Students’ age range: Not specified

Topic: Poetry Analysis

 

Description: Students will enter a darkened room where the sound effects of a thunderstorm are ongoing. After a minute or two, the effects will be turned off and a volunteer will identify what they heard and identify the elements of the thunderstorm. Two other volunteers will relay their experiences concerning storms and how they feel about it. This will be done using the fish bone technique. Then a volunteer will read the poem and another student will explain what (s)he understands from what was read. The idea of things having layers of meaning and the concept of allegory will be introduced. The students will use their smartphones to research the colonization of Malawi and locate the country on the map of Africa, as well as learn a little about the country's history and culture. This will be shared with the rest of the class and the leaders of the discussion will offer up possible links between the background and the symbols and other images in the poem. From the ideas brought out, students will try to give another interpretation to the poem.