Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

There are poems here about flying, about names, about race, and about justice.  There is so much in Toni Morrison's masterpiece - and the poems that are chosen to be read and discussed before we jump into the novel - have never been so important.  I want to give the students a "second reading" of this book, while they are doing their first.  These poems will help do just that by introducing ideas, themes, and concepts that will give the students a lot to think about and connect as they are doing their reading.  The harsh truths and magical realism in this book require a leap of faith by the readers that is almost as challenging as the leap that the protagonist makes at the end of the book.  

For all effects and purposes, this is our last Opening Discussion of a novel in my World Literature Class.  The year flies by and it's impossible to see where the time goes - but there you have it.  There is a kind of "meta" nature to this lesson.  I will go over the idea of this chapter (specifically the first 15 pages of this chapter) as a kind of "overture".  As in a Musical Overture, these pages will introduce us to the characters, ideas, and themes that will be present throughout the novel.  I mentioned in the intro to this book that I wanted to give my students a "second" reading though this is only their first.  

 Looking at my notes, it is apparent that I switched from Group Work to discussion on this lesson about 20 years into my career.  While I do love the idea of students making the huge discoveries about the rest of Chapter One, on their own; I did find that I could guide them towards those discoveries - and still have it come from them.  There is also (though this is just 1/2 of chapter) to cover, that it made sense to do that in a discussion.  Finally - many of the topics that are covered in the rest of this chapter require a maturity from the students that can best be gauged (and "massaged") by the teacher during a class discussion.  Nonetheless, I have also included below the Group Work for this reading, in case you wish to go that route.

 This lesson is either partner or solo work.  I usually assign two chapters for today (2 & 3) - but this assignment is only for Chapter 2, as they will need to finish their work on this for homework, and I don't want them to have to do the reading as well.  After two days of discussion - it's great to get the students putting things together for themselves (or with a partner).  The ideas and themes in the novel are flowing fast - and by getting the students to take stock of them for themselves (beyond what they do in their own reading) they will more readily put together the parts of this incredible novel on their own.  This work is designed to be done either alone or with a partner.  If they don't want a lot of homework - they will have to be focused.