ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES

IMAGERY IN ACTION

Planning Points

Approximate Time Needed: 1 day
Correlation to English I SCS 1.02, 5.01, 6.01
Correlation to NC High School Exit Exam Competencies: C3, C4, PI10, PI14

Lesson Objectives:

• Students will identify and analyze the use of imagery in a literary work.
• Students will engage in a piece of literature through the use of poetry.
• Students will analyze an author's choice of words, sentence structure and use of language.

Materials Needed:

Reading assignment--section of a novel, overhead/chalkboard/poster paper, computer-word processing program

Description:

To engage students in difficult or intricate reading, choose a section for emphasis, and ask students to record phrases which illustrate imagery. You may assign one chapter, or several pages, depending on the level of your students and the level of the reading. Have students list the examples of imagery straight down their page. After listing the examples, ask students to look for any patterns they see in the phrases, such as color usage, sensory detail, or theme. List any patterns students notice on chart paper to hang on the wall. These may become noticeable motifs as you continue reading. After students have discussed patterns and themes, ask them to cut apart their images and rearrange them in any order to create a modernist poem. If they need to add words to their images for fluency, they may do so at this time. Have them write their poems on a piece of paper and decorate the poem according to the overall mood of the poem upon completion. Have students share their new poems in groups and choose two from each group to share with the class. Discuss how the poems relate to, or differ from, the novel you are reading.

Assessment:

You may require a certain number of images for some classes, or that students present to the class. You also might consider how closely the poems "speak to" the whole work. You might also ask the students what makes good poetry, and use these factors to design a rubric for assessing the poems they write.

Additional Notes:

This activity is successful with narratives such as All Quiet on the Western Front, Things Fall Apart, and expository essays which include much sensory detail, but is less successful with drama. You may change the poem focus from imagery to another type of figurative device such as symbolism, allusion, or irony, though imagery creates especially strong poetry. You may take students to the computer lab to play with the order of their images, rather than have them cut it up in the classroom.

Teacher's Notes:

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