Patricia M. Sorrentino
On days 1 and 2 of this unit, I will ask my students to learn the elements of poetry. A couple goals I will set out for these days will be for students to define the elements of poetry and to identify alliteration, rhyme, wordplay, irony, imagery, and tone. I will have my students take notes on these elements of poetry, identify these elements in rap lyrics, and create posters for each element to be hung around the classroom. These posters will serve as quick guides for each student during the unit.
On a different day during the unit, I will ask my students to meet the following goals: to be able to identify irony and imagery within a rap lyric and to be able to write about the lyric's theme and poetic craft. I will ask my students to read the lyrics aloud several times, identify all the elements of poetry they can find, and I will ask them to write about the effectiveness of the lyrics and the message of the lyrics.
An example of this lesson will focus on Tupac's
Changes
lyrics. I will play the song for my students and have them pay close attention to irony and imagery Tupac sets up in his song. Then, I will hand my students the lyrics to the song and have them read along while listening to the song again. This time, I will ask them to identify these two elements and highlight where they find them. Also, I will ask them to simply underline or bracket any part of the song they find interesting, confusing, intriguing, powerful, etc. As a class, we will discuss where irony and imagery were found. These two elements will be the focus for the class, but I will also encourage students to mention any other elements they found within the rap, for there are many different elements which can be found in any given piece of literature. Students will write about the effectiveness of the lyrics and make text-to-self and text-to-world connections. I will also allow time for any comments the students wish to make about different parts of the song and how they add to the effectiveness of the rap.
On a different day, further into the unit, I will ask my students to meet the following goals: to be able to identify rhyme and wordplay within rap lyrics and poetry and to be able to compare rap to poetry. I will ask my students to read rap and poetry aloud several times, identify all the elements of poetry within the rap lyrics and poem, and I will have students create a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting the two works.
An example of this lesson will focus on Tupac's
Dear Mama
lyrics and Langston Hughes's
Mother to Son
poem. I will hand out the lyric and poem to each student. In pairs I will ask them to find the two poetic elements, rhyme and wordplay, which will be the focus for the day. They can also feel free to mark their poem and lyric with different comments they have, but they must spend most of their time searching for rhyme and wordplay. As a class, we will share what each pair of students found and discuss the effectiveness of each piece based on the poetic elements used. Students will be responsible for independently comparing and contrasting the poem and lyric. Their focus will be to make text-to-text and text-to-world connections.
On a different day, well into the unit, I will ask my students to meet the following goals: to be able to identify irony within a poem. I will ask my students to read aloud the poem several times and identify the poetic element within the poem. I will also ask them to make text-to-self connections.
An example of this lesson will focus on Nikki Giovanni's
I Wrote a Good Omelet
poem. I will hand out the poem to each student. I will ask them to independently find the irony within the poem. I will also ask them to make any other comments they wish to make about the poem in the margins. As a class, we will discuss the poem and the poetic element of irony. We will discuss whether or not irony helps make the poem more effective or less effective. We will discuss how Giovanni gets her message across in this poem. Also, the students will be responsible for writing a text-to-self connection.
These are just quick outlines of different snapshots in the unit, but it is obviously very necessary to start small and build upon the new knowledge the students are gaining. This unit should be fun, interactive, and challenging. It will ask students to come out of their comfort zone, try new things, and trust themselves, their teacher, and their peers.
