Paired Texts > Remember

by Joy Harjo 1983

We've identified these texts as great options for text pairings based on similar themes, literary devices, topic, or writing style. Supplement your lesson with one or more of these options and challenge students to compare and contrast the texts. To assign a paired text, click on the text to go to its page and click the "Assign Text" button there.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes

The speaker in this famous Langston Hughes poem uses symbolism to explain the connection they feel between their ancestry and identity.

Pair “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” with “Remember” and ask students to discuss the common themes in each text. Ask students to compare the relationship of the speaker to the universe in each text. How do students think this shapes the speakers’ identities? Do students think the speaker in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” shares a similar relationship with the universe as the speaker in “Remember”? Why or why not?

8th Grade Poem
The Medicine Bag
The Medicine Bag
Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve

In Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve's short story "The Medicine Bag," Martin's grandpa visits him and passes down a medicine bag to him, an important object in their family.  

Pair “The Medicine Bag” with “Remember” and ask students to discuss the importance of family in each text. What advice do students think the speaker of the poem would give Martin? Do students think the speaker in the poem and grandpa Joe Iron Shell have had similar experiences? Do students think they share the same ideas about the universe? Why or why not?

7th Grade Short Story 830L
Wild Geese
Wild Geese
Mary Oliver

In "Wild Geese," the speaker suggests ways for the reader to find happiness as well as their place in the world.

Pair “Remember” with “Wild Geese” and have students compare each poem’s references to nature. How are the poem’s representations of nature similar and how are they different? What opinions about the natural world do you think the authors of both poems share? Why?

8th Grade Poem
The great outdoors: Corsicana Middle School offers new elective
The great outdoors: Corsicana Middle School offers new elective
Sierrah Sowell

In "The great outdoors: Corsicana Middle School offers new elective," school leaders find success in and out of the classroom after creating a new outdoor education elective.

Pair “Remember” with “​​The great outdoors: Corsicana Middle School offers new elective” and have students think about the connection between humans and nature. According to the poem “Remember,” how does reflecting on our relationship with nature benefit us? How does connecting with nature through the outdoor elective at “​​The great outdoors: Corsicana Middle School offers new elective” benefit students? Why do you think both the poet and the leaders of Corsicana Middle School urge people to connect with nature? What do you think Joy Harjo’s feelings towards the outdoor elective at Corsicana Middle School would be? Why?

7th Grade News 1080L