Alfredo Lujan uses the reader-response approach to explore Keith Gilyard's poetry. The students examine the meaning of the title Poemographies, work in small groups to discuss several of Gilyard's poems, and create their own visual "poemographies" in response to Gilyard's work. Gilyard meets with the students, reads from his collection, and leads them in a response-based writing activity.


Session 2: Reader Response: Mourning Dove

Greg Hirst uses a reader-response approach to explore Mourning Dove's Coyote Stories by immersing students in Native American storytelling traditions. Students respond to Mourning Dove's work by creating and telling stories of their own. Hirst models the classroom on a traditional "lodge," in which students become part of a clan and members of a tribe. In addition to creating and presenting their own stories, students listen to and critique the stories of others.

Lesson Plan 1