[Sarah] http://www.pbs.org/teachers/classroom/9-12/reading/resources/

PBS Teachers is part of the PBS website and provides multimodal classroom resources and detailed lesson plans. They have several literature subsections,(prose, drama, film etc.) of which the “Poetry and Poets” one is probably the most extensive. Under the “Poetry and Poets” section, you can find many videos of poetry recitals by the poets themselves, which I feel would help breathe life into the poems and add another layer of interpretation to them. I have highlighted 3 lesson plans which I found unique and useful below:

1)      Up From the Streets: Hip Hop as a Recognized Art

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/connect/resources/7827/preview/

Oftentimes, most of us view Hip Hop as a music/dance form which may rank high on the entertainment scale, but low in terms of having any real artistic and/or literary value. This lesson plan challenges that view, and provides a video example of hip hop (in terms of music and dance) being taught in an arts-based school in Portland, Oregon. The emphasis of the lesson plan then shifts to rhythm. By encouraging students to clap their hands in time to rhythm that ranges from iambic pentameter in Shakespearean verse to more modern types found in pop music of today, the students better understand and appreciate the significance of rhythm in poetry.

2)      Life Reflections in Songwriting and Poetry

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/connect/resources/5025/preview/

This lesson plan is similar to the ideas discussed in our tutorials, about using song lyrics as an introduction to poetry. However, one thing I find useful is that it provides some song ideas (although I have yet to test how current they are), and very pointed guiding questions to help students in their analysis of the song lyrics. It also suggests using 2 songs which talk about similar topics (in this case, daily life experiences) yet contrast greatly in writing styles, so they can contrast the literary techniques used in each case. I also like the idea of the last activity, which suggests that the students draw upon their own life experiences, and write a song in a way that generalizes a feeling or storyline, to bring about a greater sense of universality.    

3)      Hamlet: Teacher’s Guide with Video

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/connect/resources/7756/preview/

This link is pretty fantastic, but sadly, also highly specific. In terms of Shakespearean plays, it currently only has solid, detailed resources for Hamlet, but I believe Macbeth resources are coming soon too. They have a teacher’s guide accompanied by 5 – 6 HD videos of key scenes in Hamlet, in a modern staging inspired by photographs of contemporary European Royal Families. The only drawback is that there are no subtitles, so unless your students are already familiar with the play, following the dialogue may prove a little hard.