a writing/engagement assignment with Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and the topic of authority

a writing/engagement assignment with Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and the topic of authority

I. Results
A. Primary goal: What do you want the students to understand more fully about "Song of Myself"? Why is this topic important to Whitman? How does this topic connect to other themes or concerns of the poem? How might this topic or question engage students' interest and/or experience? How does this topic or question relate to broader issues in literature? How does it relate to broader cultural or social issues?

• How does Whitman handle authority in his poem?
• How does authority relate to other themes (individuality, expression, creativity, etc.) of the poem?
• Knowing the history of authority figures (our example: the police) during Whitman's time, how does Whitman use his poetry to contain, capture, express his perspective on this topic?

B. Secondary goals: what do you want students to understand about reading poetry? about how to write about poetry? about how to connect text and context?

• How does Whitman's poem relate to your understanding of authority in your own lives? Does Whitman's poem express some of your own feelings on authority, and, if so, how?
• How does the text change in relation to the context of your life as opposed to how it works in the context of when it was written?
• How does this poem and Whitman's perspective on authority fit into the genre of romantic poetry? If it doesn't, why and how doesn't it?

II. Evidence of learning: How will students demonstrate that they are answering the question? What will your evidence of student learning look like?
A. Types of writing/evidence:

1. free-writing
2. blog-posting
3. creative writing
4. artifact uncovering
5. in-class discussion

B. How will this show you that they've learned? How will you evaluate its success or failure in relation to your goals?

1. By connecting the original excerpts, through the free-writing and in-class discussion, to the final work with artifacts and poetry writing, those concrete through-lines will emerge identifying what insights the students have gained from their work.
2. Moving backwards to my original goals, the questions listed above in section one, it should be clear as to whether the students work provides the expected answers.

III. Design

A. what knowledge or skills will students need in order to produce their evidence of student learning? knowledge about the poem; cultural or historical knowledge; knowledge about Whitman? skills in reading? skills in analysis/making connections? skills in writing?

1. knowledge about the cultural artifacts
2. knowledge about romantics
3. close-reading for themes (authority)
4. summarizing and critiquing poetry & their own work

B. what kind of activities will develop these knowledges and skills? what kinds of things will students need to do to acquire these knowledges and skills?

1. See above: Section 2-A.
2. These are the skills we're working on together - they'll need to involve themselves in the assignment and in so doing acquire these skills.

C. How will you structure these activities? do some have to come before others? which? why? are some more or less important than others? are some more or less formal than others?

1. The students will be asked to read the poem at home, and come into class prepared
2. The students will pull specific excerpts from the poem that they feel reference authority and bring them to class. Once we share some of these as a group, they'll spend time free-writing on the topic - the directions for the free-write will ask the students to explain how their excerpt speaks to authority during the time, how it relates to authority in their lives, how it works in relation to other themes of the poem that we've brought up in class, etc.
3. Following this, they'll spend some time sharing their ideas with one another in class, mingling around the room, with the expectation that they'll need to share ideas they glean from other students with the rest of the class.
4. At home, the students will be required to find some of their own artifacts of Whitman's time that relate to authority. On their blog, they'll be required to 1) explain how their artifact relates to authority and 2) write their own 200 word poem in response to their artifact and the theme of authority.
5. After a class period on the genre of romantic poetry, as an additional activity the students will need to find other romantic poetry that deals with the notion of authority, and bring them to class to have another free-write and in-class discussion session.
6. In class they will write an essay about their poem arguing why or why not it falls under the category of romantic poetry.