Thanks to Brian Hannon for sharing his resources at LMS Curriculum with us this week. This is one of my go-to sites for inspiration and ideas, and these new materials are AMAZING! – SB
As much as I champion the use of poetry in our classrooms, I do admit that I, too, struggle with implementing it with fidelity throughout the year. There have even been years where I did not introduce poetry into our curriculum until January(!) simply because I could not find the means to introduce it organically without “disrupting” another unit, whether that be focused on short stories, full length novels, a play, etc.
Ideally, though, I’d like to be able to intersperse poetry in all of my units and utilize it as a means to reinforce other skills. This is hardly a novel idea for many of you (using poetry throughout the year to supplement instruction as opposed to using it as a standalone piece), but I’ve always had difficulty finding the right poems to pair with my existing curriculum, specifically my novel studies.
So, we spent a bit of time this summer at LMS Curriculum curating a list of poems that pair conceptually/thematically with some of the “most popular” novels taught in AP Literature.
The novels we selected are:
- Invisible Man
- Homegoing
- The Importance of Being Earnest
- The Great Gatsby
- Hamlet
- Othello
- Frankenstein
- 1984
- Their Eyes Were Watching God
- The Handmaid’s Tale
Each of the “Novel Pairings” guides consist of three different poems/lessons, all of which connect to the overarching guiding concepts, themes, or principles of each of the novels. We tried to select more contemporary, diverse, and lesser-known poems to pair with each of the novels, but you may definitely recognize some of the more popular titles we chose! Some of the lessons can be used at the beginning of the unit, some can be used after certain chapters, and some are designed to be used after the novel has been completed; in any case, feel free to use the lessons when and where you see fit! All lessons for each novel, like all lessons on the database, are designed to be completed within 90 minutes, though you can definitely make adjustments/modifications to accommodate for any time constraints you may have.
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All of the resources can be found at: lmscurriculum.com.
Anyhow, we hope you find the resources helpful if you’re interested in pairing poetry with some of your other core units! Please shoot me an email at brian@lmsvoice.com if you have any questions at all!
*On another note, we are about to embark on our next educational venture, an offshoot of our LMS Chats that we used to host. This time, we’re hoping to travel to the poets and host a live-streamed, free Q&A/writing workshop with them. We also plan on visiting local schools within the community and providing free educational/poetry workshops. If you’re interested in supporting this cause, please sign up for our mailing list; we will provide more information in the very near future!
Brian Hannon is the Director of Secondary Curriculum for LMSvoice. He currently teaches AP Literature , AP Language , and English 10 in Alexandria, Virginia. Brian was the co-founder of the poetryN.O.W., and through his involvement with this organization, Brian went on to found the two largest youth poetry events in his area, the Hyper Bole and Louder than a Bomb. When poetryN.O.W. was absorbed by Split This Rock, a non-profit organization in Washington D.C. that meets at the intersection of poetry and social justice, Brian served as their Youth and Education Development Fellow.
