Day One -- African American Poets

Film:
Slam
(widely available at most videostores, click movie title for more info)

Overhead
(with prose vs. poetry argument)

Printable Handout #1 (with lyrics to both the Walker poem and the Salt n Pepa song).

ARTIST: Arrested Development

CD:
3 Years, 5 months and 2 days in the Life

SONG: Mr. Wendel

CD available here, lyrics available here.

Printable Handout #2 (HOMEWORK, an essay entitled "How to Enjoy Poetry")

Chalk & Chalkboard

Poems:
"I Want to Write" by Margaret Walker

Various Quotes About Poetry (Below)

Overhead Projector

1.	Students will brainstorm definitions of what poetry is, and form a working definition for it.
2.	Students will compare disparate types of writing and discuss whether it is poetry or not.
3.	Students will participate in a class discussion about poetry - what it is, where poetry starts and prose stops, and whether certain types of writing are to be considered poetry.
4.	Students will expand their existing notions and definitions of what poetry means.
5.	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.

After the board is significantly filled up with students' responses, the teacher will uncover (from the board or overhead) three quotations that had been written before class about poetry. The quotations will be Webster Dictionary's definition of poetry ("Imaginative language or composition, whether expressed rhythmically or in prose. Specifically: Metrical composition; verse; rhyme; poems collectively; as, heroic poetry; dramatic poetry; lyric or Pindaric poetry."), Coleridge's quote about poetry ("For poetry is the blossom and the fragrance of all human knowledge, human thoughts, human passions, emotions, language."), and Audre Lorde's quotation about poetry ("The difference between poetry and rhetoric / is being / ready to kill / yourself / instead of your children"). The teacher will lead a student-centered discussion comparing the multiple definitions of poetry that have been presented before them. The question of what makes prose and poetry different will be brought up (either by student or teacher), and the overhead containing baseball metaphor will be displayed. The teacher will ask a volunteer to read the overhead, and discuss what it means.

After the "what is poetry?" discussion, a handout containing Margaret Walker's poem "I Want to Write" will be passed out, and a volunteer will be taken to read the poem. After the initial reading, a brief pause will be enacted, and then another volunteer will be asked to read the poem. After the readings, the question will be posed as to whether the Walker writing was an example of poetry or not.

Next, a clip from the film Slam will be shown. The clip will be taken from the end of the film, which offers two powerful spoken word / performance poet pieces done by the stars of the film, Sonja Sohn and Saul Williams. The clip is about four minutes. After watching the clip, the same question -- "Was that poetry" -- will be asked of the students.

Next, a handout will be passed out featuring lyrics to the Arrested Development song "Mr. Wendel". The author/artist name will be deliberately left off the handout (it can be on the same sheet as the Walker poem). A volunteer will be asked to read the piece. After reading it, the question will be posed as to whether or not the piece was poetry. After a brief discussion (hopefully no students will recognize what the piece was, but it's okay if they do), the song "Mr. Wendel" will be played on CD. An discussion as to whether the piece was poetry will ensue.

Teacher Will:	Students Will:
Lead brainstrorm and record on board answers on question of "What is Poetry?"	Contribute and suggest charactersistics of poetry.
Reveal three other quotations that attempt to answer the aforementioned question, then refocus discussion on comparing all the definitions, including the students' own.	Participate in discussion about the differences between the definitions and the difficulties in defining poetry.
Bring up question as to how poetry and prose differ. Reveal overhead that attempts to answer the poetry/prose argument and asks for a volunteer to read it.	Participate in discussion, and come up with conclusion that it is difficult and nearly impossible to draw a line where poetry starts and prose ends.
Distribute the Margaret Walker piece "I Want to Write" and asks for two volunteers to read it. There will be a reflective pause between the two readings.	The first volunteer will read the poem, then after a pause the second volunteer will read the poem.
Pose the question as to whether the piece was poetry or not.	Participate in discussion.
Briefly introduce and present clip from film Slam, then begin leading discussion as to whether the performance piece was poetry.	Watch film clip and participate in discussion.
Distribute the piece by rap group Arrested Development, making sure not to reveal the artist or author of the piece. Ask for a volunteer to read the piece, then pose question as to whether it was poetry and engage students in discussion centered around the question.	Volunteer to read the piece, then contribute to discussion.
Explain how the rest of the week will go, what will be looked at and studied, then pass out "How to Enjoy Poetry" handout to read for homework. Ask if there are questions.	Listen, and begin reading piece for homework. Ask questions (if any) about homework.

The teacher will use class participation - both silent and verbal - to determine if students can identify characteristics of poetry and offer them up for the whole group. This will be used as an assessment strategy throughout the entire lesson, from the initial "what is poetry?" discussion to the ensuing discussions about the separate pieces. The teacher will make sure to call on as many students as possible. The teacher will monitor level of engagement among the students with the different pieces of literature, as well as across the different media used to present them.

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.	Recall their past exposures to poetry and offer what they believe to be definitions and characteristics of it.
2.	Identify characteristics of both poetry and prose.
2.	Synthesize different definitions of poetry and prose, and form their own conclusions about where one starts and the other leaves off.
3.	Apply these synthesized ideas to multiple pieces of writing to determine which category, if any, the writings belong in.
4.	Share and brainstorm ideas with the rest of the class.