Learning Goals
Students often ask me how what they are learning in class is applicable to their real lives. Our essential questions remind students of the power of writing, and the possibility of learning new things about themselves and the world around them through writing. I believe these goals are meaningful for my students and the English discipline because writing is often very personal, and it is an art form that all can master with proper instruction.
Poetry also seems to be a forgotten lesson the English classrooms that I have observed over the last few years. I think that its absence in an English class curriculum only hinders a student’s knowledge of the discipline, often making them scared to read it or engage with it in any way. Furthermore, learning how to read and interpret poetry is also a skill that they will be tested on once they take the required 10th grade ELA MCAS.
Students’ Background and Readiness
In order to spark students’ interests in this unit, I have made a lot of connections between music and poetry. As music is prevalent in The Poet X, making comparisons between the two has been essential in our attempt to (re)define poetry. Many students had very restricted ideas of poetry and only viewed it as a set of short lines that rhymed. (Re)defining poetry as a class will allow us to understand the different ways in which poetry can be written and expressed.
The last text students read was Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian which focuses on the life of a Native American boy who attends a predominantly white school and breaks many cultural norms. I believe that their prior knowledge after reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian will help them better understand the issues that arise for Xiomara in The Poet X as they are very related.
Student Development & Community Building
The themes that emerge in this novel are vast and appropriate for the discussions I hoped to foster. I think that our discussions around religion, womanhood, and sexuality help students think critically about their beliefs and identities. Our class discussions encouraged students to share aspects of their identity, be vulnerable, but also build empathy for their peers and life experiences different than their own. Furthermore, these discussions allowed us to create a safe and inclusive classroom community.
Student Needs
I designed this unit for my English II Honors class. These students have high expectations for themselves, and most have great reading and writing skills. In order to meet the learning goals of this unit, all students in the class will have to make an effort to engage in honest and vulnerable conversations and collaboration with their peers. Collaboration in this unit is essential as there are a lot of cultural allusions that the students may not always understand due to cultural and or racial differences. My goal is that through our class discussions students can learn from each other as much as they learn from me and their reading of the text. I believe that I have been able to foster a safe and inclusive classroom community and that should support students with such challenges.
