Part 1

Showing Determination

Langston Hughes

Mother to Son
Advice about facing life's challenges

ACTIVITY

Working in a small group, identify characteristics that can help one to cope with life's challenges. You may wish to use a concept web to help you. Survey members of your class, and have them rank the characteristics on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most important. Present your findings in a graph or chart.

Gwendolyn Brooks

Speech to the Young Speech to the Progress-Toward
A celebration of triumph over adversity

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The Charge of the Light Brigade
A moving tribute to brave soldiers

Charles Kuralt

Mr. Misenheimer's Garden
The discovery of a special place and a special man

Ralph Waldo Emerson

LITERARY LINK
What Is Success?
Ideas about a well-spent life

REAL WORLD LINK
Partners in Growing
Young and old enjoy gardening and each other.

Eve Merriam

Simile: Willow and Ginkgo
A poem of appreciation for two very different trees

Naoshi Koriyama

A Loaf of Poetry
A metaphor for the writing process

Daniel Keyes

Flowers for Algernon
A mentally challenged man undergoes many changes.

Don Marquis

the lesson of the moth
Advice on how to live life to the fullest