Writing Project Proposal

Writing Project Proposal

I am choosing to complete the Educational Project, with the three week poetry unit, because it fits into my profession as an English teacher as well as helping to establish my ability to produce quality lesson plans. Being a particularly “young” teacher, I do not have a great deal of experience making unit plans, especially one that covers such a broad range of content. The ultimate goal of the poetry unit is to have students understand the connection between form and content of poetry. They will develop a richer sense of poetic form providing meaning or theme, and how it is a product of its time. This simply means understanding how society and/or environment informs the structure and content, and vice versa. In the end, students will have explored several different forms, the histories, purposes and influences (or results) of the forms and poems written in such a way. They will have also experienced writing their own poems in the different poetic forms studied, writing an analysis of a poetic form and/or reflection on the effect(s) of a poetic form in today’s time.

Poetry is something that I have really enjoyed learning and exploring for quite some time, and I believe it to be just as important, if not more, as the novel, short story, or other literary forms. Developing a poetry unit plan will push my level of understanding and appreciation of poetry, while at the same time allowing me to have something that I can actually use within my classroom. Furthermore, the way poetry is taught, if at all, does not provide a truly inviting or favorable experience for high school students. Perhaps, by knowing the background of the different poetic forms, students will gain a better appreciation for poetry; this may, in turn, garner a greater championing of the study and conversation of poetry. If nothing else, it will certainly improve the reading and writing of students all around.