After students have read and discussed several poems from Brooks' collection, they create a poetry anthology for their own family, neighborhood, or classroom.
Gwendolyn Brooks published Bronzeville Boys and Girls in 1956.
Langston Hughes was born in 1902.
Students examine the poem "Dreams" and identify metaphors in each sentence. Groups of students then compose poems with metaphors for dreams.
Poet Paul Laurence Dunbar was born today in 1872.
Students read one of Dunbar's most famous poems and explore how critical excerpts shape their understanding.
Ernest Thayer, author of the famous poem "Casey at the Bat," was born in 1863.
In small groups or individually, students make baseball cards for the players in the poem "Casey at the Bat." Students can use a word processor or the Character Trading Cards interactive to create their cards.