"Thematic Unit Class Brainstorm -- "We Teach Students, Not Books"
Below put your name, the poem, its theme, and then the novel, short story, or play with the same
theme (all separated by commas).
Dr. Gerald, "A Dream Deferred," Langston Hughes, A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansbury,
theme: dreams and oppression
Ruchi "The Storm" by Kate Chopin
and "Giving Love and Letting Go" by Patricia A
Littlejohn- Theme: feminism and adultery
Briana Wilson, "Eleven" by Sandra Cisernos and "On Turning Ten" by Billy Collins- Theme:
Growing Up
Nicole Ritchie, "Hearts and Hands" by O. Henry and "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes.
Theme: Tragic Love
Casey Lindberg, "The Incident" by Countee Cullen and "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher
Stowe. Theme: Racial oppression
Magnus Szeman, "Much Madness..." by Emily Dickinson and The Giver by Lois Lowry. Theme:
Outsiders/Society's marginalized members
Porsha Rice, "The Road Less Traveled" ~Robert Frost, Conformity, Farenheit 451
SaCole Williams, "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, oppression, A Raisin in the Sun,
Lorraine Hansbury
Anita Gethers, "I Rise" by Maya Angelou, overcoming, The Color Purple
Kayla Knopf, "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" William Blake, innocence vs. guilt, "Young
Goodman Brown," Nathaniel Hawthorne
Laura Rodriguez, "Strange Fruit" by Lewis Allen, Racism, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper
Lee
Laura Merritt Wuthering Heights By Emily Bronte and "The White Birds" by W.B. Yeats.
Theme: transcendent love, obsession
Markie Gaddis "Sidekicks" by Ron Koertge, friendship, Don Quixote, Cervantes
Brooke McAfee "The Road Less traveled" Robert Frost, man's quest, "young goodman brown"
Nathaniel hawthorne
Lauren Morris "fifty-fifty" Carl Sandburg, "Mother And Daughter" Gary Soto Theme: Family
relationships
Jessica Foxworthy: "Harrison Bergeron" Kurt Vonnegut, persistence, "A Psalm of Life"
Longfellow
Charli Bryan: Wuthering Heights by Bronte and "Annabell Lee" by Poe, love and death
Nicole Keen: "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst, coming of age, conflict/loss, Theme for English
B by Langston Hughes, The Quitter by Robert William Service
Renee Beach, "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe and Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman, terror
and mystery
Brian Martin: "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost, fate vs. free will, Oedipus Rex by
Sophocles