Gergő Sipka

Professor Gyuris Norbert

American Literature and Culture II

23 November 2020

Response Paper

Lesson plan by Zömbi Flórián & Péter Alexandra

Whitman and Melville

The introduction part is crucial in the point of view of the students. If they get the

necessary and paramount significant information about the writer, they will have a better

understanding of the poem. Here, they should emphasize that information of Walt Whitman

which are relevant to his literary works. I liked the creativity in studying and dealing with the

“I Sing The Body Electric”. I am happy to see that you have also provided examples of

questions that you have wanted to ask the students. I think it is a great idea to add a question

to each stanza, this way, they can put the whole poem together and have a vague sense of

what that is about. They will only have opinions but from each other’s opinion, they can guess

the moral of the poem. I would have tried to concentrate more on the meaning of the poem,

discussing interpretations. Anyway, I am keen on this part of the lesson.

In the next part, I would expect that some of the students will not read the work. I

would provide a summary video, make a brief cartoon, or give them a screenplay and tell

them to perform a play in 10 minutes. However, if we suppose that all of them have read the
poem, then all those ideas in the introduction part are great. Although, I do not know how the

discussion would carry out. What would you ask, how, etc?

After reading? discussing? or doing whatever with those quotes, would you ask the

question in your last paragraph? I do not know the surroundings and usage of these questions,

neither of these quotes, but they can be used in many ways, so I think they would function

well. These last questions require the students to look at the poem as a whole, built up from

their opinion on each stanza. This way they can make the connection between the poem, the

meaning and their own opinion, therefore, remember its moral to the rest of their life.