Jack's+Whitman+Page

I. **Results** A. //Primary goal: What do you want the students to understand more fully about "Song of Myself"? Frame this as a question. Why is this topic important to Whitman? How does this topic connect to other themes or concerns of the poem? How might this topic or question engage students' interest and/or experience? How does this topic or question related to broader issues in literature? How does it relate to broader cultural or social issues?//

Whitman's "Song of Myself" is a poem right? Is it also a song? What does Whitman mean when he calls this poem a song? Is he suggesting that it is lyrical, such as a song lyric? Is he saying that the poem has musical qualities, that the poem is musical? Would he go so far as to say that the poem IS music? What does Whitman mean in the second part of his title when he uses the word "self"? Does it mean that this poem is just for himself, that it is not to be shared with others, that others do not have the same feelings––they don't have the same song? Is Whitman exploring the relationship between himself and song, between humanity and music? In terms of this probable relationship, what can we learn about Whitman and his culture and ourselves and the culture we live in?

B. //Secondary goals: what do you want students to understand about reading poetry? about how to write about poetry? about how to connect text and context?//

Is it possible to learn about art and culture by reading "Song of Myself"? If we can, are there ways into the text that would help us investigate a possible intersection of art and culture? If we investigate and understand something about Whitman's times by reading the poem, can we extrapolate and possibly apply what we learn to our own times and culture? One of many ways into our reading of this poem in terms of song (on a smaller scale) and music (on a larger one) is to extract a portion––a line––from the poem and look at it carefully. What can we discover by taking, for example the line: "I hear the chorus––it is a grand opera, this indeed / is music!" and dissecting it? What would happen if we were to take the term "grand opera" and to analyze it as a symbol or object––an opera house––as it represents the high end of culture. What about the word "chorus" may it represent the lower end of culture? Might Whitman be trying to bridge a gap between high and low? What is high art/culture? What is low art/culture? Is opera high art? Is a rock concert low art? Are people who attend opera high(er) class? Are people who attend rock concerts low(er) class? Was opera attended by the same audience (high(er)/low(er) class(es) in 1855 when "Song of Myself" was published?

II. **Evidence of learning**: //How will students demonstrate that they are answering the question? What will your evidence of student learning look like? A types of writing/evidence: i. formal writing or project (summative) essay; curation; rhetorical;//

Students will have a great deal of freedom with their writing assignment. It might be better thought of as a written project. They can choose to write an essay, a creative paper, a poem, a song, etc.

ii. //informal writing (formative)//

Students will underline, highlight, and annotate the "Song of Myself" text looking for connections that suggest music i.e. the key words such as "song," "sing," "singer," musical instruments, such as "violin," singer types: soprano, tenor, etc. are also useful (see activities below)

B. //How will this show you that they've learned? how will you evaluate its success or failure in relation to your goals?//

It will be clear by reading the students' written projects whether or not they are making connections between music and culture, art and culture, and are drawing parallels between the past and present.

III. **Design** A. //what knowledge or skills will students need in order to produce their evidence of student learning? knowledge about the poem; cultural or historical knowledge; knowledge about Whitman? skills in reading? skills in analysis/making connections? skills in writing?//

Students are not expected to have any particular knowledge of poetry, music, or of Whitman. Basic computer skills is taken for granted.

B. //what kind of activities will develop these knowledges and skills? what kinds of things will students need to do to acquire these knowledges and skills? reading; writing; finding; collaborating;//

First, Students will read "Song of Myself." They will underline, highlight, and annotate musical references, paying particular attention to words such as: "song," "sing," "singer," etc.

Next, students will be exposed to the Walt Whitman Archive and to the "Token X" tool from the archive's resources page. Students will use the tool's various functions, such as its word frequency database, its highlighting function, and its keywords in context function to corroborate their own highlighted and marked observations from their initial reading of the poem.

Students will also do some outside research. They should become familiar with the author of "Song of Myself," Walt Whitman, to get a feel for what life might have been like when he wrote the poem. They will also research the term "opera" to find out about its cultural role both at the time of Whitman and now.

Finally, students will reconsider the image of the opera house as a symbol, a cultural object, that represents not only an ultimate house of song, but for various reasons has developed and maintained an historical distinction as the epitome of high culture, with all its accompanying connotations (snooty, snobbish, only-for-the-rich, incomprehensible). They will consider the question: how did Walt Whitman, an avid opera goer himself, view, think about, and feel about opera? The response to this question will take the form of a written project, which can be an essay, a creative paper, a poem, a song, or something else. Surprise me!

C. //how will you structure these activities? do some have to come before others? which? why? are some more or less important than others? are some more or less formal than others?//

Students will first read the poem and annotate the "Song of Myself" text before using the Token X tool, thus assuring that they have read and thought about the poem.