Lyric and Poetry

Unit Title:
Finding the Message: Lyrics and Poetry as Constructed Messages

Audience:
Eleventh grade students enrolled in English 11 (Media Literacy) period seven, at Concord High School, a
public high school of 1,937 students in Concord, NH. The class meets three times per weekone forty-fiveminute period and two 90-minute blocks.
Learning Goals:
1. Students will be able to determine the message given in social/political song lyrics and poetry.
2. They will consider how the racial and class identity of a poet or songwriter affects this message.
3. They will be able to analyze how various elements of poetry work to convey a message, and what
terms identify those elements using the correct poetic terminology.
4. They will be able to convey a social/political message in their own poetry.
Justification for Learning Goals
Throughout the yearlong Media Literacy course, students have studied how various media work to inform
or persuade their audience. They have examined advertising, novels, current global crises and politics.
Song lyrics and poetry fit into this study, as they also are media through which an audience hears a
message. Since music with lyrics is the medium students consume the most, it is essential that they become
consumers adept at determining what the creator of a message in music wants them to know or do as a
result of hearing the music. Song lyrics and poetry both contain poetic elements such as repetition, diction,
allusion, irony, imagery, symbolism, alliteration, repetition and figurative language; to comprehend a
songwriters or poets message and the meaning of lines in a song or poem, students must learn the
meaning of these terms, be able to translate their meaning in a poem or song and interpret how they work to
convey the message of the work. When students become capable of interpreting the message of a song or
poem and how words can work in a unique way in these media to send a message, they should be ready to
communicate a message on a topic for which they feel passionate.
NCTE/IRA Standards: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, and 12
Unit Overview:
In this unit students will closely examine song lyrics and poetry to be able to determine a writers message
in these media genres. Instruction will be focused on how words, phrases and lines in songs and poetry, as
well as poetic elements the writer employs, work toward communicating the works message. Students will
learn some basic poetic terminology to be able to identify these elements precisely. Students also will
research songwriters and poets and their works to develop a deeper understanding of the effect of life
experiences on a social/political song or poem. They will also analyze these works in terms of message and
language and poetic elements that express it. Analysis and research will be done in small collaborative
groups because students can have a continuum of interpretations of lyrics and poetry based on life
experiences and can learn from each other. They also will interpret lyrics and poetry independently.
Students will complete various products by the end of the unit. They will free write in response to various
questions related to a days objectives. They will write one page explaining how poetic elements (diction,
imagery and allusion) work in a song. They will compose a two-page essay analyzing a message and poetic
elements (repetition, diction, allusion, irony, imagery, repetition, symbolism, alliteration and figurative
language) in a song. The final project for the unit will be the composition (including research, drafts and
revision) of students own poetry that conveys a message on a topic they are passionate about. This will
assess their ability to do what they have been studying: create a message in poetry that may move the
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audience to think about or do something. A short essay (one page) explaining the passion will accompany
the poetry. Students will present their poetry to the class at the end of the unit.
Unit Assessment Plan:
Assessment for this unit will be formal as well as informal:
Informal assessment will occur throughout the unit as pre- and post-assessment as the teacher circulates
during group and independent work and listens to student comments during discussions and other class
activities. Informal assessment enables the teacher to gauge where individual students and the class as a
whole is in their learning, and provides the teacher the opportunity to clarify concepts that students are not
grasping and revise lessons if needed.
Formal assessment will take various forms throughout the unit:
Pre-assessment:
o Four free writing prompts of five to ten minutes each.
These will take place in the first week and a half of classes and be centered on learning goal
2: Students will consider how the racial and class identity of a poet or songwriter
affects the message of a poem or song. The free writes also will address learning goal 1,
Students will be able to determine the message given in social/political song lyrics and
poetry, since students will be considering messages in these media. The rationale
for doing this assessment is 1) to get an idea of what students composition is like and 2) to
allow me to see what and how their thinking is in relation to learning goal 2. The free writes
will be evaluated out of a possible three points each. A score of three points means students
clearly thought about the question, and that thinking is evident in the ideas they share in
writing; a score of two points means fewer ideas were shared and less thinking is evident; a
score of one point means students thought very little and write one rudimentary thought.
The prompts are as follows:
What do you think of political or social messages given by white songwriters about
people who are not white, such as Woody Guthrie writing about Mexican migrant
farm workers? Why?
What can the impact be on a song or its message if the writer/performer has
experienced the songs content rather than witnessed or heard about it?
Why are many political songs (and poems) written about people who are not white?
o
One page analyzing how diction, imagery and allusion work in a song of choice.
This will be assigned the second week of classes and will address learning goal 3,
They will be able to analyze how various elements of poetry work to convey a message,
and what terms identify those elements using the correct poetic terminology. This piece
will be evaluated out of a possible ten points. I will be looking for a students preliminary
ability to give several examples of each poetic element (diction, imagery and allusion),
identifying them correctly, paraphrasing what they mean and how they are effective poetic
devices to use.
Post-assessment (Summative Assessment)

o Lyric/Poetry as Message Written Analysis essay (2 pages)
As students approach the end of lyrics study in the unit, this essay will assess their learning in
relation to learning goals 1 and 3: Students will be able to determine the message given in
social/political song lyrics and poetry (1) and They will be able to analyze how various elements
of poetry work to convey a message, and what terms identify those elements using the correct
poetic terminology (3). Criteria and assignment follows.
English 11
Lyrics or Poetry as Message Written Analysis
Select a musician or poet and one of her or his songs or poems. Answer the
following questions in essay format. 2 pages. Due in one week.
Be sure to include an introduction and conclusion.
1. How does this musician or poet use lyrics or poetry to inform and
persuade the audience?
a) Tell what you think the songs or poems message is.
b) Explain how poetic elements communicate the message:
** Refer to specific examples of imagery, repetition, word choice,
figurative language, etc. that work toward expressing the
message.
** Cite words, phrases and lines specifically in your reflection. These
should appear in quotation marks.
2. Have you been made more aware of an issue or situation in any way?
How? (Have you been informed or persuaded?)
Lyric/Poetry Reflection
CATEGORY
Specific lines, phrases, Some lines, phrases No specific lines,

Support for Topic Specific lines,
phrases,
words
and
words or poetic
or words are cited,
phrases, words or poetic
(Content)
poetic elements are
cited, and how they
work to communicate
the songs or poems
message is
explained.
elements are cited, but

the explanation for how
they communicate the
message is not
thorough, so the reader
is left guessing.
but it is not made

clear how they
communicate the
message;
explanation is
minimal.
elements are cited. The

essay does not explain
what the songs or
poems message is or
how it is communicated.
Introduction
(Organization)
The introduction is
inviting, states the
main topic and
previews the
structure of the
paper.
The introduction clearly

states the main topic
and previews the
structure of the paper,
but is not particularly
inviting to the reader.
The introduction
states the main topic,
but does not
adequately preview
the structure of the
paper, nor is it
particularly inviting to
the reader.
There is no clear
introduction of the main
topic or structure of the
paper.
Sequencing
(Organization)
Details are placed in

a logical order and
the way they are
presented effectively
keeps the interest of
the reader.
Details are placed in a

logical order, but the
way in which they are
presented/introduced
sometimes makes the
writing less interesting.
Some details are not

in a logical or
expected order, and
this distracts the
reader.
Many details are not in a

logical or expected order.
There is little sense that
the writing is organized.
Poetry Socratic Seminar

The Socratic seminar format allows the teacher to assess students ability to meet learning
goals 1, 2 and 3. It also is a way, through discussion of a poem, through which students
who do not turn in written assignments or who have written output difficulties can show
their learning. Rubric follows.

CATEGORY
Information
All information and

questions presented
in the seminar were
clear, accurate and
thorough.
Most information and

questions presented
in the seminar were
clear, accurate and
thorough.
Most information
presented in the
seminar was clear
and accurate, but
was not usually
thorough. No
questions were
asked.
Information had
several inaccuracies
OR was usually not
clear.
Use of
Facts/Statistics
Every major point

was well supported
with specific lines
from the poetry
and/or poet bio.
Every major point

was adequately
supported with
relevant support
from the poetry and
bio.
Every major point

was supported with
facts, but the
relevance of some
was questionable.
Every point was not

supported.
You clearly
You seemed to
You did not show an
Understanding of You clearly
understood
the
topic
understood
the
topic
understand
the
main
adequate
Topic
Respect for
Other Team
(poetry terminology)
in-depth and
presented their
information forcefully
and convincingly.
in-depth and
presented their
information with
ease.
points of the topic

understanding of the
and presented those topic.
with ease.
All statements, body

language, and
responses were
respectful and were
in appropriate
language.
Statements and
responses were
respectful and used
appropriate
language, but once
or twice body
language was not.
Most statements and

responses were
respectful and in
appropriate
language, but there
was one sarcastic
remark.
Statements,
responses and/or
body language were
consistently not
respectful.
Final Project
The final assessment of the unit will be the composition of a series of three to five poems
on a topic about which individual students feel passionate. They will choose the topic and
find a way in which they can communicate a social or political message about it. They will conduct
research into their topic to be able to refer to specifics in their own poetry and they will write one page
reflecting on how their passion connects to who they are. This one page of prose addresses learning goal
2, Students will consider how the racial and class identity of a poet or songwriter affects a poems or
songs message. The poems students write will primarily address learning goal 4, Students will be
able to convey a social/political message in their own poetry. However, this ability is dependent upon
students meeting learning goals 1 and 3 Students will be able to determine the message given in
social/political song lyrics and poetry (1) and They will be able to analyze how various elements of
poetry work to convey a message, and what terms identify those elements using the correct poetic
terminology. Since the Final Project addresses all learning goals in some way it is an effective
summative or post-assessment. Final Project assignment and rubric follows.
English 11
o
Poetry as Constructed Message

Final Project
Consider a political or social passion of your own. Research this topic to learn information that
could be beneficial in writing your own poetry, to help you refer to specifics.
Write a brief (one-page) reflection on your passion and how it connects to who you are (your
background).
Then write a series (3-5) of your own poems, keeping in mind the poetic elements good poets
employ (refer to your Poetic Terminology sheet). In your poems be sure to include allusions to
specifics on your topic (this is where the research comes in).
Lyric/Poetry Unit Final Project Rubric

Category
Essay:
Unique
voice
present
Poetry:
Figurative
language
Poetry:
Relaying
overall
message
The reader can

sense passion
and understand
the personal
history that
contributes to
the passion.
Use of
metaphor,
simile and other
techniques are
subtle and
purposeful and
contribute to the
overall
message.
The poem
effectively
provides a
message about
the writers
passion. It is
embedded and
purposeful.
The reader
understands
personal
background, but
the passion is
not as easily
noticed.
The writer uses
metaphors and
similes, but their
use is obvious
and/or forced.
Both
background and
passion are
Present, but are
typical and/or
clich.
The essay does

not address the
passion or the
personal
connection.
A couple of
metaphors and
similes are used,
but they do not
provide solid
imagery and
seem out of
place.
No metaphors
or similes are
used.
The poetry has a

message, but the
message is
obvious and
forced.
Not all of the

poems have a
message.
None of the
poems have a
message.
Summative or Post-assessment Free write (10 minutes)

At the end of the unit, students will free write on the following prompt: Poetry is a type of
media. What have you learned about the effectiveness of poetry for communicating a message? This
will enable students to assess their own learning and to reflect on poetry as media that communicates
a message like all the other media they have studied thus far in Media Literacy. It also will allow the
teacher to see what students recognize they have learned about poetrys ability to communicate a
message.
o
Evaluation Breakdown:
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There are a possible 1022 points for students to achieve in this unit:
Four free writes: 12 points total (3 points each)
One-page discussing diction, imagery and allusion in a song: 10 points total
Lyric Reflection Written Analysis: 300 points total
Poetry Socratic Seminar: 400 points total
Final Project: 300 points total
Design for Instruction (plan)
In this unit students will have the opportunity to learn in various ways: independently (e.g. free writing,
interpreting poems independently in class and Socratic Seminar preparation and in Silent Discussion); in
small collaborative groups (which will incorporate flexible grouping for differentiated instruction to this
heterogeneous group) (e.g. answering questions about various songs, researching the life and lyrics of Peter
Tosh or Bob Marley, the diction activity and Socratic Seminar groups); and in a large group (e.g. whole-class
discussion of songs, teacher think-aloud poem interpretation activity and audience contributions to Socratic
Seminar). Learning activities in the unit allow for movement and social interaction while they demand
participation of all students to allow for assessment and ensure that students are meeting learning goals. Not
all assessment tools are written assignments; the teacher will assess learning informally by circulating as
students work, and the Socratic Seminar allows students to show learning orally.
Lyrics and Poetry as Constructed Messages
Lesson Plan Day 1: Introduction to unit; songs with messages.
** This class takes place on a skinny Monday; activity length reflects that.
Rationale:
Music plays a huge role in the lives of most high school students today; they are major consumers of
music and therefore the various messages musicians give in their lyrics. It is essential for them in a media
literacy class to reflect on musics role in delivering messages. It also is important for them to learn the
history of music spreading messageshow it did not happen on such a large scale before the advent of
radio, and then music videos, Internet music technology, etc.
Daily Objectives:
Individually and in small collaborative groups students will reflect on the role music, both listening
to and playing, has had on their lives.
They will consider how development of music playing technology has changed the role of music
since their grandparents were their age.
They will learn how the development of music playing and broadcasting technology has broadened
the audience of musicians with messages in their lyricsthat now music can be as or more
effective than print media at getting a message to the masses.
Instructional Design:
1. (Anticipatory Set). Pass out unit outline, Anticipation Guide and poetry packet (including handout
on the language of poetry and Dialogue Journals) and have students answer its questions in
writing.
2. Have students break into groups of five and share/compare answers.
3. Have groups share answers with the whole class. Write answers on board (as much as possible) so
that students can compare music habits in the class.
4. Read question and answer about the importance of radio for spreading messages in music, how this
could not have been done on such a large scale earlier in history, from Bob Dylan and Social
Consciousness: Critical Issues (from UC Santa Barbara).
5. Ask students what methods were used before radio to spread messages. Ask them what methods
are used now. List these on the board. Ask how the media today differs from when Dylans career
started.
6. Distribute handout Poetic Terminology and review terms on it.
7. Pass out Letter to Families student handout. Explain the assignment on itcollecting titles of
songs with messages from an adult(s) in a family.
Homework:
Bring in titles of two or songs from adult family member(s). Song titles due Friday.
Assessment:
Circulate as students respond to Anticipation Guide in small groups. Check to see that they are
thinking about music not only as entertainment but also as a medium for spreading social and
political (as well as other) messages. Listen as students share responses to Anticipation Guide
in large group.
English 11
Prospectus: Lyrics and Poetry as Constructed Messages
Poets Thoughts on Political Poetry:
In this country, so-called political poetry is disparaged as poetry of rhetoric and simple, raging statement. I
believe that the political underlies all expression. How a poem comes to be made, what and how is spoken,
what language, and in what context the poem existsall have political basis. --Joy Harjo
Poetry is social speech. Whether the poem is whispered to ones paramour or presented to a huge public
audience, whether its said in a conversational way or sung or chanted, the poem is social communication.
--Sam Hamill
We should learn to listen to our poets here and nowand not wait for history to confer on them their
already learned validity. One reason for the unforgettabilty of poets is that they somehow speak for more
than themselves. --Samuel Hazo
In this unit you will:
Understand how poetry, including song lyrics, can be used to deepen awareness of social
and political issues that may or may not be discussed in the popular media.
Consider how words and language affect the effectiveness of a poem or song on its
audience.
Write poetry, combining your awareness of social and political issues with your
understanding of the vocabulary associated with poetry.
Weeks One and Two (1/28-2/8):
Look at the music of politically- or socially-minded musicians: Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Billie Holiday,
Bob Marley, Pink, Peter Tosh and Public Enemy
How do these musicians use lyrics and music to inform and persuade their audience?
How does formal poetic terminology work in analyzing the lyrics?
Week Three (2/11-2/15):
Look at the poetry of politically- or socially-minded poets: Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Naomi Shihab
Nye, Martin Espada, Gwendolyn Brooks and Yusef Komunyakaa.
How have these poets used the poetic construction to make their audience aware of their world and specific
messages?
How do you write a critical analysis of song lyrics or a poem? (expository essay)
Week Four (2/18-2/22):
Discuss poetry using terminology such as imagery, diction, symbol, allusion, metaphor and
simile (Socratic seminar).
Research and free write on a passion of your own to write poetry on an issue or concept that you want to
make your class aware of; workshop poems.
Vacation Week: Compose 3-5 poems and 1-page narrative on topic.
Week Five (3/3-3/7):
Present poems.
English 11
Song Lyrics and Poetry as Constructed Messages
Anticipation Guide
Music and Your Life
How many hours a week do you think you spend listening to music?
How much time do you spend making music yourself?
How much time do you spend hearing live music?
Of the recorded music you listen to, what types of machines and technology do you use to listen
to it? How might this compare to how your grandparents listened to music in their youth? (No
portable equipment, no CD's etc.) What inventions of the 20th century most affected the listening
public?
If none of these technologies were available to you, how do you think your life would be
different?
Who are the recording artists you like and listen to the most?
Have any of these artists made you aware of a problem or issue in our society? If so, what
problems or issues has the music brought to your attention? How does the song or music make
you feel about the issue? What role do the lyrics play? What role does the music itself play?
Can you think of a time in history when protest music was especially important (e.g. the Vietnam
War era)? What issues was the music designed to address?
Can you think a recording artist you know who has been considered "daring" for bringing a
social issue to public attention via his or her music? What might still be a "taboo" issue today?
What music has moved you to a new awareness of a problem or into social action?
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From http://www.teachervision.fen.com/civil-rights/lesson-plan/4839.html
Unit: Lyrics and Poetry as Constructed Message
Lesson Plan Day 2: Folk Songs with Messages
Textual Focus: Bob Dylan, Blowin in the Wind, Woody Guthrie, Deportees (Plane
Wreck at Los Gatos)
Rationale:
Students should understand that a skillful poet can say something differently than we might in everyday
speech. It also is important for them to be able to interpret what a poet is saying in poetic language, as well as
find the underlying message or messages in that language. By examining a poets word choices and the
poetic elements used in a poem or song, students can determine how certain word choices work effectively to
convey the poets message.
Daily Objectives:
Students will learn that in poetry (or lyric composition) we can say something differently than
we would in everyday speech.
They well learn that in poetry we can make certain choices of words and poetic elements to
communicate a message.
In small collaborative groups they will examine a song to determine how poetic elements and
word choices can work to say something differently and to communicate a writers message:
what the writer wants the audience to think about or do as a result of the message.
1. Define folk music.
2. Ask what students know about Bob Dylan and what songs they know that he has written. Give
them brief biographical information, such as
o He was about twenty when he wrote and performed Blowin in the Wind.
o He has been writing and performing music for nearly fifty years.
o His earliest and most widely listened to work is protest songs.
3. Have students open to Blowin in the Wind in poetry packet.
4. Read story about this song from Rolling Stone online article (attached).
5. Explain the following background information about Blowin in the Wind (from above
article):
o It was written as a poem and then put to the music of an African American traditional song,
No More Auction Block.
o It was written in 1962, when Dylan was 21.
o Dylan composed the poem in ten minutes.
o It is called the most famous protest song ever written.
o Dylan believed humanitys greatest crime is indifference; he noted that Some of the biggest
criminals are those that turn their heads away when they see wrong and they know its
wrong.
o Blowin in the Wind strengthened the stance of peace demonstrators in the 1960s anti-war
movement.
o The song is written in the interrogative formit asks questions of its audiencea common
feature of folk music.
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6. Show on projected computer the early performance of Dylan singing Blowin in the Wind
from www.youtube.coom/watch?v=ced8o50G9kg.
7. Break students into groups of four.
8. Write on the board the following tasks for groups. Students do not need to write for this group
activity, but they may if it is helpful; a note taker can take group notes if desired:
o Translate or interpret into everyday language what each couplet means in the song. If
the meaning is straightforward, you use those words.
o Try to articulate the songs message: what does Dylan want his audience to think
about or do?
o Does Dylan answer any of his questions?
o Who is the audience? Can they find the answers to these questions?
o Now, go through the song again and determine what words/language and images
Dylan uses to create a message: how does he say something differently than we
would if we were speaking (the way we translated it). What words work to convey
a message? Underline these words/language or images.
9. Have groups share with the class their translations. First, ask for interpretations of what
blowin in the wind might mean. Call on different groups for each couplet. If a group has a
much different translation, have it share it.
10. Have groups share with the class words/language or images Dylan uses to communicate a
message in a different way than we might in everyday speech. List these on the board. Read
from the board and ask how these work toward the message.
11. Next, have students (still in groups) open to Woody Guthries Deportee. Give background of
Guthrie, explaining how he was a major influence on Dylan.
12. Give background of song (information attached).
13. Play Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) from www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Yz9okKRhimE.
14. Have students read lyrics and determine (working alone) what words and poetic elements
work to communicate Guthries message. What is his message?
15. Read song line-by-line or stanza-by-stanza and call on students for their responses from the
above task.
16. Explain homework.
Homework:
Assessment:
Bring in song titles from families.
Circulate as students work in groups and individually to check to see that they are able to interpret
and find messages in the songs, and determine how word choices and poetic elements convey
messages. (Functional assessment)
Blowin' in the Wind

Bob Dylan
POSTED DEC 09, 2004 12:00 AM
Written by: Dylan
Produced by: John Hammond
Released: May '63 on Columbia
Charts: Did not chart
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In April 1962, at Gerde's Folk City in New York's Greenwich Village, Bob Dylan gave a quick speech before
playing one of his new songs: "This here ain't no protest song or anything like that, 'cause I don't write no
protest songs," he said. He then sang the first and third verses of the still- unfinished "Blowin' in the Wind."
Published in full a month later in the folk journal Broadside and recorded on July 9th, 1962, for his second
album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, "Blowin' in the Wind" was Dylan's first important composition. It is
also the most famous protest song ever written. As a songwriter, Dylan was still emerging from his Woody
Guthrie fixation. But in a decisive break with the rhetorical, current-events conventions of topical folk, Dylan
framed the crises around him in a series of fierce, poetic questions that addressed what Dylan believed was
man's greatest inhumanity to man: indifference. "Some of the biggest criminals are those that turn their heads
away when they see wrong and they know it's wrong," he declared in the Freewheelin' liner notes. Earlier
this year, Dylan revealed more about the mechanics of writing the song in the Los Angeles Times: "I wrote
'Blowin' in the Wind' in ten minutes, just put words to an old spiritual, probably something I learned from
Carter Family records. That's the folk tradition. You use what's been handed down" -- and, of course, pass it
on. Appears on: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (Columbia)
Bob Dylan and Social Consciousness: Critical Issues
1. How does the release of information, over the radio, extend to the masses and present issues with the
expectation of spreading social consciousness?
By inventing frequency modulation in the 1930's, Edwin Howard Armstrong gave birth to a new and exciting
medium for spreading awareness to everyone. Bob Dylan, and other's like him, chose to use the radio as a
forum for spreading social consciousness. By using the radio, it was easier to reach people in great numbers
and in areas that newspapers and magazines could not be afforded. The radio allowed anyone within an ear's
distance to listen and react. Spreading information over the radio was easy, inexpensive, and an acceptable
medium for spreading awareness to people that normally wouldn't be privy to such information. The radio
transcended the act of spreading information to the masses.
4. Hypothetically, if Bob Dylan was born in 1914, instead of 1941; would he have had as big, or bigger, an
impact on music and society? Why?
In the last 40 years, Bob Dylan has been a major part of contemporary music. Through radio, television,
newspaper, and concerts, Bob Dylan has been able to reach the public and spread social consciousness
over the years. Music has and will continue to change in the future. Musicians of the 1960s played and
distributed music either because they loved performing or had a message which they wanted to express.
Present day musicians (in the 1980s and 1990s) appear to want one of two things: fame or fortune, or
both. As with many other professions, musicians have to be appealing and effective in order for people
to listen and purchase their music.
In my opinion, anyone who has been distributing and performing music for over 40 years has tremendous
musical talent. Natural music talent comes from an inherent ability in which, one rarely has to practice.
Bob Dylan is a perfect example of this phenomenon. Dylan would have made a huge impression on music
and society anytime, despite when he was born. Although, if Bob Dylan had been born in 1914, I do not
believe his impact would have had the capability of becoming global. Much of his popularity, if not all of
it, has been developed through the use of technology. Radio, television, Internet, and all forms of media
have instigated the global following of Dylan. With limited technology (like in the year of 1914), Dylans
natural talent may never have been heard. How much of an impression we will never know, however I
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believe he sang and composed music with an extreme talent held by only him. He will always be looked at
as a powerful leader.
From http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/topics/infoart/dylan/issues.html
Blowin in the Wind
By Bob Dylan
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
[1962]
14
Deportee Background
The agreement of 1947 [between Mexico and the U.S.]... contained a novel provision which established
amnesty through deportation. Under its terms, undocumented Mexicans who were sent back across the
border could return to the U.S. as temporary contract laborers; during the life of their contracts, they could
not be again deported. In practice, employers often called Border Patrol stations to report their own
undocumented employees, who were returned, momentarily, to border cities in Mexico, where they signed
labor contracts with the same employers who had denounced them. This process became known as "drying
out wetbacks" or "storm and drag immigration." "Drying out" provided a deportation-proof source of cheap
seasonal labor...
Dick J. Reavis, Without Documents, New York, 1978, p. 39.
Joe Offer (Joe-Offer@msn.com) provided this info on rec.music.folk on Jan 29, 1997:
The New York Times of January 29, 1948 reported the wreck of a "charter plane carrying 28 Mexican farm
workers from Oakland to the El Centro, CA, Deportation Center.... The crash occurred 20 miles west of
Coalinga, 75 miles from Fresno."
The first version of the song that I heard was by the Whiskey Hill Singers back in the late 50's or early 60's.
They were a short-lived group led by Dave Guard of the Kingston Trio...
He [WOODY GUTHRIE] was writing as many songs as ever, but few of any consequence. His children's
songs continued to be charming... and his other songs remained perfunctory, with the notable exception of
"Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportees)," which he composed after reading, early in 1948, that a plane
deporting migrant farm workers back to Mexico had crashed. It was the last great song he would write, a
memorial to the nameless migrants "all scattered like dry leaves" in Los Gatos Canyon, where the plane
crashed.... The song, as he wrote it, was virtually without music -- Woody chanted the words -- and wasn't
performed publicly until a decade later when a schoolteacher named Martin Hoffman1 added a beautiful
melody and Pete Seeger began singing it in concerts....
Joe Klein, Woody Guthrie: A Life, London, 1981, pp. 349-350
15
Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)

By Woody Guthrie
The crops are all in and the peaches are rott'ning,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps;
They're flying 'em back to the Mexican border
To pay all their money to wade back again
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita,
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria;
You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane,
All they will call you will be "deportees"
My father's own father, he waded that river,
They took all the money he made in his life;
My brothers and sisters come working the fruit trees,
And they rode the truck till they took down and died.
Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,
Our work contract's out and we have to move on;
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.
We died in your hills, we died in your deserts,
We died in your valleys and died on your plains.
We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes,
Both sides of the river, we died just the same.
The sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon,
A fireball of lightning, and shook all our hills,
Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?
The radio says, "They are just deportees"
Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil
And be called by no name except "deportees"?
Words by Woody Guthrie and Music by Martin Hoffman 1961 (renewed) by TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc.
The 1948 plane crash of a plane carrying 28 Mexican farm workers from Oakland, California to be deported
back to Mexico inspired the poem "Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)." The poem was set to music a
decade later by Martin Hoffman, and the song has since been covered by performers such as Pete Seeger,
Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Dolly Parton, Judy Collins, and Woody's son Arlo Guthrie.
16
Unit: Lyrics and Poetry as Constructed Messages

Lesson Plan Day 3: Songs Reacting to Racist Crimes
Textual Focus: Billie Holiday, Strange Fruit, Bob Dylan, The Ballad of Emmett Till
Materials: Post-It paper or butcher paper affixed to wall, notecards with questions.
Rationale:
Students enrolled in a media literacy class should understand that the way artists and then their audiences
often deal with and try to comprehend tragedy is through artistic expression--media; often after a tragedy
there is a photo, painting, written work, song, etc. formulated about the event that over time comes to
symbolize it through reminding audiences of its occurrence. Sometimes there are many. The songs studied
today and other works in this unit represent some of these. By examining them, students can study where
narrators position themselves in relation to the event, who the audience is and why the singer felt compelled
to use the medium of music to present a message about an event,
Daily Objectives:
Students will consider why music might be an effective medium for communicating social/political
messages.
They will think about why singers sing about tragic events.
In collaborative small groups they will determine what poetic elements and word choice makes a
message stronger in a song.
1.
(Anticipatory Set) Focused free write (ten minutes): What do we think of political or social
messages given by white songwriters about people who are not white, such as Woody Guthrie
writing about Mexican migrant farm workers? Why? (Pre-assessment)
2.
Ask for volunteers to share free writes or the ideas in them.
3.
Collect free write to assess.
4.
Share songs from families.
5.
Review poetic terminology from sheet with students.
6.
Explain to students that todays class will deal with difficult subject mattermurder that is
race-related.
7.
Have students open to Strange Fruit. Explain that it was written by a poet (Lewis Allen,
who was not African American) and later put to music and performed by Billie Holiday. Explain
who Holiday was in terms of a social message-giver: a woman singing jazz, which has African
American roots. Ask what it means that she is in this position giving the messages in Strange
Fruit. How does her identity as a black woman affect her message?
8.
Play video of Holiday singing Strange Fruit from www.youtube.com/watch?
v=h4zyuULy9zs.
9.
Give students information about lynching (attached), and show it on visualizer.
10.
Ask students questions about Strange Fruit (attached).
11.
Ask them why Holiday might have put the poem Strange Fruit to music and used that
medium to express her message. Are other media more or less effective? In what ways?
12.
What imagery in the song makes its message effectively conveyed?
13.
Have students open to The Ballad of Emmett Till.
17
14.
Read to students the background of the songthe description of what happened to Emmett
Till.
15.
16.
Play The Ballad of Emmett Till video from www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjfGcRM35xg.

Break students into groups of five. Have them answer the following questions as a group,
but each student will have one question written on a notecard and be responsible for writing down
the groups answer and presenting it to the rest of the class.
1) Where is Dylan physically in the song?
2) What exactly is Dylans message in this song?
3) Who was his audience at the time (1963)?
4) What do we think of a young white man giving this message? How does his identity
affect his delivery of his message compared to that of Holiday?
5) What line or lines are effective in getting his message across to listeners?
6) How might music reach a larger audience than other media?
7) Why do these singers sing about these issues?
17. Next give a notecard with the following tasks to each student (one notecard per student) and have
each student complete the task and write her response on one of three pieces of Post-it paper.
Label one piece "allusions," one "diction" and one "images."
Give an example (line/phrase) of diction that is effective at communicating the
songs message.
Choose 5 images that help communicate the songs message.
Find one allusion in the song. Write it on the Post-It paper.
18. Have groups share responses as a class.
Assessment:
Listen to student responses in large-group discussion about Strange Fruit. Circulate during
small-group work and listen to student answers to questions for groups. (Functional
assessment)
Assess free writes out of a possible three points. (Pre-assessment)
18
Strange Fruit
Poem by Lewis Allen; performed by Billie Holiday
Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
19
Questions for Strange Fruit

o
o
o
o
o
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o
o
Why were most lynching victims hung from trees? Would they have died this way
had they been convicted of a crime in a court of law?
What kinds of fruit do trees usually bear? Ask students to generate the cycle a fruitbearing tree would go through in the course of a season: the tree blossoms, the fruit
begins to grow, ripens, and falls to the ground as perhaps the wind blows. On the
ground it might be eaten by crows, etc.
How do we know from the lyrics that the "strange" fruit here means the bodies of
lynching victims?
Why is it that Southern trees bear the "strange fruit"?
What contrast is made between the "gallant South" and the South which bears
strange fruit? What is ironic about this contrast?
Why do you think the word "lynching" never appears in the song?
Do you think the song is more powerful, or less powerful, because its topic
[lynching] is implied instead of stated?
What impact does a song have, and why?
** Activity: Have students generate a list of adjectives that express their feelings about this song.
From http://www.teachervision.fen.com/civil-rights/lesson-plan/4839.html#assessment
Lynching Background
According to the Constitutional Rights Foundation, between 1882 and 1968, mobs lynched 4,743 persons in
the United States, over 70 percent of them African-Americans. Lynching peaked after the end of
Reconstruction when federal troops were removed from the South. In 1892, vigilantes lynched 71 whites and
155 blacks. After that the number of lynchings decreased nationwide, but increasingly, lynching became a
crime of the South. By the late 1920s, 95 percent of U.S. lynchings occurred in the South.
The white mobs who lynched African-American men often justified their actions as a defense of "white
womanhood;" the usual reason given for lynching black men was that they had raped white women. But
early on, journalists like Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) saw through this sham and proclaimed that the lynch
mobs' real motive was the determination to keep African-American men economically depressed and
politically disenfranchised. Ida B.Wells (a.k.a. Ida Wells-Barnett) headed the Anti-Lynching League and was
a member of the Committee of Forty which led to the founding of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People.
While the Constitution leaves law enforcement up to the states, a movement spearheaded by the NAACP
sought to pass anti-lynching laws at the federal level, since Southern state governments appeared ineffective
in fighting this crime. During the Great Depression, when Billie Holiday recorded "Strange Fruit," lynchings
of African-Americans were again on the increase. Although a law at the federal level was consistently
20
blocked by Southern senators, lynchings virtually disappeared by 1950. In part this can be attributed to
improved economic conditions and the success of the anti-lynching campaign spearheaded by the NAACP.
From http://www.teachervision.fen.com/civil-rights/lesson-plan/4839.html#assessment
The Lynching of Emmett Till
(historical web site) http://www.heroism.org/class/1950/heroes/till.htm
The horrific death of a Chicago teenager helped spark the civil rights movement In the summer of 1955,
Mamie Till gave in to her son's pleas to visit relatives in the South. But before putting her only son Emmett
on bus in Chicago, she gave him a stern warning: "Be careful. If you have to get down on your knees and
bow when a white person goes past, do it willingly." Emmett, all of 14, didn't heed his mother's warning. On
Aug. 27, 1955, Emmett was beaten and shot to death by two white men who threw the boy's mutilated body
into the Tallahatchie River near Money, Mississippi. Emmett's crime: talking and maybe even whistling to a
white woman at a local grocery store. Emmett's death came a year after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board
of Education decision outlawed segregation. For the first time, blacks had the law on their side in the struggle
for equality. Emmett's killing struck a cord across a nation. White people in the North were as shocked as
blacks at the cruelty of the killing. The national media picked up on the story, and the case mobilized the
NAACP, which provided a safe house for witnesses in the trial of the killers. Emmett became a martyr for the
fledgling civil rights movement that would engross the country in a few years. Mamie Till spoke out about
her son's death. She held an open-casket funeral for her son, so that the world could see "what they did to my
boy." Emmett's face was battered beyond recognition and he had a bullet hole in his head. The body had
decomposed after spending several days underwater. Roy Bryant, whose wife Carolyn was the white woman
at the store, and his half brother, J.W. Milam, were tried for Emmett's murder and acquitted by a jury of 12
white men. There are conflicting reports as to what Emmett said to Carolyn Bryant, who owned the store
with her husband. By most accounts, Emmett and his cousin Curtis Jones, who was visiting from Chicago as
well, were playing with other boys outside the store. Emmett pulled a picture of a white girl out of his wallet
and boasted to the other boys that she was his girlfriend. The other boys seemed to think it was just bragging
by a city boy from the North. But one boy suggested Emmett go inside the store and talk to the white woman
who was running the cash register, especially if he was so good with white women. Emmett went inside, and
by some accounts he whistled at Carolyn Bryant, who was 21 at the time. Others said he bought some gum
and made a lewd suggestion to Bryant on the way out. Bryant testified at the trial that Emmett grabbed her
and said, "Don't be afraid of me, baby. I been with white girls before." In the segregated South, punishment
for a black male who made a sexual suggestion a white woman was swift. Word got around about what had
happened and Emmett's relatives suggested he get out of town as fast as possible. He didn't leave fast
enough. According to historian David Halberstam, Ron Bryant and Milam tracked Emmett down and pulled
him from his uncle's house. The beat him but Emmett was unrepentant. So, they decided to kill Emmett to
make an example of him. They took him to the river and made him strip down naked. "You still better than
me?" Milam asked Emmett. "Yeah," the boy said. Milam shot him in the head. They tied Emmett's body to a
cotton gin fan and dumped it into the river. Unfortunately, Emmett's killing was only one of thousands of
similar murders in the South, and his name is not well known. But the case was an important turning point in
America's civil rights struggle.
From http://www.educationforum.co.uk/emmetttill.htm
21
The Ballad of Emmett Till

By Bob Dylan
"Twas down in Mississippi no so long ago,
When a young boy from Chicago town stepped through a Southern door.
This boy's dreadful tragedy I can still remember well,
The color of his skin was black and his name was Emmett Till.
Some men they dragged him to a barn and there they beat him up.
They said they had a reason, but I can't remember what.
They tortured him and did some evil things too evil to repeat.
There was screaming sounds inside the barn, there was laughing sounds out on the street.
Then they rolled his body down a gulf amidst a bloody red rain
And they threw him in the waters wide to cease his screaming pain.
The reason that they killed him there, and I'm sure it ain't no lie,
Was just for the fun of killin' him and to watch him slowly die.
And then to stop the United States of yelling for a trial,
Two brothers they confessed that they had killed poor Emmett Till.
But on the jury there were men who helped the brothers commit this awful crime,
And so this trial was a mockery, but nobody seemed to mind.
I saw the morning papers but I could not bear to see
The smiling brothers walkin' down the courthouse stairs.
For the jury found them innocent and the brothers they went free,
While Emmett's body floats the foam of a Jim Crow southern sea.
If you can't speak out against this kind of thing, a crime that's so unjust,
Your eyes are filled with dead men's dirt, your mind is filled with dust.
Your arms and legs they must be in shackles and chains, and your blood it must refuse to flow,
For you let this human race fall down so God-awful low!
This song is just a reminder to remind your fellow man
That this kind of thing still lives today in that ghost-robed Ku Klux Klan.
But if all of us folks that thinks alike, if we gave all we could give,
We could make this great land of ours a greater place to live.
Copyright 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
22

Lesson Plan Day 4: Protest Artists: Peter Tosh and Bob Marley, Lives and Lyrics
** Guidance counselors will be taking students one at a time throughout period seven today.
** Six laptops must be reserved from the Media Center for this class. Three laptops will be used at a time,
and three will be kept charging for use when the first three start losing battery power.
Textual Focus: Bob Marley, Redemption Song, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, Get Up Stand Up, Peter
Tosh, Equal Rights
Rationale:
It is important for students to understand that writers can write of an event or issue from a removed
standpoint or from direct experience. Songs from both perspectives can have important messages. Students
can develop a better understanding of why songwriters who write from direct experience write what and how
they do if they research the life of the songwriter. Students also can better understand the message and the
poetic choices a writer makes if they collaborate to analyze how lyrics send a message. By deep analysis of
lyrics, including language and poetic elements, students can determine how an effective message is
communicated through the medium of music.
Daily Objectives:
In small groups, students will research the backgrounds of songs and songwriters and consider the
impact that background has on the songs message.
In small groups they will analyze song lyrics, articulating what a songs message is and what poetic
elements work to communicate that message.
They will use poetic terminology in a songs analysis.
They will collaborate on presentation of research and analysis of a poem to the class.
1. Explain that Peter Tosh and Bob Marley were musicians who wrote not about what had happened
in the lives of others but in reaction to poverty and injustice in their own lives.
2. (Anticipatory Set) Free write (five minutes): What can the impact be on a song or its message if
the writer/performer has experienced the songs content rather then witnessed or heard about it?
3. Collect free write.
4. As students listen to the following songs, have them consider what the singer wants the audience
to think about or do as a result of the message
5. Play YouTube recordings of all three songs covered today: Bob Marleys Redemption Song,
Bob Marleys and Peter Toshs Get Up Stand Up and Peter Toshs Equal Rights.
6. Today students will work in research or lyrics analysis teams.
7. Break class into three groups of seven (large groups due to students leaving every ten minutes).
Teacher chooses groups.
23
8. Assign one of the three songs studied today to each group to research and analyze. The following
tasks should take about forty minutes.
Researchers: Assign three students in each group the job of researcher. In this capacity
they will use one laptop to collaborate on Internet research of the assigned song and artist.
Ask them to find and take notes on whatever information they can find about both,
concentrating on the biography of the musician and information they can find on how that
life helps create the songs message. They may switch to the charged laptop when needed.
Lyrics Analyzers: Assign four students in each group the job of lyrics analysts. They must
go slowly through the song and try to determine, line by line, what the artist is saying.
Who is his audience? They should have their Poetic Terminology sheet out, pay attention
to where the writer uses poetic elements and note these terms on the song where
appropriate.
Presentation of Songs/Musicians: When groups have completed their research and analysis
of the assigned songs, have them present their findings to the class in Socratic Seminar
style. They must explain what they think the singer wants the audience to think about or
do as a result of hearing the song.
Assessment:
Circulate as students free write and later as they work on research and analysis. When they
come to a standstill, ask questions to move them forward. (Functional assessment.
Assess free writes out of a possible three points. (Pre-assessment)
24
Equal Rights
By Peter Tosh
Everyone is crying out for peace yes
None is crying out for justice
(2x)
(CHORUS)
I don't want no peace
I need equal rights and justice (3x)
Got to get it
Equal rights and justice
Everybody want to go to heaven
But nobody want to die
Everybody want to go to up to heaven
But none o them (2x) want to die
(CHORUS)
(Just give me my share)
What is due to Caesar
You better give it on to Caesar
And what belong to I and I
You better (2x) give it up to I
(CHORUS)
(I'm fighting for it)
Everyone heading for the top
But tell me how far is it from the bottom
Nobody knows but
Everybody fighting to reach the top
How far is it from the bottom
(CHORUS)
Everyone is talking about crime
Tell me who are the criminals
I said everybody's talking about crime, crime
Tell me who, who are the criminals
I really don't see them
(CHORUS)
There be no crime
25
Equal rights and justice (Precedes each line below)

There be no criminals
Everyone is fighting for
Palestine is fighting for
Down in Angola
Down in Botswana
Down in Zimbabwe
Down in Rhodesia
Right here in Jamaica
Get Up Stand Up
By Peter Tosh and Bob Marley
(CHORUS)
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up
Don't give up the fight
(2x)
You, preacher man don't tell me
Heaven is under the earth
You a duppy and you don't know
What life is really worth
It's not all that glitter is gold
And half the story has never been told
So now we see the light
We gonna stand up for your rights
Come on
(CHORUS)
Cause you know most people think
A great God will come from the skies
Take away everything
And left everybody dry
But if you know what life is worth
Then you would look for yours on earth
And now you see the light
We gonna stand up for your rights
(CHORUS)
We're sick and tired of this game of technology
Humbly asking Jesus for his mercy
We know and we know and understand
Almighty Jah is a living man
You fool some people sometimes
But you can't fool all the people all the time
And now we see the light
We gonna stand up for our rights
[1973]
26
Redemption Song
By Bob Marley
Old pirates, yes, they rob i;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took i
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the and of the almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.
Wont you help to sing
These songs of freedom? cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? ooh!
Some say its just a part of it:
Weve got to fulfil de book.
These songs of freedom? cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.
--/guitar break/
--Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind.
Wo! have no fear for atomic energy,
cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say its just a part of it:
Weve got to fulfil de book.
27
Dese songs of freedom? cause all I ever had:

Redemption songs All I ever had:
Redemption songs:
These songs of freedom,
Songs of freedom.

Lesson Plan Day 5: Songs of Social Commentary
Textual Focus: Public Enemy, Fight the Power and Hell No (We Aint Alright)
Rationale:
In this unit it is crucial for students to understand why so much music (and poetry) with
social/political messages is not about white people; often it is not composed by white people
either. It is a valuable for students to analyze the different messages by non-white musicians, as
well as determine who the audience is.
Daily Objectives:
Students will consider why many songs with social/political messages are often about people who
are not white.
In small groups they will compare social/political messages in songs by artists in two
different musical genres (rap and reggae), and consider who the audiences are.
In small groups they will contemplate the role of other current music media at spreading
messages.
They will understand the meaning of diction and be able to discern effective or strong diction
from ineffective or weak diction.
1. (Anticipatory Set) Free write (five minutes): Why are many political songs (and poems) written
about people who are not white?
2. Ask students to share responses with the class.
3. Collect free write
4. KWL chart: using three pieces Post-It paper on the wall, draw a title at the top of each paper. On
the first write the letter K (for knowwhat we already know), and list the words Elvis, John
Wayne, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Black Panthers, Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn,
Philadelphia, and Detroit. On the next sheet of paper under W (for what students want to
knowor W/P for what they want to know or can predict) write the same list. On the third piece
of paper write L. This is filled out after watching the YouTube video.
5. Have students open to Public Enemys Fight the Power.
6. Play video recording of this song from YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuTi9UztPbw.
First play only the audio recording and ask student to read the lyrics; then have them only watch
the video and not read the lyrics.
7. Ask who the intended audience is of the song.
28
8. Break students into small groups. Have them analyze what the rappers are saying line by line, find
what the songs message is, and underline where they see poetic elements from their Poetic
Terminology handout.
9. Ask groups to share their findings.
10. Discuss the similarities and differences between this rap and the reggae songs; are the messages
similar? How do they vary?
11. Have students open to Public Enemys 2007 Hell No (We Aint Alright), and play audio
recording of it.
12. Ask students what direct comparisons they see between this rap and some of the reggae songs.
13. Activity: learning about effective diction.
Stick four pieces of Post-It paper on the walls. Draw a line down the middle of each, using a
different color marker on each paper to write with. At the top of the left column write, Strong or
effective diction. At the top of the right column write, emotions these words evoke. Instruct
students (in groups of six) to think of as many specific ways to describe the color of the writing
on their paper as possible in the left column, e.g. grass green, camouflage green. Then, in the
right column, across from each color, they should write the emotions these words evoke, e.g.
bright green for grass; darker green for camouflage. The purpose of the activity is for students
to see how using less vague and more specific, stronger diction can evoke certain emotions or
ideas in our minds. Leave the paper on the walls throughout the unit to help students remember
what strong or effective diction is.
Homework:
Analyze in one page the lyrics of a song of your choice in terms of imagery, diction and
allusion. Due next class.
Assessment:
Circulate as students work in groups and participate in diction activity. (Functional
assessment)
Assess student free writes out of a possible three points. (Pre-assessment)
29
Fight The Power

By K. Shocklee, E. Sadler, C. Ridenhour
1989 the number another summer (get down)
Sound of the funky drummer
Music hittin' your heart cause I know you got soul
(Brothers and sisters, hey)
Listen if you're missin' y'all
Swingin' while I'm singin'
Givin' whatcha gettin'
Knowin' what I know
While the Black bands sweatin'
And the rhythm rhymes rollin'
Got to give us what we want
Gotta give us what we need
Our freedom of speech is freedom or death
We got to fight the powers that be
Lemme hear you say
Fight the power
CHORUS
As the rhythm designed to bounce
What counts is that the rhymes
Designed to fill your mind
Now that you've realized the prides arrived
We got to pump the stuff to make us tough
from the heart
It's a start, a work of art
To revolutionize make a change nothin's strange
People, people we are the same
No we're not the same
Cause we don't know the game
What we need is awareness, we can't get careless
You say what is this?
My beloved lets get down to business
Mental self defensive fitness
(Yo) bum rush the show
You gotta go for what you know
Make everybody see, in order to fight the powers that be
Lemme hear you say...
Fight the Power
30
CHORUS
Elvis was a hero to most
But he never meant shit to me you see
Straight up racist that sucker was
Simple and plain
Mother f*%! him and John Wayne
Cause I'm Black and I'm proud
I'm ready and hyped plus I'm amped
Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps
Sample a look back you look and find
Nothing but rednecks for 400 years if you check
Don't worry be happy
Was a number one jam
Damn if I say it you can slap me right here
(Get it) lets get this party started right
Right on, c'mon
What we got to say
Power to the people no delay
To make everybody see
In order to fight the powers that be
(Fight the Power)
Hell No (We Aint Alright)
By Public Enemy (Paris Remix)
[Chuck D] {*storm raging in the background*}
Does it gotta come down to this...
In order to see things for what they are and what it is...
We still might not be free up in this piece
Or treated very equally as far as I can see...
Hell no we ain't alright!
[Chuck D] + (Flavor Flav)
Now all these press conferences, breaking news alert (this just in)
While your government looks for a war to win
Flames for the blame game, names where I begin
Walls closin and get some help to my kin
(Who cares?) While the rest of the Bush nation stares
As the drama unfolds, as we the people under the stairs
Fifty percent of this "Son of a Bush" nation
is like, hatin on Haiti and settin up assassinations
Ask Pat Robertson, quiz him (mmm - smells like terrorism)
Racism in the news, still one-sided views
Sayin whites find food
Pray for the National Guard who be ready to shoot
Because they be sayin us blacks loot
(What is your boy "Son of a Bush" doin?) {*laughing*}
(NUTTIN!)
[Chorus 1: repeat 3X]
New Orleans in the mornin afternoon and night
Hell naw! {HELL NAW} We ain't alright
[Chorus 2]
New Orleans in the mornin afternoon and night
31
Hell naw! "Damn, damn!"

Now them fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, I don't mean to scare
... wasn't this written somewhere?
Disgrace is all I be seein is hurtin black faces
Moved out to all them far away places
(Emergency) state, corpses alligators and snakes
Big difference between this haze and (the little diamonds on the VMA's)
You better look what's really important
Y'all under the sun, especially if you over 21
This ain't no TV show, ain't no video (this is really real!)
Beyond them same ol' keep it real
quotes from them TV stars, drivin big rim cars (streets keep floodin B)
No matter where you at no gas, driving is a luxury (urgency)
Don't y'all know? They said it's a state of emergency
Show somebody's government is far from reality
(Aiyyo check one two!)
[Chorus 1] - repeat 4X instead of 3X
[TV broadcast samples]
And they don't have a CLUE of what's going on down there
I'm like you've gotta be kidding me, this is a NATIONAL disaster
It's awful down here man
God is lookin down on all this
And if they are not doin everything in their power to save people
They are gonna pay the price
Now I see we be the new faces of refugees, who ain't even overseas
But stuck here on our knees
Forget the plasma TV, ain't no electricity
New world's upside down and OUT of order
Shelter, food, what's up yo? (Where's the water?)
No answers from disaster, them masses be hurtin
So who the f#$! they call - HALLIBURTON?!
"Son of a Bush" how you gonna just trust that cat
to fix s%#t when all that help is stuck in Iraq?
Makin war plans takin more stands in Afghanistan
Two thousands soldiers there dyin in the sand
But that's over there, right? What's over here?
It's a noise so loud some of y'all can't hear
But on TV I know that I can see
Bunches of people, lookin just like me
[Chorus 1] - repeat 4X, change city/state name each refrain
[1] - New Orleans
[2] - Mississippi
[3] - Alabama
[4] - U.S.A.
[Chuck D]
We definitely ain't alright
And some of y'all voted for that cat! "Son of a Bush"
32
That's right, what God giveth sometimes your country taketh away
Yeah, one love, comin from Public Enemy, #1 y'all
Public Enemy, 2006 (yeah)
Public Enemy 2007, all gettin together now
[Flavor Flav]
Let me tell y'all somethin
All of our hearts is out there with y'all, you know what I'm sayin?
And we sendin trucks, we sendin boats
Boxes of.. cans of soup and everything
Clothes and all of that, shoes
We donating everything to y'all, you know what I'm sayin?
Don't worry, y'all ain't by yourself
You need to know that

Lesson Plan Day 6: Messages from Songwriters To Those Who Start Wars
Textual Focus: Dylan, Masters of War and Pink, Dear Mr. President.
Rationale:
Songs protesting war were common in the 1960s-70s, and are still present today, though they are not a
dominant song genre. Students should consider if lyrics written forty years earlier are still relevant today (are
lyrics timeless) and the comparison between earlier lyrics and current ones about the current war. It also is
important for students to understand the message of two different songs protesting war and those who start
them, as well as what language and poetic elements help to communicate the protest message.
Daily Objectives:
Students will determine what lyrics are most effective in conveying a songs message.
They will free write on how language expresses the message.
They will consider the importance of the music in a song.
They will compare and contrast anti-war messages in lyrics from an earlier era and today.
1. (Anticipatory Set) Have students take turns writing on the board two phrases or lines from
Masters of War that of all their five choices (from the homework) best convey Dylans
message in the song.
2. Have them choose one line or phrase from the board and write for five minutes on how this
language works to express Dylans message.
3. Ask for volunteers to share their free writeswhat is or are Dylans message(s)?
4. Ask students who Dylan is addressing and who his audience is.
5. Read highlights from New Republic article (attached). Ask students what they make of the New
Republic writers criticism of the poor quality of music of todays protest songs, and the effect
of this on creating an effective message.
6. Introduce and play Pinks Dear Mr. President (2007) performance from
www.youtube.com/watch?v4eREpNHSRRk.
7. Have students break into assigned groups. Write the following tasks on the board.
8. Ask groups to list how the theme of indifference in this song relates to the theme of indifference
in Blowin in the Wind.
9. Have groups find specific comparisons and differences between Masters of War and Dear Mr.
President. Have them attempt to answer what Pinks overall message is and what Dylans is.
33
10. Have groups decide if Dylans message(s) in Masters of War is (are) still applicable today,
forty-five years later. Explain that younger musicians are still covering the song today, such as
Eddie Vedder in the 1990s and again in 2004 (when he changed You hide in your mansion to
You hide in a white mansion).
11. Have each student in group choose words and/or lines from the song to back up their views.
Then have them underline the words/lines that they feel show this and be prepared to explain
why.
12. Have each student in group circle words/phrases/lines in both songs that work toward conveying
the anti-war message.
13. Read the songs on the visualizer, having groups share their responses. Call on students
individually in groups. Underline or circle what they have on the projected lyrics.
14. Collect one-page homework assignment examining how imagery, diction and allusion work in a
song.
Homework:
Assessment:
Assign Lyric or Poetry Analysis essay (due in one week).

Have students read Brooks We Real Cool, Hughess The Negro Mother and Angelous
Still I Rise and find three metaphors and three similes in ALL (not each) of the poems.
Read words/phrases/lines from Masters of War that students write on the board.
Assess free write responses out of a possible three points. (Pre-assessment)
Circulate as groups respond to questions. (Functional assessment)
Assess one-page assignment out of a possible ten points. (Functional assessment)
Revolution Rock?: The Regrettable Decline of the Protest Song

The first time I played Bruce Springsteen's new album, Magic, one of its songs stayed with me for hours
afterward. No big news there; especially when he reunites with the E Street Band, Springsteen always plugs
back into anthemic mode. What was surprising this time was that it was the disc's most explicit anti-war
number. Arriving near the record's end, "Last to Die" is driven by mournful-pageantry violins and a bustling,
nearly desperate intensity that recalls Springsteen's earlier, '70s work. From the opening line--"We took the
highway till the road went black"--it places listeners in the mind of an American soldier in Iraq going about
his job, increasingly numb at what he's doing and seeing, "stack[ing] the bodies outside the door."
"Last to Die" is neither the best nor worst Springsteen song of all time, but the fact that it works as both
words and music automatically makes it one of the sharpest of the recent anti-war, anti-Bush songs. In the
last few years, the protest song has been on something of a comeback tour. Old schoolers (Springsteen, John
Fogerty), alt-rock veterans (Pearl Jam, Green Day, Beastie Boys, Flaming Lips), and relative newcomers
(Bright Eyes, the Roots) have all become furious enough by what's happening here and abroad to write their
own protest songs. But unless you're a music geek or a web troller, chances are you've never heard--or heard
of--most of them.
The problem could be radio's reluctance to play these songs, some type of veiled censorship. (Let's not forget
that after September 11, the monolithic Clear Channel dispatched a memo to radio stations suggesting they
suspend playing such incendiary songs as ... "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor.) But the under-the-radar
quality of modern tunes of dissent points to an artistic problem as well. Compared with so many topical
diatribes that came before (and a few current exceptions, like Springsteen's "Last to Die" and a good chunk
of Neil Young's riled-up but grabby Living with War album last year), too many rely more on bile than beat.
34
Which means the protest song has arrived at an odd place: more necessary than ever, and more marginal, too.
I was reminded of this situation last month, when I took part in a panel discussion on war and popular culture
at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial complex. To prep for a talk on the way pop music has (or
hasn't) influenced public opinion on war, I listened again to the Vietnam-era standards: Phil Ochs' "I Ain't
Marching' Anymore," Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," Edwin Starr's "War"--you know the list. I was
struck by the way the songs grew angrier and more heated by the year. The gentle anti-violence sentiments of
Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" from 1961 gave way by decade's end to far angrier missives
like Creedence Clearwater Revival's scathing "Fortunate Son." The transition is similar to what we're seeing
now. Paul McCartney's mixed-message, post-September 11 "Freedom" ("I will fight for the right/To live in
freedom," it declared, over a lackluster, nursery-rhyme melody that telegraphed its ambivalence) has been
replaced by the rattled, angry likes of Bright Eyes' "When the President Talks to God."
But something else about the old hits struck me as well: how musically strapping and vibrant they still were.
From all of the above to the Temptations' "Ball of Confusion" and even a hokey bit of cash-in apocalypto like
Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction," the songs stayed with you in every way. It was protest as pop, a
tradition that continued into the '80s with Nena's anti-nuke "99 Luftballons" and Little Steven and company's
rabble-rousing, rock-to-rap "Sun City."
Although the current batch means well, it also includes some of the worst songs--topical or otherwise--of the
last decade. The Beastie Boys openly question the link between warfare and corporations in "In a World
Gone Mad," but the sludgy track is borderline unlistenable. Green Day's cover of "Life During Wartime" has
wonderfully sarcastic lyrics about the absence of national sacrifice ("Doing something/We're making
changes/Like changing the brand of crap we buy"), but a melody you'll forget the minute the song ends. The
Rolling Stones' "Sweet Neo Con" was more a publicity stunt than a good song; Pearl Jam's "World Wide
Suicide" was another example of the band's largely shapeless bluster; and Pink's "Dear Mr. President" was
the first and hopefully last time we'll hear Bush bashing done with a folksy, adult contemporary twist.
The near-misses are even more exasperating. Eminem's "Mosh" had brilliant imagery and atmosphere--it felt
like a march right into the end of the world, and his line about a "mosh pits outside the Oval Office" was
terrific--but three years on, I had to play the song again to remind myself how it sounded. (Warning: explicit
language)
Bright Eyes' "When the President Talks to God" is a self-conscious attempt to follow in Dylan's, Ochs', and
Woody Guthrie's footsteps, yet like too much of Conor Oberst's work, it's labored and strained. Country
music has weighed in with some decent entries--Darryl Worley's "I Just Came Back from a War" and Tim
McGraw's "If You're Reading This" come to mind--but since the genre is more of a storyteller's medium, it
doesn't do societal rage as well as it does personal heartbreak (in these cases, tales of soldiers who've died or
returned in a faith-shattered haze).
The closest thing we've had to a topical pop hit in the last few years, improbably, has been the Black Eyed
Peas' "Where Is the Love?," which paired a sing-songy, lite-rap chorus with rhymes that dared to equate the
CIA with terrorists. Even if the song wasn't that teed off--it was mostly a laundry list of generalized societal
ills and didn't even have anything approaching Eminem's quick-cut take on America's role in emboldening
Bin Laden in the '90s--the mere fact that it made the pop charts at all was remarkable.
Why haven't any of the others joined it there? It's easy to rattle off a list of possible explanations: a decline in
pop songwriting, a form of elitism that feels pop hooks cheapen the message, audience (and radio)
fragmentation that prevents one genre-specific song from reaching a truly mass audience. Maybe it's
psychological: In the way the new songs are almost defiantly tuneless, they seem self-defeating, as if
musicians have faith in themselves as spokespeople but have lost faith in the power of song. They appear to
35
accept the notion that only the converted will hear (and like) these songs, a thought that never seemed to have
occurred to Pete Seeger and Lee Hayes when they wrote "If I Had a Hammer," or to Peter Tosh and Bob
Marley when they worked up "Get Up Stand Up."
Whatever the reason, modern rockers seem to have forgotten that protest songs shouldn't be the equivalent of
homework, and that the message goes down a lot easier when the "song" is as powerful as the "protest." As
another old-timer, Dick Clark, might have put it: It helps if it has a beat, and you can demonstrate to it.
David Browne is the author of Dream Brother: The Lives & Music of Jeff & Tim Buckley. His biography of
Sonic Youth, Goodbye 20th Century, will be published next spring.
By David Browne, The New Republic Published: Thursday, November 15, 2007
English 11
Lyrics or Poetry as Message Written Analysis
Select a musician or poet and one of her or his songs or poems. Answer the
following questions in essay format. 2 pages.
Be sure to include an introduction and conclusion.
1. How does this musician or poet use lyrics or poetry to inform and
persuade the audience?
a) Tell what you think the songs or poems message is.
b) Explain how poetic elements communicate the message:
** Refer to specific examples of imagery, repetition, diction
figurative language, etc. that work toward expressing the message.
** Cite words, phrases and lines specifically in your reflection. These
should appear in quotation marks.
2. Have you been made more aware of an issue or situation in any way?
How? (Have you been informed or persuaded?)
Lyric/Poetry Reflection
CATEGORY
36
Specific lines, phrases, Some lines, phrases No specific lines,

Support for Topic Specific lines,
phrases,
words
and
words or poetic
or words are cited,
phrases, words or poetic
(Content)
poetic elements are
cited, and how they
work to communicate
the songs or poems
message is
explained.
elements are cited, but

the explanation for how
they communicate the
message is not
thorough, so the reader
is left guessing.
but it is not made

clear how they
communicate the
message;
explanation is
minimal.
elements are cited. The

essay does not explain
what the songs or
poems message is or
how it is communicated.
Introduction
(Organization)
The introduction is
inviting, states the
main topic and
previews the
structure of the
paper.
The introduction clearly

states the main topic
and previews the
structure of the paper,
but is not particularly
inviting to the reader.
The introduction
states the main topic,
but does not
adequately preview
the structure of the
paper, nor is it
particularly inviting to
the reader.
There is no clear
introduction of the main
topic or structure of the
paper.
Sequencing
(Organization)
Details are placed in

a logical order and
the way they are
presented effectively
keeps the interest of
the reader.
Details are placed in a

logical order, but the
way in which they are
presented/introduced
sometimes makes the
writing less interesting.
Some details are not

in a logical or
expected order, and
this distracts the
reader.
Many details are not in a

logical or expected order.
There is little sense that
the writing is organized.
Masters of War
By Bob Dylan
Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain
37
You fasten the triggers

For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul
And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead
Copyright 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
38
Dear Mr. President

By Pink (featuring Indigo Girls)
Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me.
Let's pretend we're just two people and
You're not better than me.
I'd like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.
What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why?
Dear Mr. President,
Were you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
How can you say
No child is left behind?
We're not dumb and we're not blind.
They're all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell.
What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
Can you even look me in the eye?
Let me tell you 'bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Hard work
Hard work
You don't know nothing 'bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
Oh
How do you sleep at night?
Dear Mr. President,
You'd never take a walk with me.
Would you?
[2007]
39

Lesson Plan Day 7: Reading Poetry: Silent Discussion to Interact with Poetry
Textual Focus: Gwendolyn Brooks, We Real Cool; Hughes, The Negro Mother and Angelou,
I Rise.
Still
Rationale:
Writing about poetry can help students think and reflect more deeply on it. When students are asked specific
questions about a poem for a silent discussion and respond to them in writing, they can start delving deeper
into specific parts of the poem. When they read responses of others to the same question they answered and
have to respond to those, they are able to do even more thinking. Sharing student written responses at the
end of such an exercise can get the whole class thinking on a deeper level about poetry.
Daily Objectives:
Students will respond in writing to specific questions about poetry.
They will read and respond to classmates responses to poetry.
They will discuss poetry in terms of figurative language and based on specific questions
about it.
They will compose found poems that capture the tone and message of the original poem.
1.
Before class, write the following questions on Post-It paper, one question per piece of
paper. Stick paper to walls around room.
2.
Five-minute focused free write: What is the message of We Real Cool?
3.
Read We Real Cool and have volunteers share ideas from free writes.
4.
Show favoritepoem.org video of We Real Cool.
5.
Give students brief background information on Langston Hughes and the Harlem
Renaissance.
6.
Read The Negro Mother. Have students share the metaphors/similes they found in the
poem.
7.
Read Still I Rise. Again, ask students to share the metaphors/similes they found in the
poem.
8.
Ask what comparisons students can make between these poems and other songs we have
studied (Fight the Power, Equal Rights and Redemption Song).
9.
Activity: Silent Discussion
In advance, write the follow questions, each on their own piece of Post-It paper, and stick the paper
around the room on the walls. The questions vary in complexity to provide differentiated instruction; all
students should be able to respond to two questions.
o How might the narrator of Still I Rise and The Negro Mother respond to the speaker of
We Real Cool.
o Connect Angelous message in Still I Rise to other media messages you have heard.
Think about ones you have heard in this unit. Use specific lines/phrases in Still I Rise to
make your connections.
o Translate into your everyday language the poem We Real Cool.
o In The Negro Mother, what does Langston Hughes mean in the line But I had to keep on
till my work was done? What is the work? How will the speaker know when her work is
done? Cite lines/words from the poem.
o Compare the messages of Still I Rise and The Negro Mother.
40
10.
11.
12.
Have students travel silently around room with a pen, choosing three or four
questions to respond to on the Post-It paper. After students have responded to the questions, have
them return to them, read other responses to the questions, and respond in writing to two to three
of these responses. Allow ten minutes for first responses, then five to ten minutes for second
responses. Have them write their names after each of their responses.
Go to each paper on the wall and read aloud or choose students to read aloud the
questions and all student responses to them. Discuss each question separately.
If there is time, explain found poems and read an example for one of the poems studied today.
Have students compose a found poem from the lines/phrases/words of one of the poems studied
today. Have volunteers share these and discuss how each captures different aspects of the tone,
message, etc. of the original poem.
Homework:
Assessment:
o
o
o
o
Finish Lyric or Poetry Analysis Written Reflection. Due next class.
Circulate as students respond in writing to poetry.

Listen as they
share metaphors and similes they found in the poems
make comparisons between these poems and earlier songs studied
discuss their responses to questions posed on Post-It paper
share their found poems
(Functional assessment)
41
The Negro Mother

By Langston Hughes, 1902-1967
Children, I come back today
To tell you a story of the long dark way
That I had to climb, that I had to know
In order that the race might live and grow.
Look at my face -- dark as the night -Yet shining like the sun with love's true light.
I am the dark girl who crossed the red sea
Carrying in my body the seed of the free.
I am the woman who worked in the field
Bringing the cotton and the corn to yield.
I am the one who labored as a slave,
Beaten and mistreated for the work that I gave -Children sold away from me, I'm husband sold, too.
No safety , no love, no respect was I due.
Three hundred years in the deepest South:
But God put a song and a prayer in my mouth .
God put a dream like steel in my soul.
Now, through my children, I'm reaching the goal.
Now, through my children, young and free,
I realized the blessing deed to me.
I couldn't read then. I couldn't write.
I had nothing, back there in the night.
Sometimes, the valley was filled with tears,
But I kept trudging on through the lonely years.
Sometimes, the road was hot with the sun,
But I had to keep on till my work was done:
I had to keep on! No stopping for me -I was the seed of the coming Free.
I nourished the dream that nothing could smother
Deep in my breast -- the Negro mother.
I had only hope then , but now through you,
Dark ones of today, my dreams must come true:
All you dark children in the world out there,
Remember my sweat, my pain, my despair.
Remember my years, heavy with sorrow -And make of those years a torch for tomorrow.
Make of my pass a road to the light
Out of the darkness, the ignorance, the night.
Lift high my banner out of the dust.
Stand like free men supporting my trust.
Believe in the right, let none push you back.
Remember the whip and the slaver's track.
42
Remember how the strong in struggle and strife

Still bar you the way, and deny you life -But march ever forward, breaking down bars.
Look ever upward at the sun and the stars.
Oh, my dark children, may my dreams and my prayers
Impel you forever up the great stairs -For I will be with you till no white brother
Dares keep down the children of the Negro Mother.
[1931]
We Real Cool
By Gwendolyn Brooks, an African American poet, 1917-2000
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
[1960]
From The Bean Eaters by Gwendolyn Brooks, published by Harpers. 1960 by Gwendolyn Brooks. Used
with permission. All rights reserved.
Still I Rise
By Maya Angelou
You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may trod me in
the very dirtBut still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?'Cause I walk like I've
got oil wellsPumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,Just like hopes springing
high,Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?Bowed head and lowered eyes?Shoulders falling
down like teardrops,Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?Don't you take it awful hard'Cause I laugh like I got
gold minesDiggin' in my own back yard.
43
You may shoot me with your words,You may cut me with your eyes,You may kill me
with your hatefulness,But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?Does it come as a surpriseThat I dance like I've got
diamondsAt the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shameI riseUp from a past that's rooted in painI riseI'm a
black ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
"Still I Rise"
from AND STILL I RISE by Maya Angelou,
copyright 1978 by Maya Angelou.
Used by permission of Random House, Inc.
44

Lesson Plan Day 8: Preparation for Socratic Seminar on Poetry
** Reserve four or more laptops for this class from the Media Center
Textual Focus: Naomi Shihab Nye, Blood and Making a Fist; Martin Espada,
Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100; and Yusef Komunyakaa, Believing in Iron
Rationale:
By deep analysis of poetry, including language and poetic elements, students can determine how an
effective message is communicated through the medium of poetry. Through research on a poets life
students can develop some understanding of why she or he has created a particular message. In preparing
for a presentation and the presentation itself, students are able to synthesize the information they have
accrued to teach their peers about poets and their work. A Socratic Seminar provides an opportunity for
students who do not perform in-class work or complete homework assignments to show they understand
the material. Also, the learning of students for whom writing is a challenge can be assessed when they
discuss a text in depth.
Daily Objectives:
Following the teachers model, students will work independently to interpret poetry and
analyze
how a message is expressed in this medium.
They will prepare for a Socratic Seminar.
Students will research a poets life on the internet.
1. In this class, students will prepare to present their groups poem in a Socratic Seminar.
2. Students will work independently to interpret a poem and find its message.
3. Before that preparation can occur, the teacher can model the process of how she goes about reading
and understanding a poem, and teach students through this model, what strategies
they can use:
Display Naomi Shihab Nyes Making a Fist on the visualizer. This is the poem the teacher will
model. This modeling should happen as the teacher thinks aloud.
Read through the poem once out loud. Now emphasize how you usually need to read a
whole poem two to three times before you even start looking for meaning in it; the whole
poem has a message, so youll read the whole thing without stopping to analyze, to
familiarize yourself with the poem. If you stop to analyze or wonder about the meaning of words
you lose the rhythm of the poem.
Read the title and first stanza, writing everything that goes through your mind as you read.
For example, draw a fist when you read the title. Tell students you are visualizing this part
of the poem. Write Visualize on the board under the heading Strategies. Next, note the
you sense in this stanza a feeling of unhappiness or discomfort. Write Determine mood
45
under Visualize. Explain that now that you know the mood the images fit in better.
Emphasize that now you will read the poem again.
Now paraphrase and model on the board a paraphrase of the first stanza. Write
Paraphrase and describe that that means putting the poems language in your own words. Write
Paraphrase under Determine mood. Ask students to paraphrase the next stanza.
Write one students paraphrase on the board. Then ask them to provide the images they visualize
the stanza, and what mood they sense.
Ask students what stands out to them in the third stanza, and write this on the board next
to the stanza. Emphasize to them that here they can practice telling what they do understand,
ignoring words or concepts they do not understand.
Now that you and they have read the whole poem, ask students what themes exist in the poem.
List these on the board. Ask them what they do understand. List these things.
Next, ask students to summarize or retell the whole poem in their own words. Write
Summarize in the Strategies list.
4. Keep the Strategies list on the board, review it and how you used each one as you read Making a
Fist, and ask students to copy it in their notes. Explain that they will use this process and these
strategies now to interpret the poem they have been assigned.
5. Write the following tasks for students on the board:
1. Read your poem all the way through one to two times without stopping when you read
something you do not understand.
2. Use the following strategies (or a combination of both) to interpret your poem:
Paraphrase: Interpret into your own words what is going on in the poem.
Visualize: Draw pictures of images you see in your head as you read.
Breaking the task into the above task may help students who feel overwhelmed by the
process of poetry interpretation. Students who wish may then move on to determining how
poetic elements are at work in the poem.
Explain that they can focus on one or two poetic terms at a time, not all, so they do not feel
overwhelmed.
6.
Assign students to groups of six students. Assign each group a poet from the textual
focus.
7.
Pass out handout with questions 1-6 for students to answer independently.
8.
Have students independently complete handout and work on their poems
interpretation.
9.
The goal of the presentation is for each student in each group to collaborate on
providing a brief background of the poem and poet and then take the class audience through the
poem, using poetic terminology to explain what the poet is sayinggiving various meanings for
words and lines as well as what the poems overall message is. Students should be prepared to
claim what the poet wants the audience to think about or do as a result of this message. All
students should be prepared individually to discuss these topics with authority.
10.
Have groups organize how they will present their findings in the Socratic Seminar.
11.
In the last fifteen minutes, 1-2 students in each group can research on a laptop the
poem and poet and share findings with their group.
12.
Collect Lyric/Poetry Analysis Written Reflection.
Homework:
Finish answering questions 1-6 on handout in preparation for Socratic Seminar.

46
in
Assessment:
Circulate as groups prepare for the Socratic Seminar. (Functional assessment)
Check in with individual students to assess how they can use the modeled strategies
and poetic terms to analyze poetry and a poems message. (Functional assessment)
Assess Lyric/Poetry Analysis Written Reflection our of a possible three hundred points,
according to rubric. (Summative or post-assessment)
English 11
Socratic Seminar
Work independently to answer the following questions about your groups
poem.
1)
What is the message of the poem?
2)
What lines are most effective at communicating this message?
3)
Analyze the following poetic elements in the poem and how they
work toward communicating the poems message:
alliteration
allusion
diction
imagery
metaphor
simile
symbol
4)
Did this poem deepen your awareness of a particular issue? If yes,

how? If not, why not?
5)
Have you heard of this issue in the media? If you have, what have
you heard? If you have not, why do you think you have not?
6) How does the poet appeal to the audiences emotion in

communicating the message of the poem?
47
Making a Fist
By Naomi Shihab Nye
For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,
I felt the life sliding out of me,
a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.
I was seven, I lay in the car
watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.
My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.
"How do you know if you are going to die?"
I begged my mother.
We had been traveling for days.
With strange confidence she answered,
"When you can no longer make a fist."
Years later I smile to think of that journey,
the borders we must cross separately,
stamped with our unanswerable woes.
I who did not die, who am still living,
still lying in the backseat behind all my questions,
clenching and opening one small hand.
Blood
by Naomi Shihab Nye
"A true Arab knows how to catch a fly in his hands,"
my father would say. And he'd prove it,
cupping the buzzer instantly
while the host with the swatter stared.
In the spring our palms peeled like snakes.
True Arabs believed watermelon could heal fifty ways.
I changed these to fit the occasion.
Years before, a girl knocked,
wanted to see the Arab.
I said we didn't have one.
After that, my father told me who he was,
"Shihab"--"shooting star"-a good name, borrowed from the sky.
Once I said, "When we die, we give it back?"
He said that's what a true Arab would say.
Today the headlines clot in my blood.
48
A little Palestinian dangles a truck on the front page.

Homeless fig, this tragedy with a terrible root
is too big for us. What flag can we wave?
I wave the flag of stone and seed,
table mat stitched in blue.
I call my father, we talk around the news.
It is too much for him,
neither of his two languages can reach it.
I drive into the country to find sheep, cows,
to plead with the air:
Who calls anyone civilized?
Where can the crying heart graze?
What does a true Arab do now? [1986]
Believing in Iron
By Yusef Komunyakaa
The hills my brothers & I created
never balanced, & it took years
To discover how the world worked.
We could look at a tree of blackbirds
& tell you how many were there,
But with the scrap dealer
Our math was always off.
Weeks of lifting & grunting
Never added up to much,
But we couldn't stop
Believing in iron.
Abandoned trucks & cars
Were held to the ground
By thick, nostalgic fingers of vines
Strong as a dozen sharecroppers.
We'd return with our wheelbarrow
Groaning under a new load,
Yet tiger lilies lived better
In their languid, August domain.
Among paper & Coke bottles
Foundry smoke erased sunsets,
& we couldn't believe iron
Left men bent so close to the earth
As if the ore under their breath
Weighed down the gray sky.
Sometimes I dreamt how our hills
Washed into a sea of metal,
How it all became an anchor
For a warship or bomber
Out over trees with blooms
Too red to look at.
49
Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100

by Martn Espada
For the 43 members of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 100, working at the
on the World restaurant, who lost their lives in the attack on the World Trade Center.
Alabanza. Praise the cook with the shaven head
and a tattoo on his shoulder that said Oye,
a blue-eyed Puerto Rican with people from Fajardo,
the harbor of pirates centuries ago.
Praise the lighthouse in Fajardo, candle
glimmering white to worship the dark saint of the sea.
Alabanza. Praise the cook's yellow Pirates cap
worn in the name of Roberto Clemente, his plane
that flamed into the ocean loaded with cans for Nicaragua,
for all the mouths chewing the ash of earthquakes.
Alabanza. Praise the kitchen radio, dial clicked
even before the dial on the oven, so that music and Spanish
rose before bread. Praise the bread. Alabanza.
Praise Manhattan from a hundred and seven flights up,
like Atlantis glimpsed through the windows of an ancient aquarium.
Praise the great windows where immigrants from the kitchen
could squint and almost see their world, hear the chant of nations:
Ecuador, Mxico, Republica Dominicana,
50
Haiti, Yemen, Ghana, Bangladesh.

Alabanza. Praise the kitchen in the morning,
where the gas burned blue on every stove
and exhaust fans fired their diminutive propellers,
hands cracked eggs with quick thumbs
or sliced open cartons to build an altar of cans.
Alabanza. Praise the busboy's music, the chime-chime
of his dishes and silverware in the tub.
Alabanza. Praise the dish-dog, the dishwasher
who worked that morning because another dishwasher
could not stop coughing, or because he needed overtime
to pile the sacks of rice and beans for a family
floating away on some Caribbean island plagued by frogs.
Alabanza. Praise the waitress who heard the radio in the kitchen
and sang to herself about a man gone. Alabanza.
After the thunder wilder than thunder,
after the booming ice storm of glass from the great windows,
after the radio stopped singing like a tree full of terrified frogs,
after night burst the dam of day and flooded the kitchen,
for a time the stoves glowed in darkness like the lighthouse in
Fajardo,
like a cook's soul. Soul I say, even if the dead cannot tell us
about the bristles of God's beard because God has no face,
soul I say, to name the smoke-beings flung in constellations
across the night sky of this city and cities to come.
Alabanza I say, even if God has no face.
51
Alabanza. When the war began, from Manhattan to Kabul

two constellations of smoke rose and drifted to each other,
mingling in icy air, and one said with an Afghan tongue:
Teach me to dance. We have no music here.
And the other said with a Spanish tongue:
I will teach you. Music is all we have.

Lesson Plan Day 9: Socratic Seminar
Textual Focus: Naomi Shihab Nye, Blood; Martin Espada, Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100; and Yusef
Komunyakaa, Believing in Iron
Rationale:
Through research on a poets life students can develop some understanding of why she or he has created a
particular message. By deep analysis of poetry, including language and poetic elements, students can
determine how an effective message is communicated through the medium of poetry. In preparing for a
presentation and the presentation itself, students are able to synthesize the information they have accrued
to teach their peers about poets and their work.
Daily Objectives:
In small groups, students will present biographical information on a poet.

They will guide their peers through an interpretation of their groups poem, using
correct terminology and telling what they believe the poems message to be.
They will take questions about their groups poet and poem from their classmates.
1. Collect Lyric or Poetry Analysis essay.
2. Arrange desks in a circle, with five desks in the center for the presenting group.
3. Have students in the audience take out the appropriate poem for the group presenting and Poetic
Terminology handout.
4. Each group will give a background of the poem and poet and then take the audience through the
poem, giving possible meanings of words/phrases/lines and using many poetic terms and the
poets reason for using them. Groups must be able to suggest how the poet uses poetic elements
and word choice to communicate her or his message.
5. Distribute Final Project assignment and rubric. Ask students if they have questions.
Homework:
For next class: choose a topic you are passionate about and on which you would like
to compose poetry with a message.
Assess student performance in Socratic Seminar after each groups seminar out of a
possible 400 points. See attached rubric.
Assessment:
52

Teacher Name: Mrs. Demian
Student Name:
CATEGORY
________________________________________
Information
All information and

questions presented
in the seminar were
clear, accurate and
thorough.
Most information and

questions presented
in the seminar were
clear, accurate and
thorough.
Most information
presented in the
seminar was clear
and accurate, but
was not usually
thorough. No
questions were
asked.
Information had
several inaccuracies
OR was usually not
clear.
Use of
Facts/Statistics
Every major point

was well supported
with specific lines
from the poetry
and/or poet bio.
Every major point

was adequately
supported with
relevant support
from the poetry and
bio.
Every major point

was supported with
facts, but the
relevance of some
was questionable.
Every point was not

supported.
You clearly
You seemed to
You did not show an
Understanding of You clearly
understood
the
topic
understood
the
topic
understand
the
main
adequate
Topic
Respect for
Other Team
(poetry terminology)
in-depth and
presented their
information forcefully
and convincingly.
in-depth and
presented their
information with
ease.
points of the topic

understanding of the
and presented those topic.
with ease.
All statements, body

language, and
responses were
respectful and were
in appropriate
language.
Statements and
responses were
respectful and used
appropriate
language, but once
or twice body
language was not.
Most statements and

responses were
respectful and in
appropriate
language, but there
was one sarcastic
remark.
Statements,
responses and/or
body language were
consistently not
respectful.
53

Lesson Plan Day 10: Researching Topics for Final Project
** Reserve library time for this class
Rationale:
Students can write best when they feel a personal connection to a writing topic, in this case poetry with a
message. Therefore, they will choose topics that they are passionate about, even if they feel these are
insignificant compared to some in the unit; their choices need not be major world issues. The final project
will assess their ability to do what they have seen done in songs and poems throughout the unit: convey a
message in a poem that may move the audience to think about or do something, and use word choice and
poetic techniques to effectively communicate the message.
Daily Objectives:
Students will conduct research on a topic they are passionate about.
They will collect specific information to which they can refer in their poetry.
1. (Anticipatory Set) Free write (ten minutes): Poetry is a type of media. What have you learned
about the effectiveness of poetry for communicating a message?
2. Collect free write.
3. Students should have chosen their topics and be ready to research them in the library.
4. Explain to students that they are going to compose a series of poems with messages about
their chosen topic, and that they will need to research their topic to be able to refer to
specifics in their poems.
5. Instruct students to bring and pen and notebook with them to the library and be prepared to
take copious notes on their topic.
6. Depending on student ability to continue researching topics, either stay in the library
researching all period or have class return to classroom and begin free writing on topic to
generate ideas for poetry.
Homework:
Assessment:
Continue work on Final Project
Assess free write out of a possible three points. (Summative assessment)

Circulate around the library as students research, making sure they are collecting enough
information. Steer them in the right direction and help with efficiency when needed.
54

Lesson Plan Day 11: Drafting Poems on Chosen Topics
Textual Focus: Student-composed poem drafts.
Rationale:
It is essential for writers to workshop their drafts, for students in this class to get feedback on their poetry.
Feedback from students now well versed in finding messages, analyzing their effectiveness on their
audience and evaluating word choice and the usefulness of poetic elements can be especially helpful when
students prepare to revise their poems. By commenting in writing in these areas, readers can further apply
and reinforce their skills at analyzing this medium.
Daily Objectives:
Students will compose drafts of their own poems with messages.

They will comment in writing on their classmates poetry.
1. For the first half of this class students will draft a poem or poems on their chosen topics;
for the second half they will workshop their drafts.
2. Poetry workshop:
This will be a poem passaround. Have students bring their drafts to one desk in the room
and take another students draft back to their desks. Write on the board and have poem
readers address the following questions and tasks:
Is the message of the poem clear?
Does the poet effectively use figurative language (metaphor and simile) and other
poetic techniques such as repetition or others from the Poetic Terminology
handout?
Comment in the margin on the poets use of figurative language and other poetic
techniques: do these help communicate or contribute to the poems overall
message?
3. When students finish a poem draft they should return it to the main desk and take a new
one to read and comment on.
4. At the end of class have students collect their workshopped poem drafts to revise for the
final project.
Homework:
Complete essay and revise poems for Final Project (due second class after break).
55
Assessment:
Circulate as students give feedback on poems. (Functional assessment)

Lesson Plan Day 12: Presenting Final Project Poems
Textual Focus: Students poems on a topic they are passionate about.
Rationale:
After long-term work on poetry composition, it is important that students have the opportunity to share
their works.
Daily Objectives:
Students will read their own poems to the class.
They will listen to the poetry readings of their classmates and be prepared to comment on
poetic elements and language that work to communicate a message in their classmates
poems.
1.
Have students present their three poems to the class. They should put each one being read on the
visualizer for the class to see. Emphasize the importance of reading clearly and slowly.
2.
The audience should choose three words/phrases/lines from each poem that stand out to them or
that help communicate the poems message.
3.
Ask audience what the message is of each poem. Have students volunteer words/phrases/lines
that stand out to them or help communicate the poems message.
4.
Poem presentation will continue next class, since todays class is only forty-five minutes.
Assessment:
Note each audience members participation in giving assigned feedback to presenting

student. (Summative assessment)
56

Lesson Plan Day 12: Presenting Poems from Final Project (continued)
This class has the same lesson plan as the previous class.
Textual Focus: Student poems from Final Projects
Rationale:
After long-term work on poetry composition, it is important that students have the opportunity to share their
works.
Daily Objectives:
Students will present orally their own poems.

They will listen to the poetry readings of their classmates and be prepared to comment
on poetic elements and language that work to communicate a message in their
classmates poems.
3.
Have students present their three poems to the class. They should put each one
being read on the visualizer for the class to see. Emphasize the importance of reading clearly and
slowly.
4.
The audience should choose three words/phrases/lines from each poem that stand
out to them or that help communicate the poems message.
5.
Ask audience what the message is of each poem. Have students volunteer
words/phrases/lines that stand out to them or help communicate the poems message.
6.
Collect Final Projects and assess according to rubric.
Assessment:
Note each audience members participation in giving assigned feedback to presenting student.
(Summative assessment)
Assess Final Project out of a possible 300 points. See rubric that follows.
57
English 11
Poetry as Constructed Message
Final Project
Consider a political or social passion of your own. Research this topic to learn information that
could be beneficial in writing your own poetry, to help you refer to specifics.
Write a brief (one-page) reflection on your passion and how it connects to who you are (your
background).
Then write a series (3-5) of your own poems, keeping in mind the poetic elements good poets
employ (refer to your Poetic Terminology sheet). In your poems be sure to include allusions to
specifics on your topic (this is where the research comes in).
Lyric/Poetry Unit Final Project Rubric

Category
Essay:
Unique
voice
present
Poetry:
Figurative
language
Poetry:
Relaying
The reader can

sense passion
and understand
the personal
history that
contributes to
the passion.
Use of
metaphor,
simile and other
techniques are
subtle and
purposeful and
contribute to the
overall
message.
The poem
effectively
provides a
The reader
understands
personal
background, but
the passion is
not as easily
noticed.
The writer uses
metaphors and
similes, but their
use is obvious
and/or forced.
Both
background and
passion are
Present, but are
typical and/or
clich.
The essay does

not address the
passion or the
personal
connection.
A couple of
metaphors and
similes are used,
but they do not
provide solid
imagery and
seem out of
place.
No metaphors
or similes are
used.
The poetry has a

message, but the
message is
Not all of the

poems have a
message.
None of the
poems have a
message.
58
overall
message
message about
the writers
passion. It is
embedded and
purposeful.
obvious and
forced.
Poetic Terminology
Alliteration:
The effect created when words with the same initial letter (usually consonants) are used in close proximity e.g.
Ariel's Songs from The Tempest Full fathom five thy father lies. The repeated f sound is alliterative.
Allusion:
Where a poem makes reference to another poem or text. For example, the 14th line of The Prelude by William
Wordsworth, The earth was all before me, alludes to one of the final lines of Paradise Lost by John Milton:
The world was all before them.
Diction:
The language in a poem. Each word is chosen to convey a precise meaning. Poets are deliberate in choosing
each word for its particular effect
Figurative language:
Language where the literal meaning of words or phrases is disregarded in order to show an imaginative
relationship between diverse things. Figurative language makes poetry more
vivid. Such figures of speech include irony, metaphor and simile.
Image:
Images are representations of sensations perceived through the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch and
taste.
Imagery:
The creation of images using words.
Metaphor:
An imaginative comparison between two actions/objects etc. that is not literally applicable.
Repetition:
Repeating a word or phrase for emphasis.
Simile:
59
The explicit comparison of two objects/phenomenon/states, etc. by employing either as or like. For
example, My love is like a red, red rose by Robert Burns.
Stanza:
One or more lines that make up the basic units of a poem--separated from each other by spacing.
Symbol:
Words or images that signify more than they literally represent. Symbols can carry a number
of different connotations.
60

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Unit Title:

Finding the Message: Lyrics and Poetry as Constructed Messages

Post-assessment (Summative Assessment)

Specific lines, phrases, Some lines, phrases No specific lines,

elements are cited, but

but it is not made

elements are cited. The

The introduction clearly

Details are placed in

Details are placed in a

Some details are not

Many details are not in a

Poetry Socratic Seminar

Poetry Socratic Seminar

All information and

Most information and

Every major point

Every major point

Every major point

Every point was not

points of the topic

All statements, body

Most statements and

Poetry as Constructed Message

Lyric/Poetry Unit Final Project Rubric

The reader can

The essay does

The poetry has a

Not all of the

Summative or Post-assessment Free write (10 minutes)

Bring in song titles from families.

Blowin' in the Wind

Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)

Unit: Lyrics and Poetry as Constructed Messages

Play The Ballad of Emmett Till video from www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjfGcRM35xg.

Questions for Strange Fruit

The Ballad of Emmett Till

Unit: Lyrics and Poetry as Constructed Messages

They will use poetic terminology in a songs analysis.

Equal rights and justice (Precedes each line below)

Dese songs of freedom? cause all I ever had:

Unit: Lyrics and Poetry as Constructed Messages

Fight The Power

Hell naw! "Damn, damn!"

Unit: Lyrics and Poetry as Constructed Messages

They will free write on how language expresses the message.

They will consider the importance of the music in a song.

Assign Lyric or Poetry Analysis essay (due in one week).

Revolution Rock?: The Regrettable Decline of the Protest Song

Specific lines, phrases, Some lines, phrases No specific lines,

elements are cited, but

but it is not made

elements are cited. The

The introduction clearly

Details are placed in

Details are placed in a

Some details are not

Many details are not in a

You fasten the triggers