This is a reminder to all parents and students that there is a test on Friday, April 15th. We will review for this test in class on thursday. Make sure to study the following concepts:

1. Historical information on the Harlem Renaissance
2. All poetry terms
3. TPCASTT
4. Know the themes of all 10 poems we studied
5. Meter

Notes and exercises for these concepts can be found in the Student Work section of this website.

On Wednesday, April 13th we continues practicing scanning poetry for poetic meter. Please make sure you complete the assignment. The worksheet is posted below. If you cannot print it, you may write the answers on a sheet of white-lined paper.

On Tuesday, April 12th, we practiced scanning poetry for meter using the following excercise worksheet. Please find a document file of the worksheet below. Please make sure this assignment is complete. If you do not have a printer, you may write the answers on a sheet of white-lined paper.

On Monday, April 11th, we took notes on some of the finer points concerning poetic meter. Please make sure you copy these notes in your English notebook and have them ready everyday in class.

Meter- pattern of accented and unaccented syllables

 

Syllable – Smallest unit of meter (sound in language) We clap along with language to count the syllables.

Foot – group of two syllables. Type of meter determined by the number of feet and the type of foot

Scansion – process of grouping the syllables in a line of poetry into feet and marking the accented and unaccented syllables

/ - Macron: Greek for long (accented)

U – Breve: Greek for short (unaccented)

Iamb – A foot with an unaccented first syllable and an accented second syllable    

Trochee – A foot with an accented first syllable and an unaccented second syllable

There are 8 types of meter

Monometer – line with 1 foot

Dimeter – line with 2 feet

Trimeter – line with 3 feet

Tetrameter – line with 4 feet

Pentameter – line with 5 feet

Hexameter – line with 6 feet

Heptameter – line with 7 feet

Octometer – line with 8 feet  

On Friday, April 8th, we TPCASTT the poem "The Weary Blues." Pelase make sure this assignment is complete.

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway ....
He did a lazy sway ....
To the tune o' those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man's soul.
O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan--
"Ain't got nobody in all this world,
Ain't got nobody but ma self.
I's gwine to quit ma frownin'
And put ma troubles on the shelf."

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more--
"I got the Weary Blues
And I can't be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can't be satisfied--
I ain't happy no mo'
And I wish that I had died."
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.

On Wednesday, April 5, we TPCASTT the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes. We also looked at the difference between standard and non-standard English, and how Hughes uses non-standard English to create an effect with his poetry. Please find the lesson plan and the poem below:

Lesson Plan – “Mother to Son” Standard and Non-standard English 

1. Read the poem together as a class discussing the different steps of TPCASTT by calling on students individually in order up and down the rows of seats.
2. Discuss Hughes use of non-standard English. Students should rewrite the poem changing the “incorrect” English to “correct” English
3. Look at the effect of altering the language by viewing an edited version on the smart board. We will discuss the question, how is the poem diminished by changing the language.
4. Students will TPCASTT the poem and finish for homework.

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

On Monday, April 4, and Tuesday, April 5, we compared two poems by different poets of different time periods. Because this is a 2-day lesson with many assignments involved, please refer to the lesson plan below to find out what to do (the poems are included in the pdf document at the bottom of the page):

Standard: 11.5, 15.7

Objective: Students will apply knowledge of the concept that the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life, and provide support from the text for the identified themes. Students will evaluate how an author’s choice of words advances the theme of a work.

Instructional Block Day 1 Activator: Read the biographical information on Whitman and Hughes. Underline any similarities you can find between the two authors. You may find these bios at www.poets.org

Mini lesson: Distribute copies of both the Whitman and Hughes’ poems, “I Hear America Singing” and
“I, Too”. Have the class read the Whitman poem, “I Hear…” * with you. Teach free verse, structure of poem, and simplicity of language as students take notes on the poem handout. Read “I, Too …”* by Langston Hughes with them. Teach theme in each poem.

Learning Activity: With an academic learning partner, complete a TPCASTT each poem.

Homework: make sure to complete a TPCASTT chart for each poem.

Instructional Block Day 2

Activator:  Based on your TPCASTT charts,  create a Venn diagram that places quotations from the poems as either similar or different

Mini lesson: Discuss the student-generated Venn diagrams. What are some common similarities? How are the themes of these poems similar?

Homework: Now that you have found similarities between the two poems.  Do a comic strip of no fewer than four panels or more than six in which you depict the message or theme of each poem. Use both regular and thought bubbles to convey the theme.

On Friday, April 1st, we read nd TPCASTT the poem, "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes. As always, you may find notes to the TPCASTT process in the student work section of the website.

A link to the poem is provided below:

http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~keith/poems/English_B.html