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Yusef Komunyakaa's poetry can be used in many ways in the classroom. One essential poetic element that can be closely examined in his work is imagery.

• As you read aloud (or listen to, if you have the technology) the poem "Camouflaging the Chimera," ask students to underline words and phrases that create vivid pictures in their minds.
• Have students rewrite one or two lines of the poem so that they are free from details. For example, the line, "We hugged bamboo & leaned against a breeze off the river" could be rewritten, as "We sat next to the river. There was a breeze." Then, in pairs, ask students to reread the poem with their changes. What has changed? What is lost?
• Next, have students write down another line of the poem that is particularly effective. Collect their papers and redistribute one to each student. Have each student attempt to draw the image on a large piece of paper and explain its effect. Ask, "Why did the author include that line? What was he hoping to get the reader to feel?"
• Display pictures and explanations in the classroom.

Many students have had little exposure to artwork; and yet paintings, photographs, sculpture, and other art forms can and should be studied as legitimate texts. Since most states now require "visual literacy" as part of their standards, incorporating more artwork into the English classroom certainly is beneficial.

Begin by asking your students what they know about art, art history, or famous artists, such as Picasso. Show students Picasso's Guernica. Ideally, you will want to have a transparency, poster, or projection from the website.

Ask students for their initial impressions of the piece. Provide them with background information, and ask how their impressions change when context is provided. Since the painting is quite large, assign students to look at one quarter of the painting at a time, writing down all the visual details they see and sharing their findings in small groups.

Finally, ask students to write about Picasso's purpose in creating this painting. What did he hope to accomplish and how did he try to do so? The answers to these questions get at the theme of the work. The same questions can be applied to any text-print or visual-students are studying.

Holiday's most popular and influential song is probably her 1939 recording of Strange Fruit, a haunting depiction of the lynchings of African Americans that were occurring throughout the Jim Crow American South. The link allows you to read the lyrics and also listen to part of Holiday's rendition of the song. Because of the subject matter and the vividness of the song's images, this activity should be reserved for high school or mature middle school students.

The song is a perfect text to use to teach tone. Before explaining the context of the song, have students read the lyrics or listen to the song and identify the most powerful or descriptive images.

Next, share some facts about the lynchings in the South during this period, such as, "Between 1882 and 1968, 3,446 lynchings of African Americans occurred in the U.S." Ask students to try to determine Holiday's attitude toward this issue, which you can then define as the tone of the song. Have students compare the tone of Holiday's song to that of Langston Hughes' poem on the same topic, Song for a Dark Girl. Then apply the concept of tone to another piece you are currently reading.

Share with students some of the mysteries from Ken Weber's Five Minute Mysteries series and test their sleuthing abilities. After students have had a chance to solve a handful of mysteries (the solutions are in the back of the books), ask them to brainstorm the critical attributes of a good mystery. What elements do mysteries share? What do authors need to do to write a compelling mystery for readers?

Once the class has completed this part of the activity, place them in small groups and ask them to compose some short mysteries themselves. They can plan their stories using the interactive Mystery Cube. Groups can then exchange and attempt to solve one another's mysteries. The mysteries from each group can also be compiled and shared with other classes as well.

In honor of National Poetry Month, introduce your students to a variety of poetic forms. Assign one or two students each day as "poet of the day" for the month of April. Then provide students with several models for creating different forms of poetry. You might use Theme Poems, Acrostic Poems, Diamante Poems, or other Poetry Types to do this.

Have each student select one form of poetry and write an original poem, which he or she can also illustrate. On their assigned days, have students read their poetry out loud to the class.

Read aloud Maya Angelou's poem On the Pulse of Morning, which she read at President Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993. Ask students what they can infer about the speaker of the poem and her feelings about America.

After the class has had a chance to brainstorm, share with students some biographical information about Angelou. Which events or aspects of her life are reflected in the poem? What pieces of information surprised them and why? Ask students to discuss how one's life and experiences can influence one's writing. Is there evidence of this in students' own writing?

Your students probably had some background knowledge about the Titanic even before the release of James Cameron's movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett. A nice way to begin your study is with the Internet Workshop model. You might use the recommended Websites from this calendar entry as part of the Internet Workshop.

Some questions you might ask students to explore are:

• Could this disaster happen today?
• What could have been done to prevent the disaster at that time?
• What really sank the Titanic?
• Did anything good happen as a result of this disaster?

Take your students on an interactive tour of Ellis Island. Scholastic provides a tour, including audio, video, and photographic resources.

Allow students plenty of time to explore the tour and the resources provided there, supplementing the information with additional resources from the Web Links section below. Be sure to listen to the audio stories of immigrants included in most stages of the tour. Invite students to interview an immigrant in your town to collect his or her story. Students can publish the stories they collect online and read stories published by other students.

To show how children who did come through Ellis Island felt, you might share books such as The Memory Coat (Scholastic, 1999) and Dreaming of America: An Ellis Island Story (Troll Communications, 2001). Based on what they've learned through their exploration of Ellis Island online, their interview with a local immigrant, and in the available texts, have students assume the persona of someone who has just landed on Ellis Island and write a diary entry about his or her experiences. Collect the entries into a class anthology that shows students' understanding of the feelings of people coming to the U.S. for the first time.

Share some of the following proverbs taken from Poor Richard's Almanack with your students:

• There are no gains without pains.
• At the working man's house, hunger looks in but dares not enter.
• Industry pays debts while despair increases them.
• Plough deep while sluggards sleep and you shall have corn to sell and to keep.
• One today is worth two tomorrows.
• Have you something to do tomorrow? Do it today.
• Trouble springs from idleness and grievous toil from needless ease.
• The noblest question in the world is: What good may I do in it?
• Hear no ill of a friend, nor speak any of an enemy.
• Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure when he is really selling himself a slave to it.
  

Ask students to give their impressions of the person who would write these statements. Then, have students choose one saying, paraphrase it, and explain why they agree or disagree with its message. As a final activity, ask students to write their own mottos for life. These mottos can be illustrated and displayed in the classroom or made into bumper stickers or t-shirts.

Looking at the rules of a game allows for a perfect opportunity for students to practice their expository reading and writing skills.

Print out copies of Naismith's original 13 rules for basketball. Put students into groups (since some students know a lot about basketball and some very little) and ask them to read the original rules and to identify-with different colored highlighters-the rules that are still in effect today and the rules that have been changed or eliminated. Then, ask students to write one rule that has been added to the original list and another rule that has been changed dramatically from the original source. Have students present these new and modified rules to the class.

Working individually, students should brainstorm a list of sports and games that they know well. Have students select one from their list and write ten rules for playing that sport or game. Remind students that their audience is people who have never played or heard of that sport or game before. In addition to the ten rules, students should also identify the equipment and time needed to play. Afterward, students should read each other's lists to be sure that all necessary rules are included.