Sharon Bergman, English
Grades 7-12,American Poetry

This project was sponsored by a 1996-97
Excellence in Education Grant

Whose line is it anyway?

As part of an American literature unit in eleventh grade English, I chose to create a unit on "Defining an American". Throughout this unit students developed an understanding of perspective by reading about different views of American society, and through various poetic styles expressed their own understanding of the authors' perspectives.

Purpose

As a result of this unit, students should be able to 1) define perspective, imagery, simile, and tone, and 2) create poems in the following formats: cinquain, free verse, acrostat, and group poems.

The following are excerpts from my lesson plans:

Group Poems

are used to assess the students' understanding of imagery and simile.

Students will review the concepts of imagery and simile by creating group poems from pictures. As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:
1) define imagery and simile
2) create group poems using imagery and simile in relation to American society.

Procedure:

I divided the class into two groups. Each group was given a picture and the class was told that as INDIVIDUALS they were to write down on a piece of paper the images that came into their minds as they looked at the picture. After letting the two groups look at the pictures for about five minutes, I passed out index cards and told the class that each student was to write down one or two of his or her favorite lines on the index cards (one line per card). Then, each group arranged the index cards to create a poem.

The following guidelines were given:

1) at least one card from each person must be included in the poem,
2) if any changes are to be made to a card, the group must have the consent of the author, and
3) give the poem a title.

Then each group made an overhead transparency of their poem and read it outloud to the other group while that group was looking at the picture.

Results:

The Rising Sun

Nature
They celebrate the passing of a friend
Whose ghost still remains.
Peaceful
Indians ride horses
Around the sunset in freedom.
Unity
He sees death as a sunset
Knowing even though there is no light
in harmony, life will go on.

 inspired by

Yesterday They Rode
 Jerome Tiger

A Long Day

Rest is close, the day's been long
A cry for freedom in a rhythmic song.
Uncontent, hot and tired,
Soon the day will be retired.
The hot sun is shining down
While melancholy sadness is all around.

Unhappy slaves' evening draws nigh,
in a clam, relaxed breath, they
release a depressed sigh.
M.C., H.B. L.F.Z., T.B., K.P.

 inspired by

The Cotton Pickers
Winslow Homer

Acrostat

a poem in which the first letter in each line spells a word when seen vertically.

Example:


Every voice speaks
Nouns and verbs and words
Grappling with truth
Lyric, free verse, ballad
Imagery
Simile, metaphor, hyperbole
How about it?

Procedure:

Students were asked to express their perspective on American society by creating an acrostat to the phrase WHAT IS AN AMERICAN. I divided the class into three groups giving the first group the word WHAT, the second group IS AN and the last group AMERICAN. The groups were allowed to work together on their poems, but asked not to collaborate with other groups.

Results:

I
What is an American
Hiding from the world
All alone
Touching out only when necessary
Independence
Social Security
Alliances
Nationalism
Aftermath effects
Maturing over time
Establishing capabilities
Read between the lines
In a country where
Constitutional rights
Are of great value.
Now do you know what an American is?

Individual Poems:

Cinquains: a five line poem that helps to develop prior knowledge, and combines and synthesizes new information and connects it to prior knowledge.

Format

line 1: one word title
line 2: two words that describe the title
line 3: three words that express an action
line 4: four words that express an action
line 5: one word title (same as line one, can be different)

Procedure:

After listening to Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA," and Neil Diamond's "America," students discussed the tone of each song and analyzed how the tone reflects the perspective of the author (or singer) of the song. Students then chose the tone of either song and wrote a cinquain about Americans or American society using that tone.

Results:

America
big, kind
expanding, growing, fading
sea to shining sea
America

-Beth

Free Verse:

Students wrote free verse poetry about Americans or American society using imagery and/or simile after hearing Langston Hughes' poem "Harlem."

Results:

Imperialism, power, wanting, forever needing land,
money, opportunity, absolute power, depressing, sad, happy
proud, "we think we are dumb," freedom of the First Amendment

-Kevin

America

Old glory flys free
like a bird in the sky.
In the past many wars were fought,
disputing her.
But still she flew on.
Over time she came to represent freedom,
like a dove represents peace.
Songs were written for her,
Like a musician writing songs for his lady love
And still she flew on.
She was burned and changed and things were added on
But her colors stayed true
the good old red white and blue.
And America stayed true to her
like a dog to his mistress.
And loved her
like a child to his mother.
In the future many things will come to be,
But still she'll fly on.

-Beth

What has happened to Americans?
Do they fly free like birds
Or are they caged like monkeys
In their own garbage?
When Americans talk to each other
Do they really say what they feel,
Or do they repeat what others want
to hear like a scratched up record?
Americans are like squirrels in their nests -
If something disturbs them, they henpeck
Until it goes away.
They protect those like them,
But if others come near they drive
Them away like a wolf attacking sheep.
What has happened to Americans?

-Holly

Expansion:

This unit could be expanded to include more poetic forms such as concrete poetry, in which the actual placement of the words takes on the shape of ideas or theme of the poem. This unit could also be expanded to include more in depth research of diverse cultures in American society.

Check the following links for more information on:

Jerome Tiger
other art by Jerome Tiger
Native American art
Native Americans
other American art
Langston Hughes

Acknowledgments: Special thanks to Judy Charland, Margaret Campion, Ami Palombo, and the support staff at the North Country Teacher Resource Center.

Questions, Comments? Please email me with reactions and suggestions at:
Berg2403@splava.cc.plattsburgh.edu