure out the meanings of words and phrases in Black Misery, including figurative language such as metaphors (R.L. 5.4). Moreover, they describe how a narrator’s point of view influences the tone of his poem (L.5.6). Lastly, students write a narrative to develop accurate, relatable, or imagined experiences based on the concrete words, phrases, and sensory details from the poem, Black Misery (W.5.3.d).

In Claude McKay’s “America,” students will effectively engage in collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners, building on others' ideas and clearly expressing their own (S.L 5.1). They will pose and respond to specific questions by making comments that contribute to the discussion, elaborate on the remarks of others, and cite evidence from the text (R.L.5.1/S.L 5.1C). They will determine the poem’s theme and write a summary (R.L 5.2). They will also use erasure poetry to compare the original poem to theirs (R.L 5.3).

To understand the social and cultural environment of Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance, students will delve into the analysis of Panel 57 of Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series. They will be tasked with identifying the various elements within the panel that reflect the artistic and communal significance of the era, drawing connections between the past and present society. Additionally, students must interpret Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series paintings according to the standard's requirements (R.L 5.1).

Furthermore, the students will utilize the panels to examine the connections and interactions between various individuals, events, ideas, or concepts within a historical context (R.I 5.3). Specifically, they will engage in a comprehensive analysis and interpretation of Panel 1, which illustrates the departure of African Americans from the South, signifying the commencement of the Great Migration.²¹ Additionally, they will delve into Panel 22, which portrays the problematic living conditions experienced by African Americans in the North²², and Panel 49, highlighting the importance of securing employment in the North as a pivotal factor in the African American community, linking economic opportunities to their sustenance.²³

In addition to analyzing Panel 57, students will be required to create ekphrastic poetry, a type of poetry that is inspired by a work of art. This activity is designed to help students better understand the emotions and themes in Lawrence’s artwork. The objective of using this panel is to encourage students to write a summary and recall the events and experiences portrayed in the painting, fostering a more immersive and reflective approach to their study of the piece (W.5.8).

By the end of this unit, students will be able to conduct research projects to explore and appreciate the rich heritage and invaluable contributions of African American artists and writers during the Harlem Renaissance, fostering a deeper understanding of diverse voices in literature and art (W.5.7).