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Seeds to Plate Language Arts Grade 8
Resilience Metaphors in Poetry
and Prose
Overview:
Students will read the poem, “The Rose that Grew from Concrete,” by Tupac Shakur and an excerpt from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros to explore personification and metaphors that represent resilience. (This is particularly relevant for middle school students, many of whom are going through difficult times as they transition to adulthood.)
Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to: Describe how the personified rose in the poem and skinny trees in the book feel, living where conditions are not good for their growth or survival. Identify the metaphors used in both texts. Analyze in both what makes plants strong and what inspires them to survive. Describe how themes of natural life manifest themselves in literature.
Preparation:
Review the text selections and identify examples of metaphors.
Vocabulary:
“nature’s law” ferocious droop inspiration empathy raggedy resilience personification
Learning Activities:
- Classroom Activity: Reading Poetry and Prose (40 min.) A. Distribute the Handout “Resilience Metaphors in Poetry and Prose.”
Materials:
Handout: “Resilience Metaphors in Poetry and Prose”
On the Board:
Vocabulary Student Reflection Questions
Suggested Snack:
Rose petals Heart of Palm salad: http:// www.foodnetwork.com/ recipes/food-network- kitchens/lemony-hearts- of-palm-salad- recipe.html
Seeds to Plate Language Arts Grade 8 B. First read: both passages aloud to the class. C. Define personification : the attribution of human nature or character to animals, plants, or inanimate objects. D. Second read: Ask two students to read both passages aloud. Tell students to listen for examples of personification and underline them on their Handout. E. Lead a discussion. Ask students:
- (^) How does this writing make you feel at first? And at the end?
- (^) In what ways do the writers use words that literally make these plants seem human? Ask them to give specific examples from the text.
- (^) How do we know these plants will survive based on what the writers say about them?
- (^) Are there anythings about these plants that seem like your lives? Explain.
- (^) Tell students that both of these stories are examples of resilience. Ask students to define the word: the power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc., after being bent, compressed, or stretched; elasticity. F. Review the rest of the vocabulary words:
- (^) ferocious: savagely fierce, as a wild beast, person, action, or aspect; violently cruel
- (^) droop: to sag, sink, bend, or hang down, as from weakness, exhaustion, or lack of support
- (^) inspire: to fill with an animating, quickening, or exalting influence
- (^) empathy: the psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another
- (^) raggedy: in a wild or neglected state G. Have students read the texts one more time to themselves and then answer the questions on their Handout. H. Then, present several more in-depth discussion questions:
- (^) What might Shakur mean by “nature’s law is wrong”?
- (^) What does “concrete” symbolize in Shakur’s poem?
- (^) Why do you think Sandra Cisneros thinks the “Four Skinny Trees” are angry?
- (^) In what ways do the “Four Skinny Trees” teach Cisneros? **If time allows, or as an alternative to the above, have students act out both “stories.”
- Snack: Let students taste rose petals. Then, serve a heart of palm salad, so students can see what the “heart” of a tree tastes like. (5 min.)
Seeds to Plate Resilience Metaphors Handout Name: Teacher: Date: Read the following selections and answer the corresponding questions.
The Rose that Grew from Concrete
Did you hear about the rose that grew From a crack in the concrete? Proving nature’s law is wrong it Learned to walk without having feet. Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, It learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew from concrete When no one else ever cared. -Tupac Shakur
Why do some plants grow beautifully without much care?
Why do some people grow beautifully without much care?
Resilience Metaphors in Poetry and Prose
Seeds to Plate Resilience Metaphors Handout
Excerpt from the book The House on Mango Street , by Sandra
Cisneros
Four Skinny Trees
“They are the ones who understand me. I am the only one who understands them. Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine. Four who do not belong here but are here. Four raggedy excuses planted by the city. From our room we can hear them, but Nenny just sleeps and doesn’t appreciate these things. Their strength is secret. They send ferocious roots beneath the ground. They grow up and they grow down and grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger. This is how they keep. Let one forget his reason for being, they’d all droop like tulips in a glass, each with their arms around the other. ‘Keep, keep, keep,’ trees say when I sleep. They teach. When I am too sad and too skinny to keep keeping, when I am a tiny thing against so many bricks, then it is I who look at trees when there is nothing left to look at on this street. Four who grew despite concrete. Four who reach and do not forget to reach. Four whose only reason is to be and be.” What does the author mean when she says the trees “keep, keep, keep”? What does she mean when she says, “They [the trees] teach” and “This is how they keep”? image from www.glogster.com
