Lesson+3

** Back to Teaching with Technology Page. ** **Grade Level:  11 **

 American Modernism **
 * Unit:

**Student will understand: ** **Student will be able to: **
 * Lesson Objectives: **
 * Introduce students to the definitive aspects of Modernism in American Poetry.
 * Review poetry terms.
 * Help students understand the importance of poetry in American culture between the wars.
 * Familiarize students with the major players of American Modernist Poetry.
 * Teach students the the different styles of "new poetry" that emerged during the Modernist era.
 * Allow students to experience poems from crucial authors of the time period.
 * Allow students to compare and contrast traditional poems to the free verse introduced during the era.
 * Practice creative writing through poetry.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Practice analyzation of poetry.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The different groups of Modernist Poetry and their designated attributes.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The major players of American Poetry at the time and their influence on American Poetry.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The effects of the economic boom of the 1920's, the Great Depression, and World War II on American Poetry.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Influences on new styles in American Poetry.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The reflection of American life in American Poetry during this period.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The values and theories of Ezra Pound and Amy Lowell.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The importance of poetry as a reflection of life.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Identify key players, several of their best-known poems, and their defining style and themes.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Delineate the similarities and differences between "imagism" and "objectivism".
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Describe the economic effects on American Modernist Poetry.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Compare and contrast old methods of poetry to the "new" Modernist poetry.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Experiment with writing their own free verse poetry as an adaptation to older styles
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Appreciate the poem as visual artwork.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Analyze and extract meaning from a poem.

**<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">Time Required to complete this lesson: <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-weight: normal;"> 3 class periods **

<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> Modernism in American Poetry
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">Title of lesson: **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">Description of lesson: **
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">During the period of modernism in American literature, poetry experienced a surge in popularity largely due to the circulation of new poetry magazines such as //<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Poetry magazine, //<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> as well as due to proponents such poets/editors as Harriet Monroe, Ezra Pound, and Amy Lowell. These advocates, as well as the general poetry community, fought for the establishment of poetry as a valid and essential part of American culture, as opposed to a frivolous art. Poets broke the tradition poetry mold, choosing to experiment with new themes and styles leading to the emergence of //<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">free verse //<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">. Such poets as Robert Frost, E.E. Cummings, Carl Sandburg, Edna St. Vincent Millay, T.S. Elliot, and more used their unique perspectives to reflect American life and the American landscape at the time. Several new classes of poets emerged, such as the //<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">imagists //<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> and the //<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">objectivists //<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">, both, in their own way, attempting to give a more accurate, real, symbolic voice to the subjects of their poetry. The work of the American Modernist poets changed the landscape of poetry forever, and changed our view of America between the wars.

<span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> CLICK HERE!
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">Assignments: **
 * Online Scavenger Hunt
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">In class group work:
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">In groups of 4 or 5, take turns reading the following poems out loud (make sure everyone gets a chance to read at least one poem out loud. This means you will have to read each poem out loud more than once). We will come together as a class to discuss what you discover in your groups:
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Robert Frosts' "The Road Not Taken".
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Questions: What do you think the meaning of the poem is? Think about the title. How do you think the title is significant to the meaning of the poem? Highlight the adjectives and adverbs in the poem. How do the adjectives and adverbs speak to the poem's meaning?
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">E.E. Cummings' "r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r"
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Questions: Have you figure out what the poem is saying? How does the syntax muddy the poem's message? How does the syntax personify the words and meaning of the poem?
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">William Carlos Williams' "The Red Wheelbarrow"
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Questions: How does the poem differ from poems in the Romantic and Realism eras? What is the effect of the simplicity of the poem? How does the poem reflect the aspects of idealism and objectivism? How is the poem "uniquely American"?
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Write your own Modernist poem about a subject or experience in your American life. Please include a short explanation about how the style of your poem utilizes either imagist or objectivist conventions.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">Resources/materials needed: **
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Projector/Computer to present pictures and poems of authors.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">White board to collect ideas from group poetry work.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Handouts of poems for group work.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Anthology of American Literature.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">World Wide Web.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Word Processor for students to write their poems.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">Technology used: **
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Projector
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Computers
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">World Wide Web


 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%;">The technology used in this lesson changes the teaching / learning in this way: **
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-weight: normal;">The use of a computer and projector to introduce students to the poets reinforces learning through visual learning.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-weight: normal;">The use of computer and projector allows the entire class to view and discuss a poem together.
 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-weight: normal;">The use of the world wide web enhances the students exposure and interaction with the material, as well as gives the students practice in using the web for research.