I am teaching multicultural literature for the first time this year and wanted to start with a poem that would get our conversation going on the first day. When I reached out to my #TeachLivingPoets community, someone suggested “A House Divided” by Kyle Dargan, and I immediately knew this was our poem. While I turned this lesson into a lesson for an entire class period, this can easily be modified into a shorter lesson.
Here’s a 10 minute lesson:
Read aloud or project on your screen Dargan’s experience that led him to write this poem:
"I took Amtrak from Washington, D.C. to Atlanta for my brother's wedding. I'd never traveled that far south by train. I saw a familiar but antiquated ruralness—another iteration of America. On the return, I grabbed a seat next to a group of Alabamians on their way to Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity. It seemed that, in the moment, there were so many different “Americas” colliding in the coach. While conversing about work over a dining car breakfast, one of the men, Mike Laus, offered a line about roofing someone had passed on to him. It struck me, and provided an entry point for musing on how little we see of, or believe in, each other's Americas." - Kyle Dargan
Read “A House Divided” aloud in small groups. Annotate with two different colors what the speaker notices about Your America and My America and discuss what insights about the two different Americas.
Here’s a 10 minute lesson:
Read aloud or project on your screen Dargan’s experience that led him to write this poem:
"I took Amtrak from Washington, D.C. to Atlanta for my brother's wedding. I'd never traveled that far south by train. I saw a familiar but antiquated ruralness—another iteration of America. On the return, I grabbed a seat next to a group of Alabamians on their way to Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity. It seemed that, in the moment, there were so many different “Americas” colliding in the coach. While conversing about work over a dining car breakfast, one of the men, Mike Laus, offered a line about roofing someone had passed on to him. It struck me, and provided an entry point for musing on how little we see of, or believe in, each other's Americas." - Kyle Dargan
Read “A House Divided” aloud in small groups. Annotate with two different colors what the speaker notices about Your America and My America and discuss what insights about the two different Americas.
For a link to an extended lesson with this poem, click here: “A House Divided” lesson.
Further Reading:
Susan Barber teaches at Midtown High School in Atlanta, GA. She serves on the NCTE Secondary Steering Committee and as the College Board Advisor for AP Literature but is most excited about her work in Room E216.
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