Old & New Thinking

Lesson Introduction

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Styles may transform over time, along with social mores, laws and priorities and even the standards by which we treat one another across cultures and genders and generations. But the ways we yearn, the ways we love, the ways we hate, the ways we befriend, feel befuddled or defeated, the ways we dream and dawdle and die: in fundamental ways these states of being don’t change. The purpose of this exercise is to explore the idea of communication across time in a dramatic context, using poetry as our text, pointing up the ways in which we are different and the ways in which we might connect despite living a hundred years apart.

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, students will have opportunities to:

  • Understand the themes and subject matter of poetry.
  • Understand historical context.
  • Create characters and scenes.
  • Perform.

Materials and Resources

To teach this lesson, you will need:

  • computer with internet access
  • PIV anthology
  • printer
  • pen and paper
  • costume bits, props

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