Performance Tasks:

Students will create drawings of what they think "urban life" looks like.
Students will analyze a favorite song and present why it is their favorite
song.
Students will fill out charts that ask to identify certain poetical elements such
as syllable count, pauses, images, feelings, sounds, tone, and evidence.
Students will collect a few of their favorite poems and write a brief
introduction as to why they were chosen.
Other Evidence:
Students will create writers journals. Writers journals will contain a variety
of poetry related notes, activities, and student work. This is where a
majority of the homework will be kept.
Homework will include such activities as: reflecting upon the images,
sounds, or word choice in a poem, collecting poems, writing poems, drawing
images, and collecting images.
A final performance of a poem done by each student will serve as closure to
the unit. Included in the performance, will be a captivating reading,
presentation of an image(s) that represents the poem, and a brief explanation
as to why it was chosen.

Some poems for the unit:

"The New Colossus" By Emma Lazarus
"Untitled" by Christian (5th grade)
"City That Does Not Sleep" by Frederico Garcia Lorca
"At the Zoo" by Simon & Garfunkel
"City Symphony" by Jack
"Harlem" and "Dream Boogie" by Langston Hughes
"Harlem Hopscotch" by Maya Angelou
Knoxville, Tennessee by Nikki Giovanni
Broadway by Carl Sandberg
Broadway by Walt Whitman
Dawn in New York by Claude McKay
The Subway by Joyce Kilmer
I Want to See A World From The Window by Pushkar Bisht

Hudson River by Evelyn Scott

From Brooklyn by Evelyn Scott
*These poems are from a book called "A Poem as Big as New York City" that
includes a number of student-published work.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

I Want To See
The World by
Pushkar Bisht

The New
Colossus by
Emma Lazarus

Hudson River
by Evelyn Scott

From
Brooklyn by
Evelyn Scott

Broadway by
Carl Sandberg
& Broadway
by Walt
Whitman

The Subway
by Joyce Kilmer

Untitled by
Christian 5th
grade & City
Symphony by
Jack
Dawn in New
York by
Claude McKay

Knoxville
Tenessee by
Nikki Giovanni

City That
Does Not
Sleep by
Frederico
Garcia Lorca

Harlem &
Dream
Boogie by
Langston
Hughes
Harlem
Hopscotch by
Maya Angelou

At The Zoo
by Simon &
Garfunkel
(Song)

New York
City by Gil
Scott-Heron
(Song)

READ ALOUD
DAY
(students will
bring in a
poem to read
aloud and
present)
PERFORMANCE
DAY
(Extra day may
be needed to
give all
students time
to perform)

Rationale:
Week 1This is the introductory week when students will read poems that
introduce New York City through a social contextual framework. These poems
were chosen because they each have to do with an entry way into Manhattan (the
core of the city). Just as these poems concern various entry ways into the city, so
will they serve the purpose of the unit, as an entry way into more complex poems
about New York City.
Week 2 These poems deal with specific areas of Manhattan. Thursday of this
week, however, contains a poem about Knoxville, Tennessee. This poem will
serve as a contrast to what the students have learned so far about Manhattan, a way

to help deeper understanding of characteristics unique to New York City. The

Read Aloud Day is a day which students must bring a poem and do a reading of it
in front of class then explain why they chose it. This will prepare them for the
closure assessment at the end of the unit.
Week 3 The complexity has built to this week because students will be
challenged to think outside their Zone of Proximal Development. The week starts
with a complex poem by Frederico Garcia Lorca, then moves into poetry by
Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou serving the purpose as spring board into
songs. The week ends with a study on songs and music as poetry. The last day of
the week is dedicated to the closure assessment of presenting and performing
students written poetry as well as images they have collected or drawn in their
Writers Journals.