Handout
Exploring the Purpose of Poetry
This handout supports students to complete a close reading of a section of Amanda Gorman's TED Talk.
How to Cite This Handout
Facing History & Ourselves, “Exploring the Purpose of Poetry”, last updated July 14, 2021.
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The Rose, Thorn, Bud exercise increases students' self-awareness as they reflect on recent successes, challenges, and opportunities.
Fist to Five
Students communicate how they are feeling in response to a chosen prompt, giving teachers a pulse on the class’s opinions or well-being.
First Chapter Fridays
Read aloud a chapter of a book your students are interested in to build community around stories and storytelling.
Compass Points
Students get an opportunity to give feedback about the class and communicate their needs and worries.
Exit Cards
Students share how they are feeling, what their needs are, and what goals they’d like to set in an exit card.
Establishing Opening and Closing Routines
These opening and closing classroom routines will set a welcoming tone, allow students to connect with one another, and encourage goal setting.
Authoring My Identity
Students explore the costs and benefits of sharing aspects of their identities, discuss an informational text about “narrative identity,” and apply these concepts to their own lives in an original poem.
What’s In a Name?
Students explore the relationship between our names, identities, and the societies in which we live.
Frame a Special Item
Students identify an object that holds special meaning and learn about each other by sharing the stories of these special items.
Using the strategies from Facing History is almost like an awakening.
—
Claudia Bautista, Santa Monica, Calif
