ACTIVITY #1
Students will select one author of interest to research their life and works.
Each student will find out as much as possible.
SUGGESTIONS FOR RESEARCH:
The biographical sketch and the selection by the author.
An encyclopedia can provide basic facts.
One or two books that include criticism of the author can probably be found in the library.
Readings about the historical period in which the author lived may also help.
The group may divide responsibilities for conducting research on the author, assigning certain members to read specific books. Then the group as a whole will discuss what each person found their individual research.
ACTIVITY #2
Students will play various roles in a press conference.
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1) We will choose as the author a student who is very knowledgeable about the author and who is a good speaker.
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2) Choose as the moderator a student who is a good administrator.
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3) Divide the remaining students into two groups-“journalists”, and the assistant, Who will try to prepare the author for questions.
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4) Formulate questions: Those who will play journalists must plan their questions. The questions may relate to the literary works and to the author’s life as well as to current events. Students will ask questions that they think their audience will want to know the answers.
In this unit, students will learn ways of experiencing poetry. The purpose of this activity is to make judgements about three methods of experiencing poems. Students will work in three groups.
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1) each member of the group selects a poem. Each person must select a different poem.
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2) Each poem will be experienced in three ways:
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a) Each student will read it silently;
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b) the selector will read it orally; and
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c) the group will read it aloud in unison.
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3) What emotional response does the poem seem to call up in the student?
After the student’s immediate emotional response to the poem, the student will share what the poem caused him or her to reflect.
Students will prepare a chart on which to record their statement of the meaning of the poem and their observation about the techniques of the poem.
The following poem will be used for this activity:
We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks
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We real cool. We
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left school. We
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lurk late. We
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strike straight. We
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sing sin. We thin gin.
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We Jazz June. We die soon.
ACTIVITY #3
When the student becomes part of the book in this way, the book becomes part of them.
We read stories for a number of reasons. We read for the pleasure of recognizing familiar experiences and feelings. We read stories to escape into familiar places and times. Most of all, we read because stories stimulate our imagination.
The novels students will read in this unit will inspire, and stimulate them. Students will examine each of the elements that make up a story: plot, character, setting, point of view, theme, symbol and irony. Students will end this activity by looking at how these elements come together in each work to produce a total effect.
As students read novels in this unit, the following guide will help them appreciate how a novelist creates plot, character, and setting. Students will be given a selection of novels to choose from:
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1) If the novel follows the traditional plot structure, students will identify its Narrative hook, rising action climax, falling action, and resolution.
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2) What kinds of conflict does the novel present?
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3) Who are the major characters?
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4) When and where does the novel take place?
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Which settings does the novel include?
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5) Students will try to identify the novel’s major theme or themes.
ACTIVITY #4
The pleasure experienced in listening to or reading poetry comes from the literary technique that the poet uses to present the sense, or meaning, of the poem: Choice of speaker, sound, tone, imagery, and Figurative language.
Students will select a poem that they read. What is the meaning of the poem?
What techniques does the poet use to reveal this meaning?
Pre-writing Activity
Students will use the following questions to help them determine the meaning of the poem.
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a) Does the poem focus on the actions of a character?
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b) Does the poem describe a person, place, or thing?
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c) Does the poem focus on an idea? A feeling?
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d) What emotional response does the poem cause you to reflect?