Lesson Plan: Silk Road Journeys: Analyzing Poetry
Name: Laura Wright
School: Niles North High School
Subject Area: English Literature and Composition
Grade Level: Tenth Grade (designed for sophomores studying a unit on poetry)
State Goals
- 1: Read with understanding and fluency.
- 2: Read and understand literature representative of various societies, eras and ideas.
- 3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.
- 4: Listen and speak effectively in a variety of situations.
- 5: Use the language arts to acquire, assess and communicate information.
Objectives
Students will:
- Gain an understanding of the history of the Silk Road and how people and objects were transformed through the journey.
- Hear and view the children’s book We’re Riding on a Caravan and analyze its rhyme and meter.
- Read Robert Pinsky’s “Shirt” and discuss the ways the shirt’s journey is conveyed in the poem.
Materials/Resources/Gallery Objects
- The picture book We’re Riding on a Caravan by Laurie Krebs and Helen Cann
- Document camera
- Copies of the poem “Shirt” by Robert Pinsky from The Internet Poetry Archive
- “Analyzing Poetry” worksheet
Procedures
- Give students a brief history of the Silk Road as a conduit for transformation of culture and art/goods.
- Distribute copies of the “Analyzing Poetry” Worksheet and give students a chance to look at the questions.
- Using the document camera so that students can see the pictures in the book, read We’re Riding on a Caravan. Use the Worksheet to analyze the poetry of the book and discuss how the author uses language to create tone and convey meaning to the reader.
- Distribute “Shirt” by Robert Pinsky. Read the poem aloud in class and then have students use the Worksheet to discuss the poem.
