Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of teaching poetry to students at any level is the fear of poetry in its 'high art' form. The idea of poetry as a form of literature written by 'a bunch of old, dead, English guys' and enjoyed by 'snobbish prep school kids' is a common hindrance to teaching the joys and skills of its works. Students and teachers alike tend to be scared off by the conciseness of poetry and the way that it seems to be far too difficult to really understand or interpret.
The goal of this curriculum unit is to offer an approachable way to teach poetry that students can enjoy without fear or resentment. By illustrating to students that they use poetry every day of their lives, in some form or another, students will see that poetry is nothing of which to be afraid. Students will integrate their love and passion for, as well as their level of comfort with and knowledge of, music into their appreciation of reading and writing poetry.
In this unit, students will have many opportunities to really find a connection to the lessons and the activities because the lessons are mostly based upon the interests, opinions, and tastes of the students themselves. Because of this connection, students are likely to be more motivated to learn and share their thoughts and feelings.
This unit has been designed to motivate students to study some of the more advanced and less mainstream poets and poetry that they will be expected to study in college. The possibility of being led into the study of poetry by studying things that are far more approachable and of greater importance to the students is a much greater motivation than a lecture.
The class to which this unit will be taught is rather unique. They are a group of seniors of mixed gender and racial/ethnic backgrounds in an arts and humanities magnet high school's women's literature course. (Phew! Take a breath now.) The core objectives of the course itself are to introduce the fundamentals of literature by women, feminisms, and women's progress in America, while improving the skills of reading for analysis and writing to support assertions about the analysis. The class functions on a similar plane as the Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition course in that students are preparing for a highly competitive collegiate experience in literature. (This class carries no requirement of being at an honors or college prep tracking level.)
This unit will serve each of these objectives in the following ways: students will be introduced to a number of women poets; the ways that each of these women poets changed the scenario for women in poetry, literature, or society will be discussed at length; students will be expected to discuss their readings of the poetry from a women's perspective-whether that be through a particular feminism's perspective or a general gynocentric perspective-and then respond by supporting the assertions that they draw from their readings/interpretations of the literature.
As students will have already spent a great deal of time learning about the various perspectives from which one can interpret and analyze forms of literature other than poetry and the various techniques of doing so, this unit will not have a strong focus on teaching this process to students. Rather, the focus will be on fine-tuning or sharpening the skills that students have already gained prior to the unit and adding to the literary repertoire that the students have been developing.
