Name: Tammy Middleton

Discipline: English

School: Damascus High School, Montgomery County, MD

Grade Level/Content Focus: Grades 11-12 / English and Language Arts

Time Period: Two 45-minute class periods

Maryland Content Standards:
The students will be able to:

• recognize the influence of historical forces on the development of language and literature (1.2.3);
• interpret texts by translating them into other art forms (1.3.1);
• reflect upon creative elements and forms, and respond to them in a critical manner (1.3.2); and
• respect the variety in language usage patterns and dialects as they vary across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, social contexts, and communication patterns (2.3.1).

Specific Objectives:
The students will be able to:

• discuss the origin and movement of the pantoum poetry form;
• explain the patterned structure of a pantoum;
• discuss the contribution of the Renaissance to literature in general terms;
• define the literary terms “fable” and “proverb”; and
• create a pantoum using another literary form as its basis.

Vocabulary/Concepts:

• pantoum
• quatrain
• proverb
• Pembayang
• Renaissance
• stanza
• fable
• Maksud

Materials and Resources:
Resources:

Books for teacher use:

Sagan, Miriam. Unbroken Line: Writing in the Lineage of Poetry. Sherman Asher Publishing,
1999.

Web Resources:

For history of the Malay Peninsula:
• http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/

For stories and legends of the Malay:
• http://www.kampungnet.com.sg/modules.php?op=modload&name=Subjects&file=index&req=viewpageid=51

For teacher use:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance
• http://home.att.net/~a.f.aly/renaissance.htm

Other Materials:

Trade map of the Middle East during pre- to early Renaissance (for warm-up)

Examples of proverbs, taken from the following websites:
• http://www.talkislam.com/iquotes/index.php?nCatId=107&nlevel=2
• http://www.wku.edu/~yuanh/China/proverb.html
• http://chineseculture.about.com/library/literature/blsproverb-ad.htm

Worksheet explaining the pantun/pantoum history and form

Lesson Abstract:
More than tangible commodities were traded throughout the East and West during the Renaissance period. This lesson introduces students to the pantoum, a poetry form that is based on a repeating pattern, creating an echo that teaches students how the meaning of ideas can change, based on cultural and historical context. The poetry form, rooted in thirteenth-century Malayan culture but celebrated as a French form, unfolds one story or idea into another unplanned story or idea that is not always controlled by an author. Students will consider the history of the pantoum, study pantoums, and learn how to brainstorm for, and use the structure of, a pantoum. They will have the opportunity to create a pantoum of their own, using fables of other cultures as a basis. Finally, students will create a visual representation of their pantoums using tessellations, a mathematical expression of a repeating pattern, as ornamental background.

Lesson Components:

Motivation/Warm-Up:

• Assess what students know about trade, specifically in the Middle East.
• Provide students with a map that depicts the trade routes (The Silk Road is a good example) of the Middle East, preferably a map that communicates some of the items that would have been traded in this part of the world.
• Ask students to brainstorm ideas about trade.
• Write all suggestions on the board/overhead. Students will probably connect trade solely with tangible items and commodities.
• Ask if it is possible to trade more than tangible commodities.
• Explain to students that art forms (including stories, poems, etc.) can also be traded among cultures.

Teaching/Modeling:

• Introduce the pantun and its history. Discuss the Malay language and why the pantun was used in the Malayan cultures (to express proverbs and political statements). Trace the movement of the pantun to France and note the change in structure and its new name: the pantoum.
• Highlight the Malayan practices of Pembayang and Maksud.
• Ensure that students are familiar with quatrains and stanzas. Familiarize them with these terms, if necessary.
• Pass out the worksheet detailing the history and form of the pantoum. Ask students to read the sheet. Encourage them to write questions on the sheets to guide class discussion.
• Discuss the worksheet.
• Using the brainstorm activity, create a class pantoum (note the change in spelling) about trade. (I do not recommend requiring the students to employ a rhyming scheme.)

Guided Practice:

• Place students into a heterogeneous group. Give each group a proverb and ask them to brainstorm ideas for pantoums, based on that proverb.
• Ask each group to create their own pantoum based on their assigned proverb.
• Ask each group to write their pantoum on a large poster board and present the pantoum to the class.

Independent Practice:

• Ask students to use the pantoum form to write a poem that expresses some idea about themselves.

Assessment:

• Remind students that the Renaissance was a time when humanists took the classics and changed them to reflect their own needs and education. Using Aesop’s Fables, ask students to create individually their own pantoums.

Closure/Summary:

• Ask students to reflect on the lesson and to write a journal entry that describes what new information they learned. Ask them to explain what they like about the pantoum form and what they don’t like about it. Ask them to explain their responses.

Lesson Extension:

• A pantoum is a patterned poetry form. Much like a tessellation, the pattern changes the original smaller idea and creates a bigger, different form or idea.
• Have students take their pantoums and copy them onto poster board, possibly using calligraphy. Ask students to create a tessellation border to decorate the poem.
• Have students perform the poetry and share the work, then display the works around the room.
• Honors students should use the ABAB rhyming pattern that Westerners have applied.