Lesson Overview (see also poems with notes)  

No quiz today and you need to get started right away.  I usually stand at the door and give the handout with the poems to the students as they enter (and tell them to start looking at it right away).  For more specifics on the actual poems and songs - see the notes below next to the Poems & Songs handout and the notes on my Lesson Notes on the Poems (in my handwriting - also found below)

As with most (though not the last) Poems Before, break the students into small groups (it is usually best and quickest if you do this by just pointing.  There are 8 poems to be distributed (some you will do as a class together).  There is a Power Point (below) you can show to get the students started and to keep things focused once you begin the discussion part of the class.

Give the students about 5-8 minutes to prepare their poems - you will need the rest of the time to go over them as a class.  Once they are done (or time is up) - you can begin tackling the poems together.  By now, being the 5th time I've done poems before a book this way - the students are much more comfortable - and you'll be surprised how quickly they get through it - but even more - how intelligent their interpretation is.

Once you begin the discussion, remind students that they are to write notes directly on their handouts as the group is reading the poem aloud (always how they should begin their presentation).  Anything is fine - but as always with poetry - What is the story?  What is taking place?  They can link it to other things - but first we need to figure out what's happening in the poem.  Here are the poems and songs  See the PDF of my copy of the Poems with my Notes - for my take on the poems - the things I'd be sure to bring up.

• Definition of "Persepolis" read aloud (as a class).

• "Persepolis" by Takhete Jamishid - Group 1

• "The Beginning" by Ahmad Shamlu - Group 2

• 2 excerpts from "The Shahnima of Firdausi" read aloud (as a class).

• "Someone Who is Not Like Anyone" by Forugh Farrokhzad  - read aloud (as a class) - a very long poem - you will just have time to read it - and not talk about it much - maybe one or two questions at the end - BUT remind students to take notes on it as it is being read (for the class read alouds - pick a row and try to get to everyone by the end of the period).

• A Graphic Poem read aloud (as a class). This is where the projected Power Point will really come in handy.

• An excerpt from Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping  - read aloud (as a class).  Ask students afterwards what they think it's saying.

• "The Ballad of the Dead Ladies" by Francois Villon.  Group 3

• "Childhood" quote by John Betjeman - read aloud (as a class).

• "The World and the Child " by James Merrill  - Group 4

• "The Picture of a Bright Window" by Meymanat Mirsadeghi Group 5

• "It is I Who Must Begin" by Vaclav Havel  - Group 6

• "Oppression" by Langston Hughes - Group 7

• "Leaving Home" by Ananda Gopan - Group 8

If you have time (you probably won't unless you are block schedule), there is a last page (page 5) with some revisited poems (and one piece of prose) - that at the very least  you can point out and ask the students to read again on their own - or while they are reading Persepolis. 

The bookmark for this novel has lines from the poems on it - so it will bring this class - these ideas to the forefront as they are doing their reading.  At the end of class, remind them of what is due- there will be a quiz - and to follow their bookmarks (which have excerpts from the poems on them) and read ahead.