FIRE Model: Poetry

Critical Thinking

As the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum Goal 2 states, our goal as teachers it to help our students develop into "thinkers who are able to unify unify factual, creative, rational, and value-sensitive modes of thought."

In efforts to achieve this goal, I have lately been using the FIRE model much more intentionally than before. Whether stated in the assignment or not, I try to incorporate the four modes of thinking into most class assignments, and perhaps more importantly, I make students aware of the different ways of thinking - the Factual, Imaginative, Rational, and Evaluative thinking.

Below is an example of a simple way to use the FIRE model to analyze poetry. The same questions and prompts could be applied to many different texts.



Applying the FIRE Model to Poetry Reading
Introduction to the Poet
Go to the Poetry International Web, a worldwide forum for poetry on the Internet, to read about a well-known Palestinian poet, Taha Muhammad Ali, who has lectured and read his works at many universities worldwide, including the United States.

Read about Taha Muhammad Ali: http://israel.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=3181

ASSIGNMENT

Read the following two poems by Taha Muhammad Ali:

“Fooling the Killers”
http://israel.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=3497

“Meeting at an Airport”
http://israel.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=3499

Then choose one of the poems for your FIRE analysis, and respond to the following questions and prompts:

EVALUATIVE THINKING

After having read the poem, make a list of words or short phrases that most closely connect with your personal feelings or values.

Make a list of words or short phrases that capture the feelings or values that you think the author was trying to express in this poem.

RATIONAL THINKING

Give a plausible explanation for each word or phrase you listed in the “Evaluative Thinking” section above, rationalizing what factors in the poem or in your personal experience cause these feelings.

Think about the poem’s structure. What is interesting or puzzling or strange about the poem’s structure? Why do you think the poem is structured this way?

FACTUAL THINKING

What is the poem’s setting, i.e. where and when does it take place?

Who is the subject “you” in the poem?

What is the relationship between the poem’s speaker and its subject?

What is the poem’s opening question and who asks it?

What is the poem’s concluding image? Describe the visual details.

INSIGHTFUL THINKING

One-word Summary:
Summarize the poem in a single word that you think captures its overall significance or impact. Then write a paragraph or two explaining why you chose this word.

*) Graphic image from Ever Eden Design