A Race with Grace: Sports Poetry in Motion

Lesson Introduction

Can athletes’ moves be described as beautiful? How are grace, beauty, and aesthetics expressed through movement? These and many other questions will provide the framework for students’ exploration of poetry in motion of athletes who participate in a variety of sports. Examining examples from their own experiences and from popular media, students learn about the aesthetic elements of athletics. After viewing images of various athletes, students create a class word wall with adjectives that describe movement. Students then write in reflective journals, view and interpret media, conduct Internet research, take digital photographs, and create original poems. As a culminating activity, the teacher presents students’ poetry to the class in a multimedia presentation.

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, students will have opportunities to:

Explore the idea of how to describe movement by looking at images and short films of athletes and discussing them, by generating a class list of words related to movement, and by responding to writing prompts.
Practice research and critical thinking by viewing, interpreting, and responding to different media.
Demonstrate comprehension by summarizing information from varied sources.
Synthesize what they have learned by assembling a body of words and images creating an original poem.
Practice oral presentation skills by sharing their poem with the class.