Abstract
In prior lessons students have looked
at historical diseases and their impact on the people
of the time. In this lesson they will examine the pandemic
of our time and read poetry written by some of the
youngest victims of this scourge, identifying examples
of poignant imagery in a literary selection. The students
will be encouraged to realize that the battle against
infectious diseases hasn’t been won, that it
is not merely an academic problem, but involves a myriad
of individual tragedies. This is the apply lesson.
Students will make connections between the way disease
affected people in historical times and how it continues
to affect the emotional, personal life of people today
by looking at the poetry of writers who are close to
the age of the students.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
1. Identify examples of poignant imagery in a literary
selection;
2. Make connections between the author’s outlook
on life and the impact that life-threatening disease
has had on his or her philosophy;
3. Make connections between the impact that disease
has had on people in historical times and how it continues
to affect the interior life of people today.
National English Education
Standards
Standard #2
Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to
build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical,
aesthetic) of human experience.
Arizona
State Standards
READING
Strand 2: Concept 1
PO 2. Analyze the author’s use of figurative language,
including simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, symbolism,
allusion, and imagery in a literary selection.
PO 3. Compare (and contrast) the illustration of the same
theme in two different literary genres, using their structural
features as the basis for comparison.
P.O. 4 Identify how an author’s choice of words and
imagery sets the tone and advances the work’s theme.
Teacher
Background
The
teacher should have, at least, a basic knowledge of what
HIV and AIDS is, how it affects a person physically and how
widespread it is among children worldwide.
Related
and Resource Websites
http://www.thebody.com/poetproj/young.html
(The website for the poems published by the AIDS Poetry Project:
Listening to Young Voices)
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