The Story of Self: Memory and Metaphor, Identity and Imagery. Brook Blaylock

Transcription

1 The Story of Self: Memory and Metaphor, Identity and Imagery Brook Blaylock Overview: What i it? The main premie of thi unit i to examine Romare Bearden artitic expreion of autobiography within the context of tudent analyi of autobiographical poetry and other written expreion of identity. Thi unit will focu pecifically on, but i not limited to, Bearden art reflecting hi childhood experience in the South and Pittburgh, place that intrigued Bearden and inpired hi art- Northern city treet, Southern farm life, homey interior in both etting, 1 a well a the ue of a few original poem by Bearden eliciting autobiographical or identity related theme. While examining thee Bearden text, tudent will imultaneouly engage in the creation of original identity collage and autobiographical poem a the unit culminate with an extenion of thi identity analyi in the examination of the Harlem Renaiance and jazz and blue muic o identifiable in Bearden own artitic autobiography. Ideally, thee imultaneou exploration will generate a deep undertanding of the role ymbolim, imagery, and metaphor play in autobiographical expreion. Through accomplihed act of recollection and commemoration, Bearden forged rich narrative convey[ing] univeral tatement. 1 Bearden art, a rich compilation of collage layering [that] parallel the complexity of human experience to project meaning beyond any otenible ubject, 1 poee univeral tatement in eaily identifiable recurring motif and ymbol (the image of the train, incorporation of muic and the idea of the blue, iconic African- American character portrayal) and a tudent recognize thee on canva they will compare and contrat the way in which an artit employ ymbolim and imagery veru the way in which an author integrate thee a figurative language in a poetic text. A an artit, Romare Bearden i bet known for hi materful collage painting and thi unit i, ultimately, a collage of ort. Student will be piecing together the art and writing of Romare Bearden, the poetry of Harlem Renaiance and other minority figure, the lyric of jazz and blue muician, and their own individual art work and poetry to develop an undertanding of autobiography and figurative language. A tudy of Romare Bearden i a perfect foundation for thi unit a the viual imagery invoked in Bearden art (hi pictorial ignification) tranport viewer to cene from Bearden life (autobiography) that take onlooker into a journey of memory. Bearden art continually evoke autobiographical image of hi ummer in Charlotte with grandparent, hi youth and adult life in Pittburgh and Harlem, and hi later exploration of the Caribbean. Within each cut-out and color ection are hidden ymbol that tell the tory of not only Bearden life, but that of the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaiance,

2 and the African-American experience: a celebration of the live of African-American within the univere of human experience a the artit undertood it. 1 It i thee torie I want tudent to identify and analyze a they juxtapoe a tudy of Bearden art, Harlem Renaiance poetry and jazz, and their own autobiographical expreion through art, poetry, and muic in an interdiciplinary unit that i, imply and profoundly, an exploration of the tory of elf- Bearden elf, the African-American elf, and the individual elf, a tudent examine the way in which thee text all are autobiographical on a number of level. Thi unit will be deigned for eighth grade language art tudent and will be introduced at the beginning of the chool year. Both the tudy of biography, autobiography, and memoir, the exploration of Harlem Renaiance poet, and poetic device in general are all critical part of the eighth grade tandard coure of tudy. With Bearden painting a the foundation, tudent can examine thee concept in creative and cro-curricular manner. Thi unit center on trategie and curriculum deigned for eighth grade language art tudent in a high performing middle chool in Charlotte, NC. The chool i an honor chool of excellence, meeting both high growth and 27 out of 27 AYP tandard. The chool population conit of 1,054 tudent in ixth through eighth grade with a racial and ocioeconomic diverification reulting in 72.2 percent Caucaian, 13.8 percent African-American, 7.6 percent Aian, 4.1 percent Hipanic, 2.1 percent multiracial,.3 percent Native American and 12.6 percent of tudent participating in the free and reduced lunch program. 7.3 percent of tudent have diabilitie and 5.4 percent have limited Englih proficiency (LEP). The majority of the chool population enjoy wealth, involved and well educated parent, and average to high intellectual abilitie. Driven by rigor and relevance, the goal of the adminitration and teacher remain to create an academic environment deigned to challenge the mot gifted tudent while imultaneouly tretching and growing all tudent to reach new academic height. A trategy employed to accomplih thi goal i the heterogeneou grouping of all Language Art clae. Thi grouping create a claroom of multiple ability level and challenge the intructor to differentiate education in order to facilitate the need of lower-level tudent without introducing frutration, while imultaneouly driving high level tudent to greater academic and intellectual engagement. The intruction exit within the premie of teaching all whole group leon to the highet level of tudent and then addreing the need of lower level tudent through mall group and on an individual bai a need arie. Intellectually timulating, challenging, and rigorou intruction aligned to the NC tandard coure of tudy, and deigned to teach tudent curriculum a well a application, guide the intructional focu of thi chool. Thi curriculum unit deign applie thee principle to create a unit of tudy both challenging and acceible a tudent engage with an interdiciplinary exploration of identity, memory, ymbolim, metaphor, and the art of autobiography.

3 The Art of Autobiography: I m trying really to remember The Ruian poet, Yevgeny Yevtuhenko, ummarized the relationhip between autobiography and text with hi quote, "A poet' autobiography i hi poetry. Anything ele i jut a footnote." 1 Thi reflection epitomize the paradigm through which thi unit intend tudent to analyze text: the text itelf i the autobiography. While engaging with the art of Bearden and the identity poetry in thi unit, the ultimate aim i to alter tudent perception of autobiographical expreion from the traditional non-fiction analyi of one life from birth to old age, and intead, ee autobiography in it mot ubtle form, hidden inide the image, metaphor, and figurative language in multiple fiction and nonfiction text. What i it? I m trying really to remember The clock ha topped Now I can never know Where the edge of my world can be If I could only enter that old calendar That open to an old, old July And learn what unknowing thing know 1 Thi untitled poem by Romare Bearden, firt publihed in 1984 by Myron Schwartzman in Romare Bearden See in A Memory, will be the firt poem tudent engage in thi tudy. A a unit introduction, tudent will be given a copy of thi poem and aked to analyze it in everal different way. Firt of all, they will do a cold reading and generate a firt repone to the poem. I will intruct them to read the poem and write down all their reaction. They will not be given any pecific quetion to anwer or any background on the poem author or thematic intent. Following thi reading, tudent will hare their interpretation in mall group and dicu whether or not imilar theme or idea tood out following their initial interpretation. Next, tudent will reread the poem and engage with guided quetion about the text. Student will be aked to identify the following: what i the poem main idea; what i the author purpoe in writing thi poem; who do you think the author i and what about the text make you draw thi concluion; what i the main conflict the poem protagonit i experiencing; i thi conflict reolved and why or why not; what type of enory image doe the author ue in thi text and are they effective; are there any ymbol in thi text and what do they ymbolize; if you had to um up thi poem theme in one word what word would you ue and why? Student will again hare their repone in mall group upon completion of thi econd analyi. After mall group dicuion, tudent will then compare their repone and dicu the poem theme in a teacher led whole cla analyi. Following dicuion of the above mentioned quetion, tudent will be hown Bearden collage Childhood Memorie and intructed to compare and contrat thi piece

4 of art with the poem they jut analyzed. At thi point, tudent will have identified memory a a key theme of Bearden poem, and will focu on thi painting depiction of memory. Student will be informed that while thi painting wa created between 1965 and 1966 the artit wa born in 1911 and experienced childhood during the early 20th century. Student will again pay particular attention to the image, particularly the eye with the clock hand, and their ymbolic impact on the theme of the work. Student will follow the ame procedure of analyi on thi text a they ued on the poem; they will journal their initial repone and hare, anwer the ame et of quetion they engaged with the poem and hare, and then interact in a teacher led whole cla analyi. At the concluion of the cla dicuion, the teacher will introduce the tudent to the author and artit, Romare Bearden, and et the tage for the analyi of autobiographical text throughout thi unit. Identity Collage: The clock ha topped A an homage to Bearden adeptne in yntheizing multi-faceted memory and experience into collage painting richly narrating hi autobiography in a lexicon of magazine clipping, fabric, tin foil, paint, newpaper photograph, and other found object, tudent engagement conjoin a tudy of Bearden art and thematically repreentative poetry within the context of differentiated group analyi ultimately reulting in the formation of a cla collage of hared knowledge. A each group analyi center on different poem and painting (identified pecifically in the ection that follow), tudent reflection will move from a pecific thematic or motif baed analyi within a mall group etting to jigawed (more information available in the trategie ection) whole cla preentation of their pecific tudy of Bearden reulting in an overall picture of Bearden identity and autobiography a expreed through hi recurrent ymbol and motif, pecifically, hi emphai on memory, muic, and metaphor. Each mall tudent group will become the magazine clipping, crap of fabric, and bruhtroke of paint that form a whole cla collage painting a tory of autobiography with the image of Bearden, Harlem Renaiance poetry, and jazz, all richly colored with a new undertanding of the metaphor employed by thee text. Introduction: can [I]...ever know/where the edge of my world can be In order to introduce tudent to a wide variety of Bearden work, tudent, following an initial, teacher led model, will engage in mall group analyi of a Bearden painting a well a a Harlem renaiance poem. Student will be divided into differentiated mall group and preented with a poem and a Bearden collage repreentative of the overall focu of tudy (ee ubequent ection). While in thee group, tudent will analyze both work and then be reponible for preenting an overview of their work and analyi to the entire cla uing the jigaw method (ee trategie ection). Student will

5 anwer a erie of quetion about both the poem and the collage and then compare and contrat the two, ultimately writing about how and why both are excellent repreentation of the African-American experience at thi time period and how they both uniquely employ ymbolim and metaphor to convey the author purpoe. At the end of the tudy tudent will preent their poetry analyi and Bearden piece to the cla ultimately creating a wall of the claroom dedicated to poting poetry and art ide by ide in a Harlem Renaiance identity collage. The painting and poetry tudied in each group will be thematically or ymbolically related and part of the tudent analyi will be to identify the commonalitie between thee piece. Student will be introduced to the analyi proce and expectation during a whole cla leon modeling a comparion of Langton Hugh poem, Mother to Son, and Bearden painting, Captivity and Reitance, A powerful, highly political object, Captivity and Reitance make clear that the concern Bearden had addreed in the Baltimore Afro-American forty year earlier were till very much on hi mind. 1 Thee concern are a perfect example of the tack, plinter, and board torn up Hughe ymbolize in Mother to Son. Both Hughe text a well a Bearden painting and Afro-American publication repreent a picture of African-American hitory that reflect a tory of truggle a well a pereverance. Hughe doe thi through the word of hi poem narrator which urge So boy, don t you turn back. 1 Comparatively, Captivity and Reitance, end viewer a imilar meage by juxtapoing image of inequality and entrapment beide thoe indicative of ecape from ubjugation, in particular the drawing of Frederick Dougla and Harriet Tubman. Included a well are image of the continent of Africa; a wood culpture; a writhing figure in chain; lave hip with voyager below deck and at battle on deck [again juxtapoing ubjugation and defiance]; and Prince Cinque, the hero of the battle and a handome and gentle figure at the mural center, who hold a taff againt a landcape with the un/moon riing/etting. At the far right i an ominou apparatu for a lynching, preumably that of John Brown whoe bearded pirit hadow in gray hang over two figure that reference Frederick Dougla and Harriet Tubman, a rifle on end between them. Alo depicted i a regiment of African-American Civil War oldier in the gray uniform of the Confederate ide, although accompanying them on horeback i what may be a blue-jacketed Union officer. 1 Each of the aforementioned image will be analyzed a ymbol and compared and contrated to the ymbol ued by Hughe. During group work, which will occur over a three to four day period, mini-leon on ymbolim, metaphor, and author purpoe will be given a warm up activitie prior to

6 tudent dividing into group. During group work, tudent will TP-CASTT (for more information ee the trategie ection) both the poem and the artwork. Student firt look at the title of the poem without having read the poem. At that time they analyze the title and make prediction about the poem and work of art baed olely on the title. Next tudent paraphrae each tanza of the poem, rephraing the poet word into everyday language they can eaily undertand. In order to paraphrae the painting, tudent will narrate the tory, telling in word the tory the picture viually portray. The poetic connotation will conit of identifying the imile and metaphor ued by the poet verbally while the artitic connotation will entail identification of the viual ymbol and pictorial metaphor employed by Bearden. Attitude analyi will involve determining the mood and tone of the poem a well a the mood and tone of the painting being viewed. Shift will be analyzed viually by examining abrupt difference in color, line, or artitic pattern, verbally by analyi of a change in the theme or author tyle. Next, both the poem and art title will be reviited and tudent will determine whether or not they think the title i effective baed on their new undertanding of the work. Finally, tudent will determine the theme of both the poem and painting. Alo during thi analyi, tudent will anwer guided quetion deigned to prompt dicuion on the hidden meage within the text and the interconnectedne of the author peronal identity and created work. Memory: enter[ing] that old calendar/ open[ing] to an old, old July Romare Bearden, a quoted in Romare Bearden: Six Panel on a Southern Theme, reflected that From far off ome people that I have een and remembered have come into the landcape [of my painting]...sometime the mind relive thing very clearly for u. Often you have no choice in dealing with thi kind of enation, thing are jut there... There are road out of the ecret place within u along which we all mut move a we go to touch other. 1 Thee very road out of the ecret place within u are exactly the path I hope my tudent will travel down both peronally, a they mue over their own autobiography of memory, a well a vicariouly, a they viit the ecret place hidden in Bearden collage. Memory i an eential component of any autobiography and a fitting place for tudent to begin their tudy. However, peronal reflection and analyi of Bearden memorie are only the beginning of thi ection of tudy, for Bearden did not reflect excluively on iolated peronal memorie. Hi collage painting are bet decribed, and analyzed, a an accumulation of memorie, and it i the accumulated autobiography, the layer of torie hidden in Bearden text, that tudent will be dicovering. What better medium than collage to expre the accumulation of memorie? And in t collage the emblematic medium of the century? Collagit... take bit of chao to...invetigate, organize, and preent evidence of the activity of a culture...bearden work acknowledge the vitality of the American craft tradition of quiltmaking, rug-looping, and decoration that wa a lively art before the appropriation of

7 the Cubit...[and probably very vivid in Bearden memorie of childhood] hi autobiographical underpinning echoe the tructure of o much contemporary art. 1 In light of the multi-faceted documentation of memory Bearden ha achieved in hi art, tudent will look at three pecific type of memory and autobiographical repreentation in thi ection of tudy: peronal memory, thoe experience and entiment iolated to individual experience; American memory, reflection bet undertood within the hitorical context of our nation interaction with African- American culture and life; and collective memory, memorie that trancend peronal or national tie and forge univeral connection. Student tudy of memory will begin with a brief whole cla dicuion of what memory i and how and why memory i both peronal and collective. The cla will review the above quote and dicu how we are eeing, through Bearden collage, both an individual memory, hi peronal childhood experience and reflection on canva, a well a the memory of a culture, the African-American experience Bearden repreent viually. Thi idea of individual and collective repreentation of memory will be reinforced by the analyi of both a verbal repreentation of thi collective memory of a culture, compared to the viual, a compared to the individual memorie peronal to each text creator. Peronal Memory You know, in Eliot poem, The Four Quartet, he talk about time, and you re going back to where you tarted from, but maybe you re bringing another inight, another experience to it. And thing that may be noneential have been tripped away, and you can ee that the thing that till tick in your mind mut be of ome importance to you. Like the people I remember, the pepper jelly lady, a little girl [who] kind of played with me, Liza. All thee thing that now come back to me. 1 Bearden above tatement emphaize hi interplay with time and memory, evoking a haunting idea of yet uninterpreted ymbolim eemingly meaningle until expreed and analyzed artitically through the paradigm of viual and chronological reflection. Bearden peronal memorie and ymbol diffue themelve throughout hi collage painting forming and reforming into autobiography. Bearden oberved time [a] a pattern, tating you can come back to where you tarted from with added experience and hope for more undertanding. 1 Thi idea of advanced undertanding through chronologically varied perpective form a bai of comparion between Bearden art and the poem paired below. Student examination will involve the identification of imilar theme and repone to the idea of time and it effect on memory and experience. Student will tudy the poem Southern Manion by Arna Bontemp in conjunction with

8 an untitled poem by Bearden, beginning with the line Sometime I remember and hi painting, Profile/Part I, The Twentie: Mecklenburg County, Sunet Limited, Student in thi group will TP-CASTT and compare and contrat all three text, and then focu on the three text imilaritie. Interetingly, tudent hould find that all three not only reflect on remembered experience, but identify a haunting abence accompanying thee memorie. It i thi abence that I want tudent to particularly notice in Profile/Part I, The Twentie: Mecklenburg County, Sunet Limited- pecifically, why did Bearden include no tructure in thi painting? Jut a Arna Bontemp can never enter the outhern manion he decribe and Bearden can never truly reviit hi grandparent houe, I hope to ugget that thi painting could not contain the tructure of the particular pat Bearden wihe to repreent in thi collage. The un ha et on the cene both poet have decribed, their verbal image merely memorie haunting the line of their poem in the ame way Bearden painting ha hauntingly eliminated tructure. The viewer doe not ee or know where the individual in Bearden unet cene have come from, or where they will go after the ky (memory?) darken. We witne them trapped in a particular linear moment, jut a Bontemp manion and Bearden grandparent houe are trapped, the only hint of time the train moving forward- but to where? Through a erie of guided quetion, tudent will be led to identify the imilar theme of lack both the poem and painting convey. They will then be aked to reflect on the effect of time (the train?) on memory, recognizing that while in ome way time refine memory, in other way it alter or erae it. Student will finalize their analyi by electing the text they feel bet reflect the idea of memory and writing an explanation of why with pecific textual reference to upport their idea. The econd tudy of thi nature will examine peronal memorie aociated with death, lo and grief. Bearden experienced thi peronally through the very ignificant lo of hi boyhood friend, Eugene Bailey, a ickly and handicapped Pittburgh lad who lived near the Bank [Bearden grandparent] boarding houe. 1 Bailey i ometime credited a the catalyt for Bearden interet in art a Bailey torie of life in hi mother brothel prompted Bearden to put pen to paper and illutrate hi friend tale. Ultimately, Bearden grandmother, Carrie Bank, dicovered the reality of Bailey life and adopted him into their home. Tragically Eugene died hortly after thi and hi death, like Bearden great-grandparent Charlotte home, became another one of Bearden haunting memorie. Bearden commemorated their youthful friendhip more than five decade later... in Profile/Part I, The Twentie: Pittburgh Memorie, Farewell Eugene. Bearden alo reflected upon thi lo in vere, penning a poem about Eugene Bailey death. Student will examine the following excerpted line from thi poem: Nothing like thi wa neceary Eugene I tand here among thee tomb, holding thi flower which will fall endlely into thi

9 open earth that reject nothing. 1 in conjunction with their examination of Bearden Farewell Eugene collage painting, TPCASTTing and anwering guided quetion about both piece. Student will alo compare and contrat the effectivene of Bearden above poem, veru Bearden painting, in conveying hi memory and feeling of grief in regard to Eugene. Particular attention will be paid to how Bearden etablihe a mood and tone verbally in hi poem veru viually in hi art. Following thi comparion and contrat of Bearden peronal experience with lo, tudent will be divided into group and will compare Bearden expreion of grief to thoe articulated by poet Langton Hughe in Sylveter Dying Bed, Jame Weldon Johnon in Go Down Death (A Funeral Sermon), and Claude McKay in If We Mut Die. Student placement in thee group will be baed on ability and reflect the difficulty level of the poem, Hughe Sylveter Dying Bed repreenting the poem with the greatet eae of readability and McKay If We Mut Die being the mot difficult text to interpret. Student will not only TP-CASTT thee poem, but anwer et of differentiated quetion deigned to engage tudent not only with the theme of lo, but encourage analyi of how each of thee text reflect a cultural expreion of lo and detail ignificant experience unique to African-American tradition. After tudent have looked at both the Bearden work and the poetry they were aigned in a mall group etting, tudent will reflect on how and why all of thee text reveal important information about not only the author of each text on an autobiographical level, but a culture a a whole. Thi final dicuion and writing aignment will be deigned to introduce the next ection of tudy, American memory, where tudent will examine Bearden art and Harlem Renaiance poem through the len of it commentary on American ociety during the time of it creation. American Memory Ralph Ellion... [once] decribed...hi and Bearden hared concern [a being] with the relationhip between our racial identity, our identity a American, and our miion a writer and artit. 1 It i thi hared concern tudent analyi i deigned to identify in thi ection of tudy. Through examination of Bearden broader theme, pecifically thoe reflecting the daily life of both Southern and Northern African-American, along with the tudy of poetry illutrating the nexu of racial and American identity and the concomitant truggle thi produced, tudent hould identify an autobiography of African-American life in the era of egregation. [Bearden ] collage are conidered to be ome of the firt work to pointedly engage black popular cultural practice in contemporary viual production [contributing to hi poition a] the main interpreter of a

10 complex view of black ubjectivity in hi time 1 and are therefore a fitting pringboard for thi analyi. Bearden art provide a rich archive of the African American experience, a leon in modernim, and a lyrical legacy of Southern hitory. 1 It i the hitory of Bearden art, and the individual and American meage it convey, around which tudent tudy revolve. Of particular importance will be Bearden pictorial repreentation of the Northern citie to which a number of African-American immigrated during the Great Migration. Student tudy center on the way African-American tranitioned from the South to the North, their motivation for ecaping the South, and the quetion of whether or not thi Great Migration olved the racial dilemma from which thee former Southerner hoped to ecape. Bearden own family reportedly left Charlotte after hi father wa accoted by a gang of white men accuing him of kidnapping the lighter kinned Romare: White men urrounded them, and aerted that the black father had kidnapped the white child. Three-year-old Romare would have heard the cacophony, een the truggle, and felt fear. Father and on ecaped, but Bearden parent quickly left the South for Harlem. He could never quite go home again. 1 Bearden experience with racial prejudice did not end in Harlem, nor did the memory of the South ever ecape hi pyche. Similarly, a number of Harlem Renaiance poet either experienced both Southern and Northern life a an African-American and compared and contrated the two, or combined their overall racial truggle into a frutration with America a a whole and racim in general. It i the repone to thi racim, and the quet to find a ene of home and a place in which one can fully belong and aimilate, that i the focu of thi ection of tudy. Bearden mixe both Southern and Northern image, and racial truggle and tereotype within hi collage. Hi very form of creation, the fractured nature of montage, reflect the diviion and diharmony both he, and a number of African-American, experienced during thi time period. Collage methodology, fracturing pace and form, wa a brilliant choice for an artit wihing to convey hi repone to a ociety increaingly aware of the poibilitie of nuclear war, of the growing controvery that preceded and accompanied the United State engagement in Southeat Aia, and on a daily bai for African-American, of the ongoing betiality impoed by the Jim Crow law, which both limited opportunitie in every apect of life and maintained the plintered exitence of an illegal de facto egregation. 1 Through comparing and contrating the poitive and negative depiction of the African-American experience in Bearden art with the poitive and negative decription of thi experience in the poem America, The City Love, and The White City by Claude McKay and Theme for Englih B, and I, Too by Langton Hughe tudent will engage with the American memorie recorded in thee text.

11 Collective Memory One of the mot intereting apect of Bearden oeuvre i the univerality and cro cultural nature of a number of hi ymbol and mean of expreion. While at firt glance, Bearden may appear to be a documentarian excluively capturing the life and culture of African-American during the era of egregation, cloer examination of hi collected work reveal a much broader connection to life and ociety. Ye, Bearden i primarily creating a type of fractured ocial-realim in hi collage painting, however, he i creating hi tory through the ue of much more univeral ymbol. Hi ue of African mak, Chinee and Japanee element, and hi facination with, and reference to literary mythology within hi body of work combine to produce yet another layer of interpretation of Bearden painting, that of a latent expreion of the collective memory of not only hi race, but of humanity. Bearden himelf commented that all of painting i a kind of talking about life or ociety, but it doen t need to be overtly o. 1 Bearden ha indeed achieved a deep eated complexity within the layer of hi collage painting that beg viewer to examine the interection of myth and memory, autobiography and biography in a facinating viual narrative of humanity. One of Bearden bet example of viually emblematizing collective memory arie in hi Black Odyey erie....in Bearden Odyeu narrative, the luh environment i inhabited by dark-kinned figure rooted in both claical myth and African-American culture. When queried about thi, Bearden explained that the erie involve Poeidon who alway ha to come up from Africa, where he want to be with hi friend there. And it i univeral. So if a child in Benin or Louiiana... ee my painting of Odyeu he can undertand the myth better. 1 Student will begin their tudent of Bearden mythological theme by dividing into group, each one of which reponible for analyzing one of Bearden Black Odyey painting alongide a copy of that ection of Homer Odyey and a traditional Greek illutration of the correponding cene. Student will compare and contrat the univeral theme in all three text and then identify how and why Bearden ha appropriated the originally Greek theme in order to comment on the African-American experience, or odyey, he know peronally. Student will identify what Bearden deciion to recreate thee image reflect about hi autobiography a well a how it i a biography of hi race, ironically repreented in a tale claically and ymbolically connected to another culture and time. Student will focu on the ymbol and viual image that produce the univeral meage Bearden ha capitalized upon in hi art. Finally, tudent group will preent their finding to the cla a a whole who will take note on each ection a Bearden entire Black Odyey erie, a well a an abridged verion of Homer Odyey, i reviewed and dicued. After the completion of the Black Odyey activity, tudent will then examine the way Countee Cullen embraced mythological ymbol a a mean to expre hi frutration and truggle a both an African-American and a poet in Yet Do I Marvel. Student group will invetigate one of Cullen two literary alluion, either Tantalu or

12 Siyphu, and identify how and why they are appropriate ymbol of Cullen peronal, autobiographical truggle a detailed in thi text. Student will then hare their finding with the cla a a whole and turn their attention on the lat two line of the poem, Yet do I marvel at thi curiou thing:/ To make a poet black, and bid him ing! 1 Student will examine how and why thee two line are imilar to the plight of Tantalu and Siyphu and overall, what Cullen wa attempting to repreent about hi African- American experience by appropriating thee ymbol. Student will then compare Cullen ue of univeral mythological ymbol to expre culturally pecific experience in Yet Do I Marvel with Bearden in Black Odyey. Finally, tudent will dicu the identity of Cullen a a Black poet, a expreed in the lat two line of Yet Do I Marvel, and Bearden a a Black artit. Student will examine the idea of ong in term of Cullen poem and Bearden painting and be aked to identify the type of image both ing about and why. Muic: the edge of my world Not only i the idea of memory a recurring motif in Bearden oeuvre, muic culture wa [alo] a critical apect of Bearden... [body of work]. Ellion recounted hared experience with the artit in the 1930: the day of winging big band... when we danced the Lindy at the Savoy Ballroom, and night when new tar were initiated on the tage of the Apollo Theatre. 1 Clearly the experience recounted by Ellion impacted Bearden, a their memory emerged to form the bai of an entire collection of painting: [Bearden ] 1975 exhibition... entitled Of the Blue, joined New York club cene with image rooted in Mecklenburg blue memorie... A a group thee collage offer a glimpe into Bearden denely layered interaction with muic viual realm... Hot ound and movement generated by muician, vocalit, and dancer who frequented [thee club] can almot be heard and felt while looking at Bearden evocation of thee place. 1 Thi erie of painting capture a type of muical memory Bearden paradoxically tranpoe into fabric, paper clipping, and paint. Thee note play a viually narrated ong myteriouly trancending enory boundarie and becoming a imultaneou feat of ight and ound. Thi phenomenon will be the foundation of tudent tudy of enory imagery and figurative language. Thee verbal tool, and their capacity to trancend experiential boundarie, will be explored by comparing and contrating their ue in the poem Song by Gwendolyn Bennett, O Black and Unknown Bard by Jame Weldon Johnon, and Langton Hughe The Weary Blue. Metaphor: learn[ing] what unknowing thing know Throughout thi coure of tudy, tudent will be introduced to not only a number of Bearden collage painting, but a number of ignificant Harlem Renaiance poem and

13 poet. In order to ait tudent undertanding and a a form of guided note during jigawed preentation, tudent will be keeping a detailed note heet comparing and contrating the verbal and viual image dicued in multiple text. Whether during a teacher led whole cla dicuion, or during tudent guided preentation of variou differentiated tudie, tudent will track and analyze the ymbol and metaphor ued by thee poet to convey meaning. Following each new dicuion of paired text, tudent will pend time completing the ection on their guided note heet. Thi i bet accomplihed following the whole cla or tudent led dicuion, and when guided by the intructor. I have provided a ample of the firt initial comparion tudent will be making. The idea behind thi tudy i to focu on and compare and contrat the way in which Bearden employ artitic ymbolim and figurative language to convey meaning to the verbal method found in the poem tudied. Teacher led intruction hould guide tudent to particular image within Bearden painting that parallel imilar verbally generated image. For example, following the coure of tudy detailed under the heading The Art of Autobiography, tudent will culminate the leon by comparing and contrating the verbal and viual image analyzed during the leon, and entering their obervation on the guided note chart. The guided note chart will be divided into ection a follow. Heading at the top of the chart will be: Bearden Work/ Poem or line (beneath thi heading tudent will enter the name of Bearden painting and the title of the poem being compared and contrated), Viual/ Symbol One (beneath thi heading tudent will enter a ignificant viual image from the Bearden painting they lited in the firt column and a critical line of poetry or ymbol from the poem they lited in the firt column), Repreent (beneath thi heading tudent will note what the viual image ymbolize and what the poetry line repreent figuratively), vene (tudent will explain how and why thi viual image i effective within the context of the overall painting and how and why the poetic figurative language function in the context of the poem overall meaning), Viual/Symbol Two (tudent will note another viual from Bearden painting and another line from poetry), Repreent (beneath thi heading tudent will note what the viual image ymbolize and what the poetry line repreent figuratively), vene (tudent will explain how and why thi viual image i effective within the context of the overall painting and how and why the poetic figurative language function in the context of the poem overall meaning), Viual/Symbol Three (tudent will note another viual from Bearden painting and another line from poetry), Repreent (beneath thi heading tudent will note what the viual image ymbolize and what the poetry line repreent figuratively), vene (tudent will explain how and why thi viual image i effective within the context of the overall painting and how and why the poetic figurative language function in the context of the poem overall meaning), Commonalitie between Viual and Symbol (thi heading will allow tudent to identify the imilaritie between the viual and verbal image analyzed and prepare for the comparion and contrat paragraph they will write about the text analyzed). Following the completion of the chart, tudent will ue thi information to generate a comparion and contrat paragraph dicuing in detail the way in which the painting

14 ued viual ymbol a a form of figurative language to convey an overall theme and the way in which a poet conveyed a imilar theme through verbal metaphor and ymbol. Thi activity will continue throughout the entire unit and will form the foundation for tudent final writing aignment. In thi aignment, they will review the note they have taken and elect a poem and Bearden painting to compare and contrat in a five paragraph eay. Thi eay will compare and contrat the verbal and viual uage of ymbol to convey an overall theme and achieve a particular author purpoe and will be a tet grade. Guided Note Chart Beard en Work/ Poem Line Viua l/ Sym bol One Repre ent vene Viual/ Symb ol Two Repre ent vene Viual /Symb ol Three Repre ent vene Comm onaliti e betwe en Viual /Sym bol Child hood Mem orie Eye with clock hand Woma n holding cotton bole and man playing guitar in the middle of the intere ction clock on top of the black and white buildin g in the left hand corner

15 Beard en Work/ Poem Line Viua l/ Sym bol One Repre ent vene Viual/ Symb ol Two Repre ent vene Viual /Symb ol Three Repre ent vene Comm onaliti e betwe en Viual /Sym bol Untitle d Poem (From R.B. See a Memor y, 1984) The clock ha topp ed If I could only enter that old calenda r/ That open to an old, old July learn what unkno wing thing know

16 Beard en Work/ Poem Line Viua l/ Sym bol One Repre ent vene Viual/ Symb ol Two Repre ent vene Viual /Symb ol Three Repre ent vene Comm onaliti e betwe en Viual /Sym bol Capti vity and Rei tanc e lav e hip with voya ger belo w deck and at battl e on deck a writhin g figure in chain figure at mural cente r, holdi ng a taff again t a land cape with un/ moon riing /etti ng

17 Beard en Work/ Poem Line Viua l/ Sym bol One Repre ent vene Viual/ Symb ol Two Repre ent vene Viual /Symb ol Three Repre ent vene Comm onaliti e betwe en Viual /Sym bol Moth er to Son Life for me ain't been no crytal tair It' had tack in it, And plinter, And board torn up, And place with no carpet on the floor -- Bare. But all the timei' e been a- climbin ' on,a nd reachi n' landin',an d turnin' corner,an d ometi me goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light. Profile/ Part I, The Twentie : Meckle nburg County, Sunet Limited

18 Beard en Work/ Poem Line Viua l/ Sym bol One Repre ent vene Viual/ Symb ol Two Repre ent vene Viual /Symb ol Three Repre ent vene Comm onaliti e betwe en Viual /Sym bol Southe rn Manio n by Arna Bonte mp Poible Strategie for Teaching thi Unit: Flexible Grouping Differentiation, in the form of flexible grouping, i employed in a number of my leon for thi unit. In each ection including the tudy of multiple text, I have identified the difficulty level of the poetry and fiction tudied to facilitate the creation of differentiated group a a part of thi unit of tudy. "Differentiated intruction, alo called differentiation, i a proce through which teacher enhance learning by matching tudent characteritic to intruction and aement. Differentiated intruction allow all tudent to acce the ame claroom curriculum by providing different entry point, learning tak, and outcome that are tailored to tudent' need." 1 A a teacher in a heterogeneouly grouped claroom, it i almot impoible to meet the need of the multiple ability level within a ingle claroom etting without differentiating content, proce, or product. Student need individualized activitie and content pecific to their learning tyle and level. A a teacher of heterogeneou clae in an eighty to ninety minute block period, I have found that breaking my cla into "chunk" of teaching time, and tranitioning between direct, whole cla intruction and flexible grouping, ha produced the mot poitive reult. I introduce concept in a whole cla etting. Following direct intruction, flexibility grouping allow me to individualize aignment and content, remediating, reinforcing, and challenging a appropriate. A "teacher can differentiate content, proce, and/or product for tudent," 1 it i important to note that the group ued to cover curriculum in thi unit are baed around differentiated content

19 and product. However, the proce remain uniform for all tudent.the wonderful part about thi differentiation a it relate to thi unit in particular, i that it allow tudent a much broader expoure to content (more example of Bearden art and the brief introduction to a greater number of poem) a tudent group hare the content knowledge learned in thee mall etting with the ret of their peer. Literature Circle, Expert Group Preentation, and Guided Note Information will be hared among tudent through the ue of literature circle, or "expert group." Once divided into group, tudent within each group are given different text to repond to and interpret. Each tudent in the group i aigned a role and will perform a pecific tak. The role I traditionally aign are Dicuion Leader, Textmater, Creative Director and Connector. I do not place tudent in group larger than four tudent and I have found that group of three, whenever poible, create environment of better interaction and dicuion between peer. In thee literature circle, tudent interact with a piece of art, poetry or proe, or both reource imultaneouly in order to gain an undertanding of autobiography or figurative language. After completing interpretive activitie, the tudent in each literary circle become "expert" on their text or text and create a five to ten minute mini leon on their completed analyi, preenting thi information to the whole cla. Student whoe group are not preenting information will be taking guided note on the information each group hare. Thee note are the ame for each tudent and are deigned to explore the idea of autobiography inherent in thi unit. They contain a ection of information and quetion for tudent to anwer a each group preent. (I have provided a ample of thee guided note in the ection titled Metaphor ). Jigaw The jigaw trategy i deigned to preent tudent with a multitude of text, or one very large text, without making it neceary for tudent to read an entire work, or every reource material provided by a teacher, while till being expoed to relevant information and material in an engaging and intructional manner. During a jigaw, tudent are preented with different text, or different paage of text, and read thee work individually or in a mall group in order to form an "expert" opinion on the text and report finding. A tudent take on the role of an "expert" they analyze their ection of text in detail and then hare their new knowledge within a mall group or whole cla etting. Student are reponible for an aigned text in uch a degree that they can ummarize and preent thi information to clamate in a manner that facilitate the undertanding of the baic theme and concept inherent within the text. 1 TP-CASTT

20 Thi trategy i a method of poetry analyi created to encourage tudent to ue an analytical proce to undertand the author craft. 1 Student will employ thi method of analyi while in their identity collage group. Thi trategy ha tudent break a poem apart and look at different element of the poem a well a the poem a a whole. TP- CASTT i an acronym that tand for title, paraphrae, connotation, attitude, hift, title, and theme.

21 Appendix of Ditrict Standard Thi hyperlink how the NC Standard Coure of tudy for my curriculum. During my unit I will focu extenively on goal 5.01 and 5.02 Competency Goal 5: The learner will repond to variou literary genre uing interpretive and evaluative procee Increae fluency, comprehenion, and inight through a meaningful and comprehenive literacy program by: uing effective reading trategie to match type of text. reading elf-elected literature and other material of interet to the individual. reading literature and other material elected by the teacher. auming a leaderhip role in tudent-teacher reading conference. leading mall group dicuion. taking an active role in whole cla eminar. analyzing the effect of element uch a plot, theme, characterization, tyle, mood, and tone. dicuing the effect of uch literary device a figurative language, dialogue, flahback, alluion, irony, and ymbolim. analyzing and evaluating theme and central idea in literature and other text in relation to peronal and ocietal iue. extending undertanding by creating product for different purpoe, different audience, and within variou context. analyzing and evaluating the relationhip between and among character, idea, concept, and/or experience Study the characteritic of literary genre (fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry) through: reading a variety of literature and other text (e.g., young adult novel, hort torie, biographie, play, free vere, narrative poem). evaluating what impact genre-pecific characteritic have on the meaning of the text. evaluating how the author' choice and ue of a genre hape the meaning of the literary work. evaluating what impact literary element have on the meaning of the text.

22 End Note 1.Romare Bearden: Southern Recollection. Charlotte: Mint Mueum, 2011, Ibid., Ibid., Ibid. 5. "Yevgeny Yevtuhenko quote." ThinkExit.com Quotation Hick, Kyra E. "The Anyone Can Fly Foundation, Inc." 7. Bearden, Romare, Ruth Fine, and Mary Lee Corlett, The Art of Romare Bearden. Wahington: National Gallery Of Art, 2003, "Mother to Son by Langton Hughe." PoemHunter.Com - Thouand of poem and poet. Poetry Search Engine Bearden, Fine, and Corlett. The Art of Romare Bearden, Ibid., Ibid., Romare Bearden: Southern Recollection. Charlotte: Mint Mueum, 2011, Ibid. 14. Bearden, Fine, and Corlett. The Art of Romare Bearden, Ibid. 16. Ibid., Ibid., Romare Bearden: Southern Recollection. Charlotte: Mint Mueum, 2011, Ibid., Bearden, Fine, and Corlett. The Art of Romare Bearden, Ibid., Ibid., "Countee Cullen." Bearden, Fine, and Corlett. The Art of Romare Bearden, Ibid.,

23 26. Hall, T., N. Strangman, and A. Meyer, Differentiated Intruction and Implication for UDL Implementation, Tomlinon, Carol Ann, How to Differentiate Intruction in Mixed Ability Claroom (Columbu, Ohio: An For Superviion & Curric Development (Acd), Collegeboard Springboard Englih Textual Power, Ibid., 384.

24 Annotated Bibliography "Additional Poem by Gwendolyn Bennett." Welcome to Englih «Department of Englih, College of LAS, Univerity of Illinoi. (acceed September 24, 2011). Thi webite provide acce to Bennett poem and i an eay way for teacher to find, print, and reearch the Bennett poem ued in conjunction with the Bearden painting. Bearden, Romare, Ruth Fine, and Mary Lee Corlett. The Art of Romare Bearden. Wahington: National Gallery Of Art, Thi book i an expanive teacher reource providing both biographical information a well a artitic analyi and criticim of Bearden work. Thi ource alo contain a number of excellent color repreentation of Bearden art. Board, College. Collegeboard Springboard Englih Textual Power Level III. New York: CollegeBoard, Thi textbook provide detailed information to ait teacher who wih to ue the jigaw or TP-CASTT trategie dicued in thi unit. Boaz, Franz. "Mule and Men Index." American The Univerity of Virginia. (acceed September 24, 2011). Thi i a webite dedicated to the work of Zora Neale Hurton and provide excellent hort torie and novel excerpt teacher could eaily integrate into tudy. Bontemp, Arna. "Southern Manion By Arna Bontemp." Chickenbone. (acceed September 24, 2011). Thi webite provide eay acce to poem by Bontemp.

25 Ellmann, Richard, and Robert Clair. The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, Excellent teacher reource for reearch and analytical information regarding the Harlem Renaiance and the poet and poem dicued in thi tudy. Hick, Kyra E.. "The Anyone Can Fly Foundation, Inc.." The Anyone Can Fly Foundation, Inc.. (acceed June 15, 2011). Webite providing an excellent collection of eay and critical interpretation of Bearden work. "Jame Weldon Johnon: Poem." Poetry Archive Poem. (acceed September 24, 2011). Johnon, Jame Weldon. "O Black and Unknown Bard, by Jame Weldon Johnon." Poetry Archive Poem. (acceed September 24, 2011). Both of the above webite provide eay acce to poem by Jame Weldon Johnon. Kreymborg, Alfred. American Poetry. New York: Coward-McCann, Inc., Excellent teacher reource for reearch and analytical information regarding the Harlem Renaiance and the poet and poem dicued in thi tudy. Meally, Robert G., and Romare Bearden. Romare Bearden: A Black Odyey. New York: DC Moore Gallery, An extenive critical analyi of Bearden Black Odyey erie of painting. Provide