Tara Takes On Montclair

• Draw students’ attention to the illustration that goes with the poem. Based on what they see, in what kind of setting does the poem take place? What do they see in the distance? Then point out the title of the poem and the note about Montclair. Ask: Why do you think the poet uses the words takes on in the title? What does it suggest about how she feels about being in Montclair? (Answers will vary, but students might say that takes on suggests facing a dare. Perhaps Tara feels resentful or challenged about being there.)
  

• Have a volunteer read aloud the Up Close box. 

• As a class, read the bubble at the bottom of the poem that explains why some words are in bold. Nikki Grimes took the lines “I joyous roam the countryside. / Look, here the violets shy abide” from the poem “Rondeau” by Harlem Renaissance poet Jessie Redmon Fauset. In this way,  Grimes, born in Harlem herself, pays tribute to those who came before her, in this poem and in the rest of the collection the poem is from,  Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance.

• Together as a class, listen to the Audio Read-Aloud of the poem or call on a student to read the poem out loud.
  

• Discuss the poem together by answering the questions below.

• Where does this poem take place? Based on the first stanza, why is Tara, the narrator, there? (key details) The poem takes place in Montclair, New Jersey. Tara is there because her parents wanted her to spend the summer in “the countryside” instead of the city.

• How does Tara feel about being there at first? How do you know? (text evidence) Tara is unhappy and resentful about being in Montclair. She imagines her friends having fun back in the city, “joyous in games of stickball without me . . . .” She refers to her current spot as “some stupid street in Jersey with strangers I hardly know the names of . . . .”

• What imagery—or words that help you picture something—does Tara use to describe the setting in the second stanza? (setting) She describes “endless green and an ocean of sky.” Her cousins’ house is “swimming in grass” and the yard brushes up against “a wall of trees.” 

• How has Tara’s attitude toward the setting changed by the end of the poem? How do you know?  (character) Tara has realized that playing with her cousins in the grass, flowers, and woods is actually fun. Adults give them the freedom to “run wild.” By the end, she says that “the countryside is something I can abide.”

Distribute or assign the Poetry Kit, which will help students dig deeper into the poem and to connect it to other stories in the issue. It is available to print or as an interactive slide deck that students can complete digitally.

Put students in pairs to practice reading the poem aloud. One partner should read the first stanza, then the other reads the second. They should practice conveying Tara’s feelings and how they change through the expression of their voices. Then have each pair join another pair to recite the poem to each other.