Akela Leach
Introduction
Walk down the hallways of some elementary schools and biographies of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Barack Obama will hang along the walls. Students will make posters, PowerPoints, and presentations about their chosen Black history figure. Some schools have door decoration contests. Classroom teachers and their volunteers adorn their classroom doors with a theme from Black culture. Perhaps during morning announcements, students recite a Black history fact of the day. While many of elementary schools do not acknowledge Black History Month at all, the ones that do usually emphasize the biographies of notable Black Americans.
In my classroom, we acknowledge many of the culture months throughout the year. For instance, during Hispanic Heritage Month, students complete biography research projects. By February, it seems as though we have done enough biographies. At the beginning of the year, students research inventors as part of our district curriculum. For Black History month, I would like to focus less on individual biographies and more on how Black culture has impacted American culture and the world.
A few years ago, I was able to visit the Smithsonian African American History Museum. My friends and I were catching a flight that same day, so we only had a few hours. We started at the 4th floor instead of going through the whole museum. The 4th floor has a collection of culture galleries, showcasing visual art, music, and American expression. In the center of all the exhibits is a circular timeline of artists and groundbreaking moments in the arts and I remember feeling extremely emotional walking through that exhibit. I felt emotional to see so much creativity and expression of joy, struggle, and pain in one place. But more importantly, I felt American. Our greatest American export is culture, arts, entertainment, and fashion. My friends who were not Black Americans also felt connected to exhibits because Black American culture is American culture. The message in the art is universal.
In this unit, I will use poetry and song lyrics from Black artists that students will analyze. We will discuss the themes of the poems. We will discuss what the artists are expressing, and message the authors are communicating to the world. The poems will not solely focus on the struggle and trauma Black Americans have faced, but also the joy, resistance, and universal human experiences. All students will be able to see themselves in some of the poems and empathize with the speaker’s thoughts.
Demographics
My elementary school is located in midtown Tulsa. Although many students come from the neighborhood, over half of our students transfer from another part of the city. The diversity of our students continues to grow. I teach 5th grade English Language Arts and Social Studies. In the 5th grade, students have the more standardized tests than any other grade in elementary school. Teachers are pressured to produce good test scores for our school. Consequently, some topics, such as poetry, do not receive very much in-depth instruction.
Most lessons involving poetry focus on the mechanics of poetry. Students identify similes, metaphors, and repetition. We count the stanzas and recognize the rhyme patterns. In some ELA elementary curriculums, students are reading a new poem each lesson. Then they are imitating the poem by trying to write a similar simile, or rhyme scheme as the original poem. Over time, poetry can become tedious and less engaging. Instead, I want students to worry less about imitating the poems, and more on connecting and analyzing them. Connecting to the poems can also impact the overall classroom culture.
Unit Content
Poetry as Expression
Poetry is an artform like music and visual art. Students of all ages easily recognize the creativity and hard work it takes to perform a difficult song on an instrument or to paint a picture. However, poetry and perhaps writing in general is often not viewed the same way. Students rush to quickly answer the questions and move on to the next assignment. In their minds poems are merely another form of schoolwork to complete. Unfortunately, our school systems and curriculums are not structured in a way that helps students understand that both understanding poetry and writing poetry is a process.
Overview of Selected Poems
Choosing a diverse group of poetry that spans across generations and experiences is important for this unit to work. While there is no way to encompass every groundbreaking poem or lyric over the past centuries in a three-week unit for students, I chose to concentrate on having a diversity of styles while focusing on similar themes throughout the unit. The key themes of all of the poems are rising above, struggle, overcoming, and joy.
The first poem is “The Rose that Grew from Concrete” by Tupac Shakur. In 2000, Tupac published a book of poetry, as titled, “The Rose that Grew from Concrete”. In the book, readers can peer into the mind of a very complex artist with a hardened personal life, growing up in Harlem, Baltimore, and California. He is known as one of the most profound lyricists in Hip Hop, often making commentary on social and political topics in his songs. Middle and High School English Language Arts courses incorporate his lyrics into their classes, and universities across the world have courses analyzing his works.
While many of his lyrics may be better suited for older students, “The Rose that Grew from Concrete” is a good poem for upper elementary students to relate to and analyze:
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature’s law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared. [1]
The poem is a metaphor for resiliency and growing above unlikely situations. The concrete symbolizes obstacles a marginalized person faces that keeps him or her from flourishing. The rose symbolizes overcoming adversity, hope, defying expectations, and growth and change. The “crack in the concrete” in line 2 symbolizes an opportunity, or something that happened that allowed the person to the breakthrough the things hold him or her down. Elementary students can easily relate to the concept of overcoming a challenge and can think of examples. Students can also contemplate the last line, “when no one else ever cared”.
What if a person or group of people have hope of breaking though, but it takes a very long time? What if it seems like their dreams are constantly being pushed to the side and overlooked? Students will analyze these questions in the next poem, Langston Hughes’ “Harlem”:
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode? [2]
Similar to “The Rose that Grew from Concrete”, Hughes’ “Harlem” begins with an overarching question. What happens when a dream is delayed by someone or something? Next Hughes continues to question what happens in the aftermath of a delayed dream. The word, “dream” can refer to the “American Dream”. For African Americans, the “dream” can refer to equal rights. The last question is urgent, “Or does it explode?” which can imply anger. What happens when many people are angry at once? Some may interpret the explosion as a riot or open rebellion. [3]
Students will also consider the title of the poem, “Harlem”. When many people refer to this poem, they mistakenly call it, “A Dream Deferred”, instead of “Harlem”. Harlem was one of the most influential Black communities in America. The community was very prosperous and was the center of the Harlem Renaissance, where artists and great thinkers communed together. Students can grapple with why a poem written about being denied dreams and opportunity is named after a Black community that represents Black success?
In the next group of poems, students will explore lyrics that emulate joy and progress. The first two poems are anthems. One is the official African American National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and the other is unofficial anthem, “Rapper’s Delight”. James Weldon Johnson was a school principal in early 1900s. In honor of a celebration for President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, Johnson wrote a poem. The words of the poem was later put to music by his brother John Johnson. In 1900, the poem was first recited by 500 African American school children and was immediately embraced by the community. [4] Later, in 1919, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) promoted the song as the Negro National Anthem, later called the Black National Anthem.
For the purpose of this unit, students will analyze the first stanza, although there are three stanzas:
Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty,
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won. [5]
The beginning lines of the song are composed in an upbeat major key. The mood of the song is hopeful and optimistic. The imagery reflects a large group of people, similar to the 500 schoolchildren, singing these words loud enough that the message reaches far. Then in lines 7 and 8, Johnson repeats the phrase, “Sing a song full of the…”. In the song version, the key switches to a minor key emphasizing, darkness, looking back in the past, and difficult times. Then the music shifts back to the cheerful major song for the final lines, “Facing the rising sun…”, until the end of the stanza. [6]
Over the past century, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is sung during Black History Month for special programs and events. Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) sing the song throughout the year at important events. Churches also sing the song. Black Americans typically stand up during the singing of the Black National Anthem. The song brings a sense of unity.
The next song is not an official anthem but does bring a sense of unity and people for generations. The first commercially successful rap song elicits young and old to sing along. “Rapper’s Delight” released in 1979 took an underground artform in the Bronx, NY by Black and later Latino youth and put it on the main stage. The song samples, “Good Times” by Chic, also released in 1979. The song has a very upbeat feeling, and the chorus repeats these words:
Good times
These are the good times
Leave your cares behind
These are the good times
Good times
These are the good times
Our new state of mind
These are the good times [7]
Sampling, which is taking a part of a song and repeating it to make a new song, is a hallmark of hip hop as an artform. Sometimes samples are used simply for the sound. Other times, it also reiterates a message from the original song. “Good Times” is about looking ahead, having fun, and being carefree. “Rapper’s Delight” takes on the same feeling but reimagines the song as a rap. The entire song is 15 minutes long and has many stanzas. We will read the first stanzas and a few of the most age-appropriate stanzas:
I said a hip-hop, the hippie, the hippie
To the hip, hip-hop and you don’t stop the rockin’
To the bang-bang boogie, say up jump the boogie
To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat
Now, what you hear is not a test, I’m rapping to the beat
And me, the groove, and my friends are gonna try to move your feet
You see, I am Wonder Mike and I’d like to say hello
A to the black, to the white, the red and the brown, the purple and yellow
But first, I gotta bang-bang the boogie to the boogie
Say up jump the boogie to the bang-bang boogie
Let’s rock, you don’t stop
Rock the rhythm that’ll make your body rock
Well so far you’ve heard my voice, a but I brought two friends along
And next on the mic is my man Hank, come on, Hank, sing that song
Said a hip-hop, the hippie to the hippie
The hip, hip-a-hop and you don’t stop rockin’
To the bang-bang, the boogie, say up jump the boogie
To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat
A-skiddlee bebop, we rock a scooby doo
And guess what, America, we love you
A ’cause ya rock and a roll with a so much soul
You could rock ’til you’re hundred and one years old
I don’t mean to brag, I don’t mean to boast
But we’re like hot butter on a breakfast toast
We rock it up, a baby bubba
Baby bubba to the boogie, the bang-bang, the boogie
To the beat, beat, it’s so unique
Come on, everybody, and dance to the beat [8]
The spirit of the original sample runs through “Rapper’s Delight”. Throughout the song the word “boogie” is inserted. Kids can analyze how a silly word that means, “dance” impacts the overall mood of the song. Also, throughout the song, nonsense words like, “A-skiddlee bebop, we rock a scooby doo” connect with people. Students can analyze why.
The next set of poems are similar in that the speakers are either describing themselves or a feeling about themselves. I wanted to focus on this group of poems for a few reasons. For one, in the final project, students will write poems that feel personal to them. They will write about either themselves or something that means a lot to them. Reading a series of poems where the speakers are reflecting about their lives and themselves, or reciting mantras about themselves makes it easier for students to discuss about themselves. The first group of poems share themes of community, collective struggle, and empowerment. The second group of poems are more self-reflective.
The first poem is, “Allow Me to Introduce Myself” by Charles R. Smith Jr. The tone of the poem complements, “Rapper’s Delight”. Students can compare the rhythm of Smith’s poem to “Rapper’s Delight”. Smith uses sports themes throughout his poetry:
They call me
the show stopper
the dime dropper
the spin-move-to-the-left
reverse jam poppa.
The high flier
on the high wire.
The intense rim-rattlin’
noise
amplifier.
The net-shaker
back board break
creator
of the funk dunk
hip shaker.
The Man
Sir Slam
The Legend
I be.
That’s just
A few of the names
They call me.[9]
The next poem will be “Why Some People Be Mad at Me Sometimes” by Lucille Clifton. Although this poem is one sentence, students can interpret various meanings. The speaker is expressing the importance of staying true to one’s beliefs and thoughts, regardless of other people’s opinions and influence.
they ask me to remember
but they want me to remember
their memories
and i keep on remembering mine [10]
The last poem is Eloise Greenfield’s “Things”. Students will discuss the importance of self-expression. In the poem, the speaker does not keep any of the physical things described in the poem. The poem that the speaker writes is the only thing that lasts.
Went to the corner
Walked in the store
Bought me some candy
Ain’t got it no more
Ain’t got it no more
Went to the beach
Played on the shore
Built me a sandhouse
Ain’t got it no more
Ain’t got it no more
Went to the kitchen
Lay down on the floor
Made me a poem
Still got it
Still got it [11]
Teaching Strategies
In this unit, students will interact with poems and not simply annotate or answer multiple choice questions with the poems. Students will interact with poems through processes.
Five Level Process [12]
Students will interact with the poems through a five-step process: examine, experience, interpret, reflect, and respond.[13] When a poem is first introduced, it is important for students to immerse themselves in the poem multiple times. Students can read the poem silently to themselves, read it with a partner, or listen to their teacher read it to them. Hearing the poem multiple times, before they begin to discuss it, helps students process. Also, this step lessens the urgency to have a “right” answer immediately. Students do not have to know what a poem means; it will take practice.
Students will then experience and interpret the poem. During the experience step, students will notice details and relate the poem to something that they know. (Popoff and Lansana 2010) When interpreting the poem, students will make connections between the poem and their own lives. Lastly, students will reflect and respond to the poem. During these steps, students will relate the poem to their point of view and react and create an opinion about the poem. The Five Level Process serves as a framework to allow students to think deeply about a poem and to see it from different viewpoints during class discussions. We can use a variety of activities using this process without it becoming redundant.
Poetry Scripting
Students will work in small groups to “script” a poem. After reading the poem several times, students will get into groups of 3-4 students. Then they will discuss the different voices in the poem and divide the poem into parts. Lastly, the groups will perform their interpretation of the poem. We will use this strategy throughout the unit in order for students to become more comfortable with performing poetry. [14]
Ekphrastic Poetry
After examining, experiencing, and interpreting a new poem, students will view a photograph that accompanies the poem they are studying. Then they will write from the point of view of something or someone in the photo. Students can write a story in about the artwork, write a about their experience viewing the art, or imagining what was happening while creating the piece. [15]
Classroom Activities
Verse Journalism
Students will learn about a news event from the past. They will read 3 articles about the event from the 3 sources. Then, they will write a poem about the event using sensory details and descriptive language.
Rap Cypher
Students will choose a person that is close to them. They will write a poem about the person. Then, students will choose something that they do not like: type of food, color, or other inanimate thing that they do not like, and will write a poem about it. Then students will perform their poems in a rap cypher.
Appendix
Oklahoma Academic Standards for English Language Arts
5.3.R.4 Students will determine how literary devices contribute to the meaning of a text.
5.3.R.5 Students will analyze ideas in one or more texts, providing textual evidence to support their inferences.
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies
2.B.4-5.1 Explain the challenges people have faced and the strategies used to address local, regional, or national historical problems.
3.A.4-5.6 Describe the specific contributions of individuals and groups who have shaped significant historical changes in regional and national events.
Notes
[1] (Giovanni 2010)
[2] (Young 2020)
[3] (Challener 2019)
[4] (Curtis 2021)
[5] (Johnson 2019)
[6] (Curtis 2021)
[7] (Genius n.d.)
[8] (Giovanni, Hip Hop Speaks to Children: a celebration of poetry with a beat 2008)
[9] (Giovanni, Hip Hop Speaks to Children: a celebration of poetry with a beat 2008)
[10] (Giovanni, Hip Hop Speaks to Children: a celebration of poetry with a beat 2008)
[11] (Giovanni, Hip Hop Speaks to Children: a celebration of poetry with a beat 2008)
[12] (Popoff and Lansana 2010)
[13] (Popoff and Lansana 2010)
[14] (Popoff and Lansana 2010)
[15] (Poetry Foundation n.d.)