Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Poetry Unit
Okay, I'm going to give the wiki another try. I've started a page for a poetry unit. I know already that I will need help organizing it. I was hoping for the unit to be something that we could all contribute to and eventually use. I've started with "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou, but I've left it open. Anyone interested?
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Great idea Sarah. I was inspired at NYSEC by two extraordinary poets: Kwame Alexander, and Naomi Shihab Nye.
Both are poets who speak to adolescents. Alexander has an amazing project where he goes into school districts, works w/a group of young poets and publishes a book with them in a DAY. It's called, of course, "Book-in-a-Day." The examples he had with him were wonderful.
I recommend you take a look at both of these poets' work. There are lots of resources online.
Also, Carol Jago worked with poetry by Julia Ortiz Cofer. I would also encourage you to take a look at her work. Here's a sample that I would enjoy reading with high schoolers.
The Changeling
Judith Ortiz Cofer
As a young girl
vying for my father's attention,
I invented a game that made him look up
from his reading and shake his head
as if both baffled and amused.
In my brother's closet, I'd change
into his dungarees -- the rough material
molding me into boy shape; hide
my long hair under an army helmet
he'd been given by Father, and emerge
transformed into the legendary Ché
of grown-up talk.
Strutting around the room,
I'd tell of life in the mountains,
of carnage and rivers of blood,
and of manly feasts with rum and music
to celebrate victories para la libertad.
He would listen with a smile
to my tales of battles and brotherhood
until Mother called us to dinner.
She was not amused
by my transformations, sternly forbidding me
from sitting down with them as a man.
She'd order me back to the dark cubicle
that smelled of adventure, to shed
my costume, to braid my hair furiously
with blind hands, and to return invisible,
as myself,
to the real world of her kitchen.
I think this wiki is a wonderful idea. You go girl! K
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