This term I am teaching one section of Writer's Workshop at the end of the day. It's really a lot of fun and despite the one kid who sleeps every day, I have some really great kids in there. We listen to a "Song of the Week" every Friday and I am trying to make sure each song is a representation of a literary element, so we learn through entertainment (and writing). So far we heard "Hungry like the Wolf" (simile), "Hotel California" (imagery) and today, we heard two songs for irony, "Ironic" by Alanis Morrisette, which I think does not really explain irony at all, ironically, and "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" to show what irony really means.
Right now we are working on a poetry unit. The kids wrote "Personal Poetry", to start with, poems that require students to write about themselves within a given format. Those were all excellent. Next, we started reading some classic British and American poetry, beginning with "To his Coy Mistress." For those who haven't read this poem, it is about a young man, frustrated with his girlfriend not putting out, so he explains that "if we had both world enough and time" he could wait forever. Then he goes on to say that death is approaching and there's no lovin' when you're dead. The last stanza is all about the advantages of gettin' busy while you're still young.
Of course, this was written in the 1600's so the language is quite verbose. I have the students read it once on their own, then ask me about any words they didn't know. Then we it again together. After the second reading, they still didn't get it. Once I explained it a little, they really got into it. As I read line by line, I'd ask them, "How would you say this now?" Their suggestions were hysterical and one student said, "We should re-write the whole thing." I thought that was an excellent idea, so we did. It was hysterical. Here are some examples of some choice lines:
Original: Thou by the Indian Ganges' sideShouldst rubies find: I by the tideOf Humber would complain.
Ours: You could shop at the mall all day; and I would carry all your bags and complain.
Original: "Two hundred [years] to adore each breast"
Ours: "All the Simpsons re-runs to admire your chi-chis."
Original: For lady you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate
Ours: Girl, you're worth putting on layaway.
Original: Now let us sport us while we may, And now, like amorous birds of prey,
Ours: Let's get busy, like two dogs in heat
Original: Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run.
Ours: So let's rock it till the wheels fall off.
You get the picture. It was a lot of fun, we had a lot of laughs and proved that lust is an important theme that withstands the test of time.
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