Day Two -- African American Poets

Background Music: Bessie Smith CD (or any other Harlem Renaissance performer, like Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, or Louis Armstrong) *optional		Gwendolyn Brooks Poems: "The Crazy Woman" "Sadie and Maud" *included on handout
	Langston Hughes Poems: "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" "Mother to Son" "The Weary Blues" *included on handout		Sterling Brown Poems: "Slim Greer in Hell" *included on handout
Countee Cullen Poems: "The Wise" "Incident" *included on handout		CD: the voice of langston hughes contains audio blues version of "The Weary Blues"
Anita Scott Bryant poems "Black Baby" "The Shinging Parlor" *included on handout	Handout packet including all the poems mentioned above. A printable version of this packet is included here.	Coffee & cups (optional)	Candles (optional and subject to principal permission)

1.	Students will be exposed to a wide array of Harlem Renaissance poets.
2.	Students will participate in class discussions about poetry.
3.	Students will engage in affective activity that will enhance understanding of the time of the Harlem Renaissance.
4.	Students will respond affectively and critically to poetry.
5.	Students will be exposed to poetry read through a number of genres, including blues, CD, and computer.
6.	Students will practice oral speaking and reading skills while futher developing their comfort and confidence in front of a group setting.

Content Standard 1.5:	Respond (personally, analytically, and critically) to a variety of oral, visual, written, and electronic texts, making connections to their personal lives and the lives of others (or providing examples of how texts influence their lives and their role in society).
Content Standard 9.3:	Synthesize content from multiple texts representing varied perspectives in order to formulate principles and generalizations.
Content Standard 5.1:	Select, read, listen to, view, and respond thoughtfully to both classic and contemporary texts recognized for quality and literary merit.
Content Standard 8.2:	Students will describe and use characteristics of various narrative genres and elements of narrative technique to convey ideas and perspectives.
Content Standard 3.3	Read and write fluently, speak confidently, listen and interact appropriately, view critically and represent creatively.

Students will be asked to take out their handout that was to be read the night before, "How to Enjoy Poetry". Volunteers will be taken to summarize each of the seven points, and the teacher will accentuate the ones that are especially important for today's lesson and for the rest of the week. In particular, the points about reading poetry slowly and reading poetry aloud will be accentuated.

After the brief summary/discussion of "How to Enjoy Poetry", a handout containing today's poems will be passed out.

The teacher will briefly go over the format of the day's class with the students, explaining how the poems will be read by going around the circle. Each poem will be read twice by the two successive students in the circle, and each poem should be read in a slow and clear voice. Brief discussions about each of the poems will occur after the readings.

The first poem will be Langston Hughes' "The Negro Speaks of Rivers". The poem will be read by the teacher first, then the person closest to his right will read it next. After the second reading of each poem, a discussion question -- generally, a very general question of "What did you all think of that one?" -- will be posed by the teacher. Eventually, as the students get used to it, the question should not even have to be posed.

With each poem, the teacher may wish to bring up points that do not come naturally from the "What did you all think of the poem?" question. While the goal of this lesson is not to be overly analytical at all, it is still important that certain points get brought up if there is to be full understanding of poems.

There are ten poems to be read in total, plus two audio versions of the poems being read by the actual authors (to be played after the second reading of that particular poem). More detailed orders and directions of the direction are in the "Teacher Will/Student Will" graph below.

Throughout the discussion, the music should still be played, although the teacher may want to switch to an all-instrumental artist as poetry is being read. Duke Ellington would make a good choice. This will create the atmosphere of a coffeehouse all the much more. If desired, the teacher may want to encourage applause after each reading -- again, to re-create a coffeehouse environment.

Teacher Will:	Students Will:
Get room situated before students come in, so it's all ready for them. Circle, Candles, Coffee, Music set.	Come in, grab coffee, take seat.
Ask students to take out reading from last night, "How to Enjoy Poetry," and ask for volunteers to summarize each of the seven points without reading directly from paper.	Volunteer to summarize the seven points of enjoying poetry.
Briefly introduce Harlem Renaissance, then explain the format of the day's class. Pass out handouts containing the ten poems. The format will include two readings of each poem in the packet, with readers chosen by going around the circle of desks. Emphasis will be placed on slow, clear readings of the poems.	Listen, and ask questions if any.
Begin by reading the poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers".	Listen to the reading of the poem.
Begin the circle by having the student to the right re-read the poem.	Continue going around the circle, reading each poem twice.
Begin discussions of each poem after it is read.	Participate in discussions.
Discuss "The Negro Speaks of Rivers". Accentuate geographical points in discussion.	React to and participate in discussion about the poem.
Discuss "Mother to Son" after the students read it. What literary term is the "crystal stairs" in the poem an example of?	React to and participate in discussion about the poem.
After the 2 students read through "The Weary Blues" twice, play the bluesy version of it that Langston Hughes recorded himself. Discuss poem, both musical aspects of it (how does it compare with rap) and poetic aspects of it.	React to the musical version of the poem and participate in the ensuing brief discussion.
Discuss the two Gwendolyn Brooks poems, "Sadie and Maud" and "The Crazy Woman". What do the students think of them?	React to and participate in discussion about the poem.
Have a student read the Sterling Brown poem "Slim Greer in Hell". After the student reads, play the RealAudio recording of Brown reading the poem. How did the poem change after hearing Brown read it himself? How was the Brown reading similar or different to Langston Hughes' reading?	React to and participate in discussion about the poem.
Discuss the two Countee Cullen poems, "Incident" and "The Wise". Bring up the use of the n-word in "Incident"... (ask "why was it used?")	React to and participate in discussion about the poem.
Discuss the two Anita Scott Bryant poems, "Black Baby " and "The Shinging Parlor". How did the students like them?	React to and participate in discussion about the poem.
If time, ask what the students' favorite and least favorite poem was of the day, and discuss why. Mention that tomorrow, the students will really want to be ready to know why they like certain poems and not others. No homework.	Participate in final discussion.

1.	What is poetry?
2.	What is the difference between poetry and prose? Where does one start and the other end?
3.	What can the pieces played/read in class be categorized as?
4.	Is there any real answer to the question?

1.	Understand that two of the most important aspects of enjoying poetry is reading it aloud and reading it slowly.
2.	Read a poem in front of their classroom peers.
3.	Reflect on their feelings about a poem and participate in a whole class discussion about it.
4.	Understand some aspects of the Harlem Renaissance.