Have you ever asked yourself the question, "How should I live my life?" Whether you have or not, Shel Silverstein's poems provide a good deal of insight and examples for living a happy life. Let's take some time to read his poems, learn about his perspectives, discuss how these thoughts and suggestions might be applied in our own lives, and share our own opinions about his works and their subjects. We'll probably have several opportunities to laugh about the way Silverstein expresses these insights along the way.  Join in!

Each of our six weeks, we'll read at least one Shel Silverstein poem, discuss its theme and the language he used to express it, learn about various poetic devices he used, study paired texts by Silverstein (and sometimes other poets), enjoy small and often whimsical writing tasks, and more! A graphic organizer will be provided at the start of the course for compiling important notes as we progress from week to week. Below, you'll find the main texts or topics for each week.

WEEK 1: Shel Silverstein (Author Study)/Introduce and Discuss "Where the Sidewalk Ends." (Theme - We should allow ourselves to go to places of wonder in our imaginations, where we are free from normal daily rules.)

WEEK 2: Introduce and discuss "Growing Down." (Theme - We should value being childlike and make it a point to have fun when we can.)/PAIRING - "Growing Down" & "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (Comparing and Contrasting)

WEEK 3:  Introduce and discuss "The Clock Man." (Theme - We should regard time as being highly valuable, and understand that it will run out one day.)/Comparing and Contrasting "The Clock Man", "Growing Down", and "Where the Sidewalk Ends"

WEEK 4: Introduce and discuss "Masks." (We should value who we truly are. Doing so will bring us more happiness than if we hide behind false personas.)/Introduce and discuss "Yesees and Noees." (Theme - Our thinking should be just that. We aren't required to think like everyone else.)/Comparing and Contrasting these two poems

Week 5: Introduce and discuss "Underface" (Theme - We should understand that we are all special people with inner beauty, and we should not require perfection of ourselves.)/Review and discuss all of the content we've covered to this point./Discuss the project that will be shared during the final session.

WEEK 6: Final Projects will be shared. These will include student-written poems on how we should live our lives (using some of the poetic devices we learn through our sessions) and a one-two paragraph summary explaining the meaning of what has been shared in the poem along with an explanation of the poetic devices used.