American Poets and Their Poems

Description

Marie MacPherson has done it again. In addition to her Christian Poets and Poems curriculum, here is an American version, American Poets and Their Poems, another 30-week curriculum, featuring a monthly poet and weekly poems, as well as spiraling instruction in literary/rhetorical devices and suggested vocabulary words and writing activities. It is tailored to the 5th-8th grades but can be adapted as low as elementary school and as high as high school. Expect around 45 minutes per lesson. Each student should have a copy of the supplement “American Poets and Their Poems,” included in this curriculum. (This product consists of two PDFs, one for students and one for teachers.)

Pacing and How-To

Once-A-Week Instructions:

• Instructor should prepare by reading the poem and writing down the rhythm and meter, as well as research the poem, if research is available.
• Instruction reads the poem aloud from the poetry supplement while students follow
  along.
• Group reads the poem aloud from the supplement.
• Instructor reads aloud the biography (at the beginning of each unit).
• Students scan the poem, marking meter, stress, and rhyme scheme (after week 2). The instructor should discuss/correct the students’ finds.
• Instructor reads the literary device(s) of the week aloud.
• Students find and mark the literary device(s) in the poem, with instructor help, if needed.
• Instructor reads the vocabulary words.
• Students find vocabulary words in the poem, look up definitions, and write them in the margin.
• Students look for other literary devices and discuss the meaning of the poem with the
  instructor. Instructor adds commentary, as needed or desired, from the poem comments
  section.
• Group may work on the monthly poetry writing activity, if time allows. This is optional.
• Group reads the poem aloud again in closing.

Monthly Instructions:

• Consider reading aloud the first of the author’s poems listed every day for the whole
  month. The students will likely have it memorized by the end of the month.
• A suggested poetry activity or writing project is suggested with each unit.

The Chosen Poets

Of course, many more American poets exist than those included in this curriculum. I am planning future curricula following this same pattern perhaps for ancient/eastern poets, medieval poets, British poets, and modern poets. “Christian Poets and Their Poems” has already been completed. Some well-known American poets may be included in the modern poets curriculum. There may be some overlap of poets and categories. Please note that not all poems in this “American Poets” curriculum feature a Christian message, but all can be appreciated and analyzed by Christians. This curriculum includes poems by Wheatley, Longfellow, Whitman, Dickinson, Frost, St. Vincent Millay, and Field.

Adaptations

The curriculum is designed to be taught by an instructor, but a motivated student could complete the curriculum on his or her own by following the directions above. The instructor could optimize learning with a weekly check-in regarding the poet and poem.

This curriculum is meant to be used once a week (with the exception of reading aloud the first poem rom each poet daily.) However, it could be adapted for daily use (instead of weekly) by splitting the activities onto separate days. For instance, on Monday, the biography could be read. Tuesday could be used to introduce the new Literary Device and review the previous. Wednesday could be spent on writing in the meter and rhyme scheme. On Thursday, the vocabulary could be introduced. Finally, on Friday, the students could spend time writing their own poetry, as suggested by the monthly activity, or otherwise. In such a case, the instructor could plan for 10 minutes of poetry daily. Alternatively, teachers may consider completing “American Poets” in one semester by meeting twice a week for approximately 45 minutes a meeting, and then add “Christian Poets and Their Poems” similarly to the second semester.

Resources

Please print a copy of “American Poets and Their Poems,” a poetry supplement with text taken from the public domain, for each student.

There are many wonderful poetry websites available for free online, including poets.org and poetryfoundation.org. The website keytopoetry.com can give details about the rhyme scheme and meter, if needed. Poemanalysis.com is an excellent tool for digging deeper in the details of the poems. Literary devices can be found at literarydevices.net, literary-devices.com and rhetoric.by.edu. I am grateful to these, and many other sources, which are found online for use in this curriculum. I did my best to give credit to these sources throughout.

Literary/Rhetorical Devices

Each week, at least one new literary or rhetorical device is presented (which can also be found in the weekly poem.) The “new” literary device is the first one listed each week. Under the new device are suggestions for reviewing other devices previously learned, in a spiral fashion. Many can be found in the poem of the week, but devices in parentheses but are not necessarily found in the poem, yet should be reviewed anyway. Check the glossary in Appendix C if a definition is needed for reviewed devices.

Assessment

No formal assessment is provided in this curriculum, as the main objectives are affective. However, instructors may feel free to assess the memorization of the monthly poem, accuracy of the scanning of the poem, and/or the comprehension of the literary/rhetorical devices.

Extending Activities

Ideas for extending learning beyond poetry class include finding literary devices used by authors in literature/reading class, making a timeline of the poets (or add the poets to an existing timeline), and creating a end-of-the month recitation party where students showcase the poem of the month, or other poems.

Also from Into Your Hands, LLC

Into Your Hands, LLC offers a wide variety of language arts curricula, available at LutheranHomeschool.com, including:

• Examining Worldviews in American Literature (9th-12th grades)
• Examining Worldviews in World Literature (9th-12th grades)
• Pre-Rhetoric and Progymnasmata (5th-12th grades)
• Speech and Debate (5th-8th grades)
• Homeschool Family Literature Guide (K-8th grades)
• Education Foundations: Introduction to Teaching (9th-12th grade elective)

Free products there include a K-12 classical curriculum guide, cooking curriculum, painting projects, mapping curricula, and more! Marie has also written several home management and devotion books available at Amazon.com, as well as Teaching Children Chastity for Life, available from AdCrucem.com.©