Recipe for Peace — Poetry to Peace Poster

Mattie J.T. Stepanek Foundation
www.mattieonline.com
1
2011-2012 Academic Year
From Tilsim Newman
Frederick County, Maryland
Lesson Plan for Mattie J.T. Stepanek Foundation
Reviewed and approved (with included edits) by Mattie’s Foundation
Recommended for Elementary and Middle School Students
Can be modified with additional components for High School Students
Content Objectives:
Students will be able to
•
Use the poem Recipe for Peace by Mattie J.T. Stepanek as a model to
write their own recipe for peace as a class
•
Analyze the poet’s philosophy through his biography
Language Objectives:
Students will be able to
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Use the following imperative form-headings to create/design their
Recipe for Peace posters to take part in the Recipe for Peace Contest.
Make peace an attitude! Make peace a habit! Make peace a reality!
Materials:
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The poem Recipe for Peace by M.J.T. Stepanek. This poem can be
found in both Reflections of Peacemaker: A Portrait Through
Heartsongs by Mattie J.T. Stepanek, Andrews McMeel 2005 and Just
Mattie J.T. Stepanek Foundation
www.mattieonline.com
2
Peace: A Message of Hope by Mattie J.T. Stepanek, Andrews McMeel
2006. The Reflections book contains eight chapters of poetry, each
with biographical introductions. The Just Peace book is a collection of
Mattie’s peace essays, peace poetry, and his correspondence with
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
•
Mattie J.T. Stepanek’s biography (Biographical aspects of Mattie’s
life are in each of the chapter introductions in both the Reflections
of Peacemaker and the Just Peace book. Additional information can
be found on Mattie’s website: www.mattieonline.com
•
Construction paper, colored pencils, crayons, or markers
Build Background/Motivation:
Have a warm-up activity with the students about the concept of
biography by prompting them with the following questions:
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Tell me when you were born. OR When were you born?
•
Tell me where you were born. OR Where were you born?
•
Tell me about the schools you have gone to. OR What schools have
you gone to?
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Tell me about your favorite activities. OR What do you like doing?
•
Tell me about the prizes/awards you have won. OR Have you ever
won any awards/prizes?
After getting the students to share their life experiences through
questions similar to the above-suggested ones, tell them that by
answering these questions they have told you about their life story so
far. And as you are writing the word biography on the board let them
know life story means biography.
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Introductory and Developmental Activities:
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As the second step of building their background information share
Mattie’s biography with them by doing an interactive read aloud
activity.
•
After that tell them you will be sharing Mattie’s poem Recipe for
Peace with them. Continue with the interactive read aloud by
encouraging them to think along with you before, during and after
reading the poem.
Shared Writing:
Put these three headings on a piece of construction paper in advance.
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Make peace an attitude!
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Make peace a habit!
•
Make peace a reality!
Introduce the headings by referring back to the poem Recipe for Peace.
Ask the students to find out the details to support each heading from
the poem. Then encourage them to make a connection between recipes
for meals and recipe for peace. Have them explain their connections.
Next, tell them you will write a classroom recipe for peace. Make sure
they understand that you will be the writer and they will be the brains
(Shared Writing: Teacher and students work together to put their ideas
together and teacher writes on students’ behalf)
Use the following questions to trigger their thoughts:
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What does “Make peace an attitude!’” mean?
•
What does “Make peace a habit!” mean?
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•
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What does “Make peace a reality!” mean?
When the writing is over, you can give the students the chance to
illustrate the poster.
Closure & Extension:
Introduce Mattie’s book, Just Peace: A Message of Hope. Tell students
this book is a compilation of his essays and peace projects and the email
correspondences between him and former President Jimmy Carter. Or,
introduce Mattie’s book, Reflections of a Peacemaker and tell students
this book is Mattie’s final collection of poetry, spanning 10 years of his
writing from age 3 to 13. Encourage students to explore the book(s) and
to reflect and respond in word or art.
Encourage students to visit www.mattieonline.com to learn more about
Mattie and to become involved with peacemaking as a personal choice:
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Younger students may ask their parents to sign them up for the FREE
Peace Club Kids Membership program, which provides a page for them
to share poetry, art and peace thoughts.
•
Teens can sign up for the Peace Club Teens, which provides a page for
them to share poetry, art and peace thoughts. Teens can also choose
to participate in a “Peace Journey” (no travel involved) which may earn
them Community Service Hours and give depth to college application
essays.
Please send feedback, including photos/pdfs of posters to
www.mattieonline.com -we will post your work on our Teacher Tips pages.