Poem-a-Day - Welcome to Summer Camp

Teachers and Parents, 

Today we introduce a new eight-week newsletter series that we hope you will find helpful as you continue to seek ways to engage the students and young people in your life with meaningful activities, and, of course, poetry. 

Especially in this time, we believe that reading, sharing, and writing poems helps us to process the world around us while we learn. Thank you for joining us for summer camp, as we continue to shelter in poems.  

1. Big picture: What associations do you have with the words “Boston Tea Party?”
    
2. Read this short excerpt about the Old South Meeting House and the role it played at the beginning of the American Revolution. Write down what you think are the important words and phrases in the excerpt. Then, share what you’ve learned about the Old South Meeting House from this excerpt with your partner.
    
3. Read January Gill O’Neil’s poem silently and write down the words and phrases that jump out to you. Read the poem again aloud and add to your lists of words and phrases. Repeat this process with your partner reading aloud if needed.
    
4. Share your words and phrases with your partner. What do these words and phrases tell us about the poem? What is the structure of the words? What might this have to do with the Old South Meeting House?
    
5. What did you learn from the historical excerpt about the Old South Meeting House? What did you learn from the poem? What do you think accounts for the difference? Give detailed evidence from both the historical excerpt and the poem.

Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. Hughes is particularly known for his insightful portrayals of Black life in America from the twenties through the sixties. He wrote novels, short stories and plays, as well as poetry, and is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing, as in his book-length poem Montage of a Dream Deferred (Holt, 1951). His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

Learn more about Langston Hughes and read more of his work at Poets.org.