A critical component of the Harlem Renaissance was poetry. Poetry is a concept that some students find very exciting because the length is less intimidating than the longer works of narrative text, though this isn’t always true. On the other hand, the shorter length usually requires a deeper analysis of what goes on, which can also be anxiety provoking. I teach a large number of multilingual students and like for them to be able to access the material like their English proficient peers. For this reason, part of the culminating project for this unit will be the creation of a found poem.16
A found poem is a poem made up of words, phrases, and texts that have already been written. It is the poet’s job to arrange the material in a way that they find meaningful. There are two major types of found poems: (1) blackout poems and (2) cut up poems. In a black out poems, the poet removes words by darkening them and leaving only selected words to help create a new meaning. In a cut up poem, the poet is taking words and phrases from different works in order to create a new work.17
If there are students who want to expand beyond this, they can create other types of poems. Poetry is a subject that would typically be covered in seventh grade with Kwame Alexander’s The Crossover, which will be referenced at the start of the unit. Developing further connections by exploring the work did the previous year in the poetry unit will help to activate student’s background knowledge in order to make stronger connections in this unit.
