anthem for my belly after eating too much

by Kara Jackson

Writing Workshop

Workshop Title: Belly

Step 1

Say, “Discuss food as a metaphor. What could the consumption of food mean on a figurative level? Come up with as many parallels as you can, regardless of how ridiculous they may sound.” Then give your students time to discuss.

Step 2

Read “anthem for my belly after eating too much” by Kara Jackson. When you’re done, briefly discuss the poem and the parallels the speaker draws with the consumption of food.

Step 3

Using Kara Jackson’s poem as inspiration, ask your students to come up with a few different examples of how they could relate the consumption of food to an issue that personally affects them.

Step 4

Ask your students to compose a poem similar in sentiment to “anthem for my belly after eating too much” by Kara Jackson in which they use the consumption of food (or something food-related) to describe their feelings toward something that affects them.

Step 5

When the students are done, have them share their responses with one another.

The full presentation may be found HERE.

Analytical Lesson

Area of Focus: Various

Step 1

This lesson allows students to analyze various concepts and skills, so it is recommended that you have covered several of the “standalone” lessons before assigning this one.

Step 2

Show your students the introduction to the reality TV show, Iron Chef. Then briefly explain the concept of the show: professional chefs are randomly given a secret ingredient and are then tasked with coming up with a delectable dish that effectively uses that ingredient. Contestants are then judged by how well they incorporate the ingredient into their creation.

Step 3

Tell your students that they will be tasked with coming up with their own analytical “creation” in response to the poem “anthem for my belly after eating too much” by Kara Jackson. The catch: they will be randomly given three different elements that they must effectively incorporate in their analysis.

Step 4

Have your students open the following document and go over the instructions with them. Once you’ve gone over the directions, open the food randomizer and choose the class’s three “secret ingredients” they need to use in their analysis.

Step 5

Once your class is aware of the ingredients they need to implement in their discussion, you may start the competition.

Step 6

After the allotted time has elapsed, have one member of each group read their analysis. Then, according to the rubric provided in the directions, judge the quality of the analysis and assign each group a score. The winner of the competition will be heralded as the class’s “Iron Chef” or whatever.

Lesson Details

Lesson Info

Focus

  • Various

Themes

  • Appreciation
  • Body / Body Image
  • Home / Homelessness
  • Love

Literary Tags

  • Diction
  • Figurative Language
  • Selection of Detail
  • Tone