Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources:
 Pre-step (before sharing the published model): Share with students the idea behind a Poem for Two Voices. Tell them that two-voice poetry is just that – it is meant to be read by two voices. When two voices read, the sounds and rhythm of the poem come alive. Share this example poem with students by having two students read it aloud. Notice how this poem goes back and forth between two readers, but it also has a simultaneous line where the same words are read together.
There's a wonderful collection of poems-- Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman--that contains poems for multiple voices. The examples in this publication are marvelous to help show your students the power behind poems for two voices. If you have this book to share with your class, be sure your students notice how the poems go back and forth between readers, but also have many simultaneous lines where the same words (or sometimes different words) are read together.
Step one (sharing the published model): To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee creates a vivid picture of racial prejudice in the South in the 1930s. Chapter 15 clearly shows the difference in perspective between Atticus and some of the men of the town over the trial of Tom Robinson. Read this chapter aloud to students, and/or show them the scene from the movie. After you have read the chapter aloud, facilitate a class discussion about the different views of Atticus and the lynch mob about Tom Robinson. Ask students to speculate about Atticus’s character and why he would sit outside of Tom Robinson’s jail cell for the night. Also ask students to think about why the men in the lynch mob feel the anger that they do towards Tom Robinson. Through the discussion, guide students to think about whether each side has a valid argument, keeping in perspective the prevailing racial prejudice during this time period.
Give students the graphic organizer, Atticus vs. The Mob, to fill out after the discussion. This graphic organizer asks students to find specific quotations from Chapter 15 in To Kill a Mockingbird that support each side’s perspective over the Tom Robinson situation. The students should find two quotations from Atticus that show how he feels about Tom Robinson and the fact that he is defending Tom. The students will also need to provide an explanation for why each of these two quotations represent Atticus’s side. Then have the students find two quotes from the lynch mob and explain why these two quotes represent the views of the mob. ]
After students have had a chance to fill out their graphic organizer, show them an example of another Poem for Two Voices. Working with partners or in small groups, have students create a poem for two voices based on the scene from To Kill a Mockingbird, and the two voices for the poem are to be Atticus and the Mob. The poems will probably be short, so encourage students to choose words carefully...to choose words that demonstrate character voice. Select several poems to be performed.
Once the Atticus versus the mob poems are done, inform students they will be individually be writing a poem for two voices that captures emotions on a different topic.
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