Rosalynn Wiedower
Dr. John N. Moore
Instructional Planning in Secondary English
18 February 2013
When Words Are Not Enough
The Romantics, The Modernists, and the Struggle to be Understood
Introduction:
o The major theme of this unit is the way in which texts reflect the culture and
beliefs of their authors. By comparing British Romantic poetry to a British
Modern novel, the students will develop an understanding of how a society’s
worldviews shift over time. Although there are many differences to examine
between these two literary eras, reminding students that both the Romantics
and the Modernists worried that their words would never sufficiently
express their ideas should help reassure students that their own challenges
with writing and self-expression are entirely natural.
o This unit will be taught to two sections of 12th grade AP English Literature
and Composition classes. The students are all capable, strong readers (hence
their placement in an AP class) but there are naturally some differences
between the students’ abilities to organize their ideas, manage their time,
and set reasonable expectations for their work. Both sections are fairly small
in number (13 students and 19 students respectively) and both have a large
majority of Caucasian female students over all other demographics.
o The unit will last a total of 11 class periods, with Modernism taking six
periods and Romanticism taking five periods.
Standards of Learning/Unit Goals:
12th Grade English S.O.L. Objectives
Specific Unit Objectives
12.1 The student will make a formal oral The student will
presentation in a group or
 Work Collaboratively in order to
individually.
present one side of a debate on
a) Choose the purpose of the
Joseph Conrad’s treatment of race
presentation.
in Heart of Darkness
b) Choose vocabulary, language,
 Perform research in order to
and tone appropriate to the
support his or her debate group’s
audience, topic, and purpose.
argument
c) Use details, illustrations,
 Critique the effectiveness of his
statistics, comparisons, and
or her own role within the debate,
analogies to support the
the effectiveness of his or her
presentation.
group in working together and in
d) Use media, visual literacy, and
presenting their case, and the
technology skills to create and
effectiveness of the opposing
support the presentation.
side’s arguments.
e) Use grammatically correct
language, including vocabulary
appropriate to the topic,
audience, and purpose.
f) Collaborate and report on small
group learning activities.
i) Critique effectiveness of
presentations.
12.3 The student will apply knowledge
The student will
of word origins, derivations, and
 Recognize important poetic
figurative language to extend
terminology
vocabulary development in
 Apply that knowledge in order to
authentic texts.
Create original poems
a) Use structural analysis of roots,
 Defend his or her original poem
affixes, synonyms, antonyms,
by Identifying how it adheres to
and cognates to understand
and/or plays with poetic
complex words.
conventions
b) Use context, structure, and
 Expand vocabulary by reading
connotations to determine
challenging authentic texts
meanings of words and phrases.
c) Discriminate between
connotative and denotative
meanings and interpret the
connotation.
d) Identify the meaning of common
idioms, literary and classical
allusions in text.
e) Expand general and specialized
vocabulary through speaking,
reading, and writing.
f) Use knowledge of the evolution,
diversity, and effects of language
to comprehend and elaborate the
meaning of texts.
12.4 The student will read, comprehend, The student will
and analyze the development of
 Recognize the essential literary
British literature and literature of
characteristics of both the
other cultures.
Romantic and the Modern era, and
a) Compare and contrast the
be able to Compare and Contrast
development of British literature
the characteristics of both eras
in its historical context.
 Read, analyze, and critique a
b) Recognize major literary forms
variety of British literature (for
and their elements.
example: Heart of Darkness, “The
c) Recognize the characteristics of
Rime of the Ancient Mariner,”
major chronological eras.
“The Darkling Thrush,” and
d) Relate literary works and authors
“Lines Written In Early Spring”)
to major themes and issues of
 Demonstrate his or her ability to
their eras.
analyze Heart of Darkness by
e) Analyze the social and cultural
answering an AP timed freefunction of British literature.
response question
f) Explain how the sound of a
 Examine Heart of Darkness using
poem (rhyme, rhythm,
different literary criticism lenses
onomatopoeia, repetition,
(Reader Response, Archetypal
alliteration, assonance, and
Theory, Feminist Theory, and
parallelism) supports the subject,
Black Aesthetic)
mood, and theme.
12.5 The student will read and analyze a The student will
variety of nonfiction texts.
 Read a selection of nonfiction
a) Generate and respond logically
essays
to literal, inferential, evaluative,
 Apply what he or she has read to
synthesizing, and critical
interpret his or her classmates’
thinking questions before,
poems
during, and after reading texts.
 Compare and Contrast Chinua
b) Analyze and synthesize
Achebe and Cedric Watts’
information in order to solve
readings of Heart of Darkness
problems, answer questions, and
 Evaluate Achebe and Watts’
generate new knowledge.
claims and Determine which
c) Analyze two or more texts
reading he or she supports
addressing the same topic to
identify authors’ purpose and
determine how authors reach
similar or different conclusions.
d) Recognize and analyze use of
ambiguity, contradiction,
paradox, irony, overstatement,
and understatement in text.
e) Identify false premises in
persuasive writing.
f) Draw conclusions and make
inferences on explicit and
implied information using
textual support
12.7 The student will write, revise, and
edit writing.
a) Edit, proofread, and prepare
writing for intended audience
and purpose.
b) Apply grammatical conventions
to edit writing for correct use of
language, spelling, punctuation,
and capitalization.
c) Use a style manual, such as that
of the Modern Language
Association (MLA) or the
American Psychological
Association (APA), to apply
rules for punctuation and
formatting of direct quotations.
The student will
 Create an original ballad poem
addressing a symbolic Albatross of
his or her choice
 Create an original poem in the
Romantic style
 Self- and Peer-edit original poetry
 Analyze classmates’ poetry (as
they would famous poems)
 Write a reflection on his or her
poetry-writing process: assessing
his or her strengths and challenges,
and predicting how his or her
work with poetry in this unit will
affect his or her work in the
upcoming poetry portfolio
Materials
Teacher Materials:
 Kermode, Frank, and John Hollander. Modern British Literature. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1973. 4-192. Print.
 Stillinger, Jack, and Deidre Lynch. "The Romantic Period." Trans. Array The
Norton Anthology of English Literature. Greenblatt. 8th ed. New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, 2006. 1363-1851. Print.
 Prezi presentation on “Psychological Approach to Heart of Darkness” by
Hannah Logsdon, Casey Foster, and Joanna Collett
Student Materials:
 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
 “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “Dejection: An Ode” – Samuel Taylor
Coleridge
 “Hap” and “The Darkling Thrush” – Thomas Hardy
 “She Walks In Beauty” – Lord Byron
 “On Death,” “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “Ode to Indolence,” and “To a
Nightingale” – John Keats
 “The Tyger,” and “The Lamb” – William Blake
 “Lines Written In Early Spring,” sections of “The Prelude,” “Tintern Abbey,”
“The World Is Too Much With Us,” and “Daffodils” – William Wordsworth
 “The Hollow Men” – T. S. Eliot
 “Vultures” – Chinua Achebe
 “Ozymandias” – Percy Blythe Shelley
 “The Second Coming” – W. B. Yeats
 “The Course of Empire” – Thomas Cole
 “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'" – Chinua Achebe
 “‘A Bloody Racist’: About Achebe’s View of Conrad” – Cedric Watts
 “The Nature of Proof in the Interpretation of Poetry” – Laurence Perrine
 Handouts on AP English poetry terms, the characteristics of Romanticism
and Modernism, and information on Romantic poets
 Heart of Darkness character map
 PowerPoint on Freud’s Theory of Consciousness
 Apocalypse Now – Francis Ford Coppola
 Pandaemonium – Julien Temple
 Goldberg, Judy. "Meet the Romantics." Scholastic. 54.4 (2002): 5-29. Print.
Technology:
 Google Earth: http://www.google.com/earth/index.html
o This site will enhance my students’ learning because we will use it to
take a virtual voyage down the Congo River. Not only will students be
able to see the actual geographical features of the river as we move
from the coast into the heart of Africa, but they will also be able to
view the actual photographs posted by Google users that correspond
with various locations along the riverbank. I am using this site so that
my students can conceptualize the Congo as an actual place and be
able to see the ways in which the real Congo River differs from
Conrad’s descriptions of it (and the ways in which those descriptions
match the reality).
 YouTube:
“Dangers beneath the Congo River”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9JYEgNkDZk
“Congo – The River That Swallows All Rivers”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGGcS_MPrW4
“Razor Tight Presidential Election”
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/420764/november05-2012/-razor-tight--presidential-election
“T. S. Eliot reads The Hollow Men”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fu8awT5Jzs
o YouTube will allow me to enrich my students’ experiences with Heart
of Darkness and with reading/writing poetry. I’m showing parts of the
first two videos as an accompaniment to our class’s virtual voyage
down the Congo River, via Google Earth. The first video shows how
dangerous the river is to navigate, and the second video shows the
history of the Congo River in relation to white Imperialism and
discusses some of the more interesting aspects of the Congo
ecosystem. I will use the third video to humorously remind my
students to avoid linguistic mistakes like mixed metaphors when they
write their own poetry. Finally, I will use the fourth video to allow the
students to hear T. S. Eliot reading his own work in order to have
them think about how his reading may differ from the readings they
have envisioned in their own minds.
 Sparknotes on Heart of Darkness: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/heart/
o I won’t be using this site with my students, but it was very helpful to
me when I was starting to plan my unit. Because I refreshed my
memory of Heart of Darkness with the chapter summaries on this site,
I was able to dive into the details of planning my unit much quicker
than when I re-read The Great Gatsby before starting any unit work.
By using Sparknotes, I was able to start planning lessons right away,
and then as I planned, I re-read the text at a much more reasonable
pace.
Content Outline
Literature:
 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
o Archetypal Theory – looking at Marlow as the hero on a quest
o Psychology – examining text in terms of Freud’s Id, Ego, and Superego
o Examination of Kurtz – putting descriptions of Kurtz in conversation
with “The Hollow Men,” “Vultures,” and “Ozymandias”
o Feminist Theory – looking at roles of women by comparing Intended
and African mistress and discussing “She Walks In Beauty”
o Black Aesthetic – debate over Conrad’s possible racism, as argued by
Chinua Achebe and countered by Cedric Watts
o Link to Romanticism – reading several Romantic poems, but mainly
comparing and contrasting Marlow as a mariner affected by nature
with Coleridge’s protagonist from “Rime of Ancient Mariner”
 Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe (students read this at the beginning of the
year, but I will put this in conversation with Heart of Darkness)
Modern and Contemporary Poetry:
 “The Darkling Thrush” – Thomas Hardy
o Anti-Romantic notion that nature may have no hope to offer man
 “Hap” – Thomas Hardy
o Would it be better to be ruled by evil gods or no gods at all?
 “The Hollow Men” – T. S. Eliot
o If Marlow’s choice is between true evil, and the kind of hollow evil
described by Eliot, can he be justified in preferring Kurtz?
 “The Second Coming” – William Butler Yeats
o “The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate
intensity”
 “Vultures” – Chinua Achebe
o Evil becomes complicated when you can see glimmers of good in it
Romantic Poetry:
 “The Lamb” and “The Tyger”– William Blake
o Good vs. Evil in nature: Did God make both, and are both still better
than the kind of evil made by man?
 “Lines Written In Early Spring” and “The World Is Too Much With Us”
– William Wordsworth
o Nature is good; man is corrupting
 “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
o Not only is nature good, it is powerful and capable of inflicting
punishment for sins against it
 “Dejection: An Ode” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
o Even great poets get writer’s block

“Ozymandias” – Percy Blythe Shelley
o Even the most powerful humans cannot defeat nature and time
 “She Walks In Beauty” – Lord Byron
o Women are beautiful because of their sweet innocence (but does this
deny them identities as fully developed human beings?)
 “On Death” – John Keats
o No matter how hard life is, we struggle to survive
 “Ode On A Grecian Urn” – John Keats
o Beauty and truth can live on forever through immortal poetry and art
 “Ode to Indolence” – John Keats
o It’s okay to be uninspired, just wait it out patiently and inspiration
will strike when the time is right
 Sections of “The Prelude: Book First” – William Wordsworth
o It’s very frustrating when you feel that the creative spirit has left you,
but once you are inspired by nature’s lessons you can write
prolifically
Essays:
 “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'" – Chinua
Achebe
o Conrad’s depictions of Africa sets it up as a binary opposite to Europe:
an idea that has informed white Western views of Africa ever since
 “‘A Bloody Racist’: About Achebe’s View of Conrad” – Cedric Watts
o Achebe should embrace Conrad’s attempt to critique white
Imperialism, even if it’s not a subaltern making the critique
 “The Nature of Proof in the Interpretation of Poetry” – Laurence Perrine
o This will really help students learn how to grapple with interpretation
Multimedia:
 Apocalypse Now – Francis Ford Coppola
o Through this film, students will see how Heart of Darkness is
translated into a different time period, but with very similar themes
 Pandaemonium – Julien Temple
o This film will serve as an introduction to the Romantic poets that will
hopefully help them come alive for the students outside of the texts
we read in class
 “The Course of Empire” – Thomas Cole
o This series of paintings will help students see how Romanticism was
interpreted in a form outside of poetry
Extra Poetry: (will go in packet, but won’t be discussed in class)
 “Ode To A Nightingale” – John Keats
 “Tintern Abbey” and “Daffodils” – William Wordsworth
 “Kubla Khan” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
 “The Human Seasons” – John Keats
 “A Poison Tree” – William Blake
Student Calendar
Pre-Unit


Day 1
Man vs. NatureIntroduction to Heart of
DarknessRead Heart of Darkness
and trace the weave of  Reactions to Heart of
either Heart or Hell
Darkness
imagery
 Read “Rime of the
Read poems by Blake,
Ancient Mariner” aloud
Hardy, and
as class
Wordsworth
Hw:
 Quotation &
Explanation for Part I
 Video Permission Slips
Day 4
Day 5
Kurtz & Women Kurtz - read “The
Hollow Men,”
“Vultures,” and
“Ozymandias”
 Women – read “She
Walks In Beauty”
 Groups prepare for
debate
Hw:
 Prepare for debate
 Individual write up





Day 8



Hw:
 Prepare for poetry
terms quiz

Exploring the Congo Virtual Voyage on the
Congo River
 Discuss Part I of HoD
 Read “Hap” by Thomas
Hardy
Hw:
 Q & E for Part II
 Hearts & Hell Collages
Day 6
Day 3
Psychology Sharing H & H collages
& quotes
 Freud’s theory of the
unconscious
 Discuss Part II
 Make Journey Maps
Hw:
 Q & E for Part III
 Read articles by
Achebe and Watts
Day 7
Debate & Wrap-UpShow Me What You
Know!
Achebe v. Watts debate
 40 min. AP response

Finish HoD by
examining Marlow
 Watch selections from

Apocalypse
Now
Read “On Death” and
“The Second Coming” (No permission slip? Work
silently in hall)


Hw:
Debate critique
Prepare for AP timed
response
Day 9
Romantics Crash
Course
Albatross

presentations
Romantic poets & clips
from Pandaemonium 
Read “Dejection: An
Ode”
Day 2
Nature Day!
Quiz on poetry terms
Poetic Walkabout:
Going outside to be
inspired by nature!
Start making notes for
your own Romantic
poem
Hw:
Make rough draft of
Romantic poem
Introduction to
RomanticismDiscuss Perrine
How to write a ballad
(re-examine
“Mariner”)
Poetry terms
Read second excerpt
from “The Prelude”
Hw:
Hw:
 Read Perrine article
 Write your own
Albatross ballad &
 Read first excerpt from
bring object
“The Prelude”
 Read “The World Is
Too Much With Us”
Day 10
Day 11
Writing PoetryRead “Ode On A

Grecian Urn” and “Ode
to Indolence”

Working in groups to
revise original

Romantic poems
Ode to Us!

Read finished poems
in original groups
Analyze student

poems as a class
Look at Thomas Cole’s
“The Course of
Empire” & class’s art
selections
Hw:
Hw:
 Final poem + reflection  Start preparing for AP
Exam
 Romantic art choice
Assessment and Evaluation
(Pre-Assessment) Students’ prior knowledge:
 Students’ questions and suggestions about pre-unit poetry (Blake, Hardy, and
Wordsworth)
 Students’ reader response to Heart of Darkness (before we start looking at the text
as a class)
(Summative Assessment) Effect of teaching on student learning:
 AP timed-response essay on Heart of Darkness
 Racism debate – Students will be assigned to debate teams that support either
Chinua Achebe or Cedric Watt’s reading of Heart of Darkness, then they will
have to critique the performance of themselves, their group, and the opposing
group
 Quiz on poetry terms
 Original Romantic poems that will go through a revision/editing process
(Formative Assessment) Assessments throughout unit:
 Quotation & Explanation (3) – Students will select quotations from each section
of Heart of Darkness and answer several prompts explaining the significance of
the quotation to them and how that quotation helped them understand the text as a
whole
 Tracing the Weave: Hearts & Hell (1) – Students will compile a list of all the
times their image appears in Heart of Darkness
 Hearts & Hell collages (1) – Students will make individual collages representing
how their particular image was presented in Heart of Darkness
 Journey Maps (1) – Students will work in pairs to trace Marlow’s physical and
psychological journeys
 Original Albatross ballads (1) – Students will create original short ballads about
an object that could represent a kind of Albatross after reading “Rime of the
Ancient Mariner”
 Student responses and questions – Throughout the unit, I will be checking for
student engagement with and comprehension of material by monitoring their inclass discussions of various texts
Teaching Writing

Quotation & Explanation: Students will be asked to select quotations from each
section of Heart of Darkness and answer the following prompts in a short
response: Why did you choose your quotation? How does it help you to
understand the text? What does it remind you of? This is an informal writing
assignment, but it will help students to think about the text on their own before we
use the quotations as jumping-off points for discussion in class.

Debate Critique: After participating in an in-class debate on the treatment of race
in Heart of Darkness, students will be writing critiques of their own performance,
the performance of their teammates, and the performance of their peers on the
other team. This writing is more formal than the Q&Es, and its main purpose is to
help students learn to think critically through evaluation. I consider this to be a
“writing to learn” not “learning to write” assignment.

AP Timed Response: As a form of summative test on Heart of Darkness, students
will respond to an actual AP test prompt and have 40 minutes to write an essay.
This is the most formal writing that the students will do on Heart of Darkness,
and while I will be looking for strong organization of ideas, I will also understand
that these essays did not go through the full writing process.

Albatross Ballad: Students will be writing short ballads dedicated to a symbolic
Albatross object of their choice. While the students will be giving presentations
on these poems, I will not grade them with the same rigor as the students’
Romantic poems at the end of the unit, because the students will not have the
chance for revisions on this assignment.

Romantic Poem and Reflection: Students will go through the full writing process
in order to write their own Romantic poems. In addition to the poems themselves,
students will be writing reflections showing their reactions to working on a
creative piece in the same way that they usually work on expository writing.
Because the students must specifically demonstrate their ability to understand and
play with Romantic conventions within their poems, this assignment will serve as
a summative evaluation of the students’ work with Romantic poets and poetry.
Technology



PowerPoint on Freud’s Theory of Consciousness:
o By using PowerPoint to convey information about Freud’s concepts of the
Id, the Ego, and the Superego, I think I can help students visualize these
concepts and make them easier to understand quickly. My presentation
will help students connect Freud to Heart of Darkness and to popular
culture because I show pictures of Hollywood Freudian trios (Ron, Harry,
& Hermione from Harry Potter among others).
Google Earth: http://www.google.com/earth/index.html
o This site will enhance my students’ learning because we will use it to take
a virtual voyage down the Congo River. Not only will students be able to
see the actual geographical features of the river as we move from the coast
into the heart of Africa, but they will also be able to view the actual
photographs posted by Google users that correspond with various
locations along the riverbank. I am using this site so that my students can
conceptualize the Congo as an actual place and be able to see the ways in
which the real Congo River differs from Conrad’s descriptions of it (and
the ways in which those descriptions match the reality).
YouTube:
“Dangers beneath the Congo River”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9JYEgNkDZk
“Congo – The River That Swallows All Rivers”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGGcS_MPrW4
“Razor Tight Presidential Election”
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/420764/november-052012/-razor-tight--presidential-election
“T. S. Eliot reads The Hollow Men”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fu8awT5Jzs
o YouTube will allow me to enrich my students’ experiences with Heart of
Darkness and with reading/writing poetry. I’m showing parts of the first
two videos as an accompaniment to our class’s virtual voyage down the
Congo River, via Google Earth. The first video shows how dangerous the
river is to navigate, and the second video shows the history of the Congo
River in relation to white Imperialism and discusses some of the more
interesting aspects of the Congo ecosystem. I will use the third video to
humorously remind my students to avoid linguistic mistakes like mixed
metaphors when they write their own poetry. Finally, I will use the fourth
video to allow the students to hear T. S. Eliot reading his own work in
order to have them think about how his reading may differ from the
readings they have envisioned in their own minds.
Multidisciplinary Approaches
 Reading
o Students will work with the novel Heart of Darkness as well as a variety
of poems and short essays.
 Writing
o See “Teaching Writing” section (short responses, critiques, essays, and
poems)
 Viewing
o Students will watch two short video selections on the Congo River, a short
clip from The Colbert Report, and several selections from Francis Ford
Coppola’s Apocalypse Now and Julien Temple’s Pandaemonium.
o Students will use Google Earth to view the geography of the Congo River
as well as view actual snapshots taken along its banks.
o Students will view a PowerPoint presentation on Freud.
o Students will examine Thomas Cole’s “The Course of Empire” painting
series as well as artwork they have selected to represent Romanticism.
 Listening
o Students will listen to a recording of T. S. Eliot as he reads “The Hollow
Men”
 Speaking
o Students will use quotations from Heart of Darkness to spark discussion.
They will also ask questions, give responses, and pose ideas to consider.
o Students will engage in Reader Response about Heart of Darkness and
Romantic poetry.
o Students will read Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” aloud.
o Students will participate in an oral debate over Chinua Achebe’s claim
that Heart of Darkness is a racist text.
 Creating a project
o Students will make collages to represent either the heart or the Hell
imagery that appears throughout Heart of Darkness and then share them
with the class.
 Competing
o Students will compete to see who can find the most references to either
hearts or Hell in Heart of Darkness (the winners for both categories get a
small box of candy).
 Enjoying Nature
o Students will spend most of a class period outside in the forest so that they
can learn about Romantic inspiration first-hand.
Teaching for Diversity
A. Diversity of Learning Styles: There are a variety of ways that students can engage
with the material of this unit and with one another. They can:
 Read texts at their own pace (for example, they have two weeks to finish Heart of
Darkness, and most poems will be read in class)
 Read aloud, Read along as others read aloud, Listen as others read aloud
 Ask questions and/or make suggestions
 Contribute textual citations through Q&E assignments
 Get and give help on poem revisions
 Watch videos, Write poems, Create collages, Write essays
 Talk with classmates during our Nature Day
Possible Adaptations:
 Encouraging gifted students to take on tougher roles during the student debate, to
read the extra poems in their packet, or to do a little research on the Romantic
poets or on Joseph Conrad
 Helping struggling students by reading aloud or by creating scaffolded guides to
help them work through their texts
 Seating students in certain places to help them avoid getting distracted, grouping
students carefully to help them be comfortable as they work together, and easing
stress by reminding students about due dates and assignment requirements
B. Diversity of Students: Although I cannot address all the ways in which I will respect
the diversity of my students, here are some of the ways that I will explicitly deal with
diversity in my unit:
 Race – We will specifically look at Heart of Darkness in terms of a black/white
binary, but I will address the fact that this is by no means sufficient to cover all
racial experience. Likewise, we’re only reading Romantic poems by dead white
guys, as it were, and I will address that concern.
 Gender – As well as looking at Conrad and Lord Byron’s treatment of women in
their texts, I will also address my students’ possible concerns that I did not
include any female poets in the Romanticism section of the unit.
 Culture – In addition to discussing the effects of Imperialism through discussions
of Heart of Darkness, I will also discuss how Romantic poetry expresses the
views of a very specific culture (white, English, male, privileged, educated, often
political, early 19th century poets and authors).
 Sexual Orientation – As we discuss issues of love and sexuality, I will be careful
not to refer to these topics in a prescriptive manner; that way, students will feel
comfortable discussing them without feeling as if I am making judgments about
what is natural or right.
 Socioeconomic Status – As with culture, I will make sure to show students that
Romantic poetry is often a reflection of poets who were blessed with time for
leisure, and who may not have known much about the common folk in whom they
were so interested.
Daily Lesson Outlines
Pre-Unit: Man vs. Nature
Daily Objectives
*Students will do a close
reading of Heart of
Darkness by tracing
imagery
*Students will compare
and contrast Romantic
and Modern poetry
*SOL 12.4
Activities
*Give students their copies of Heart of Darkness to read
*Give students poetry packets containing the assigned
poems by Blake, Hardy, and Wordsworth and ask them to
make a few notes comparing and contrasting the poems as
they read
*Give students assignment handout on “Tracing the
Weave” and have them decide whether they will trace
heart imagery or Hell imagery
Day 1: Introduction to Heart of Darkness
Daily Objectives
*Students will examine
Heart of Darkness and
poetry using Reader
Response theory
*Students will be able to
explain some of the
differences between
Romanticism and
Modernism
*Students will practice
reading poetry aloud
*SOL 12.4
Activities
* 5 minutes – AP flashcards & Housekeeping Duties
* 15 minutes – Discussion of students’ responses to 4
assigned poems (3 Romantic, 1 Modern)
* 10 minutes – Mini-lecture on Romanticism vs.
Modernism (using poems as examples)
* 15 minutes – Discussion of students’ initial responses
to Heart of Darkness
*5 minutes – Explain the connection between the
Modern text Heart of Darkness and the
Romantic text “Rime of the Ancient
Mariner”
* 30 minutes –Have students read “Rime of the Ancient
Mariner” aloud (trading off every stanza)
* 5 minutes – Go over Quotation & Explanation (Part I)
homework assignment & pass out video
permission slips for Apocalypse Now
Day 2: Exploring the Congo
Daily Objectives
*Students will use
technology to explore the
Congo River
*Students will
demonstrate
comprehension of
Archetypal theory and its
relation to Heart of
Darkness through
discussion
*Students will analyze a
Modern poem
*SOL 12.4
Activities
* 5 minutes – AP flashcards & Housekeeping Duties
* 10 minutes – Take students on Virtual Voyage on the
Congo River using Google Earth to look
at geography and photos of the river
* 20 minutes – Watch “Dangers Beneath the Congo
River” and selections from “Congo –
The
River That Swallows All Rivers,”
prompting participation throughout
* 30 minutes – Discussion of Part I of HoD based on
students’ Q & E quotations, using an
Archetypal theory to examine the start
of Marlow’s quest
*15 minutes – Read “Hap” by Hardy, comparing it with
Conrad’s “flabby devils” and ask
students to respond to Hardy’s idea
that it might be easier to be ruled by evil
gods than no gods at all
* 5 minutes – Remind students to do Q & E for Part II
and go over Hearts vs. Hell collage
assignment and quotation competition
Day 3: Psychology
Daily Objectives
*Students will evaluate
the experience of doing a
close reading of a text by
tracing a particular image
*Students will share their
creative collages
*Students will predict
how Freud’s theories can
be applied to Heart of
Darkness
*Students will create
journey maps that trace
Marlow’s physical and
psychological journeys
*SOL 12.4
Activities
* 5 minutes – AP flashcards & Housekeeping Duties
* 10 minutes – Determine winners for quotation
competition, debrief on what it was like
to trace the weave of an image, and share
student collages from volunteers (all
collages will be hung on the walls once
I get the chance to put them up)
* 20 minutes – PowerPoint presentation examining
Heart of Darkness in terms of Freud’s Id,
Ego, and Superego theories
* 15 minutes – Discuss Part II based on Q & E work
*30 minutes – Students will pair off in order to make
“Journey Maps” (one student traces
Marlow’s psychological journey and the
other traces his physical journey, then
both make a journey timeline on the
same sheet of paper, or across multiple
sheets)
* 5 minutes – Remind students to do Q & E for Part III,
hand out Achebe and Watts articles
for them to read for homework, and tell
them to read both “Vultures” and
“Ozymandias” in their poetry packets
Day 4: Kurtz & Women
Daily Objectives
*Students will work in
small groups to examine
new poetry
*Students will compare
and contrast Lord
Byron’s description of
women with Conrad’s
*Students will work
collaboratively to
evaluate non-fiction
essays and determine
how those essays affect
their own readings of
Heart of Darkness
*Students will
*SOL 12.3 & 12.4
Activities
* 5 minutes – AP flashcards & Housekeeping Duties
* 5 minutes – Listen to recording of T. S. Eliot reading
“The Hollow Men” as students read along
* 10 minutes – Students split into small groups of 3 or 4
based on which poem they’d like to
examine (“Vultures” or “Ozymandias”),
then discuss how their poem relates to
Kurtz
* 10 minutes – As a whole class, students explain their
group findings and continue discussing
Kurtz (can incorporate Q & E part III)
* 15 minutes – Read Byron’s “She Walks In Beauty” as a
whole class, then compare Byron’s view
of women with Marlow/Conrad’s
descriptions of the African Mistress and
the Intended (Feminist Theory)
* 5 minutes – Explain debate assignment. For
homework, students will have to do
whatever work they agree to do for their
team, as well as writing an explanation of
their role/work within the team for me
*35 minutes – For the rest of the period, class will split
in half for debate teams and make action
plans for next class’s debate. This will
include who will do what for homework,
who will bring what to the debate, and
who will actually be debating. Although I
will give students a rubric (which
includes students’ individual write-ups,
the evidence of their work during the
debate, and their critiques afterwards), I
will not be assigning group roles or
responsibilities. Students must decide for
themselves how to support their
claims.
Day 5: Debate & Wrap-Up
Daily Objectives
Activities
*Students will engage in * 5 minutes – AP flashcards & Housekeeping Duties
a debate over Conrad’s
*45 minutes – Achebe vs. Watts debate
treatment of race in Heart
 10 minutes for Achebe-side to present
of Darkness, specifically
 10 minutes for Watts-side to present
addressing the concerns
 5 minutes for team huddles
raised by Chinua Achebe
 up to 10 minutes for Watts-side to rebut and make
and the rebuttal posed by
closing statements
Cedric Watts
 up to 10 minutes for Achebe-side to rebut and
*Students will examine
make closing statements
the character of Marlow
* 30 minutes – Wrap up Heart of Darkness with a
by putting Conrad’s text
whole-class discussion of Marlow, using
in conversation with “On
any leftover Q&E quotations from last
Death” and “The Second
class, as well as reading “On Death” and
Coming”
“The Second Coming” together
*SOL 12.1, 12.4, 12.5
* 5 minutes – Explain debate critique assignment
(for homework, students will evaluate
themselves, their group, and the other
team) and tell students how to prepare
for their timed response test next class
Day 6: Show Me What You Know!
Daily Objectives
*Students will
demonstrate their ability
to compose a well-written
essay about Heart of
Darkness during an AP
style timed response
exam
*SOL 12.4 & 12.7
Activities
* 5 minutes – AP flashcards & Housekeeping Duties
*40 minutes – AP style timed response exam
*35 minutes – Watch selections from Apocalypse Now
(students without permission can start
working on their homework for this
class in the hall under Mrs. Akers’
supervision)
*5 minutes – Tell students to read the Perrine article on
interpreting poetry and the first selection
from “The Prelude” (on lack of inspiration)
for homework
Day 7: Introduction to Romanticism
Daily Objectives
*Students will apply
information from
Perrine’s non-fiction
essay to poems by
Coleridge and
Wordsworth in order to
analyze them
*Students will be able to
explain what a ballad
poem is
*Students will be able to
explain how “The
Prelude” is a strong
example of several
Romantic ideals
*SOL 12.3, 12.4, 12.5
Activities
* 5 minutes – AP flashcards, Housekeeping Duties, &
pass out list of AP poetry terms
* 30 minutes – Re-examine “Rime of the Ancient
Mariner” using techniques from the
Perrine article, also, have students keep
their lists of poetry terms out and star any
that get mentioned during class (let them
know that eventually they’ll have a quiz,
but I’ll only quiz them on terms that are
starred. However, I’ll be keeping my own
list, and I’ll let them know that I won’t be
responsible for telling them which words
are on the quiz if they don’t star them on
their own)
* 20 minutes – Mini-lesson on what a ballad is and how
to write one (using “Mariner” as prime
example)
* 25 minutes – Read second selection from “The
Prelude” (describing an encounter with
nature) aloud, and practice analyzing it
using scaffolded skills from Perrine and
our example with Coleridge. Discuss how
both sections of “The Prelude” are strong
examples of Romantic beliefs
*5 minutes – explain Albatross ballad assignment and
tell students to read “The World Is Too
Much With Us” in their packets
Day 8: Romantics Crash Course
Daily Objectives
*Students will present
original ballad poems to
the class
*Students will select
important information
about certain Romantic
poets to share with their
classmates
*Students will work
together to analyze
“Dejection: An Ode”
*SOL 12.1, 12.3, 12.4
Activities
* 5 minutes – AP flashcards, Housekeeping Duties, &
pass out Romantics-In-A-Nutshell packets
*40 minutes – Albatross presentations (Students will
read their original ballad poems to the
class while wearing their Albatross
objects around their necks)
* 15 minutes – Students will pair up with the person
next to them, and each student will
select 3 of the 6 poets to read about.
After reading about their poets, students
will share important facts with their
partner
* 10 minutes – Watch selections from Pandaemonium
* 10 minutes – Read “Dejection: An Ode” together and
put it in conversation with
Wordsworth’s concerns about writer’s
block from the first section of “The
Prelude”
*5 minutes – Tell students to prepare for poetry quiz
tomorrow (and look forward to our
Nature Day!
Day 9: Nature Day!
Daily Objectives
*Students will
demonstrate
comprehension of poetry
terms by means of a short
quiz
*Students will extend
their understanding of
Romantic poetry by
taking a short walk out in
nature
*SOL 12.3 &12.4
Activities
* 10 minutes – Poetry terms quiz (do housekeeping
duties while students take the quiz, such
as giving out poetry assignment/handout)
*70 minutes – Nature Day! Take students out to
walking trail so that they can be inspired
by nature and take notes in order to help
them write their own Romantic poems.
This time includes the time that it takes
to get students out to the trail and to get
them back to class.
*5 minutes – Tell students to make rough drafts of their
Romantic poems using their handouts and
remind them to bring them next class
Day 10: Writing Poetry
Daily Objectives
Activities
*Students will work with
an annotated work of
poetry together before
attempting to do a close
reading of a similar work
of poetry on their own
*Students will work in
groups to peer-revise one
another’s original
Romantic poetry
*SOL 12.3, 12.4, 12.7
*5 minutes – AP flashcards & Housekeeping Duties
*1 minute – Show very short Colbert Report clip on
mixed metaphors (“razor tight”)
*4 minutes – I will read “Ode On A Grecian Urn” aloud
and prompt students to pay attention to
the imagery as they listen
*5 minutes – Discuss their reactions to the poem
*10 minutes – Work through the annotated version of
“Ode On A Grecian Urn” together,
asking
students how the annotations changed
or supported their initial views
*15 minutes – Ask students to become experts as they
work through “Ode On Indolence” (in
their packets) on their own, making as
many annotations as they can think of
*10 minutes – Discuss students’ annotations, providing
background information as necessary, as
well as contrasting Keats’ optimistic
view of creative indolence with
Coleridge and Wordsworth’s frustration
with writer’s block
*30 minutes – Give out handouts on how to help a
classmate revise his or her poetry, then
split the class up into small groups of 3 or
4 so they can work on their poems
together (these will be the same groups
that the students will share their
completed poems with next class)
*5 minutes – Explain poetry reflection assignment, tell
students to finish & print up their poems
for homework and ask them to pick a
piece of artwork that represents
Romanticism to them (does not have to be
from the Romantic time period) and be
able to tell me where to find it online.
Day 11: Ode to Us!
Daily Objectives
*Students will present
their final Romantic
poems to their groups
*Students will analyze
their peers’ poems as a
class
*Students will recognize
Romantic themes in
works of art (both
Romantic art and other
genres)
*SOL 12.3, 12.4, 12.7
Activities
*5 minutes – AP flashcards & Housekeeping Duties
*20 minutes – Students will read the final version
of their Romantic poems with the
same groups from last class. After each
reading, all other group members will
offer a piece of positive feedback.
*5 minutes – The class will nominate 4 poems
(students may not nominate themselves)
to examine (not critique) as a class.
Nominees may decline if so desired, but
by the end I want to have 4 for the
class to look at. Students must be willing
for me to write on their copies of their
poems.
*40 minutes – Spending roughly 10 minutes per-poem,
poet will read his or her work without
explaining its meaning. Then I’ll put
the poem on the document camera, and
the class will annotate the poem in the
same way that we worked with the
famous Romantic poems (suggesting
references, allusions, effective language).
Once we’re satisfied with our annotations,
the poet will get the chance to tell us what
the poem is really about.
*5 minutes – Discuss Thomas Cole’s series of
Romantic paintings entitled “The Course
Of Empire,” with students suggesting
how the paintings demonstrate
Romantic beliefs and ideals (show the
paintings using the computer projector)
*10 minutes – Look at students’ suggested artwork that
they feel represents Romanticism.
Compare and contrast the different
works.