Lesson Plan Template s4

Name: Hanisi Accetta Grade Level: 10th Subject Area(s): Language Arts Unit Title: Explorations in Poetry Lesson Title: How does poetry share struggles of injustice and prejudice? Estimated Time: 75 Minutes

Purpose/Rationale for lesson: I want students to think about the power of poetry to share controversial ideas about prejudice and race. By looking at passionate poems, students can be awakened to how poetry can be a motivating force for social change. Curriculum Framing Questions:

Essential Question: How does poetry tell a person’s story? What language is most essential?

Unit Question that applies to this lesson: How does poetry tell a passionate and important story? What poetry devices make each “great poem” great?

Lesson or Content Question(s): How do Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou convey racial inequities and challenges? What type of language do they use?

Goal: Students will understand how poetry shares human struggle and how poetic devices deepen the message that is presented.

Learning Objective(s): Students will read, listen to, and discuss poems from the authors listed above. Students will compare and contrast two poems of their choice.

Curriculum Standard(s): EL.HS.LI.06 Identify themes in literary works, and provide support for interpretations from the text.

Materials Needed: Smartboard, document camera and screen, laptop w/ internet access, speakers, copies of poems, and key instructions.

Background knowledge or skills students need prior to lesson: We will review poetry devices and steps to reading and analyzing poetry.

Hook or Introduction: Play a portion of the “I have a dream” speech by Martin Luther King. Ask key questions: Is this Poetry? What powerful devices does he use? How does it make you feel? How does poetry share powerful topics about prejudice and inequality? Does anyone know any famous African American Poets? (15 min) Procedures: Next I will have them do a free write in their journal about a time they felt they were not treated well, experienced discrimination, or people though less of them. Be descriptive, use the five senses, and make it come alive. Students who want to read aloud can share (usually 3-4 people) (15 minutes)

Next we will watch on YouTube, read aloud, and listen to poems from Langston Hughes “You and Your Whole Race” ,Maya Angelou’s “Black Family Pledge”, and an excerpt from Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.” Key questions and discussion with each (25 minutes) You and your whole race.

BY LANGSTON HUGHES

You and your whole race. Look down upon the town in which you live And be ashamed. Look down upon white folks And upon yourselves And be ashamed That such supine poverty exists there, That such stupid ignorance breeds children there Behind such humble shelters of despair— That you yourselves have not the sense to care Nor the manhood to stand up and say I dare you to come one step nearer, evil world, With your hands of greed seeking to touch my throat, I dare you to come one step nearer me: When you can say that you will be free!

THE BLACK FAMILY PLEDGE By Maya Angelou

BECAUSE we have forgotten our ancestors, our children no longer give us honor. BECAUSE we have lost the path our ancestors cleared kneeling in perilous undergrowth, our children cannot find their way. BECAUSE we have banished the God of our ancestors, our children cannot pray. BECAUSE the old wails of our ancestors have faded beyond our hearing, our children cannot hear us crying. BECAUSE we have abandoned our wisdom of mothering and fathering, our befuddled children give birth to children they neither want nor understand. BECAUSE we have forgotten how to love, the adversary is within our gates, an holds us up to the mirror of the world shouting, "Regard the loveless" Therefore we pledge to bind ourselves to one another, to embrace our lowliest, to keep company with our loneliest, to educate our illiterate, to feed our starving, to clothe our ragged, to do all good things, knowing that we are more than keepers of our brothers and sisters. We ARE our brothers and sisters. IN HONOR of those who toiled and implored God with golden tongues, and in gratitude to the same God who brought us out of hopeless desolation, we make this pledge.

--We will discuss this poem using these guiding questions:  Can anybody identify a possible theme or themes of this poem?  Is Hughes speaking as a single person or as a representation of a group in this poem? Why does he use “I” throughout the poem?  How does Hughes use rhythm in this poem? Why does he repeat certain lines in the poem?  What images does he use in this poem?  What is the significance of the four major rivers mentioned in this poem?

Repeat with poems from Maya Angelou and play a live recording of Toni Morrison.

Writing portion: Now returning to your reflection you wrote earlier about a time when you experienced discrimination or prejudice. Looking at your piece now highlight five most powerful sentences. Hand to your partner next to you and have them read it and highlight in a different color what they think is most powerful. Now turn this into a poem. (15 minutes)

Differentiation/Accommodation: During the poetry writing section I will give extra help to my one student who is on an IEP. Closure: Give them all the assignment to take their poem home, revise, and then add a collage of magazine pictures to go around their final draft. (5 minutes) Ask them to think about how slang or even made up words can add to the style of a poem.

Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning: Students will answer key guiding questions. Turn in a final copy of their discrimination poem.