Step 1: What do you think of poetry? What kind of poetry do you like? What has your experience been with poetry? Do you like it? If so, why? If no, why? Do you have any poems that stick out to you that you loved? That you hated? What kinds of poetry do you like? Dislike? What do you wish to learn in this unit? What do you want to get better at? Set goals.
Step 2: Read a Mess of Poems!! (This is the longest section of this project- you will have 50 poem analyses recorded here )
1. Mother to Son Langston Hughes * * * * I really enjoyed this poem. I really connected to it because as i was a kid i would see my parents struggle to provide for me and they always told me never to give up. So in this poem, the mother figure is trying to explain to the son that when life get rough don’t just give up. I think Langston hughes is trying to show readers you think that your parents have been through it but they have, parents are known as the fun killers because their always telling us not to do this and not to do that, but really they tell you this because they want to try to protect from the consequences you’ll face. So thats why the will tell you to no do or to not give up.
The speaker of the poem says that she has been “climbing” in her life.The word climbing suggests that it has been difficult because when you climb you have to use a lot of energy and it may be frightening because the higher you go the harder fall will be. I think she says that as you move deeper into your life, you have more to lose. Additionally, she says she’s been “reachin landings.” A landing is the flat part after a flight of stairs. It is stable and it gives your “legs” a rest. When she says she been reachign landings I think she means parts in her life that haven’t been a struggle. There are moments of rest for her. However, she knows that the steps ahead may still be difficult to take. I think she wants to communicate that life has moments that are pleasant but you shou1
Step 3: Selection of Top Poems (choose 5- 10 faves)
5.the quiet world
4. blackberry picking
3. mother to son
2. my papas waltz
1.My favorite poem: The rose the grew from concrete
Step 4: Write a strong response supporting selection of favorite poem
During our poetry unit, we …
(Discuss the process of the unit. When you were assigned a poem, what did you do? What steps did you have to take to develop your interpretation and analysis? What did this teach you?)
Here are some specific literary elements, skills, and poetic devices we learned about. Please define these and explain what their role is in a poem. As a result of studying these, what did you realize about poetry?
Annotating
Diction
Tone
Mood
Theme
Speaker vs. Poet
Extended Metaphor
Imagery
Symbolism
What I need to put on my SLC Reflection 2
What outcome did you improve in for ELA? How do you know you improved in it? What changes/ behaviors helped you gain mastery of this skill?
What outcome do you still want to master in ELA? What gets in the way of you mastering this skill? What types of assignments are associated with this outcome?