Produced for K-12 educators, Teach This Poem features one poem a week from our online poetry collection, accompanied by interdisciplinary resources and activities designed to help teachers quickly and easily bring poetry into the classroom. The series is written by our Educator in Residence, Dr. Madeleine Fuchs Holzer, and is available for free via email.
Featured Poem
Snow by John Singer Sargent
Snow, by John Singer Sargent (1856–1925). Date: 1909–1911. Medium: Watercolor and graphite on white wove paper. Dimensions: 11 5/8 x 14 in. Gift of Mrs. Francis Ormond, 1950. www.metmuseum.org.
Classroom Activities
- Project the image of John Singer Sargent’s Snow so all your students can see it. What do they notice about how Sargent painted the snow? What are the colors? The strokes? The lines? Have them make a list of what they see.
- Ask your students to pair up and discuss how this piece of art makes them feel about snow. Ask them to talk about the techniques they think Sargent used to make them feel this way.
- Project “The Snowfall Is So Silent” for everyone to see. Ask your students to read the poem silently, writing down all the words and phrases that ring out to them. Ask one student to read the poem aloud to the class as the listeners continue to write down additional words and phrases that ring out. Repeat this process with another student reading aloud.
- Ask each pair from #2 above to find another pair to form a group of four. Ask each group to discuss words and phrases that rang out to them in the poem. How does the poem make them feel about snow? Do they think that is what Miguel de Unamuno might be saying? What evidence can they cite in the words and phrases they just discussed to support what they think and feel?
- Hold a whole-class discussion: After looking at both the drawing and the poem, and discussing what they saw and felt, what do your students think are several ways people can think/feel about snow? How are the drawing and the poem similar and/or different?