O Pioneers Lesson Plan

Whitman and Cather

Kind of Activity:

Individual Writing

Objective:

To relate the namesake of the book, Walt Whitman's "Pioneers! O Pioneers!", to the themes and structure of the narrative

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.7; CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.9, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.9

Structure:

Cather named her book after Walt Whitman's "Pioneers! O Pioneers!", from his seminal Leaves of Grass. Students should read the poem (available online or within hard copies of Leaves of Grass) or listen to a performance of the piece, such as the well-known reading by Will Geer, and answer the following questions in individual writing exercises:

1) Why...