“I had killed the bird that made the breeze to blow.”
That was the start of the mariner’s dark journey. After escaping death and horror, he is destined to go from land to land telling his tale...
The strong imaginative themes make this great work a real winner with high school students. The key is immersing your grade 9 or 10 students in the sounds, the art, the dark feel of the poem.
There are lots of excellent classroom resources to make this piece of literature come alive:
For the most all-in-one complete unit ever made:
Rime-of-the-Ancient-Mariner-Complete-Resource
(This excellent unit was designed for enriched Grade 6 and Grade 7 students. The author had success with his groups.)
For an excellent two part graphic package to supplement the unit:
Rime-of-the-Ancient-Mariner-Dore-Print-classroom-package-part-one
Rime-of-the-Ancient-Mariner-Dore-Print-classroom-package-part-two
Check these resources out by downloading the free sample lessons. This same teacher author will be releasing a complete 7 part audio version of Rime of the Ancient Mariner late Spring 2011.
Sample some of his work in this Tennyson poem:
Podcast
Be A Productive Teacher: good advice, good materials, and more time