Carol S. Heidecker
Background Information:
The students will be informed that the author grew-up in Watts, LA, and was involved in gang activity there. Also, that Rodriquez would secretly go to the library to read poetry and that his poetry tells different stories about his life and the lives of others her observed.
Time Duration:
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This should take one class period.
Objectives:
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-to select relevant information from the readings
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-to write as a means of exploring information found in reading
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-to understand poetry, form and stanza
Lesson:
1. I will ask the students to write the following three words: poetry, form and stanza. I will then ask them to think of a definition for each word. They will be given 5 minutes to do so. When they are done, they will be asked to share with the class. When there is a definition or a combination of definitions the entire class can agree on, all the students will then write the collective definition created by the class. (I will provide hints to guide them.)
2. The students will then listen to Luis J. Rodriguez' "Race Politics" read aloud by me. After listening to the poem, they will be asked to write in their journals, "The most interesting part to me was..." They will finish the sentence and explain why. Then they will describe the stanzas and form of the poem based on their notes. When the class if finished, they will be asked to share the what each thought was the most interesting part and why. After the discussion, I will pick up their papers to check their understanding of the stanzas and form of the poem.
Future Activities:
1. The students will be introduced to similes and metaphors so that they may write poetry of their own, using imagery. They will write a non-fiction poem about a personal experience.
2. The students will explore other non-fiction poems found in
Children of Promise: African-American Literature
and
Art for Young People
. This is available at your local library.
3. A culminating activity for this book will be to visit El Museo del Barrio in New York City. The phone number is (212)-831-7272 and the website is www.elmuseo.org.
4. I would like to have the students present a poetry reading to other classes in our building if possible.
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Endnotes
1 The Holocaust in Perspective, p. 30
2 Ibid., p. 33
3 Tell Them We Remember: The Story of the Holocaust, p. 6
4 Ibid., p. 8
5 The Skinhead International: The Skinhead Scene (See website resources.)
6 The Skinhead International: The United States (See website resources.)
7 Ibid.
8 Genocide in Rwanda (See website resources.)
9 International Harold Tribune p. 8, August 9,1995
10 Pearl Harbor!: December 7, 1941, The Road to Japanese Aggression in the Pacific, p. 68
