I will be teaching a poetry unit to eleventh grade high school students at the Center for Advanced Learning in Gresham , Oregon
By the end of the poetry unit, students will be able to analyze and critically think about poetry. They will be able to use literary devices such as metaphor, metonymy, simile, alliteration, allusion and allegory to think about and interpret poetry. This unit is important to our students because each one is going to participate in the Poetry Out Loud contest as part of their curriculum at The Center for Advanced Learning. This unit will help students gain the tools and insight they need to select a poem, think critically about it and recite it clearly and with passion in competition.
This unit will help to improve student’s critical reading and writing skills. Not only will the students read and analyze poetry, they will be writing poems of their own too. This unit will cover different genres of poetry as well as many different forms of poetry including but not limited to ode, sonnet, epic, elegy, haiku, ballad, free verse and epitaph. This unit complies and links with several state standards such as, “El. HS.LI. 09 Students will be able to identify various literary devices, including figurative language, imagery, allegory, and symbolism; evaluate the significance of the devices; and explain their appeal. EL.HS.WR.12 Use precise language, action verbs, sensory details, and appropriate modifiers. EL. HS.RE.02: listen to, read, and understand a wide variety of informational and narrative text, including classic and contemporary literature, poetry, magazines, newspapers, reference material, and online information.” [1]
The poetry unit will connect to my students in several ways. They will be able to bring and analyze some songs and poems of their choice. They will be able to relate to and interpret poems and music in their everyday lives as well they’ll be introduced to a wide variety of classic, contemporary and multicultural poems. Through their lessons on figurative language and literary devices, they will enhance their critical thinking skills and become stronger readers. In turn this unit will also exercise their writing skills as each student responds to and creates poems of their own using the classic and contemporary poetic genres and forms discussed in class.
