This Lesson's Title:

Just Because...
Poems

giving voice to voiceless characters

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by NNWP Teacher Consultant
Rob Stone during an AT&T-sponsored in-service class for teachers.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from chapter 2 of the book.

Check out Lord of the Flies at Amazon.com.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a classic example of how voice can be controlled, limited or taken away altogether in a society with an unbalanced power structure. Writers will analyze the distribution of power, and with it, voice, as Golding’s makeshift community evolves and write “Just Because” poems that give voice to those not being heard on the island. Finally students will look at today’s society and find those in need of voice, possibly even themselves, and write new “Just Because” poems so they too can be heard. Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this assignment is voice; students are asked to be aware of the point of view of the characters and the “Just Because” poems should show mood, passion and perspective. The support trait is idea development; writers need to use quality details that help develop the perspective of the poem’s “speaker” so that the message of the poem is clear.