Each of the tasks below has been done as a series of lessons in the classroom on Blake's poetry. Trying them out with student teachers works well as a way of helping them think about planning a sequence of poetry lessons. The first one is particularly influenced by Kenneth Koch's, Rose Where Did You Get That Red?. He believed that anybody could write poetry provided they were asked the right questions about it. The title of the book comes from his asking children a question about Blake's poem 'The Sick Rose'.
Task 1 Student teachers experiment with the name of an animal (experiential); and think of the characteristics of the animal (reflective); then introduce Blake's 'The Tyger' (analytical) and finally the write their own poem (practical).
Task 2 Student teachers are given 'London' and 'The Laughing Song' and asked to separate them in terms of imagery etc (experiential); next they say why and what they found about them that was so different (reflective); then they discuss the idea that Blake did this with a whole set of his poems and called them Songs of Innocence and Experience (analytical) and finally they are introduced to more of his poems and asked to see if they can find any other features that separate them (practical).
Task 3 Student teachers are given questions to answer on Blake's 'The Tyger' (experiential); next they reflect on the answers (reflective); then they are introduced to 'The Lamb' and told that Blake wrote his poems in pairs, or opposites (analytical) and finally they look at 'The Lamb' and what differentiates it from the rest (practical).
Task 4 Student teachers are given cut up versions of 'London' and 'The Laughing Song' and asked to divide them up (experiential); next they are asked how they did the exercise – the imagery etc (reflective); then they consider the idea of Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience (analytical) and finally they look at more of his poetry and see if they can add to the idea of the differences between them.
