Education Questions and Answers
30 minute lesson on 2 poems...help?
Question:I have a job interview on Wednesday and if I am asked back we need to have a 30 minute lesson plan ready to teach on Thursday. The two poems are the sonnet-ballad by Gwendolyn Brooks and Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind by Stephen Crane. These collections were taken from the schools tenth grade text. If you have any ideas of what I can do with these, I'd appreciate it!
I have to teach this lesson in front of a panel that will consist of 2 principals and 2 English teachers and also a group of students.
Only serious answers please.
Answers:
Although knowing the poem is a key component, the panel is most likely looking for the way that you teach the standards.
1. Look up the standards for the state in which you teach, and know the standards that are covered in your lesson.
2. Think about an active way to get the students (panel) involved: comparison/contrast chart, guidance through annotating, a quickwrite, colors (a different color for each figure of speech perhaps). DO NOT just lecture about the different elements of the poem.
3. Anticipate what questions the students may have
4. As an English teacher (or any teacher that teaches reading), you need to always prepare for these three things:
-prereading: How are you going to get them engaged into the poems? For a 30 minute lesson, this should be about 3-5 minutes
-during reading: What are they are going to doing (looking for) as they read? Make sure the students know why they are reading what they are reading, and give them a task to accomplish. This will take the majority of the lesson.
-post-reading: What are they going to do after they have finished? This assessment (can be verbal or written) should deal directly with the objective/standard of the lesson.
These are just a few things to keep in mind. Good Luck!
try typing Sonnet Ballad in your search bar and you will get many sites on it. Do the same for Do No Weep , Maiden ,For war is Kind
Start with a structural comparison between the two poems and what effect each has on the ideas presented . . . the use of a sonnet that is a traditionally "romantic" (in the common use of the word) format to discuss love lost in a war - maybe mention English Renaissance sonnets that also poked fun at the Shakespearean variety? Talk about Crane's and the narrator's opinion of war - sarcastic or not, for starters. Compare and contrast the images of death in each poem - one is personified, the other is not. What effect does personification have on how readers react to the poem . . . the idea of death as a lover . . .
These are just some ideas. I hope they help!
It's an abomination that they chose these poems to teach in school.
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