ABSTRACT
The magic of everyday things, reflects one of the big ideas of poetry: poetry helps readers see the extraordinary (the magic) in ordinary experiences. The Spanish poet García Lorca described the poet as “a professor of the senses,” referring to the way the poet uses specific sensory detail to connect the reader with the bigger, more abstract ideas expressed in poetry. Integrated throughout the lesson plans are a series of icons or symbols intended to draw our attention to the particular content focus, learning objective, or instructional configuration of each learning activity. The type of poetry students will study in this unit is related to a movement in early 20th-century Anglo-American poetry known as “Imagism.” Imagism emphasized precise imagery, and clear, specific language to connect readers to bigger ideas. Some students might be ready to think about developing their work around a coherent theme, such as poems about family or poems about the experience of feeling like an outsider.
