TEACHING AMERICAN HISTORY 3
LESSON PLAN
TEACHER: Tina Ogron and Suzanne York
SUBJECT: Harlem Renaissance
TITLE OF LESSON: Langston Hughes Poetry Survey
STANDARD: Common Core Standards (Language Arts 5th Grade)
5.RL.2 (Key Ideas and Details) Determine a theme of a poem from details in the
text and how the speaker in the poem reflects upon a topic.
5.RL.4 (Craft and Structure) Determine the meaning of words and phrases,
including figurative language.
OBJECTIVE:
Students will link the big ideas of the European “Renaissance” to the Harlem “Renaissance”.
Students will understand the important features, personalities, and events of the Harlem
Renaissance.
Students will conduct a study of the poetry of Langston Hughes in order to analyze his work
and connect it to the significant features of the Harlem Renaissance.
MATERIAL NEEDED:
Jazz, spiritual and blues music.
CD player/iPOD/cell phone… something to play the music on.
Strips of paper that list the Important Features of the Harlem Renaissance, cut up and
categorized into like groups of six.
Six Langston Hughes Poems: My People, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, Madam and Her Madam,
Dream Variations, Dreams, and I, Too, Sing America
SOAPSTONE for Poetry form and charts of SOAPSTONE for stations (on large Post-it Notes or
poster board or butcher paper)
SPONGE ACTIVITY;
The teacher will play different musical pieces: jazz, spiritual, and blues.
After each piece the teacher will ask students to “turn and talk” to their shoulder partner and guess
what the genre of the music is called. Some students will be called on to share their guesses, the
teacher will guide the discussion toward the proper genre.
ANTICIPATORY SET ;
Focus Questions:
What does “Renaissance” mean?
What do you know about the European Renaissance?
What time period was the music from?
CONTENT DELIVERY;
Students will receive four small strips of paper with the same information copied on the strips.
There are 4 different strips of paper that tell about the 4 Important Features of the Harlem
Renaissance.
Students will roam the room looking to complete their own personal set of 4 Important
Features of the HR by trading their strips of paper with students who are in need of their
particular Features and in turn receive the strips of paper that they need to complete their set.
Students will glue these strips onto an empty page in their Writing Portfolios.
The teacher will assist the class in reading these 4 Features out loud and will lead a brief
discussion.
ACTIVITY;
SOAPSTONE for Poetry
Five different Langston Hughes poems will be set up at five stations around the room.
The teacher will model how to analyze a poem using the SOAPSTONE for poetry format.
Students will be assigned to one poem station and will be asked to analyze the poem by
recording their ideas onto the SOAPSTONE Chart at their station.
Afterwards students will rotate to the other groups to evaluate their poems and the
information on the SOAPSTONE Chart.
Students will be asked if they agree or not with the original students at this poem station.
Students will also be able to chart their favorite words, phrases, and/or figurate language on
the board.
STUDENT ASSESSMENT;
Students will be asked to do a “quick write”.
They will respond to the following questions:
Which poem was your favorite?
Why?
What Langston Hughes trying to say, teach, or tell about?
CLOSURE ;
The teacher will read the words and phrases collected from all six poems and ask the students
to articulate the Theme of the poems collectively. Once several ideas are shared the class will
see if they match the original content information about the Renaissance.