Yellow with water stains,
wine, carpet-beetle droppings,
sweat in, cried in, just plain tired—
I have taken an old dress,
washed it, and wet
spread it on the grass.
Like the nervous bird
inside my chest
that I must breathe
to life each morning,
it comes back
moist smelling.
Yellow jacket on snowberry,
how happy we are
this morning, he rubs his feet
against the pink blossom,
flies upside down
at the same time.
Sandra Alcosser
from her book Except By Nature
Graywolf Press, 1998
Used by permission of the poet.
LESSON PLANS
For an Elementary Classroom
Lesson Plan for Sandra Alcosser’s
“In Touch with a Smoothing Iron”
by Therese Fitzpatrick
I love the wonderful images of the wet dress.
I’d love my kids to paint the images from the poem and then do a writing that reflects what they heard and saw while listening to the poem.
The next day students could spend some recess time (or homework time) finding a bug to observe and try to note some activities on paper to write about later. They can draw the bug and then write a poem about the bug on the paper with the illustration.
I’d like them to think about color too while they are outside and how yellow was used in the poem two times. Once to name a lifeless manmade object and once to name animated insect. Ask students, “Was the dress really lifeless?”
I’d like students to use a Venn Diagram before they write to sketch/think about the bug’s actions and their own actions as the poem does with a yellow jacket and the author.
You could also have students think about the difference approaches to observing if you are scientist versus being an artist/writer. Do they record the same information about our world for us? How is the information that they gather the same or different. What are roles and responsibilities of artists and scientists to society?
Maybe use another Venn Diagram. Is one job more important than the other? Why? How? How do the students see themselves and their peers? Who in the group is an artist and who is a scientist? (Students wouldn’t need to answer this last question out loud, just to have as a point of reflection that we all contribute to the world and we all have our “gifts.”)
Students could vote in a ballot box which job is most important and then graph results. Written responses that explain votes could be posted next to the graph. They could attempt a persuasive writing to explain who should get paid more scientist or artist?
For a Science Classroom
“In Touch with a Smoothing Iron”
by Therese Fitzpatrick
Students could spend some recess time (or homework time) finding a bug to observe and try to note some activities on paper to write about later. The can draw the bug and then write a poem about the bug on the paper with the illustration.
I’d like students to use a Venn Diagram before they write to sketch/think about the bug’s actions and their own actions as the poem does with a yellow jacket and the author.
You could also have students think about the difference approaches to observing if you are scientist verses being an artist/writer. Do they record the same information about our world for us? How is the information that they gather the same or different. What are roles and responsibilities of artists and scientists to society?
Maybe use another Venn Diagram. Is one job more important than the other? Why? How? How do the students see themselves and their peers? Who in the group is an artist and who is a scientist? (Students wouldn’t need to answer this last question out loud, just to have as a point of reflection that we all contribute to the world and we all have our “gifts.”)
Students could vote in a ballot box which job is most important and then graph results. Written responses that explain votes could be posted next to the graph. They could attempt a persuasive writing to explain who should get paid more scientist or artist?
For an Art Classroom
Lesson Plan for Sandra Alcosser’s
“In Touch with a Smoothing Iron”
by Therese Fitzpatrick
I love the wonderful images of the wet dress.
Students could paint the images from the poem and then do a writing that reflects what they heard and saw while listening to the poem.
The next day students could spend some recess time (or homework time) finding a bug to observe and try to note some activities on paper to write about later. The can draw the bug and then write a poem about the bug on the paper with the illustration.
I’d like them to think about color too while they are outside and how yellow was used in the poem two times. Once to name a lifeless manmade object and once to name animated insect. Ask students, “Was the dress really lifeless?”
I’d like students to use a Venn Diagram before they write to sketch/think about the bug’s actions and their own actions as the poem does with a yellow jacket and the author.
You could also have students think about the difference approaches to observing if you are scientist versus being an artist/writer. Do they record the same information about our world for us? How is the information that they gather the same or different. What are roles and responsibilities of artists and scientists to society?
Maybe use another Venn Diagram. Is one job more important than the other? Why? How? How do the students see themselves and their peers? Who in the group is an artist and who is a scientist? (Students wouldn’t need to answer this last question out loud, just to have as a point of reflection that we all contribute to the world and we all have our “gifts.”)
Students could vote in a ballot box which job is most important and then graph results. Written responses that explain votes could be posted next to the graph. They could attempt a persuasive writing to explain who should get paid more scientist or artist?