South Carolina ETV

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Powerful Poetry Presenting the Writer's Soul (Grades 9-10)

Master Teacher

Wendy Lacombe

Time Allotment

Two 45-minute periods

Overview

By exploring the life and poetry of Langston Hughes, students will discover the power and necessity of using strong, vivid vocabulary. Additionally, the students will discover how figurative language adds meaning and appeal to poetry and makes the thematic content appealing to society at large.

Subject Matter

Language Arts (poetry)

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

Choose adjectives that accurately describe their sensory experiences.

South Carolina Standards

(These Standards are available online at http://www.myscschools.com/offices/cso/)

E1-R2.1: Begin showing how the cultural, philosophical, political, religious or ethical perspectives of a particular period influence the plots, characters, settings and themes of literary works written during that period.

E1-R2.2: Demonstrate the ability to evaluate an author’s use of stylistic elements such as tone, irony and figurative language.

E1-R2.4: Demonstrate the ability to compare and contrast authors’ styles on the basis of elements such as word choice and sentence structure

Media Components

Video

Voices and Visions, Lesson 3: “Langston Hughes”

Web Site

Lower East Side Tenement Museum
The Museum’s mission is to promote tolerance and historical perspective through the presentation and interpretation of the variety of immigrant and migrant experiences in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The virtual tours convey the economic depressions residents had to endure and the hardships they created.

Audio

Jazz CD

Materials

Per student:

small amounts of chocolate chips, lemon slices, small cinnamon red hots, peppermints and popped popcorn

Per pair of students:

Thesaurus

Per group:

paper plate

Equipment

VCR
computer
CD player

Prep for Teachers

Cut up fruit. Divide the treats onto paper plates, one plate per group of two students. (Enough for each student to have a taste.)
Make copies of Activity Sheets 1 and 2 for each student.
Cue and set up first video clip.
Bookmark Web site on all computers to be used.
Cue the jazz CD.
When using media, provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites, or other multimedia elements.

Introductory Activity

Step 1: Distribute plates, one per group, to the students. Tell the students that they will be able to eat the treats in a little while, but must wait for your direction to do so.

Step 2: Ask the students, “What is an adjective?” (Response: a word that describes a noun) Tell the students that they are going to create a list of descriptive adjectives and you want adjectives that accurately describe the experience they are about to have.

Distribute Activity Sheet 1. Tell your students to read over the “Taboo List” of words. These general words cannot be used on their lists. Tell them that they may use the thesaurus to find more specific adjectives.

Step 3: Instruct the students to look at items on the plate. Tell them to list a strong adjective to describe how each food looks.

Step 4: Instruct the students to smell each food on the plate. Tell them to list a strong adjective to describe how each food smells.

Step 5: Instruct the students to taste each food and write a strong adjective to describe the taste of each food. Collect plates.

Step 6: PLAY a 45-second to one-minute selection of jazz music. Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by asking the students to write a strong adjective to describe what they are hearing.

Step 7: Have students share the adjectives that they chose. Discuss why the specific adjectives are better choices for writing rather than the words on the Taboo List.

Step 8: Discuss with the students why communicating their experiences in writing is important. Ask the students to tell you some types of figurative language used in poetry. (Simile, metaphor, hyperbole, assonance, alliteration) As students are discussing, review the meaning of each term. Ask students why using figurative language makes poetry more effective.

Step 9: Ask students what types of poems they enjoy most and what they like best about those poems.

Talk with the students about the use of rhyme, alliteration and assonance and how those devices add not only to the style but also to the rhythm of the poem, making it fun and interesting to read.

Step 10: Tell them they are going to learn about the experiences and poetry of a famous poet named Langston Hughes. Explain that his writing was so powerful, that it gave a voice and understanding to many Americans across the nation at a time when they were oppressed and not understood.

Learning Activities

Step 1: Briefly describe who Langston Hughes was. He was born in the early 1900s and was raised primarily by his grandmother. He was a very gifted man, but because of the time in which he lived he had to struggle to get an education. He was influential during the Harlem Renaissance along with other writers, artists and musicians like Duke Ellington and Countee Cullen.

Step 2: Ask the students to tell you what they know about the life experiences of African Americans during the first half on the 20th century. Discuss the hardships with your students. Some topics may include the difficulty to get a job, racism, prejudice, and the Great Depression and its impact on people.

Step 3: Insert the tape, Voices and Visions, “Langston Hughes,” into VCR. CUE tape to where several people are walking into the school building. Explain to the students that Hughes was a social poet, and that Mary McCleod Bethune, a great educator, encouraged Hughes to go south so he would better be able to write so all blacks were represented.

Insert the tape and hit the still button. Provide students a Focus for Media Interaction by asking them to describe what they see. Encourage them to use specific adjectives when they describe the scene.

Step 4: Tell the students that they are going to listen to a poem by Langston Hughes called Let America be America Again. Provide them with a Focus for Media Interaction by telling them that they are to listen for the example of alliteration in the poem. PLAY the tape and listen to the poem Let America be America Again. PAUSE after the line, “America never was America to me.” The visual will be a picture of the Ku Klux Klan.

Step 5: Ask the students if they found an example of alliteration (pioneer on the plain, home, he himself) Ask the students whom they believe America was America for? (Some answers may be: The whites living here, the immigrants) Ask the students why the last image keeps Hughes from believing America is America for him. (He wasn’t truly allowed to be free. He couldn’t achieve his dreams. He was kept apart from society. His life was in danger.)

Step 6: Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by asking them to look for at least one more example alliteration (land of love, kings connive) and see if the poem has a specific rhythm. CONTINUE showing the tape. STOP after the line “It never was America to me” The image on the screen is of a man hanging.

Step 7: Discuss the language Langston Hughes used. Did he use large words or difficult vocabulary? (No) Why didn’t he? (Because he wanted everyone to understand his poems and to be able to reach as many people as possible.) What type of language did he use? (Specific language combined well to get his feelings across.)

Step 8: Tell students that Langston Hughes was deeply affected by World War II. He spent time covering the war as a reporter. He wrote a poem called Madrid to describe the horror of the war. CUE the video to the image of the planes flying over the devastated city of Madrid. Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by telling them to listen for alliteration, and assonance. (Alliteration: beneath the bullets, beneath the bombing planes. Assonance: stop the clocks, clocks are stopping) Ask them to think about types of music that may have evolved from this kind of poetry.

Step 9: PLAY the entire clip. END at the image of the ruined building at the line, “In the fearful dark…” Discuss the examples of alliteration. Talk about the language that was used. Ask the students what types of music may have come from this type of poetry. (Answers: rap, jazz.)

Culminating Activity

Step 1: Tell the students to return to their partners. Tell the students that they are going create some of their own examples of alliteration and if they wish, rhythm and sounds that will encompass their experience.

Step 2: Instruct students to go to http://www.tenement.org. Under Online Features (to your right on the page), tell them to click Virtual Tour. When they get to that page, instruct them to click the last oval picture—Baldizzi Apartment.

Step 3: Explain that many of the people during Langston Hughes’ time in Harlem would have lived in a similar apartment, or quite possibly, much worse conditions. Tell the students that the apartment they are about to view would have been the living quarters for four people. Provide the students with a Focus for Media Interaction by telling them to try and find the bathroom.

Step 4: Now distribute Activity Sheet 2 to each student and ask the students to describe the apartment in specific phrases using adjectives. The students should try to combine their phrases to create examples of rhythm, alliteration and assonance. Explain that they will need to use their imagination to think about the smells, sounds and feel of the tenement.

Assessment

The students will turn in Activity Sheets 1 and 2 as their assessment.

Cross-Curricular Extensions

Social Studies: Use this as a springboard to learn more about the Great Depression, civil rights, the Ku Klux Klan, World War II.

Geography: Study a map of New York City and locate Harlem.

History: Study individuals like Mary McCleod Bethune, Countee Cullen.

Music: Research jazz and its influence on the African-American community.

Research the rhythm of poetry and its influence on rap and other modern music.

Community Connections

Invite some African American senior citizens to come into the class to share their experiences during the 1930s.