“I Hear America Singing” Critical Thinking Question-Answer Relationships Using Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” By Donna Dea Weaver Hazelwood Central High School Hazelwood School District

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This activity covers the MAP Test, Communication Arts Grade 11 objectives on details, literal comprehension, deductive and inductive reasoning, and logical conclusions from read text.

Instructor’s Page Students need to keep a writing journal for their answers. Extention Exercise: When students answer questions to other lessons, have them practice classifying the questions as “right there” (knowledge and comprehension levels of critical thinking), “think and search” (comprehension level of thinking), “author and you” (application and analysis levels of critical thinking) or “on my own” (synthesis and evaluation levels of critical thinking). Extension Exercise: Divide the class into groups. Assign each group a few pages of a text for which they are to develop types of questions. Each group then “teaches” their part of the text by asking their questions to the class.

Instructor’s Page As the class answers the various groups’ questions, they must classify the type of question before answering. This trains students to recognize types of questions which may not have an “in text” answer. Continue to have the class practice formulating types of questions. You may use some of their “think and search” or “author and you” questions for short answer or essay questions on your tests as well as the”right there” questions as objective test questions. The “on my own” questions might be used for performance based assessments.

Instructor’s Page Right There Author and You The answer is easy to find. The answer is NOT in the text. Words used in the questions and the You must apply what you already answers are directly in the text. know and what the text tells you to formulate the answer. Think and Search On My Own The answer is in the text, but The answer is NOT in the text. one must put together several parts You can answer the questions without of the text. reading the text. You must use your own experience.

Right There The answer is usually easy to find. Words used in the questions and in the answers are directly in the text. One can point to the text and find the answer “right there”.

Think and Search The answer is in the text, but one must put together several part of the text to discover the answer.

Author and You The answer is NOT in the text. You must apply what you already know and what the text tells you to formulate the answer.

On My Own The answer is NOT in the text. You can answer the question without reading the text. You must use your own experience.

Now let’s practice answering the four types of questions teachers often ask. You need to record your answers in your writing journal.

Walt Whitman was a great American poet who is known for his courage to go against the conventional style of writing poetry that was popular during his time period. Read the following poem. Be ready to answer questions about the poem in your journal.

“I Hear America Singing” By Walt Whitman I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands, The woodcutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,

Each singing what belongs to him or her and Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day---at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

Now, you need to get out your writing journals to record your responses to the following questions. Be sure to cite specific lines, words, or phrases from the poem to support you answers. Also cite any personal experiences or knowledge you have from other sources besides the poem to support your answers. Remember to write in complete sentences!

Questions with Right There Answers 1. What are these people doing besides singing? 2. What type of people or categories of people are singing?

Questions that Require You to Think and Search 3. Analyze the title and the overall text of the poem. What is the author describing as an image of America?

Author and You Questions Require Prior Knowledge or Intelligent Inferences Based Upon Clues 4. What time period in American history do you believe this author lived? Support your answer by citing the text and by sharing any previous knowledge you have about America.

On My Own Questions Are Your Opinions 5. Do you think Walt Whitman’s image of a proud, healthy, productive laboring force is a true image of what most Americans are today? Explain by citing specific examples from your experiences and knowledge about workers in today’s society.

Answers to slide show questions. 1. The people are working. Citations of the jobs should be made, such as mechanic, mason, shoemaker, mother, and wife.. 2. The types of people who are working are common laborers, male and female, young and old, paid and unpaid, skilled and unskilled workers. (Answers will vary but should also cite examples of names of jobs). 3. The image of America is of a proud, hard working country composed of individuals whose unique skills and jobs make the nation great. It depicts a happy, productive country. None of these jobs are “professional jobs” such as lawyers, teachers, doctors, etc.

Answers to slide show questions. 4. Students should cite words such as steamboat, shoemaker, hatter, wood-cutter’s song, or ploughboy (note spelling) as clues to the time period of the mid to late 1800’s. Whitman lived from 1819-1892, and students may be familiar with some of his other poems that put him around the Civil War time period. 5. Answers will vary. Students should cite the words in this poem that point to a democratic spirit of pride and joy of work such as : robust, friendly, strong melodious songs, carols, blithe, or strong. The phrase “. . . What belongs to him or her and to none else. . .” also emphasizes the proud individualism of the time period.