Teachers Network
FK Lane High School             English             Mrs. Maslow
Create an FK Lane HS Web Site For Favorite Poems
URL: www. teachersnetwork.org/teachnet-lab/fklane/pmaslow.poem.html
Assignment: After studying how a poet uses literary devices to portray a certain tone and theme for 8 poems and writing short essays about them, students will write an essay about which poem is their favorite to be submited to the class website on www.nicenet.org.
    The poems read and analyzed previously are all from the Adventures in Appreciation  textbook from Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovitch except  Hope is a Thing with Feathers, by Emily Dickinson  and  I am a  Rock-by Paul Simon.   The other poems are Recuerdo, by Edna St. Vincent Millay; Dreams, by Langston Hughes; The Base Stealer , by Robert Francis; She Sweeps with Many Colored Brooms, by Emily Dickinson; First Lesson, by Philip Booth;  Miss Rosie, by Lucille Clifton.
    Basic literary devices covered are: figurative language- metaphor, simile, symbolism; repetition and refrain.
    Answer these questions before you write the first draft of your essay on why you picked one of the 8 poems we studied as your favorite:Why did you choose this poem as your favorite? What is it about this poem that affected you more than the other poems?  What particular literary device that the author used do you find especially appealing?  What about the subject matter appealed to you more than the other poems?
 
 

Evaluate A National Web Site For Favorite Poems

Assignment:    Visit this national poetry site called the Favorite Poem Project.
1. Students will find the list of poets  First click on the two we have studied-Emily Dickinson  and then Langston Hughes.  First read "Hope is a Thing with Feathers" and then click at the right hand top and read the four letters from people explaining why they picked this poem as their favorite.  When they click on Langston Hughes they can then hear the poem read by clicking on the upper right corner.
2.  Students should then click on the poets that they recognize from class to see other poems by this author.   Read the poems and if there are letters read those.  If the poem is recorded click on that symbol and  hear the poem aloud.  There is also a section with a video presentation of several poems for the students to also look at.
    After reading about 12 poems  students choose their favorite to read again and print so they can write an essay at a later date on why it is their favorite from this group. Here is a checklist provided to help students chose their favorite poem : Why did you choose this poem as your favorite? What is it about this poem that affected you more than the other poems?  What particular literary device that the author used do you find especially appealing?   Did you find that either hearing the poems read or reading people's letters about why the poem was their favorite was helpful in understanding the poem?

Follow-up Lesson- Students will write an essay on the poem that they they chose as their favorite.   They will discuss contributing literary elements when explaining why it is their favorite.  They can submit their favorite poem and an explanation on why they chose it to the national poetry site.