Harlem Renaissance Poetry (plus handout)

Harlem Renaissance Web-Quest

Author(s):
Britt Gerton

Grade Level:
11th
Timeframe: One 90 Minute Period
Lesson Description or Explanation
This lesson will be the introductory lesson to an entire poetry unit concentrating on Harlem Renaissance poets. The point of this lesson is to give them a creative way to research the era and the poets we will be reading in the coming unit.

Indiana Curricular Standards

11.1.1 Understand unfamiliar words that refer to characters or themes in literature or history.
11.2.5 Analyze an author’s implicit and explicit assumptions and beliefs about a subject.

ISTE Standards
1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
Students:
a.apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
b.create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
(Challanged students)
3. Research and Information Fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
• locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of source and media.
• evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.

Assessments
Formative/Summative
Formative: Formative assessment for this lesson would come at the end of the unit when the students are required to create their own book of poetry using the poets of the Harlem Renaissance as guides and inspiration.
Summative: Summative assessment for this assignment will come when the students turn in the handout from the web-quest. With this I will be able to gage their level of learning and go over more specifics of the Harlem Renaissance if needed.

Prior Knowledge
Curricular Knowledge or Skills: As this is an introductory lesson to the unit the only prior knowledge students would need is the concept of poetry and poets in general. Depending on the school system many of the students may have prior knowledge of Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance and this lesson may merely be a refresher.

Technology Knowledge: Students must have a command of the ability to use a computer and how to navigate a website.

Technology

Internet Resources: (please list URLs)
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/exploring/harlem/artsedge.html
Hardware:
Computer with internet access
Software:
N/A

Procedure
1. As an opening hook, students will enter the room and take out their writing journals as used in other units. I will then play the “Poetry by Langston Hughes-The Weary Blues” video. They will be asked to respond to the video and poem within it (that they will have in text form as well) in their journals. 10 minutes
2. I will lead a short period of class discussion following the video and poem they just experienced.
• What assumptions can be made about the time period this poem was written during?
• What do these images remind you of? And the words?
• What did this video make you think of in your own life?
• What in this video aligns with the words of the poem?
• Additional conversation will come from the students. 20 minutes
3. I will introduce the class to the poetry unit we are beginning today, and give them a short direct instruction on the background of the Harlem Renaissance. (See Attached) 10 minutes
4. Students will be put into pairs and given the web quest hand out to complete. 50 minutes
Differentiated Instruction

ESL In order to accommodate students in ESL I would create the handout in their home language but require them to complete the English copy of the handout. Also I would allow these students to work in partners to complete the handout. Also I would attempt to find a program that would translate and read aloud the text on the website.

Challenge/Extend
For students who need an additional challenge when completing this assignment I would have them complete the handout and then make a slideshow presentation on PowerPoint; choosing one of the Poets found on the website. The slideshows would be shown to the students on the next available class period as yet another overview of the poets we are preparing to read about.

Special Needs
As we are working with a website it would not be difficult to accommodate students with special needs; the website can be read aloud by a text reading program, the information needed to complete the handout will be put into a different format to accommodate students who may be unable to effectively navigate the website.
Please download and save this document to your computer.
Save as, Last name(s) Technology Lesson Plan.

Don’t forget to paste this lesson plan into Blogger.

Harlem Renaissance Web-Quest
Names: __________________&___________________
Instructions: Follow this link: http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/exploring/harlem/artsedge.html and explore the website with the goal of completing web quest. This website will help fill in the background information on the poets and poems we will be reading for this unit.

1. What was the “Talented Tenth”?


2. Why did Langston Hughes criticize the work of some artists writing during the early Harlem Renaissance?


3. What semi-autobiographical text, published in 1923, seemed to mark (or spark) a shift in the content and tone of Harlem Renaissance literature?


4. How were Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen connected?


For the next two questions, you should visit the “A Place Called Harlem” section of the Drop Me Off in Harlem Web site.

5. Briefly describe the geography of Harlem.


6. List two specific buildings, nightclubs, churches, or streets in Harlem and briefly describe their historical, religious, political, and/or artistic significance.


7. Where did poet Countee Cullen live in Harlem? Who else famous lived there?


8. What is the “Black Swan”, and what was significant about it?


List three interesting things you learned about the life and/or career of each author listed here:

Langston Hughes
1.

2.

3.

Countee Cullen
1.

2.

3.


Jean Toomer
1.

2.

3.