The Complete Poems of Emily Dickenson edited by Thomas JohnsonThis is a book of poetry intended for grades 9-12. It includes the poetry of Emily Dickinson, a great American poet, who is known for her introverted nature and her poems that explore darker themes such as death and immortality. Students can study her unconventional style of writing, as she often uses short lines, no titles, slant rhyme and irregular grammar and punctuation. She also writes many beautfiul, more light-hearted poems, dealing with themes such as gardens, flowers, and Gospel passages. Because personification is extremely evident in Dickinson's poetry, an activity could be conducted in which the students learn this term and find it in the poem. The teacher could first introduce the poem "The Sky is Low" by Emily Dickinson to students. The teacher could then conduct a choral reading, assigning different students to each read one line of the poem. Students would also be asked to define any unfamiliar words, first using the context of the poem, and later a definition if they are unable to figure out the definition. At this point the students would be comfortable enough with the poem to identify examples of personification in the poem. This would not only teach them about personification and finding it in a poem, but it would also help build the good habit of looking up unfamiliar words, rather than simply moving past them.
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The Essential Alfred Tennyson Collection by Alfred TennysonThis is a book of poetry that is intended for grades 9-12. Alfred Tennyson was a Victorian writer who wrote on a plethora of subject matter including mythology, medieval legends, nature and family. He is an incredible descriptive writer, as he uses a great deal of imagery in his poems. He uses incredible rhyme and rhythm in his poetry, and his poems are thus ones that move the reader and resonate with them and evoke their thoughts. One particular poem in this book, "Ulysses", could be read and paired with a lesson in Mythology. The class would conduct a choral reading and then break into pairs. After reading the poem, the students would be asked to write down what they think the story is, based on the poem. THe teacher could then hand out an excerpt of the Odyssey (the scene with Ulysses that Tennyson describes) for the students to read. They would then write a new summary of the story based on the actual myth, and compare them to the story they interpreted from Tennyson's poem. This would serve as a lesson not only in Mythology, but also in comparing and contrasting literature and studying the effect of subject matter on a poem.
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The Surrender Tree by Margarita EngleThe Surrender Tree is a Newbery Medal, poetry book and is intended for grades 6-8. The included poems tell the story of Cuba's inability to become independent, even after fighting three wars for with that specific goal. Many of the people in Cuba live in concentration camps at this time (1869), with little food and resources. This book is able to capture the despair that Cuba was in at this time, but it also captures their relentless struggle for independence, despite the many barriers that they faced. An activity could be used for this book in the content area of history. Since the independence of Cuba is not something that is thoroughly studied in a regular curriculum, many student might not know about this event in history. This interactive timeline (http://www.cfr.org/cuba/timeline-us-cuba-relations/p32817#!/) provides a great summary of Cuba's history and its relationship with the United States. This timeline could be viewed and discussed as a class as a history lesson.
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Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce SidmanThis is a Newbery Honor book of poetry intended for grades 3-5. The book consists of poems and pictures that capture the mysterious scene of nature during the nighttime. The poems are descriptive and unique, and use a great deal of sense imagery and other rhetorical devices. An activity could be conducted for this book in the subject of art. After reading one poem from the collection as a class and analyzing the illustrations and their connections to the poem itself, students could pick one specific poem to focus on individually. After picking their poem, the students would be asked to write a list (to be submitted) of at least five connections between the words of the poem and its illustration. This would be done during class time, so that the teacher could walk around and assist the students with making meaningful connections. As a final activity, I the students would be asked to create their own illustration for the poem they chose, along with a list of five of their own poem-illustration connections in order to demonstrate why they illustrated what they did.
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A Visit to William Blake's Inn by Nancy Willard, illustrated by Alice and Martin ProvessenThis is a book of poetry by Nancy Willard, that won the Newbery award and is intended for grades 3-5. The poems are inspired by William Blake's poems "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience", and provide interesting, funny stories about an inn and its unusual guests. These poems are ones that are playful and fun to read, and are perfect for choral reading activities within a classroom. The poems also include incredible use of rhyme and meter, which is a very large aspect of poetry. It is therefore very important for students to understand these characteristics in their study of poetry. A helpful activity could be to ask the students to pick one poem from the book, break up the meter with help from the teacher, and once their meter dissection is approved, present the poem to the class, being sure to emphasize its meter and resulting rhythm. This would not only provide practice in finding meter and marking it within a poem, but also in reciting poetry in its proper rhythm as intended by the author.
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