Anchor Activity

Introduction to Poetry: Grade 11

You will have two options for your anchor activity for this unit. Both options are explained in detail
below. For both options, you will be able to choose poets from the following list:

Andrew Marvell
William Shakespeare
Robert Frost
Langston Hughes
Chaucer
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Edgar Allen Poe
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Robert Browning
John Donne
John Keats
Matthew Arnold
Wallace Stevens
William Carlos Williams

If there is another poet youre interested in exploring you can ask me for permission. I may or may not
approve (the decision will be based on whether I think this poet relates to the learning goals of this unit).
The purpose of this activity is to allow you to explore some elements of what we are learning in class in
far more detail and gain some level of expertise on the poems and or poets. This is also a chance to
explore the elements of this unit that are most interesting to you and that utilize your strengths.
The tools you will need while working on your anchor activity may include:

Notebooks
Computer/tablet
Various texts
Magazines, scissors, glue sticks(for cutting and pasting images)
Art supplies, including, markers, crayons, paint/paintbrushes
Booklets and websites on how to properly cite sources

All these material will be made available to you during anchor activities and will be located in the anchor
activity station in the back of the room.
For any necessary research you will need to do for either assignment, you can use the computers or tablets
in the room (if there are not enough for everyone well create a sign-up sheet), any books that are in our

class library, any books or materials from the library in school, your neighborhood library, your home,
etc. (although work must be done in our class unless otherwise specified).

Self-Reflection Checklist
Periodically (approximately once a week, depending on how frequently weve worked on anchor
activities), I will ask that you go through a self-reflection checklist that will ensure you are using your
time productively and advancing toward your final goals. This will also give me a chance to review with
you and see how you are progressing. Here is that reflection checklist. Keep these questions in mind as
you are working on your anchor activities.
1. How has my time spent on this activity helped me towards my final goal? What specific steps
have I taken towards that end?
2. Name one new thing you learned since your last checklist that stood out for you?
3. What questions do you have? (either about content or the process/specifics of the assignment)
4. Have you encountered any roadblocks along the way? Is there anything youd like some help
with?
5. What is something you consider a success since your previous checklist?
6. What would you like to accomplish by your next checklist?

Option 1: Biography of a Poet

Research the history and life of a poet we will be looking at this semester. Choose a poet from the list
above.
Here are some things to think about in conducting this research (these are ideas I recommend starting
with, if there are other elements of his/her life that are more interesting to you, go for it!):

Where and when was the poet born/brought up? What was the culture like at that time? How
about at the time he/she was writing?
What was the poets family life like?
What was the poets love life like?
What experiences/influences were noteworthy
How did the poets career develop?

You also will have a few options for how you present your findings. They are:

An essay submitted to me (6-10 pages) about the biography of the poet you chose, with research
sources cited appropriately
A presentation before the class addressing the life of the poet (10-15 minutes) plus a reflective
response (2-3 pages) about the experience of performing research, learning about a poets history
in depth, if it influenced your reading of his/her poems, the creation of your presentation, why
you chose to focus on the ideas you did, etc.

Create a textbook chapter about the author (7-10 pages). Feel free to interpret this how you
like. It can either mirror the type of textbooks youve read, or the way you would like textbooks
to be. Feel free to include images (either taken from other sources, or drawn by yourself), graphs,
tables, timelines, etc. Make sure any citations are done correctly

Option 2: Editor of a Poetry Anthology

Create an anthology of poems (either from one poet from the list above or multiple). This will mean
researching/finding poems in addition to the ones done in class and making decisions about which poems
will fit together well in an anthology. Make sure to have no more than 2 poems that we studied in class,
and you should have between 15-20 poems included.
I would advise that in addition to researching other poems, you look at other poetry anthologies, read their
introductions, get a sense of what they look like, why certain poems might be grouped together, the
motivation(s) of the editor(s), etc.
Feel free to include elements that you either find in other anthologies or wish you did find. This should
feel like an anthology, not just like you copied a bunch of poems into a Word document. Be creative and
have some fun with it. Youre the editor! Some ideas for elements that might appear in such an anthology
include (but are in no way limited to):

Footnotes (offering definitions or explanations, citing the comments of literary critics, etc.)
Pictures (of the poets, or some image that makes sense with the poem), which can either be taken
from other sources, or drawn yourself.
Line numbering
Grouping poems in sections or chapters
A further reading section pointing readers towards other works that would help expound on
these poems
A cover design
Questions for discussion or teacher guides
Anything else you can come up with!

As the editor of this anthology you will also need to write an introduction (5-7 pages) in which you
describe your decisions to include the poems you did, the overall feel you wanted the anthology to have,
the effect this poet/these poets had on the history of poetry, why they are important, etc. If, for example,
you included footnotes, why did you do so? How should the reader use the footnotes? Your goal is to
serve as a guide for the reader so he or she can best navigate through your anthology and get the most out
of it.