Module 4 Poetry Across the Curriculum

Module 4

Poetry Across the Curriculum

Science Poetry

Bibliographic Citation

Alarcón, Francisco X. 2008. Animal Poems of the Iguazu.  Illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez. San Francisco, CA: Children’s Book Press. ISBN 978089239225.

Critical Analysis

Francisco X. Alarcón is an American poet and educator, who has created a splendid tribute to the endangered species of the Iguazu rainforest of South America. In this amazing book of poetry, Animal Poems of the Iguazu, Alarcón offers his readers a captivating journey into the world of the endangered species of the Iguazu rainforest. Each of Alarcon's verses are written in Spanish and and English on a one page spread. 

Maya Christina Gonzalez compliments each poem in Alarcón's collection with stunning detailed illustrations that are achieved in mixed-media. Each breathtaking drawing is a masterpiece filled with vibrant textures and vivid colors of the Iguazu rainforest's inhabitants. Gonzalez’s intricate paper cut-outs offer intensity and flair to the species that occupy the rainforest.

Follow-Up Activity

Introduction

Before reading Animal Poems of the Iguazu, share background information on Francisco X. Alarcón's life. Discuss Alarcón's accomplishments and his passion for the endangered species of the Iguazu rainforest of South America. Second, provide breaks for the children to read and view informational text materials and websites regarding the threaten species that inhabit the rainforest. Throughout the week, read the English and the accompanied Spanish poems in Animal Poems of the Iguazu to the students and provide opportunities for them to turn and talk with a partner about the poems. Next, reread Butterflies and Las Mariposas to the kids. The children will work with a partner to research the different varieties of butterflies that inhabit the Iguazu rainforest and choose one butterfly for their research study. Students may utilize the computers in the classroom and the computer lab for their butterfly project. Finally, students will share their discoveries  about their butterflies through poetry, song, dance, drawings, choral readings, or posters.

Highlighted Poem

Las Mariposas                                                       

By Francisco X. Alarcon 

Somos las flores                                                   

Multicolores                                                         

Del aire                                                                

Butterflies

By Francisco X. Alarcon

We are

the multicolored

flowers of the air

Social Studies Poetry

Bibliographic Citation

Rappaport, Doreen. 2008. Lady Liberty A Biography.  Illustrated by Matt Tavares. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press. ISBN 978-0-7636-2530-6.

Critical Analysis

Lady Liberty: A Biography  written by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Matt Tavares is a very powerful and informative verse novel about the conception of our most beloved and recognizable symbol of freedom, the Statue of Liberty. This verse novel is truly an incredible and spectacular story of the construction of Lady Liberty from conception to completion. The book begins with a vignette by Doreen Rappaport, who shares her grandfather's story as he escaped from Latvia and arrived in the United States. His powerful story is enhanced by absolutely stunning lifelike illustrations. The final section in the back of the book lists the statue's  dimensions, notes from the poet and illustrator, a time line of events, and a list of resources where readers can receive additional information about the Statue of Liberty.

Follow-Up Activity

Introduction

Before reading  the poem Gustave Eiffe, provide children with background information about the Stature of Liberty. First, read the poem Gustave Eiffe and allow students time to turn and talk with their peers about the poem. Then, tell students that they will work in groups to construct a classroom statue and create a poem about their sculpture.  Next, provide children with opportunities to share their poems and statues with the class. Finally, place a voting box and ballots in a designated area of the classroom and offer  students an opportunity to vote for their class statue  and accompanied poem. After voting, place the statue and poem with the most votes on the top of the class display case and put the remaining  pieces next to it. Mount all the poems on tagboard and display the student's creations in a centrally located  area in the classroom. 

Highlighted Poem

Gustave Eiffe

Structural Engineer

25 rue de Chazelles, Paris, France, 1883

By Doreen Rappaport

Lady Liberty is the talk of Paris,

Every day hundreds of people come

to watch her grow.

To keep Liberty upright is a challenge

as great as any I have faced in building bridges.

Her copper shell weighs more than 179,000 pounds

So I made her a skeleton-

a ninety-six foot-high iron tower

 of beams and ribs

upon which to bolt her copper skin.

Iron rusts when it touches copper.

Some say my brilliance is having

the beams pass through fittings

so the iron does not fasten directly to the copper.

The fittings also let her copper skin move,

to expand and contract with the weather.

I listen to the people talk as they watch

her skin being riveted onto her skeleton.

She inspires them. She inspires me.

Liberte, egalite, and fraternite  are in the air.

 Biographical Poetry Written for Young People

Bibliographic Citation

Hemphill, Stephanie. 2007.  Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-375-83799-9.

Critical Analysis

Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath  by Stephanie Hemphill is a series of concise poems highlighting major events in the life of Sylvia Plath. These events are presented from her birth in Boston in 1932 to her suicide, by her own hands, in London in 1963. Each poem is Hemphill's fictional scripted account of  Plath's parents, grandparents, brother, friends, teachers, neighbors, doctors, boyfriends, lovers,  and other acquaintances insights into the life of  Sylvia Plath.
This verse novel is  suited for young adults, due to Hemphill's  graphic and detailed verses describing Plath's attempted suicides and death by suicide. 
Hemphill's poems offers the reader a clear view into the often disturbing life of an extremely gifted and talented  American poet. 

Follow-Up Activity

Introduction

Using novels in verse with students in high school is an excellent introduction to the study of traditional poetry. After reading the verse novel Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath, provide breaks for students to dialogue with  their peers regarding  the novel and their personal experiences with fulfilled and unfulfilled dreams, love, rage, depression, and death. Introduce Hemphill's poem Excellence Cyrilly Abels, Managing Editor, Mademoiselle June 1953 to the students.  Ask students to research the life and work of a well known poet. Provide opportunities for  students to write free verse poems that expose a specific time period in the poet’s life. Tell students to make notes at the bottom of each poem as in Stephanie Hemphill's poems in Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath

Highlighted Poem

Excellence

Cyrilly Abels, Managing Editor, Mademoiselle

                June 1953

Impeccable.

Error free. On time.

I select Sylvia to be

my managing guess editor,

I know

she can be pushed

to my standards.

Unlike the other girls

she rigors, a crossword

Puzzler

who fills in all the blanks

correctly in blue ink,

no erasures. She sits

at her desk, changing

typewriter ribbons

after hours. Her Achilles’

heel that box of Kleenex

and those brown watery eyes,

but she holds her tears

around me.

I will suffer

none of these college girls

blubbering or blundering.

They are privileged,

must earn

their A+ status with me.

My hemline’s exact,

cuticles clipped,

hair tucked smartly

behind my ears.

This magazine

is us. We must present.

I instill this in Sylvia.

She regards me

with glass eye.

and nods agreement.

She is accustomed

to a woman’s high

expectations, to do

well by the family name.

She will make Plath

synonymous with greatness.

To be average

is to hibernate-

a lair neither I nor my staff

dare enter.

Kinds of Poetry

Module 3

Kinds of Poetry

Bibliography

Creech, Sharon. 2001. Love That Dog. New York, New York: HarperCollins Children’s, Inc. ISBN 0-06-029287-3.

Critical Analysis

Sharon Creech's Love That Dog is a creative, humorous and delightful free verse novel about a little boy named Jack, who doesn’t like poetry. Through narrative poetry, Jack’s story chronicles how a boy learns to love, write and illustrates his love for his dog. Also, the narrative poems reveal how Jack develops an appreciation for words and images. Finally, the narrative poems presents Jack’s relationship with his teacher,  Miss Stretchberry, who aids Jacks with building a high regard for poetry and to believe he has something to say through his poetry.

In Sharon Creech’s, Love that Dog, she examines what makes a poem and and a poet. Creech encourages the reader to have confidence in their ability to love and create poetry.

Follow Up Activity

Throughout the week, during story time, read Sharon Creech’s book LoveThat Dog. In a group discussion with students in second grade, have students turn and talk with their partner about Jack’s early responses to poetry. The teacher will point out that many of the students in second grade are just like Jack and do not understand many of the poems they read or hear. Tell the students that it’s fine not to “get” a poem the first time it is read or heard. Ask students to follow Jack’s responses to William Carlos Williams’ poem “The Red Wheelbarrow.” Have students turn and talk about Jack’s overall lack of appreciation for the poem to his replication and reverence of it. The teacher will inform students of a poem she didn’t like the first time she read or heard it, and in time, how the poem grew on her. Finally, have the students turn and talk about the poems in Love That Dog that they didn’t like the first time they read or listened to the poem read to them. Then have students read the poem to their partner and talk about why they now like the poem.

For the second activity, have student reread Love That Dog with a partner. Have students discuss their favorite part of the poem. Ask students if they have or had a pet they love like Jack love for Sky. Allow students to compose a poem about their pet. The students will type their poem on the computers in the lab. As noted in Love That Dog, follow the publishing process. Student’s poems are to be displayed on the lockers, walls, and picture window inside of the classroom.

Highlighted Poem

Love That Dog

(Inspired By Walter Dean Myers)

By Jack

Written By Sharon Creech

Love That Dog

Like a bird loves to fly,

I said I love that dog

Like a bird loves to fly

Love to call him in the morning

Love to call him

“Hey there, Sky!”

Kinds of Poetry

Module 3 
Kinds of Poetry

Bibliography

Mecum, Ryan. Zombie Haiku. 2008. Cincinnati, Ohio: HOW Books, an imprint of F & W Media, Inc. 978-1-60061-070-7.

Critical Analysis

The Zombie Haiku is a journal of poems written and photographed by Ryan Mecum. Mecum’s has written a narrative of haiku poems that chronicles the transformation of an unknown poet from human into a flesh consuming zombie. The poet, who later transforms into a zombie, is one of two main characters in Zombie Haiku. The other character is Chris Lynch who writes his story in the margins of the poet’s haiku journal. On page one, the poet describes haiku as a “poetic structure . . . with three simple lines composed of five syllables, then seven syllables, and another line of five syllables.”

In the beginning of the journal, before the poet is transformed, he reveals his feelings relating to the beauty of life and the behaviors of his neighbors, coworkers, and a mob of people at a burning gas station.  The poet surmises that something is not quite right in his once normal world. Subsequently, the poet is bitten and is transformed into a zombie, who consequently accounts his journey as a zombie through his haiku poetry.

Through his haiku poems, the poet provides the reader with a detailed description of his transformation. In the most graphic, disturbing and grotesque fashion, the poet chronicles his excruciating transformation from human to zombie and the strangeness of bleeding to death, but feeling stronger and longing to eat people’s brains and their other body parts. For example, the poet states in two poem, “I remember home, and I remember my mom and her meaty thighs . . . fresh food smells so good, like pasta Mom used to make. Mom’s brains smell good.”

Further, the poet reveals his ravenous appetite and uncontrollable desire for human brains. He states, “Blood is really warm. It’s like drinking hot chocolate but with some screaming . . . Walking in the dark with a stomach full of meat, I search for meat . . . We think alike. Thousand lived in the city, thousand of fresh brains.”

 The poet’s gradual decline is revealed through unsettling handwriting and crumpled and torn-out and duck taped typed written inserted poetry. The poet’s last moments are witnessed by Chris Lynch, who is trapped within an airport bathroom by the poet and his zombie cohorts. The journal is discovered by Chris Lynch when he slams the bathroom door on the zombie poet’s arms and amputates it. Thereafter, Chris Lynch begins to read the poet’s journal. Chris begins writing in the margins of the zombie’s poetry journal, in blue pen. Lynch unfolds how he stumbles upon the zombie poet’s journal and that he will soon begin his own transformation. This makes the Zombie Haiku a recurring journey of the zombie transformation.

Ryan Mecum provides the reader with an easy to follow text format and the illustrations complimented the narrative poetry book. The photography and artwork illustrating Mecum Zombie Haiku is imaginative and ingenious.  He presents multiple Polaroid-like snap shots of zombies, hair, an eyeball, maggots, duct tape and other repugnant items. The sketch work is unique and interesting too.  Mecum’s sketches complement the poetry and give it a thrilling and creepy style. The photography is exceptional. Ryan Mecum scores of models are dressed like zombies and were photographed using a variety of lenses, lighting and special effects that lend itself to the making of a realistic narrative. For example, various pages consist of lifelike smidgens of blood, string of hair and bile. This is an incredible and unique poetry collection.

Follow-Up Activity

For students in high school, I would introduce a unit of haiku poetry. First, I would tell them the meaning and origin of haiku poetry.  Next, I would introduce each of Ryan Mecum’s books of poetry. We would have a class discussion of Mecum’s definition of haiku poetry found on page one of his book Zombie Haiku. I would allow my students to utilize the computers in the lab to look up the origin of haiku poetry and to see if it is different from the ones given in class. Then, students would read numerous haiku poems by various poets. In class, I would group students according to their areas of interest, as it relates to haiku poetry and poets. Student will read and discuss their thoughts relating to the poems and the poets. I would allow students to create zombie, vampire, or werewolf haiku poetry or what haiku poetry interests them.  Finally, I would allow students to read, write and publish their zombie haiku poems in the schools newspaper. For those students who have chosen Zombie Haiku, I would ask the drama and journalism department to allow my students to dress up in full zombie costumes, including makeup and clothing. The journalism department would photograph the students in their zombie attire and makeup, posing like the models in Ryan Mecum Polaroid-like snap shots. The journalism department would publish my student’s haiku poetry in the school’s newspaper. Finally, the drama department would have a poetry reading of my student’s poetry for the parents and student body.

Highlighted Poem

Through the neighborhood

                                                  I try to remember where

                                                            People congregate.

                                               My instinct steers me

                                               to my gourmet dinner feast,

                                             a  nursing home.

                                                   The side door is shut.

                                          From the side window, they stare.

                                           So many meals stare.

                                                  They are so lucky

                                         that I cannot remember

                                          how to use doorknobs.

                                                 I circle around,

                                         and a great surprise greets me:

                                         automatic doors.

                                               It is hard to tell

                                      who is food and who isn’t

                                     in the nursing home.

                                             I really need blood.

                                       Moaning “brains” is hard to do

                                       with dried out tongue.

                                             Little old ladies

                                        Speed away in their wheelchairs,

                                       frightened meals on wheels.