Autobiography: Self-Expression and Getting to Know Each Other

In classes sessions 2 and 3 the students and I focused on getting to know each other and learning how fun and easy it is to write a poem. I wanted my students to start thinking about how they can (and already do!) express themselves through language. To begin, we read Theme For English B, by Langston Hughes. This is a long one, which was a bit overwhelming for the students at first. Thus, we went through piece by piece; the students were very excited to see that something that seemed so daunting could be tackled with a little time and patience.

For the writing part of our lesson I asked the kids to write their own autobiographical “Theme for Poetry Class.” We started ours just like Hughes, but this time it was “Ms. Sampson asked me to sit here and write a poem today.”

Because the dissection of the poem and thinking about the project took a great deal of time, we spent two classes on this project. We started our next session by re-reading Theme for English B and re-writing the main biographic points covered by Hughes on the board, and got back to writing for the bulk of the class.

This turned about to be great fun for the students, and a great way to get to know each other!
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THEME FOR ENGLISH B
By Langston Hughes

The instructor said,

Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you---
Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me---we two---you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York too.) Me---who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records---Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me NOT like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white---
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me---
although you're older---and white---
and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.