Composition & Essays

Lord of the Flies

Other Studies

Poetry

Shakespeare

To Kill A Mockingbird

Frances Lew

Grade 10 Poetry

DURATION:

4 weeks … 12 lessons … 75 minutes each

GLOBAL RATIONALE:

This poetry unit makes extensive use of modern music and lyrics as a way to draw students into the world of poetry, because many students are likely to be reluctant poetry consumers. The music is distant enough from the students’ own time to ensure they’re not just having the same experience in class as they’re having in their own daily lives. Contemporary poems and songs are mixed in with old “classics” going back decades and centuries, to give students a range of poetic experience. Attention is paid to including Canadian content, and all the poems are quite accessible.

The unit is divided into broad thematic categories such as “Love”, “Pain & Loneliness”, “Social Commentary”, “Protest Poetry”, and “Narrative Poetry”. Students will gain practice identifying poetic devices (such as metaphor, personification, imagery, etc.) because even though they may dislike these “mechanics” of poetry, they may need the information for future provincial exams. The unit involves lots of student participation. In addition to regular group work in class, students are asked to bring in poems or songs they feel are examples of good poetry, and to present these to the rest of the class. They’ll also write poems of their own, which will be shared during an informal “coffee-house class” during the final class of the poetry unit.