Teaching Students to Write-read Poetry

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Teaching Students to Writeand Read Poetry

Methods to Encourage Budding Poets to Blossom

A Sample Unit of Poetry Skill Lessonsand Strategies for High School Teachers

Jefferson County Public SchoolsVersion 2.0

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Teaching Students to Write and Read Poetry

This unit includes a group of lessons to implement Kentucky Core Content anddevelop supporting skills for High School Poetry. These lessons should be adapted to fitthe needs and interests of your students as well as your own teaching purposes, texts,and materials. The lesson plans, while designed primarily for students in grades 9-12, canalso be adapted for use with younger writers.

The following skill lessons are not intended to fit a single class period or one blockof instruction. The teaching time required will depend upon your individual purposes aswell as the individual abilities of your students. This unit is not designed as a sequence ofprocess steps that will culminate in the production of one proficient poem. The unitinstead is intended to offer a variety of lessons, each focusing on development of a skillrelated to producing effective poetry. The outcome of each lesson will be to plant a“seed.” The unit of lesson plans will initiate a variety of drafts from which a writer maylater pick the most promising start to develop and cultivate into a proficient poem. Youmay choose lessons that best address supporting skills most needed by your students,and you may supplement the models of student writing provided with additional samplesof your own students’ poems. The student models included are not intended as newbenchmarks or examples of proficient and distinguished poems. They merely providesamples of writing by Kentucky students that may help in your teaching of writing toother Kentucky students.

In order to raise students’ awareness of the power of poetic language, you mightchoose to begin the school year by focusing on several poetry skill lessons and thenincorporate other poetry lessons from the unit later as assignments in response toappropriate class readings. Showing students how to see word pictures and hearfigurative language in the world around them is not just a prerequisite for the successfulteaching of poetry. Increasing students’ awareness of poetic language is the key toproducing more effective writers in every genre. Therefore, training students daily andintentionally to read and think and write like poets can improve their abilities toproduce precise language in any category of writing.

This unit of poetry lessons is developed around a Reader’s and Writer’sNotebook (R/W Notebook), one of the most useful tools for building language skills. TheR/W Notebook is not intended to be used like a diary but a instead language arts learninglog—a journal where students can respond to their reading of poetry not only with prosebut with pictures and poems. It is a scrapbook where students can collect new vocabularyand original ideas, create fresh figures of speech, and compose verses by practicing writingstrategies taught in class mini-lessons. The R/W Notebook is a Safe Place to experimentwith language and reflect on thoughts or topics that may later be transformed through thewriting process into finished poems. A three-ring folder where notebook paper can be

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easily removed or inserted usually functions best as a R/W Notebook at the secondarylevel.

Table of ContentsIntroduction: Teaching Students to Write and read PoetryRead Me FirstTextbooksMarinate Students In Poetry and Poetic Language

Lesson 1 Think AloudsLesson 2 Word WorkLesson 3 Previewing and PredictingLesson 4 Fluent Oral Reading/Recitation ProjectLesson 5 Establishing Prior KnowledgeLesson 6 Understanding Characteristics of PoetryLesson 7 Understanding Conventions of PoetryLesson 8 During Reading Strategies: INSERT and Click and ClunkLesson 9 Recognizing Supporting Skills in Proficient PoetryLesson 10 Audience, Purpose and FormLesson 11 Sensory Images and LanguageLesson 12 Communicating Extraordinary Perception of the OrdinaryLesson 13 Using Individual Voice to Capture a Moment in TimeLesson 14 Creating a Title

Open Response QuestionLesson 15 Developing Ideas Through Sensory Details

Open Response QuestionLesson 16 To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme?Lesson 17 Analogies and Similes/MetaphorsLesson 18 Using Poetic Devices

Open Response QuestionLesson 19 Organization and Coherence in PoetryLesson 20 Use of White Space, Line Breaks and ShapeLesson 21 Use of Strong VerbsLesson 22 Revision LessonsAppendix Extensions/Accommodations for ECE and Other Diverse Learners

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Read Me First

Learning to read poetry is an on-going process, requiring regular and frequent use ofstrategies. (Writing poetry requires skills and is likely to result in a product.) This unit(and the Short Story Unit) integrates strategy and skills lessons to help teachers give allstudents access to the Core Content for literary reading and writing.

In this unit, lessons may refer to specific reading strategies which are detailed in earlierlessons. The strategies should be first taught, then reinforced and monitored (guidedpractice) as students become more proficient in applying the strategies to make meaningof their text. Variety is the spice of reading instruction, so offering students a menu ofexperiences and options for strategic reading practice will be more effective than drillingrelentlessly on any one strategy! (Also, resist requiring students to “practice” skills onevery piece of reading; this might result in mutiny since they will get frustrated at theirapparent slow reading rate.)

The strategies and activities suggested for this unit are appropriate for different stages ofreading:

• Before Reading: activating prior knowledge• Think Aloud• Preview• Predict• K-W -L

• During Reading: monitoring understanding and connecting• Click and Clunk• Read Aloud• Word and Concept Walls• Think Aloud• Directed Reading-Thinking Activity (DRTA)• K-W-L• Connect text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world• Paraphrase and Summarize

• After Reading: reflecting and responding• Rereading• Written or artistic response (making connections of text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world)• Discussion and sharing• K-W –L• Connect text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world• Performance

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Part of the instruction for students must include “vaccinating” them with the habits ofbefore-reading, while-reading, and after-reading. Be deliberate. Point out specific places inthe reading where students should use each strategy, and name the strategies. Eventually,students will instinctively use the strategies, but until then, require students to beintentional while learning them.

The following instructional strategies for teachers are referenced throughout this unit.Specific instructions for each are included in lessons that follow.

• Word Work: • establish and maintain “organic” (or growing) Word Walls forwords and phrases from poems which students find intriguing,powerful, or even puzzling; and Concept Walls for the terms ofpoetry (figurative language, symbolism, metaphor, simile, rhyme,etc.), definitions, and examples.• maintain a R/W Notebook that includes a section for personalvocabulary. Students record words that draw their attention, thenshare them on the Word Wall.

• Click and Clunk: model on the overhead or board the sense and non-sense thatpoems make to you and your students. Teach and use along withthe INSERT strategy to note metacognitive responses. Encouragestudents (where possible) to make INSERT/Click and Clunk noteson their copies of poems, then share with the class to try to “fix”the clunks.

• K-W-L (Know –Want to Know-Learned): use the overhead or board to activatestudents’ prior knowledge about a poem or poet or poetry ingeneral. If students appreciate that they DO know somethingabout a new encounter, they will be more confident and have some“velcro” on which to hang new learnings. Be sure to return to thechart after reading to identify what students learned.

• Fluent Oral Reading: “perform” poems for students by reading aloud withappropriate tone, inflection, gestures and movement. “Thinkaloud” with students about choices you made in the oral readingand replay the poem trying different interpretations. If yourtextbooks have videodisks available, use these for additional modelsof fluent oral reading.

Also, encourage students to also read aloud poems they choose andhave practiced. Include discussion of their choices in these“exhibitions.” Ultimately, students might produce a “coffeehouse” event to read poems they have written and/or discovered.

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• Choral Reading: first model the reading of a poem for the class, then havestudents read aloud together (whole class or smaller groups). Thisgives weaker students a chance to practice without embarrassment.

Resources: Reading at the Middle and High School Levels (ERS) Section FourGood-bye Round Robin (Opitz and Rasinski) Sections Two and Four

Textbooks

If your school has available sets of literature anthologies, you have a gold mine ofresources at your fingertips. The teacher guides, student texts, and support materialsinclude detailed, embedded instruction and practice on reading strategies for all types ofreading . Take time to familiarize yourself with the texts available. Possibly, explore abook room or talk to your department chair and find sample copies of other texts to usefor models or reading information. Don’t, however, feel compelled to begin at thebeginning and march through the text unless your school’s reading/writing plan happensto be reflected in the text. Shop around and find poetry in and out of the text that isrelevant to your students and the skills you are teaching.

Sets of one of the following adopted texts should be available in most schools:

Elements of Literature series (Holt, Rinehart, and Winston)Glencoe Literature series (Glencoe-McGraw-Hill)Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes (Prentice Hall)

Single examination copies of other titles are probably also available and will provide a lotof additional models and instructional ideas.

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Marinate Students in Poetry and Poetic Language

1. Keep a file full of short poems that you can read to the class during spare transitionminutes that otherwise might be empty or chaotic:

*to settle students down before a school program, field trip, testing, etc.*to begin class after lunch, assembly, pep rally, picture making, etc.*to close a challenging lesson on a positive, less stressful note,*to connect a specific topic or theme from the day’s reading,*to celebrate any “special” day in the school year,*to fill minutes between announcements and beginning/end of class*to establish transitions between different learning activities in a block schedule*to re-introduce concentration or reflection to class routine after intercom interruption(s)

2. Require students to collect new words that they find especially intriguing orpicturesque and write them on colorful index cards. They can store these cards in arecipe box and use them as their own “poetry magnets” whenever they composeverses to add color to their language.

3. Maintain a “Poets’ Corner” bulletin board in your classroom, the library, or theschool hallway where you can display poems written by students throughout theyear.

4. Publish poems by writing them with colored chalk on school sidewalks.

5. Point out and post poetic passages discovered in class readings, magazines, books,newspapers, etc. Make students scavengers for figurative language in what they read.

6. Challenge students to sharpen their senses: to listen for sounds, to lookfor nuances of colors and tiniest details in the scenes around them, to sniff out thesmells in grocery stores, movie theaters, school buses, cafeterias, doctors’ offices.

7. Sharpen students’ ears for the significance of sounds in poetry by reading aloud orplaying a recording of a poem in a language other than English.

8. Get students to read poems aloud as often as possible and as many ways as possible:in pairs with a partner; divide a poem into logical halves and have one half of the room(or perhaps just the male voices) read every other stanza while the other half (orperhaps the female voices) read every other stanza; direct the class to alternate readingthe lines of a poem with all voices joining together on lines that are repeatedthroughout the poem. Like a maestro, conduct your students in choral readings ofpoems. Students need to hear and feel the rhythm of poetry as it is read out loud.

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9. Use models of poetry such as those in the Kentucky Marker Papers to guide andinspire class work. Collect other models of student poems that are effective as wellas those that seem ineffective. Build mini-lessons around analysis of student models.

10. Formulaic poems may function as good prewriting exercises for poetry: but they donot produce effective, imaginative, or proficient poetry. Discourage students fromsimplistic fill-in-the-blank poetry patterns. Poetry is hard work! Its developmenttakes time and awareness of the intricacies of language. If you can turn your studentson to poetic language and painting word pictures, you will see all their writingimprove dramatically.

11. Because poems are usually shorter than other categories of writing required inportfolios, publishing students’ poetry in a class anthology is easier and lessexpensive than publishing any other genre. Students will cherish a class book of theirpoems and probably work harder to develop ideas and beautiful language if they thinkthat their classmates will remember them by the poetic lines that they compose.

12. Culminate the end of a six weeks, the end of your unit, or the end of the year with apoetry festival. Celebrate poetry by hosting a coffee house and scheduling volunteersto read their best poems to peers, teachers, parents, and the principals at a school“coffee house.” Read your own best poem to initiate the celebration.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Think Alouds, Lesson 1LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will understand and apply active reading strategies forcomprehension of poetry.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.8 Interpret the meaning of a passage taken from textsappropriate for high schoolVOCABULARY: Think Aloud, passage, metacognitive

RESOURCE MATERIALS: overhead and/or student copies of poem R/W Notebook

Additional poems or text for student practice (Glencoe,Holt, Rinehart and Winston, or Prentice Hall)

Poster board or construction paper and markers Overhead of Poetry Think Aloud

TEACHING STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES:Proficient readers “think aloud” as they read, responding to the text in their minds as theyread. This is their metacognitive thinking, or their “thinking about their thinking.” Thefollowing “think aloud” strategies are for students to use routinely and will be referencedthroughout this unit.

(Think alouds do not have to be oral, but might be, especially when students are justlearning what kinds of responses to text other readers have. “Aloud” actually refers to the“making public” of their thoughts, so they will also be asked to write down theirreactions.)

• First, model what happens in your head while reading a poem you particularly like. Ifyou practice ahead of time, you might put your thoughts on an overhead. Introduce theterms below, then share with students the thoughts you have while reading.

• Ask students to think of and share situations when they have had to concentrate andfocus on a difficult or challenging task. “Experiencing” poetry by reading requiressharpened senses, too.

• Explain that using active reading strategies will help them “unpack” meaning from bothfamiliar and new poems.

• Teach and model the following active reading strategies using a poem you findinteresting or challenging:

LISTEN (Read the poem aloud. Breathe when there is punctuation. Note therhythm and how it affects mood. Listen for special sounds withinthe words)

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SENSE (Imagine the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and sense of touchwithin the poem.)

REACT (Note your reactions to the poem and the connections you make toothers things you’ve read or done.)

QUESTION (Note the questions the poem raises. Ask yourself what it is about,what words or phrases mean, and why the poet chose the languageshe did.)

CLARIFY (Summarize or paraphrase. Find the meaning of symboliclanguage.)

INTERPRET (Share the poem with others. Read it aloud and talk about themeaning. Connect the title to the meaning. Identify a theme or “bigidea.”)

• Have students write the above list in their R/W Notebook and check-off the types of comments they hear you make as you think-aloud during the poem. Discuss their observations.

• Either continue reading (if you chose a long piece) or begin a second poem. Students will listen and write or orally share their thinking.

• Then have students practice on another poem in their text or that you provide.

• Have students make posters for wall of each word above, including an explanation if appropriate.

• Extensions/Accommodations for ECE/Other Diverse Learners:Provide students with a wall chart or bookmark of the key strategies, oraskstudents to create posters of each strategy with appropriate questions or graphicsto cue them when reading in the classroom.

• Technology ConnectionsHave students create a table in a word processing program, such as Claris Works,with each of the active reading strategies listed above. Ask them to fill in theirthink alouds as they go.

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:In R/W Notebook, students record think aloud responses to poetry and share with

class and teacher.

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Poetry Think Aloud

LISTEN (Read the poem aloud.Breathe when there ispunctuation. Note the rhythmand how it affects mood. Listenfor special sounds within thewords)

SENSE (Imagine the sights, sounds,smells, tastes, and sense of touchwithin the poem.)

REACT (Note your reactions to thepoem and the connections youmake to others things you’veread or done.)

QUESTION (Note the questions thepoem raises. Ask yourself what itis about, what words or phrasesmean, and why the poet chosethe language she did.)

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CLARIFY (Summarize orparaphrase. Find the meaning ofsymbolic language.)

INTERPRET (Share the poem withothers. Read it aloud and talkabout the meaning. Connect thetitle to the meaning. Identify atheme or “big idea.”)

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Word Work, Lesson 2LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will identify, post, and discuss words and phrasesthat impress or puzzle them from poetry they read.CORE CONTENT: RD-H x.0.2: Interpret the meaning of literal and non-literal words RD-H x.0.3: Interpret the terms in meaningful context RH-H 1.0.13 Interpret figurative, symbolic and idiomatic languageVOCABULARY: Word Wall, Concept WallRESOURCES AND MATERIALS: Wall space, chart or butcher paper, markers, widearray of poetry books, magazines

TEACHING STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES:Word (or Concept) Walls are great ways to use classroom surfaces for instruction andavoid Bulletin Board Panic! Create a space where vocabulary related to the current unitcan be posted for students to see and refer to as they work on and discuss poetry. Usesentence strips, recycled cardboard and markers, or technology to display currently usedterms and physically reference them on the wall when you or students use them.

Student-generated word lists can be compiled and honored on a second wall:

• If students keep a Poetry Log, ask them to jot down any words or phrases from poemsthey read which are appealing, puzzling, unique, or powerful.• Invite students to record their favorites on the “Poetry Wall,” a reserved space in theclassroom for sharing language.• Ask students to explain to the class the appeal their word entries had.• Include definitions, if appropriate, for new words or new uses.• Assign students to write a poem including a specified set of 10 words.

• Technology ConnectionsCreate a class database of their words. Include fields for word, definition, andappeal.

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:• Require a minimum number of contributions from each student• Ask students to underline in their own poetry words or phrases inspired by the PoetryWall.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Previewing and Predicting, Lesson 3LESSON OBJECTIVE: Student will learn and practice strategy of previewing,predicting, confirming, and disconfirming before and during reading.CORE CONTENT: RD-H x.0.5 Make, confirm, revise predictionsVOCABULARY: preview, predict, disconfirm

RESOURCE MATERIALS:several children’s picture books or appropriate poemsoverhead projector, board space or chart paper/markers

TEACHING STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES:Good readers always “survey the land” before beginning to read. Ask studentswhat they do before they start to read, and list strategies on the board. Add to thelist things you do, such as read the title, check the author, look at tables ofcontents and numbers of pages.

In addition, good readers make predictions based on what they read, confirm ordisconfirm, then predict again as they read on. (See Reading at the Middle andHigh School Level, p. 43, “Directed Reading-Thinking Activity.”)

• Using a children’s book or appropriate poem, show students only the title orcover of the piece.

• Ask students to predict what the piece will be about based on what theysee—and have them explain “why.” List the predictions on overhead, board, orchart paper.

• Read the first part of the piece aloud. Check whether the predictions wereconfirmed, disconfirmed, or unconfirmed. Cross off or check off on the list. Makefurther predictions. Continue reading, stopping at appropriate intervals toconfirm or disconfirm.

• Finally, summarize the text and discuss how the predictions helped readersunderstand and/or get involved with the text.

• Provide pairs of students with a new poem or book. Have them read together,stopping at specific points to write down and share their predictions, talk aboutthem, and proceed through the entire text. Ask for written evidence of theirpredicting, confirmings or disconfirming process.

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• WARNING: DO NOT ask students to use this strategy all the time! Becauselearning and intentionally practicing strategies like this slows down their readingspeed, students get impatient and frustrated.

DO, though, use it to demonstrate the process they can use when they encountera new or difficult text, and practice it together.

DO regularly model the necessity of previewing and predicting by asking “Whatdo you think will happen next?” “Where will this go from here?”“What’s the next probable step?”

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:• Collect the written predictions and revised prediction.• Ask students to reflect in their R/W Notebook about what happened when theyslowed down their reading and intentionally checked their predictions.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Fluent Oral Reading/ Recitation Project, Lesson 4LESSON OBJECTIVE: Provide models and opportunities for students to readpoetry aloud fluently, using appropriate tone, pace, and intonation.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.8: Interpret the meaning of passages appropriate for highschoolVOCABULARY: fluent- using an appropriate pace, tone, and intonation that reflects areader’s understanding of the meaning a text

RESOURCE MATERIALS:audio- and/or videotapes of poetry being readsoliloquy or other text teacher is familiar withcollection of poetry for students to select from

TEACHING STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES:

Poetry is meant to be read aloud. If students use their mouths, ears, and bodies, as well asbrains, to process the words of poetry, they can make more meaning. Teachers andstudents should model fluent oral reading of poetry and “think aloud” processes (seeLesson 1) frequently and energetically,

• Introduce the notion of reading a poem “with your body” by asking students topantomime the story line of a nursery rhyme like “Humpty Dumpty,” “The ItsyBitsy Spider,” etc.

• • Follow with an appropriate available poem that encourages gestures or movement.

Have students read the poem as a large group, providing less confident readers theprotection of the group. Point out how much easier it is to memorize something ifone has a body/mind connection to the text.

• • Model the reading of a poem of your choice (provide students with the text) and

“think aloud” with students why you chose to read it as you did. (Focus on issues ofpace, tone, word meaning, punctuation, line breaks, etc.)

• Assign students to select a poem to practice reading orally to the class (or a smallergroup, if appropriate). Require multiple at-home practices; provide opportunities topractice with feedback in class; demonstrate how to write out a poem to reflectreading cues; coach students to use appropriate gestures and movement; encouragestudents to memorize poem and recite it “off book.”

• Enrichment: Encourage students to use background music props and/or costumes. Use Prologue from Romeo and Juliet or other Shakespearean soliloquy.

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• Technology Connections: Students could coordinate recitation with PowerPoint presentation of text of poetry. Videotape performances and show video to class.Teleconference performances to students beyond the school walls.

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:Establish scoring guide with class for the recitations; allow each student to ask 2classmates as well as the teacher to score the recitation.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Establishing Prior Knowledge, Lesson 5LESSON OBJECTIVE: Use graphic organizers to establish prior knowledge andshow similarities and differencesCORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.9: Analyze critically a variety of genre.VOCABULARY: prose, poetry

RESOURCE MATERIALS: overhead transparency for K-W-L two samples of appropriate poems and pieces of prose


Many students benefit from seeing information distilled and organized on paper in charts,columns, webs, or outlines. These graphic organizers can help the proficient reader as wellas the struggling reader to organize and analyze information. Demonstrate and use themfrequently with students, even if they don’t help you personally! The following lessonuses the common K-W-L and a variation of the Venn diagram to help students identifysimilarities and differences. You might want to take two periods to have time to processwhat students learn.

• Use K-W-L (Know-Want to Know-Learned) to identify what students understandabout how to read poetry:

K W L

• Have students brainstorm what they know (or THINK they know) about how to readpoetry; record on “K” column on overhead or board.

• Organize students in pairs and give each partner a different poem. Explain that they willneed to listen carefully to what happens when they read poems. Ask them first to readtheir poems silently, then aloud to each other, then switch and repeat the process withthe other poem. What did they observe?

• Have students identify questions or topics of mystery about how to read poetry andrecord in the “Want-to-Know” column.

• Save the chart and/or post somewhere public for later updates.

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• Revisit at intervals during the unit of study and record what “Learnings” studentdiscover, as well as additional “Wants.”

Many CATS open response questions require students to find similarities anddifferences. Wherever appropriate, encourage students to analyze text or ideas bycomparing and contrasting. Venn diagrams or similar organizers will help. SeeBillmeyer’s blackline masters in Teaching and Reading in the Content Areas for moretemplate models.

Ask students to brainstorm the similarities and differences in reading poetry (silently oraloud) versus reading prose. Record ideas on a chart as below:

Differences Similarities Differences Reading Poetry Reading Prose

Refer to what the class discovers about similarities, differences, and how-tos during theunit.

Keep this chart (as well as K-W-L) available for revisiting and updating.

• Extensions/Accomodations for ECE/Other Diverse Learners: Revisit definitions of poetry and prose.

• Technology Connections: Use the table feature in a word processing program to create the KWL table.

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:• Students will contribute to creation of class K-W-L and similarities/differences

charts.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Understanding Characteristics of Poetry, Lesson 6LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will construct a definition of poetry and understandthe differences between poetry and prose.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.9 Analyze critically a variety of literary genre;

WR-H 1.3 Literary WritingVOCABULARY: literary genre

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:Handout with various definitions of poetryOverhead transparenciesR/W Notebook


• Distribute a handout with various definitions of poetry. (See page at the end of thislesson.) Ask students to copy in their R/W Notebook the definition(s) that they feelbest communicate(s) to them the essence of poetry and explain the reasoning for theirchoice(s).

• Next, on this same page in their R/W Notebook, ask students to freewrite for five toten minutes. Students will (1) describe their own prior experiences with poetry and(2) reflect on their favorite poet and/or their most special poem(s) from the past.(This writing will reveal not only the students’ knowledge but also their individualattitudes about poetry and help later with establishing cooperative poetry groups anddetermining the sophistication of writing assignments.)

• Ask for class volunteers to read aloud their notebook reflections on experiences withpoetry. On the overhead, record the names of the poets and titles of poems that theclass has read and loved in the past. Students should also copy this list in the R/WNotebook as a list of possible poets and poems for future reading.

• Ask students to brainstorm and compose their own definition of poetry in the R/WNotebook. Challenge them to create a definition that distinguishes how poetry differsfrom prose.

• Ask students to read their own definitions of poetry. Record each definition on theoverhead or chalkboard in a T-Chart (such as the one below). Ask students to do thesame on a new page in their R/W Notebook. As you record what class members saythat poetry IS, ask students how this characteristic of poetry is different from prose.Some of their explanations will show the common bond between effective poetry andeffective prose. Their chart should look like the T-Chart below and will be used to

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contrast major differences between poetry and prose. In this way, all the class will bespeaking the same language when students refer to “poetry.”

These reflections—and reflections throughout the R/W Notebook—will provide “fodder,”specific details that students can use later when they compose letters to the reviewer.

POETRY BUT PROSE

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS:Set up a teleconference with a poet and discuss definitions of poetry from thestudents’ writer’s notebooks.

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:See activities above.

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Definitions of Poetry

Which of these definitions captures for you the essence of poetry?

1. Poetry is language that has been condensed, compacted, tightened and trimmed.John Drury

2. Poetry is tied to memory. . . Poetry is ultimately mythology, the telling of the storisof the soul. Stanley Kunitz

3. A poem records emotions and moods that lie beyond normal language. . .Diane Ackerman

4. Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings . . .recollected in tranquility.William Wordsworth

5. Poetry is the art of combining pleasure with truth. Samuel Johnson

6. A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom. Robert Frost

7. Poetry says more and says it more intensely “than the language we use every day.”Laurence Perrine

8. Poetry is music in words. D. Fuller

9. If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, Iknow that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, Iknow that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?

Emily Dickinson

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Understanding Conventions of Poetry, Lesson 7LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will demonstrate their understanding of theconventions and supporting skills found in effective poetry.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.9 Analyze critically a variety of literary genre.

WR-H 1.3 Literary WritingVOCABULARY: conventions

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:Textbooks or poetry anthologies checked out from media centerCopies of poems written by former studentsStudent handouts on the characteristics of a proficient poem (included after thislesson)Markers and colored sheets of construction paper (at least 8 x ll )R/W Notebook


• Review with class the six criteria by which all writing is assessed on the KentuckyHolistic Scoring Guide as listed on the student handout from the Kentucky MarkerPapers: audience/purpose, idea development/support, organization, sentences,language, and correctness.

• Direct the class to read silently and reflect on the meanings of each of the specificskills listed under the criteria for poems. A copy of this handout, which is provided atthe end of this lesson, needs to be placed at the beginning of the R/W Notebook.

• On the next page in their R/W Notebook, ask every student to head a sheet entitled“Characteristics of Effective Poetry.” Then they need to make a list of any wordsappearing on this handout that they need help to understand or identify in actualpoems. Students should leave several blank lines between each term that is unclear tothem because they will return later to record answers to their questions.

• Divide students into five cooperative groups. Roles include the presenter(s), thescribe(s), and the researcher(s). Assign each group to lead a class discussion designedto review with other class members the key skills listed under their assigned criterion:

Audience/Purpose: convention, image, individual voiceIdea Development/Support: sensory detail, simile, metaphor, personification, imagery,moodOrganization: coherence, unity, white space, shapeSentences: effective line break, rhythm, melody, rhymeLanguage: choices based on economy, descriptive language, strong verb, precise nouns

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(1) Students will explain a clear definition of poetry terms listed under the criterionassigned to their group. The scribe(s) will be responsible for writing each of thegroup’s required terms on a separate sheet of construction paper. The groupmembers will work together to create a clear definition of the criterion and the scribewill record the definition on the paper with each word. These sheets will be postedto create a colorful Concept Wall (see p. 6 for more information) made up of a collageof terms essential to effective poems. These visual reminders will make students moreconscious of the characteristics of poetry.

(2) Groups will read through the provided anthologies or copies of students’ poems ortheir own texts. They are to go on a “Scavenger Hunt,” looking for an example thatfits each of the terms that their group defined. The scribe(s) will copy a clearillustration of each skill that group members think best fits their definition of thepoetic term. The examples will be posted under each definition on the Concept Wall.

(3) Class will listen as each group presenter shares the assigned terms and, defintionscomposed by the group and shows the class a specific example of each poeticconvention which the group has discovered through an examination of student poems,poetry anthologies, and/or poems in their textbook. These specific examples used toillustrate the terminology should also be copied and posted directly under theirdefinition on the Concept Wall.

(4) As groups present and you clarify information about the skills listed under theirassigned criterion, all class members will record both definitions and examples frompoems of any terms that they did not understand on the page in their R/W Notebookheaded “Characteristics of Effective Poetry.”

(5) Challenge students to listen for poetry in the world around them—radio, television,greeting cards, songs, children’s books, etc.

(6) Give the class the P. I. Q. (Poetry Intelligence Quotient) Test on the following page.All of the statements are false! These FALSE statements are intended to debunkcommonly held student misperceptions about the writing of poetry BEFORE theyappear in class conversations.

• EXTENSIONS/ACCOMODATIONS FOR ECE/OTHER DIVERSE LEARNERS: (See Appendix for additional extensions/accommodations.) Pair students to read aloud the skills needed in writing a proficient poem. In their notebooks, list “Characteristics of Effective Poetry,” then have students list unfamiliar words and phrases.

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS: Use the Internet to locate poems for analysis.*ASSESSING THE LEARNING: See activities above.

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POEMThe writer of a proficient poem demonstrates most or all of the following skills:

AUDIENCE/PURPOSE• Meets the reader’s needs and expectations by adhering to the conventions of poetry• Focuses on the purpose (e.g., paint a picture, re-create a feeling, tell a story, capture a

moment, evoke an image, show an extraordinary perception of the ordinary)• Narrows topic• Uses an individual voice• Creates a title which captures the essence of the piece and creates reader interest

IDEA DEVELOPMENT/SUPPORT• Uses sensory details• Uses poetic devices (e.g., simile, metaphor, personification, imagery)• Creates a mood• Does not sacrifice meaning for rhyme

ORGANIZATION• Maintains coherence and unity• Arranges the poem using white space, line breaks, and shape to enhance meaning

SENTENCES• Uses line breaks effectively• Employs rhythm, melody, and perhaps rhyme

LANGUAGE• Makes language choices based on economy, precision, richness, surprise, impact on

the reader• Uses descriptive language• Uses strong verbs and precise nouns• Uses figurative language

CORRECTNESS• Spells correctly• Uses correct end punctuation, commas, quotation marks, apostrophes• Capitalizes correctly• Departs legitimately from standard correctness to enhance the meaning of the poem

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P. I. Q. TEST: Who Wants to Be a Poet?

Are these statements true or false?

1. Poetry is so personal that it does not have to make sense to another reader or have

a meaning for anyone other than the person who wrote it.

2. Poems cannot be revised because they are inspired by intense feeling.

3. Poetry was meant to rhyme. That’s the very definition of poetry!

4. Poetry is easier to write than prose.

5. You cannot be taught how to write poetry; it is just a natural-born talent that

some people have and others don’t.

6. Distinguished poetry is too “deep” to be understood by “normal” readers.

7. Poems can fit into any category of the Grade 12 Writing Portfolio.

8. Poetry will not score high in the senior portfolio.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: During Reading Strategies: INSERT and Click and Clunk, Lesson 8LESSON OBJECTIVE: Student will learn and use self-monitoring strategies to usewhile reading.CORE CONTENT: RD-H x.0.1 Locate, evaluate, and apply information for a realistic

purpose.RD-H 1.0.8 Interpret the meaning of a passage taken from textsappropriate for high school.

VOCABULARY: INSERT, click and clunk, T-chart

RESOURCE MATERIALS:Note cards, post-its for studentsOverhead of INSERT codeOverhead of T-Chart to record clicks and clunksOverhead with model of poem you have read and your INSERT notesSample poem for students to read togetherR/W Notebook

TEACHING STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES:The INSERT strategy requires readers sloooooow doooown and monitor their reading bynoting the reactions they have to the text: understanding, confusion, surprise, amusement,or even WOW. Students would NOT necessarily use this at all times when readingbecause it is time consuming. They should, however, use it regularly and with partners tocheck understanding and to see how others construct meaning from text.

Students might want to develop their own personalized set of codes and reactions. Besure their original codes allow them to reflect “metacognitive monitoring.”

• Explain to students that good readers make margin notes to keep track of whatthey are thinking about as they read. This makes reading “active!”• Display the INSERT codes (overhead at end of this lesson) and discuss how andwhen each symbol would be used appropriately. Ask students to write the codeon their index card and to use it as a book mark or in their R/W notebook.• Using the sample poem on which you have made INSERT notes, model howstudents could mark their own poems.• Ask students to read several poems independently, then share with a partner theresponses. What made sense in each poem? Why?

What part(s) were “fresh” and original?What connection can be made to other poems or texts, your experience, orthe real world?

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• Use the T-chart to record “clicks” and “clunks”—the places students mademeaning of the text (clicks) and places where the text confused or frustratedstudents (clunks). Encourage students to “fix” the clunks through discussion andsharing their own thinking. (Note: This activity requires a degree of trust andrespect for students to publicly declare what they do not know. Perhaps beginby modeling your own clunks.)

• Technology ConnectionsAllow students to use the Internet to locate both classic and contemporarypoetry.

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:Students will make reflections in R/W Notebook.

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POETRY INSERT

A FRESH WAY TOSAY SOMETHING

IMPORTANTWORD OR LINE

I DON’T GET IT

MAKES MELAUGH

REMINDS MEOF…

*

!

?

J

#

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Recognizing Supporting Skills in a Proficient Poem, Lesson 9LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will identify and annotate the skills demonstrated in aProficient Grade 12 Poem.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.9 Analyze critically a variety of literary genre.

RD-H x.0.7 Formulate opinions in response to reading passage.WR-H 1.3 Literary Writing

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:Student Handouts of Characteristics of Proficient Poem (see handout followinglesson 7)Overhead Transparency of “Fire” (Copy provided at end of lesson)Individual Student Handouts of “Fire” (See annotated copy in Kentucky MarkerPapers, Draft for Grade 12, p. 19. This is available from your school’s writingcluster leader.)R/W Notebook


• Divide class into two groups. Read “Fire” aloud by alternating the reading of linesbetween the two sections of the class.

• Subdivide class into five groups: Audience/Purpose, Idea Development/Support,Organization, Sentences, and Language. Assign each group of students to reread thepoem “Fire.” As they silently examine this Grade 12 Proficient Marker Poem, theyare to look for specific examples of the supporting skills listed under their assignedcriterion.

• Have groups discuss the skills that they observe in “Fire” and then annotate theline(s) where that skill can be found.

• Return to whole class. Begin with Audience/Purpose, the first scoring priority on theHolistic Guide. Ask students who worked in this group to identify for the entire classall the skills that they noted in their small group discussion. They need to explaintheir annotations so that all students can identify the most effective literaryconventions of this poem. Repeat this process with each of the other scoring criteria,following the order of their importance on Kentucky’s Holistic Scoring Guide.

• All students will annotate their handout just as the teacher annotates this poem on theoverhead. Encourage students to identify as many specific examples as possible. (Seethe annotated Kentucky Marker Paper for a model of this annotation.)

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• Point out to the class that the poet chose NOT to rhyme this poem. Ask students totheorize how the effect of this poem might have changed—for the worse—if theselines had rhymed. (The rhyme would definitely diminish the serious tone andinhibited the writer’s freedom to choose just the most precise, richest word for his orher purposes.)

• Go back to the list of supporting skills which students have in their R/W Notebooks. Have them highlight the skill under idea development/support which so many teenage writers have not developed: “does not sacrifice meaning for rhyme.

Post this admonition on a sentence strip; you may also need to have it tattooed acrossyour forehead: DO NOT SACRIFICE MEANING FOR RHYME!

• Students will reflect in their R/W Notebook by drawing the most effective wordpicture that they saw in their mind’s eye as they read the poem.

• Students will then compose a reflection in their R/W Notebook on the single word inthis poem that left the deepest impression in their mind. They will write this wordon a separate page headed Word Bank. The Bank is a list of precise, poetic words thatthey plan to use in future writings—either prose or poetry.

• When student volunteers share their reflections (which may contribute later to theirletters to the reviewer), you can write the rich words on a colored sheet ofconstruction paper and post in a prominent place so that the class will also begin aWord Bank. Share your own discoveries of new words from reading or crosswordpuzzles. It is vital that your students see you as a lifelong learner and lover of words.

• EXTENSIONS/ACCOMODATIONS FOR ECE/OTHER DIVERSELEARNERS:(See Appendix for additional extensions/accommodations.)

Provide separate sheets for each group with their supporting skill listed and itsdefinition. Have the group write down their specific examples found in thepoem. After discussion, copy all sheets for all students to keep in theirnotebook for future reference.

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS: Have students enter their rich words in a class database. Consider future searching/sorting needs before setting up fields.

ASSESSING THE LEARNING: See activities above.

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FIRE

I drove my car indifferentlyOn a Saturday of no particular color

When I saw the street that was on the six o’clock news(we take you to the scene live)And I turned down that road

Reluctant but still wanting to see.A short distance down, it stood

Amid pristine new structures that wereImpeccably groomed with not a thing out of placeThe charred timbers that were somebody’s home

Reaching with spindly, sickly, blackened armsPleading toward the sky in frozen agony

To be whole again.And I thought of the flames

Creating their unholy halo against the night skyGreedily devouring all and belching heavy black smoke

This mass of contrasts that were these flames.Glowing yet so cruel

Never cold but still uncaringOf whose safe kitchen they invadeOr what child’s toys they break

Or whose father they burn the life out of.And after a long moment I turned back the way I came

Having no more business thereAlready losing the edges of the memory

But knowing that, before I drifted off to sleep that night,I would send a silent, earnest little prayer—

Please God don’t let the flames get me.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Focusing on the Relationship between Purpose/Audience and Form of a Poem,Lesson 10LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will explore possible topics, purposes, audiences, andformats for narrative poems.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.8 Interpret the meaning of a passage.

WR-H 1.3 Literary WritingVOCABULARY: purpose, audience, form

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS Copy of “Out, out. . . “ by Robert FrostStacks of recycled daily newspapers or weekly news magazinesR/W NotebookOverhead transparency

TEACHING STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

• Read aloud to class Robert Frost’s “Out, out. . .” a poem inspired by a news story.Use an appropriate reading strategy: predict, preview, K-W-L, think aloud.

• Distribute an old daily newspaper to each student and ask class members to perusethe pages until they find two intriguing articles that might inspire an effective “Fire”poem for a particular audience. The purpose of each potential narrative poem shouldbe one of the following: paint a picture, re-create a feeling, tell a story, capture amoment, evoke an image, show an extraordinary perception of the ordinary.

• Direct students to reflect on their ideas for these two possible narrative poems in theR/W Notebook. They should use a separate page for each potential poem as theyrecord the following:

Summary: Make a list of the most important specific details in the news story selected.

Identify audience and purpose: Specify a possible purpose for this poem and aspecific audience you would attempt to reach through this poetry.

Form: Write a clear rationale explaining whether your purposes in building a poem around this story could be more effectively achieved by using rhyme or by not using rhyme, just as in “Fire.”

• Get students into groups of four where they will each share one of their ideas for anarrative poem that has been inspired by a newspaper story.

• Have each group select and report to the whole class one idea presented in their groupthat seems Most Likely to Become a “Fire” (proficient) poem. Record all the

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potential poetry ideas on the overhead and direct class members to write these ideasgenerated for poetry on a separate page in their R/W Notebook entitled “Possibilitiesfor Poetry.”

• Students will select one of their poetry possibilities or one shared by a class memberand create a first draft of a poem based on a news article.

• Attempt writing a similar poem along with your students. Because the idea as well asthe details can come from a news story of your choosing, this writing exercise is nottime consuming. By sharing your problems and your process with the studentsyouwill help students to realize that creating poetry is not just an activity that studentsmust do because they will receive a grade but a challenge that you as their Englishteacher also enjoy.

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS: Use the Internet to peruse on-line newspapers.


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STUDENT MODEL

The poem below was based on a daily news story about a robbery at TacoBell. Because this Kentucky student wanted to achieve a humorous ratherthan a tragic effect, he chose to use rhyme when translating the crime storyinto a mock ballad.

MEXIMELT MASSACRE

Four young people worked that nightThe late shift at Taco BellThey’d soon be part of a psychotic actThat they wouldn’t live to tell

Two crazy psycho lunaticsWere driving down the streetThey pulled up to the fast food jointTo get a bite to eat

The doors were locked but they got pastAnd yes they brought their pistolsWhen the workers saw the gunmen comeTheir bodies froze like crystals

A dedicated worker shouted“May I take your order?”The gunmen laughed demonically“No you better run for the border”

These guys were very meanAnd really kind of rudeThey wanted green stuff, money, cashThey didn’t want some food

After all the loot was handed overOne gunman yelled out “Chico”“All this hard work makes me hungryLet’s get a bean burrito”

All four employees died that nightThe last shift at Taco BellAnd as for that bean burritoI hope it blew them both to hell

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Sensory Images and Language, Lesson 11LESSON OBJECTIVE: Student will use graphic organizer to identify sensory imagesand language in poetry.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.14 Critique the author’s word choice.VOCABULARY: sensory images and language

RESOURCE MATERIALS:Overhead of “Sensory Images and Language Mind Map”Overhead and student copies of blank mind map for sensory imagesCopies of appropriate poems using sensory languageChart paper (optional)

TEACHING STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES:• Ask students to recall the five senses and reinforce their responses with the overheadmaster.• Remind students that poetry is intended to be “eaten” and savored like good food. (Ifappropriate, provide samples of food to taste, smell, touch, listen to, look at, andDESCRIBE. Record responses on the overhead.)• Using an appropriate poem, together identify examples of sensory language and recordon blank overhead. (Poems included in this unit that are appropriate: “Tree,” “Who Me?”“Maximelt Massacre,” “Fire”)• Using other appropriate poems, students work in pairs to read poems and identify useof sensory imagery. Record responses on blank mind maps. Share orally.• (Optional) Record all responses on chart paper to post in room as a collection ofpossible sensory images students might want to use in their own poetry.

• Technology ConnectionsUse PowerPoint to create mind maps. Allow one frame for each sense. Addgraphics, sound, and animation to enhance.

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:• Pairs’ presentation of appropriate sensory imagery• See activities above.

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Sensory Images and Language Mind Map

HEARING

TASTE

SMELL

SIGHT

TOUCH

POEM

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Communicating an Extraordinary Perception of the Ordinary, Lesson 12LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will exercise their imaginations and their powers ofobservation as they describe a familiar object from a variety of new, unfamiliarperspectives.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.13 Interpret symbolic and figurative language.

WR-H 1.3 Literary Writing

VOCABULARY: symbolic language, figurative language

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:Copy of sample student poem “6 Ways to Look at a Corpse”Object to observeMirror for each studentR/W Notebook

TEACHING STRATEGIES AND PROCEDURES:

• Tell all students to bring to class a familiar object or photograph of an everydayobject, place, or person. Let them know in advance that they will be showing whatthey bring to other students.

• Divide the class into small choral groups to read aloud “Thirteen Ways of Looking ata Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens and/or “6 Ways to Look at a Corpse,” a student’spoem (on the following page) inspired by this idea of looking at something ordinaryfrom different perspectives. Discuss the unique ways that the student has described acorpse. What is the author’s deeper purpose for writing this poem?

• Assign students to work with one partner. They are to brainstorm and list together intheir R/W Notebook as many physical details as possible to describe their familiaritems. The teacher can ask for volunteers to share their object or picture and read alist of all the concrete details that the pair of partners noticed.

• Assign all class members to work with a different response partner. Challenge themto brainstorm together five unique, extraordinary perspectives from which to describeboth their objects or photos of objects. They should list their five views of the objectin their R/W Notebook. Suggest that students use sensory details or evenpersonification to make the object seem to come alive. The five descriptions maycommunicate entirely different tones or moods, depending upon the associations thatstudents link to their object. The goal is not only to look at something and see it as itis but to see it as a symbol of something even deeper. This task encourages studentsto think imaginatively from different perspectives and creatively re-examine details.

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• Next direct students to work individually. They need to look carefully into a mirrorand describe an individual image that they see from three different perspectives. Theyshould restrict their focus to a feature such as a mouth or an eye, their hair or theirhand rather than trying to look at “the big picture.” Students should make a list intheir R/W Notebook of three different ways that they might see the personal image.Encourage them to use metaphors, descriptive language, and specific details that mightcommunicate different facets of their identity.

• Ask students to choose from one of the lists that they have just composed in theirR/W Notebook describing an object, photo, or a feature and then convert the unusualdetails or comparisons into a poem where each stanza develops a differentperspective. If neither of the two exercises generated an idea that they want todevelop, they can choose to look at a place, an event, or an emotion from fivedifferent perspectives. The purpose of this poem is to show an extraordinaryperception of the ordinary, so they need to set free their imaginations and challengethemselves to create some unique word pictures with precise language.

• EXTENSIONS/ACCOMODATIONS FOR ECE/OTHER DIVERSELEARNERS:(See Appendix for additional extensions/accommodations.)Co:Writer, Inspiration software, and/or tape recorders allow students to use richerlanguage. Provide a Thesaurus for each student.

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS:Ask students to display their five descriptions in a Power Point presentation.


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Student Model

6 Ways to Look at a Corpse

1On a slab of frozen concrete at the center of the room

The corpse is draped in everyday clothing as if it were not dead and white

and rotting under its fine dress

2Go into your churchSmell and feel the aura of the corpse

in the stale air and grief andin the prayers of the living

3And then go deep

into the earth and rockto the origin of the corpse and beyond

Enter the realm of the non-livingand converse with the dead

4Taste me in your morning coffee

in bitterness not far from death;The corpse lives there still

5Bedside, in the dark room we see the corpse

knitting in her rocking chair alone in her silenceBrooding the loss of her indifference

to the Grand Illusion

6 Travel the world;

Race upon the decaying skin of the corpseand learn that every reality you penetrate

harbors the same grotesque realization; Even in Heaven— When you look into the mirror the face you see will always be your own. . .

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The following poem, also written by a Kentucky twelfth grader, demonstrates extraordinaryperceptions of a tree that might guide students in their attempts to look deeper and think differentlyabout some familiar objects.

TREE

It Crouches Wisely in a bed or rockswith limbs plunging beneath Grey stones.one quick glance reveals no end—the treestretches toward the hidden sun, reachesfor cotton clouds. Spongy green mosshugs its trunk and surreptitious vines

kiss its craggy side. The Grey-brown barkis cracked and full of scars; a wispy insectflutters by a gnarled knot. Where are the

branches? I see only anemic twigs poking from the massive woody stem. And at the bottom . . .

I stare at a miracle. A cave carved from deep wood,two misshapen parabolic holes reveal a home

tiny twisting roots sprout from the bottomof striped wood walls, and stones cuddle

on the floor’s lap. Green-leafed plants peepthrough an arch as though whispering a helloI stare at the tree and walk off! Ignorant of the

community sheltered by its stiffly natural strength.I glance back at its scaled back one last time

And know. . .I’m seeing God.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Using an Individual Voice to Capture a Moment in Time, Lesson 13LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will examine poems that demonstrate the dramaticimpact of voice and point of view in poetry.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.10 Evaluate the influence of literary elements (point-of-

view, voice) in a passage.WR-H 1.3 Literary Writing

VOCABULARY: point-of-view

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:1. Example of a poem and a prose account of the same historical event such as• “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall and a Newsweek account of the

Alabama church bombing;• “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” and the account of this historic event as

related in a history textbook or encyclopedia• Holocaust poem and an excerpt from the Diary of Anne Frank2. Index cards


• Read a prose account to the class that reports on a famous event or time in history. Use an appropriate reading strategy: preview and predict; think alouds and read alouds; graphic organizers to map main ideas and supporting details.

• Discuss the mood (objective, encyclopedic) and tone (unemotional, journalistic).Revisit the chart from earlier in the unit comparing prose to poetry; discuss thespecific examples of similarities and differences.

• Then read a poem, such as the professional examples listed above, the student poetrythat follows this lesson, or your own favorite models. These poems should focus onan event or moment in time from an entirely different, more personal perspective andin a tone intended to evoke the reader’s feelings. (Collaboration with a history teachermay help you select historic events that the class will approach with greater depth ofknowledge and understanding.)

• Contrast the purposes of these two genres—prose versus poetry—in their approachto the subject. Point out the specific details used by the poet to suit the tone/voiceof the poem and achieve the intended purpose.

• Assign students either (1) to do research in history texts or read microfiche of oldnewspapers that report an event in history about which they really want to learnmore, or (2) to interview a parent or another adult about an unforgettable moment inhistory that he/she personally experienced and remembers well such as recollections

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of the Vietnam War, America’s bicentennial celebration, being bussed to a new school,the explosion of the Challenger Spacecraft, Operation Desert Storm, etc. Studentswill need to take notes in their R/W Notebook on the specific details of this event asdescribed in the interview.

• Require students to write the following on an index card:Moment in Time/Historical Event:Purpose of Poem:Form of Poem:Intended Audience:Intended Mood/Tone:

• Ask class members to share with the group what they have written on these cards.Collect cards and make brief comments on the back where necessary.

• Then ask all students to compose a draft of a poem using the specific, factual detailsthat they have gathered, following the plan that they have proposed.

• Divide class into groups based on the similarity of the events that they have selected.Reading the verses of group members can spark an interesting discussion on the R/Wselection of specific details that make the poem achieve (or not achieve) its purposefor the intended audience.

• EXTENSIONS/ACCOMODATIONS FOR ECE/OTHER DIVERSELEARNERS:(See Appendix for additional extensions/accommodations.)Tape recorders for the struggling writers should be available. Co:Writer, Inspirationsoftware may also be useful.

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS:Have the students use the Internet to locate a variety of texts with varying points ofview.


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STUDENT MODEL

The following poem, written by a Kentucky eleventh grader, was inspired byclass readings and study of the Holocaust.

Abandoned?

The everlasting energy of the storm,The never ending nightmare.

The frantic screaming streets,Days later, crimson stained.

Faces as pale as ghosts in the night,Marching legions of tainted soldiers.

A six-pointed star to them represented the devil,Branded upon us, as a gift of death.

The train cried, thousands exited,Timid families parted like the Red Sea.

The darkness of the night,Could not surpass the darkness of these hours.

The screams, the pleading, a gunshot!Silence, like a shooting star, falling from the heavens.

Life beyond the realms of Hell,Darkness never ceasing, though the middle of the day.

Heaps of bodies in roaring volcanoes,Never forgetting the smell of burning flesh.

Have our lives been a lie?Has our loving God abandoned us?

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Creating a Title to Capture the Essence of a Piece and Create Reader Interest,Lesson 14LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will learn the significance of a poem’s title -- “what’sin a name” -- and develop some tools for constructing more fitting and effective titles fortheir poetry.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.11 Analyze the effect of theme, symbolism, figurative language.

WR-H 1.3 Literary WritingVOCABULARY: essence

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:Model poemsSentence StripsR/W Notebook

TEACHING STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES:• Read a poem to the class, one of your favorites, one from the textbook or one of the

student models provided with this plan. Do NOT tell the students its title but askthem to listen carefully so that they can choose a fitting title for this poem after theyhave heard it all.

• In the R/W Notebook, ask every student to compose what they believe is a title thatcaptures the essence of the poem without telling too much. They also need to write aparagraph explaining the reasons for selecting their title.

• Subdivide the class into groups of four to share their titles and defend their choices.Then direct each group to pick one title that best represents the group’s choices.They may even choose to create a new title. They can write the group’s title on aSentence Strip and post it on the bulletin board.

• Write the questions below on the chalkboard or overhead and ask students to copythem in their R/W Notebook. As they judge group suggestions for titles that havebeen written on the Sentence Strips, ask them to consider each question and select thebest title:

What’s in a Title?

1. Which title hints at just enough of the poem’s contents to intrigue readers?2. Which title creates an image in the reader’s mind?3. Which title demonstrates the most originality?4. Which title is broad enough to encompass all the poet’s intended message?5. Which title is the most precise and poetic?

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• Have students vote on their favorite title with a show of hands. Then tell them whattitle was, in fact, chosen by the poet. (That does not mean students are incorrect intheir own answers. Chances are that your class members will like their ideasbetter—some may be more effective than the one that the author actually chose. It isthe discussion of the criteria that will be most valuable, not matching the poet’s title.)Students may suggest additions to the list of questions that should be considered innaming the poem.

• Emphasize that titles are not random afterthoughts but intentional, artistic choicesthat a writer must carefully make to enhance the effectiveness of the work. Titles arenot labels—whether in poetry or prose—but can, like names, make all the difference.For example, the anorexic young woman who wrote this student model explained thatshe chose her title because she wanted to emphasize the lack of trust that sheperceived from the nurses who weighed her every week after her hospitalization foranorexia. She also reveals, of course, that these nurses were wise to look beyond hercheery exterior and see a teenager who still wanted to lose weight—at any cost.

• Ask students to return to a draft of a poem that they started in their R/W Notebook.Have them re-examine their title, using the five criteria considered earlier.

• Direct students to create three other possible titles for one of their favorite drafts of apoem. Then ask them to get with a partner and “try on” each of the new titles todetermine which title a writing partner finds most effective at capturing the essence ofthe poem and creating reader interest.

• Challenge your most capable language arts students to create titles by attempting thekind of word play in their R/W Notebook that they might discover in E. E.Cummings, who sawed up words and tacked pieces on them just to enhance hispurposes. For example, he constructed the word manunkind and used it in a bitterpoem about the inhumanity of man to man. Of course, today Cummings wouldprobably have to use humanunkind, in an attempt to be more politically correct. Oneof the characters in Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible who constantly playswith rhyming words and arranges combinations of words in reverse order might alsoinspire some intriguing possibilities for poetry titles too. To describe rains in theCongo where nature dumped buckets, Kingsolver writes the phrase backwards tocreate a new term that is almost onomatopoetic “Stekcub pmud.”

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STUDENT MODEL

A Kentucky senior took her prose journal entry and converted it into this poem.How does her title reinforce her purpose? What are other possible titles?

WHO ME?

We always sit in the waiting room forever I wonder what it was last weekI have to sign the yellow paper “104, honey”Name, phone number, insurance company, doctor Her honey doesn’t sound smoothI sit in the hideous purple chairs It sticks around meAnd stare at the clown wallpaper I get back my pocket collectionA woman dressed in pink rayon Not much I wantAlways sits next to me I start on my sneakersThe lights are bright Damn,I should have untied themThey reflect off her shirt It makes it easier to put back onI have to shut my eyes I’m lacing and thinkingA woman in starchy white interrupts my peace No trust-They have no trustShe says, “ ( name),” In a stale voice “Empty your pockets”I stand and follow her down the hallway “Take off your shoes”I know what is coming—it happens every week “Eat more-Become healthy”The graying woman looks at my files I wish I didn’t care about my weightLooks at me But they know I doLooks down That’s why they make me come“Take ‘em off” I am my weightI pull them off using my toes and heels Standing up-I lean against the teal wallReading over my file I make a pact with myselfThat ancient voice penetrates through the folder No more food!“Empty your pockets” More will power!I do—a couple pennies, a gum wrapper NO CHOCOLATELots of pocket lint Moving away from the wallI hand it over to her extended fingers I say, “See you next week girls.”She takes my arm and leads me on the scale A blur of white smile andShe moves the heavy bar to 100 Good-byes reach meThe right side of the balance falls I will be back, too soon.It makes a clanking noiseShe scoots the small weight across107, 106, 105, 104, 105, 104She tells me what I already see

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Reading Open Response QuestionHigh School

“The Road Not Taken”

Core Content Code: RD-H 1.0.11

Reading Passage: “The Road Not Taken” Glencoe Literature (Course 5) p.643

Prompt: The purpose of a poem is reflected in its theme.

Instructions: A. Identify the theme of “The Road Not Taken.”B. Discuss two places in the poem where the theme is evident.

Scoring Guide: Use the Kentucky General Scoring Guide for Open ResponseQuestions

Examples to look for in student response:

A. Theme involves choices one must make, the author’s desire for unconformity oradventure.B. “sorry I could not travel both…”

“Then took the other…”“Because it was grassy and wanted wear…”“Oh, I kept…”

“I took the one less traveled by…”

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Developing Ideas Through Sensory Details, Lesson 15LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will focus on the power of the senses to developpoetic images about people and places. CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.14 Critique the author’s word choice, style.

WR-H 1.3 Literary WritingVOCABULARY: sensory details

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:Audio Tapes or CD’s featuring jazz, Native American, or classical musicColored pictures featuring a variety of scenes (cut from popular magazines )Pieces of fruit brought to class by students (Have pieces of lemon or oranges for

those who forgot their “homework.”)Paper towels


• Write this quote on the board to focus the lesson on the power of sensory details:

“Through sensory details, a poem communicates the poet’s ideas and feelings aboutwhat it means to be mortal, to love, or to loathe.”

How to Write a Poem by Margaret Ryan, p. 26

• Ask students to listen to 3-5 minutes of music that you have selected for this lesson.As they listen to the sounds, students need to freewrite in their R/W Notebook aboutall the sensory images that come to mind because of this music. Their pencils shouldnot stop moving. They are not to censor their thought processes but to free associatedetails that come to mind. Put the list below on the overhead or chalkboard.

Getting in Tune with the Senses

1. What images do you see in your mind’s eye?2. What specific kinds of sounds do you hear?3. What kinds of smells might you associate with this stimulus?

• Ask for class volunteers to read their journal entries. Emphasize the variety ofspecific sensory details students share. Ask those who are reluctant to read if theycan add other unusual ideas that flashed through their brains as they listened to themusic with minds open to sensory detail.

• Give one laminated magazine picture to a pair of students. Ask them to brainstormtogether a list of answers to the three questions above along with any other sensory

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details that they might associate with the scene in their picture such as taste andtouch. Again get a pair of volunteers to show their photo and read the list of sensorydetails that they compiled in response to the picture.

• Take a fruit break! First ask students to list as many words as possible to describethe outer look and feel of the piece of fruit that they brought to class. Get volunteerswho brought the same kind of fruit to share their lists of “outer” sensory details.

• Then students may eat their piece of fruit very slowly, tasting each bite as if theyhave never tasted this exotic form of food before. There should be no talking asstudents listen to themselves (and others) chew, as they smell the fruit basket offlavors in the room, etc. Tell them to be conscious of their salivary glands and thespurt of juices in their mouths and the nuances of flavor.

• Next have students use the three questions on sensory detail to freewrite for fiveminutes: describe the sensation of eating this fruit to someone who has never tastedit. Tell them to compare its flavor and appearance to something else. Suggest thattheir freewriting might include memories of places or occasions where they enjoyedthis fruit in the past.

• Read aloud to the class a sample of a poem that describes a place or person usingdifferent kinds of sensory details. (Some sample student models follow.)

• After you have read the poem, ask students to jot down in their R/W Notebook thedetails that they can see, hear, taste, feel, or touch from that piece of writing.

• Assign the students to create a start of a poem about either a familiar place or aspecial person that develops ideas through well-chosen sensory details. The writers’goal is to include specific details that are focused on creating a unified mood. Coachthem: SHOW, NOT TELL. Write this admonition on a sentence strip and display itin a very prominent place throughout the year.

• To encourage them to SHOW, NOT TELL, require every student to draw a picture ofthis place or this person BEFORE beginning to write any words. The more details intheir picture, whether anyone else comprehends the art or not, the more details thereshould be in their verses.

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS: Have students find additional sensory music on the Internet.

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:Open Response Question: Poetic Language

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STUDENT MODELS

This Kentucky senior uses sensory details to create a mood and a word picture ofa familiar place.

ESCAPE

I settle down into a sagging chair of torn plasticThe smells, so familiar—Butter scented Ju-Ju Bees wither in a dried film of sticky Coke near my feetGiggles seep from midget heads in the front row, followed by a quick popcorn shower—The man in the fancy polyester suit calms them.

The velvet curtain, pulled backWhile previews flash, the two heads in front of me connect for a brief kissThe girl leans back as her man stretches his arm around her slim neckHer sneakered feet rest on the seat in front of her—The man in the fancy polyester suit reprimands her.

The lights grow dim, all talking hushedAt the first crackle of the speakers our eyes are tempted by the screen, then drawn inThis is where we have come to kill the villain, travel time, fall in love, win the war, and

Ride off into the Western sunset—The man in the fancy polyester suit shows us out.

Another Kentucky senior selects sensory details that connect a familiar place witha special person.

Sometimes When I’m Alone

Sometimes when I’m aloneI walk out to my grandfather’s gardenAnd seat myself on the bench he made

strongly of 2 X 4’s for my grandmother,a woman of years and pounds, so

that she could admire his vegetables.

And sometimes, if it’s warm,and there are birds

flirting through the fence rowsand butterflies dancing all around,

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I might reach my hands down anddelve into the velvety earth,

grasping what my grandfatherholds dear.

Through well chosen sensory details, this Kentucky senior SHOWS readers oneof his classmates and also reveals his special feelings about this person.

“Chickenhardedness”

Soft waves of blond hair

fall unto her shoulders

as she stares thoughtfully ahead

contemplating her day.

Cheerleading practice

nail appointment

tanning bed

Her intriguing blue eyes

drift off

smiling.

Work finally pays off

“I get my new Eclipse this weekend!”

She utters,

to the REST of the class.

“Abercrombie” pants place her

in the “in”group at school

and the qb of the football team

makes her so unreachable

for a guy like me

who sits behind her

just to catch a drift

of her over priced perfume.

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Poetic Language

Core Content Code: RD-H 1.0.11RD-H 1.0.13RD-H 1.0.14

Reading Passage: appropriate poem, such as:“Making a Fist,” Glencoe Literature (Course 5) P. 661“Southbound on the Freeway,” Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Elements of Literature (third Course), p.527

Prompt: Poets use figurative, symbolic and sensory language in their poemsto create certain images and effects for the reader.

Instructions: Using the poem provided, evaluate three examples of the writer’sword choice and/or use of figurative language.

Scoring Guide: Use the Kentucky General Scoring Guide for Open ResponseQuestions

Examples to look for in student response:

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme—Please Ask That Question!, Lesson 16LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will learn how a poet’s choice to rhyme can eitherenhance or distract from the purpose of a poemCORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.14 Critique the author’s word choice, style, use of

literary elementsWR-H 1.3 Literary Writing

VOCABULARY: rhythm, rhyme

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:Copy of your favorite Dr. Seuss book (such as Green Eggs and Ham)Copies of student poems from previous years or student samples providedR/W Notebook


• Read aloud a Dr. Seuss book to the class to show the pleasurable effects of rhyme.Try pausing at several points to see if students can supply the missing rhyming word.Use appropriate reading strategies: preview and predict; think alouds; read alouds.

• Discuss logical reasons for using rhymes in children’s verses. Write them on theboard or the overhead and have the class record them in their R/W Notebooks.

• Rap artists often perform in rhyme. Ask students to explain why rhyme is used inrap and discuss how rhyme enhances other effects of rap lyrics.

• Read aloud to the class a rhyming poem with an unexpected jolt at the end, such as“Richard Cory.” Discuss the effective use of rhyme in this poem where Robinsonlulls readers into expecting a pleasant jingle and then uses the anticipated rhyme toshock his audience with the unexpected suicide of Richard Cory.

• Ask students to reflect in the R/W Notebook about poems that they have read andremember from their past. Give them five minutes to write about whether theytypically prefer to read or write rhymed poetry and explain the reasons why.

• Write on the board or overhead: Times NOT to Rhyme a PoemAs a class, brainstorm a list of topics or situations when a poet would be wise towrite a poem that does NOT rhyme. Have students record this list in their R/WNotebook.

• Distribute copies of poems written by students from past years who have givenpermission to use their work. (You may decide to use the student models provided.)

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• Divide class into cooperative groups with four members. Give each group one poemto read. After reading that poem aloud, the group should decide what the poet’spurpose is. They are to discuss whether the rhyme scheme enhances or distractsfrom achieving that purpose. Every group needs to write a specific rationale to defendtheir conclusions about the effectiveness of the rhyme scheme. Collect these afterthey share with class.

• It is highly possible that the students may disagree, but the Chaucer poem is intendedto be the only student model provided here that uses rhyme effectively. What is mostvaluable is not getting the right answer but discussing the criteria for selecting rhymeversus non rhyme.

• Return to the class-generated list of Times NOT to Rhyme in the R/W Notebook.Add any other discoveries that students have made as they read pieces written byother students. Remind them that their notebook is a treasure house full of gemsbeing saved for final reflections in the letter to the reviewer.

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS: Have students search the internet for samples of rhyming and non-rhyming poetry.


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STUDENT MODELS

Which poems are more effective because of the rhyme schemes these Kentuckyseniors used?

I. Abuse II. As I Move On

Abuse is a struggle that isn’t right, As I walk up the steps, It doesn’t have to be a fight. My heels click against the groundAbuse can start with a little thing. No one makes a sound It can be anything. As I walk up the stepsSometimes people get hit with a shoe, Abuse can even happen to you. As I stare at everyone around me,Abuse is like a spider in someone’s ear. A tear rolls down my cheek It fills mortals with plenty of fear. And I take a deep breath, I begin to feel weakAbuse is like a person with a double-edged knife. As I stare at everyone around me. It could take over anyone’s life.Why do people do it, society just doesn’t know what to say, As I walk across the stage Because no one can stop it, it happens everyday. My stomach jolts in pain A lot of abusers are killa’s My eyes begin to swell with water They hurt dogs, cats, and even gorillas. As I walk across the stage.Abusers don’t care or give a hoo,But to stand up for what’s right, it takes just you. As I receive my diploma,

My hands tremble and shakeThey’re so white they look fake.As I receive my diploma.

As I hold it in my handI finally realizeIt’s all overAs I hold it in my hand.

As I hug all my friendsI know it’sGoodbyeAs I hug all my friends.

As I walk down the steps,My heels click against the floor,But now, everyone applauds,As I walk down the steps.

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This Kentucky senior was inspired to research Medieval trades and create a newCanterbury Tale after her class read Chaucer.

III. “Chaucer, ‘Weave’a Better Story Next Time”By: The Deceived Weaver

I am a weaver, by knowledge and tradeAnd there’s a mistake that I feel you have made.

You think you’re so clever with rhymes of my waysbut trust me, your writing has seen better days.

That’s right, Geoffrey Chaucer, I say you’ve gone stale.To make little of me and my friends in your tale

Is simply just rude. And I do not see whyThe guildsmen must put up with your silly lies.

Why, I must ask you, are we not included?Are guildsmen, like us, just meant to be muted?

In your Prologue of portraits, I should have a whole page!If it were not for me, you’d be simply in rage

Because I am the one who makes your house warmWith tapestries and rugs of such excellent form.

So be careful the next time you see fit to write,Such an outstanding tale, in the dark of some night

Because, there, I will be watching you and your penTo make sure that this never will happen again.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Analogies and Similes/Metaphors, Lesson 17LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will understand the relationships of words in analogiesand create metaphors using analogous thinking.CORE CONTENT: RD-H x.0.2 Interpret the literal and non-literal meanings of words.

RD-H 1.0.11 Analyze the effect of figurative language.VOCABULARY: analogy, simile, metaphor, figurative language

RESOURCE MATERIALS:• examples of incomplete analogies

TEACHING STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES:• Present students with examples of analogies reflecting varied relationships (seeSAT prep manuals often available in counseling office, and literature and writingtexts). If possible, provide students with a list of relationships (and examples)commonly found in analogies

Examples:alike—talkative : chattyopposite—outgoing : reservedperson / job or tools used—glazier : glass or surveyor : sextantdegree—powder: navy (blue)stages of development—cygnet : swan

Teach the “code” of the punctuation (“roof : house :: hair : head” should be read“Roof is to house just as hair is to head”) and practice reading and solving theincomplete analogies.• Regularly present challenging analogies as sponges, parts of quizzes, or othervocabulary work. Encourage students to WRITE out their reasoning on theiranswers.• Be aware of metaphors you, colleagues and students use in everyday language.Share them with students and ask them to “deconstruct” the comparison. Addpowerful metaphors and similes to the Poetry Wall.

Examples:• Choosing an audience and purpose is like being a doctor and prescribing

the right medicine for the particular problem of a certain patient.• I had to sheepdog my team, nipping at their heels to be sure the job gotdone.• You are the expert; your reader is dumb as a brick about your topic.• Sometimes I just want to highlight the past and press “delete.”

• Provide students with examples of metaphors and similes in poetry they arereading. In small groups, have them identify the similes and metaphors andconstruct analogies with them. Have students write the incomplete version on the

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board or overhead for the rest of the class to complete. Each group will need totalk through its reasoning for its answer.

• Have students create their own original metaphors and similes in their R/WNotebook for future possible use.

• Technology ConnectionsHave students create a Power Point metaphor or simile presentation. Include graphics and sound.

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:Correctly complete analogies containing new or unknown vocabulary.Create metaphors and use them effectively in poetry.Complete an analogy and explain the relationship in the related words.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Using Poetic Devices, Lesson 18LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will practice strategies designed to help themcompose original similes and metaphors.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.11 Analyze the effect of analogies, figurative language.

RD-H 1.0.13 Interpret the following language: figurative,symbolic.

WR-H 1.3 Literary WritingVOCABLARY: simile, metaphor

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:R/W Notebook


• Write on the board or overhead Burns’ famous simile: “My love is like a red, redrose.” Have students make a list of all the ways that love is comparable to a red rose.Urge them to stretch their imaginations to explore how fitting the simile is. Show thesame comparison using a metaphor: “My love is a red, red rose.”

• In Risking Intensity, Judith Michaels suggests the following exercise to “thrustpotential images at students and give them practice in exploring possible connectionsbetween object and emotions.

1. Students begin by folding a piece of paper in three vertical columns.In the first column, they write five different emotions that they have recentlyexperienced, one emotion on each line.

2. Then they fold this column to the back so that it is not visible when they fill incolumn two down the middle. In that second column, Michaels has students writefive colors—basic primaries, fancy hyphenated color names such as silver-gray, ornew crayola label names like lemon yellow.

3. Folding this column over, they then list five animals. Michaels also uses evocativeobjects such as star, door, blanket, or mirror instead of animals.

4. Students unfold the paper. As they read across, they will discover five potentialmetaphorical statements such as “Fear is a red door” or if they prefer five potentialsimiles such as “Depression is like a black mirror.” Students then choose one ofthese five “instant” metaphors or similes and compose a short unrhymed poem,focusing only on that one emotion and its behavior, its effect on and within them.

5. Try this exercise along with the students to discover what unique comparisons youand your students will create. Encourage them to listen for worn-out similes andmetaphors and avoid them

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• On the overhead or chalkboard, write a list of common pitfalls to avoid when usingcomparisons. Students need to copy this list and the examples in their R/WNotebook for future reference.

Possible Pitfalls in Comparisons

1. Mixed metaphors: combine terms from two different areas, sometimes creating anunintended humorous effectExample: She had eyes as deep as a well that could say . . .

2. Cliches: contain comparisons so overused that they are trite and ordinary rather thanpoeticExample: quiet as a mouse, black as night, pale as a ghost,

3. Overextended comparisons: drawing out an analogy to ridiculous extremesExample: One senior composed a poem entitled “Body of Friendship,” showing ineach stanza how a friend is similar to a shoulder, ear, mouth, heart, arm, etc. Thecomparison became more like a list of body parts than a tribute to a deep friendship.

4. Excessive comparisons: a poem that piles up so many different similes that readerslose sight of the poet’s purpose. It appears, in fact, that the point of the poem is tocreate similes instead of to create meaning.

Dorothy Parker once wrote in her review of a novel overloaded with comparisons:“If he doesn’t watch his pen, he might simile himself to death.”

• Unfortunately, too many of our students seem to have just the opposite problem,so it is very important that you use similes and metaphors in your daily lessons.

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS:Have students create a Power Point metaphor or simile presentation. Includegraphics and sound.

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:See activities above.Open Response Question “Miss Rosie”

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“Miss Rosie”

Core Content Code: RD-H 1.0.10 .RD-H 1.0.11

Reading Passage: “Miss Rosie” Glencoe Literature (Course 5) p. 638

Prompt: Lucille Clifton uses point-of-view and metaphors to achieve particulareffects in her poem “Miss Rosie.”

Instructions: A. Describe the effect that Clifton’s choice of point-of-view has on thepoem.B. Discuss one metaphor and one simile that Clifton created and theireffects on the sensory imagery of the poem.

Scoring Guide: Use the Kentucky General Scoring Guide for Open Response Questions

Examples to look for in student responses:• Speaker is an observer, respectful, sad, protective, and admiring.• Possible metaphors/similes: wrapped up like garbage

wet brown bag of a womanGeorgia Roselike last week’s grocery

Images evoke senses of sight, smell, and touch.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Organization and Coherence in Poetry, Lesson 19LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will learn strategies to enhance the structure andorganization of their poems.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.10 Evaluate the influence of structure within a passage.

WR-H 1.3 Literary WritingVOCABULARY: structure

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:Envelopes containing copies of the model poemOverhead transparency of “The Time Has Come”Sentence stripPairs of scissors for members of the classOne envelope for each class member


• Divide class members into groups of four. Give each group an envelope. In thatenvelope will be “The Time Has Come,” a poem (on following pages) taken from oneHigh Novice Grade 12 Writing Portfolio used for annual scoring training.The poem, however, has been cut up into individual pieces according to its stanzas.The task of each group is to put the poem back together again in its proper order.Allow the class around ten minutes to struggle with this task.

• Before discussing the results, ask students to reflect in their R/W Notebook on thestrategies that they attempted to use both individually and as a group to re-assemblethis poem.

• Put the original copy on the overhead to see if any students duplicated the poet’sarrangement of the stanzas. Since most will probably not have been able to match theoriginal exactly, ask for volunteers to explain why the organization of these stanzaswas so problematic.

• This lesson offers an ideal teachable moment to discuss problems with repetition andpunctuation. Ask students to look at the end of each line of this poem. They shouldobserve the commas used to break up simple sentences. In addition, repeating “TheTime Has Come” creates an annoying, rather than an enhancing, effect. One criterionfor effective poetry is economic word choice.

• Write on a Sentence Strip: Spend your words the way you spend your money! Postthis admonition! Ask students to think about whether they would choose to spendfour dollars (The Time Has Come) a total of eight times (once per stanza) when theycould have a better “product” for a fraction of that cost. It is far easier to criticize the

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monotonous effect of repetition in another student’s work, however, than to realizethat same problem exists in our own writing. Do not get discouraged. At anyopportunity, just say “The Time Has Come” and the message about repetition will beclear to the writers in your class.

• Students need to return to one of their original drafts of a poem begun in their R/WNotebook. Ask them to recopy or word process and, if desired, revise their favorite“start” on another sheet of paper, leaving at least two blank lines between eachstanza or line if that poem has no stanzas. Now “the time has come” to ask membersof the class to judge the “value” of the words that they have chosen. If they haverepetition that leads to overkill of a phrase or line, “the time has come” to cut out theecho and strive for new, different, richer ways to communicate their theme.

• Then they will use scissors to cut up their poem and put its lines or stanzas in anenvelope. They are to exchange these building blocks of their poem with one partner.The classmate will attempt to put that poem back together again.

• If a student has trouble re-assembling a poem, it may be an indication that thestructure is not “tight” enough. The partners may even give each other a new idea forconstructing the thoughts that is an even more effective structure than the writeroriginally created.

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS: In Claris Works or a similar desktop publishing software, present the students with an electronically severed poem and ask them to manipulate the stanzas to place them in their original order.


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The Time Has Come

The time has come,for her to go.

The time has come,for my love to show.

The time has come,to say good bye.

The time has come,for me to cry.

The time has come,to set her free,

The time has come,for her to leave

The time has come,Just like before,For me to say,Good bye once more

The time has come.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Use of White Space, Line Breaks, and Shape to Enhance Meaning, Lesson 20LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will practice various strategies for arranging a poem toenhance in order to enhance its purpose.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.14 Critque the author’s use of literary elements.

WR-H 1.3 Literary WritingVOCABULARY: white space, line breaks, shape

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:Index CardsTextbook or student model of poemR/W Notebook

Large sheets of colored construction paperMagic Markers

Computer and Disk


• Divide students into triads. Give each group one index card with a word that lendsitself to a concrete poem or a visual image such as: zigzag, splash, hurricane, arch,roller coaster, rocket, valley, dripping, somersault, sprint, inflate, pillow, tears, etc.Ask each threesome to imagine how that word could be represented in a concrete formthat communicates the essence of its meaning. Then the group will compose aconcrete poem using magic markers and colored sheets of construction paper.

• As they present their concrete poems to the class, encourage students to focus onthe visual imagery. Ask students to copy each of the words presented in their poetryword bank. Display their concrete poems on the bulletin boards to inspire morefascination with powerful words.

• Read aloud from your textbook or poetry anthology a poem that demonstrates theeffective use of white space, line breaks, or shape to convey its meaning.(Student Model is also provided.)

• Write on the overhead or board this information to help students make moreintentional choices about arrangement:

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Tips for Organizing Poems(1) A stanza is a group of lines set apart from the rest of the poem by white spaceabove and below. The stanza can make a long poem more inviting and give visualclues to the poem’s meaning. They tend to create a more song-like effect.(2) Lines are often used to arrange more expansive poems. Lines tend to create asound effect more like speech when thoughts on one line spill over into the next lineand a reader pauses appropriately at the punctuation rather than at the line break.Generally poets who use rhyme end their thoughts at the end of a line of poetry.

• Ask the students to go back in their R/W Notebook and reflect on how they havearranged their poem “starts”? Write the questions below on the board or overhead.Give students five to ten minutes to write about what they have discovered abouttheir own use of arrangement:1. Have you ever organized your poetic ideas into stanzas? Why?2. Do you typically end your thoughts at the break of a line? Why?3. Where in your drafts of poems have you experimented with using a poem’s shapeto enhance meaning?4. How have you attempted to use white space to enhance your poetry?5. Do you typically center your poems or start at the left margin as you write?6. Do you ever indent alternating lines of a poem?

• Divide students into pairs to share their individual discoveries as they reflected onthese questions.

• Ask students to select a poem with potential that could be enhanced by re-arrangement of white space, line breaks, or shape. Take that “start” from the R/WNotebook; type the draft and save it on a disk.

• After the poem is word processed, tell students to experiment with its arrangement onthe page, even using font or capitalization very intentionally to emphasize centralmeaning, not just for the sake of making a poem look bizarre on a page. Each studentneeds to print two copies different from each other and different from the rough draftinitiated in their R/W Notebook.

• They need to reflect on a separate page about the arrangement of the poem that is themost effective because of its layout on the page.

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS: Create and arrange poems in Claris Works or desktop publishing software.

• ASSESSING THE LEARNING:See activities above.

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STUDENT MODEL

This poem shows a Kentucky poet’s deliberate use of white space, line breaks, and shape in poetry.

4th and 2

The roar of the crowd,The focus on the pit,The autumn air crispSnaps like a whip.

Fourth down—two to go,A win well deserved!

My sweating hands turn frigid;S C R e e e e e e C H!The whistle blowsThe ending of timeout.

The snap!The fum

B L E

E E E

E E.The roar,

A muffled moan,The blank stare,The air turns

Repugnant.As I replay the endingEndlessly.

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Use of Strong Verbs, Lesson 21LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will observe the impact of well chosen verbs, both innewsprint and their own poetry.CORE CONTENT: RD-H 1.0.14 Critique the author’s word choice, style, content, use

of literary elements.WR-H 1.3 Literary Writing

VOCABULARY: verb

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:Sports sections from old newspapers or Sports Illustrated (not swimsuit edition)ScissorsSentence strips and magic markersThesaurus or dictionaryR/W Notebook


• Write this quotation on the board or overhead as a focus for the lesson on verbs:

“Verbs blaze in the neon world of sports. Motion is sports; sports is motion.Motion with grace, motion with ragged determination and grotesque purpose,motion with drama: sports is the verb personified.”

Explore Poetry by Donald Graves, p. 169

• Divide students into groups of five. Distribute a stack of old Sports sections to eachgroup. They are to go on a scavenger hunt, searching the headlines for the use ofpowerful verbs. One group member needs to be in charge of cutting out headlines ortitles that demonstrate dynamite verbs. From the headings that have been cut out ofthe newspaper, the students need to select the most powerful use of an exact verb andcopy that headline on a sentence strip. Encourage students to read the Sports sectionand bring to class headlines that showcase precise verbs, so clear and so specific thatno cumbersome adverbs or modifiers are needed.

• Display the sentence strips on the bulletin board as a visual reminder of precise verbsin everyday use.

• Assign students to “cover” an athletic contest as a “sports reporter” with a poet’seye. They need to focus carefully on all around them at this game.. Look at thevarious participants and spectators: coaches, referee or ump, parents, players, bandmembers, or cheerleaders. Tell them to record what they see the participants in thesports drama doing, their specific actions. They should not worry so much at thispoint about thinking of different or precise verbs. Just record what is going on.

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• Assign students to compose 10 (Head)lines based on details that they observed at thegame. Each headline should feature a different verb that is perfectly chosen tocommunicate a moving picture of one moment from that game. They may use thedictionary or thesaurus to vary their verb choice. Each of these lines might becomeeither the title or the first line of a future poem.

• Tell students to find a poem in their R/W Notebook where the verbs appear wimpycompared to the power verbs that they have discovered and created in their ownheadlines. Offer a mini-revision lesson and time for students to reflect and refine theverbs in that poem. Put the directions for revision (which appear on the followingpage) on the overhead:

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS:Have the students use the internet to locate sports articles in on-line newspapersand magazines.

• ASSESSING THE LEARNING:See activities above.

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Revising a Poem

1. Underline all the verbs in your poem.

2. Try to eliminate or change any forms of “to be” or any linking verbs that just take upspace.

*is *are *be*was *were *have been or has been*seem *feel *appear

3. Replace any verbs that are not precise or poetic.Walk: trod, plod, amble, meander, priss, bounce, swagger, limp, etc.

4. Eliminate passive verbs whenever possible:“We are filled with fright” might become “Fright fills our minds”

5. Eliminate unnecessary adverbs.“walked happily” might become “bounced”

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UNIT: PoetryTOPIC: Revision Lessons for Poetry, Lesson 22LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will engage in directed self assessment, peer revision,and reflection on their development of skills as a poet.CORE CONTENT: WR-H 1.3 Literary WritingVOCABULARY: self assessment, peer revision, reflection

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:Copies of Appropriate Revision Exercise for Students


• Ask students to select a poem from their R/W Notebook that demonstrates moresupporting skills than any of their other drafts

• Give them a form for Guided Self Assessment to spur their individual revision. Eachstudent needs to fill out this form and bring it to your desk when you have anindividual writing conference about his/her poem.

• Engage in conferencing on the students’ poems. Ask each student to pose threespecific questions about skills or areas where they still have concerns. Perhaps astudent might need help in answering one of the self-assessment questions. Yourconference will deal with skill issues such as the effectiveness of comparisons, use ofsensory detail, rhythm, and format. It is NOT helpful for students to ask:

1. What should I do now?2. How should I end this poem?3. What grade/performance level would you give my poem?

• Have all students share their polished draft with a group of two other poets in theclass. They will fill out peer assessment sheets with brief comments and ratings ofone (lowest) to three (highest) as an indicator of their evaluation of a classmate’sskills.

• Before collecting all of the poetry for final assessment, have student volunteers toread their verses to the class. A coffee house is one fun way to accomplish thispublishing.

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• EXTENSIONS/ACCOMODATIONS FOR ECE/OTHER DIVERSELEARNERS:(See Appendix for additional extensions/accomodations.)Choose “user friendly” students to pair with ECE students so that students canremain self-confident and receive needed input at the same time. The pairedstudent may want to read his/her poem to the ECE student and get oral feedbackfrom them.

• TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS:Allow students to type their poetry in a Claris Works or similar software. Use theedit features to assist in revision.

ASSESSING THE LEARNING:Create proficient poem(s) that reflect use of appropriate poetic devices, language,and revision.

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REVISION LESSONS: SELF ASSESSMENT AND REFLECTIONQuestions for a Poet to Ponder about Language

1. Which is more important to me about this poem—its rhyme and format or its meaningand purpose? Why?

2. Where is a unique phrase in my poem that packs more than one meaning?

3. Where have I used the sound of a word to communicate a specific feeling? How?

4. Where is a general word that I can still make more specific?

5. Which verbs are so precise that they can be seen and heard?

6. Where have I intentionally referred to a “common, everyday” thing in an “uncommon”way? Why?

7. What are the different images that I have introduced into my poem? Do they all fitlogically together?

8. Where have I reversed the expected S-V sentence order which appears in most prose?

9. What other words or lines may be moved just like refrigerator magnet poetry to achievethe purpose of my poem?

10. Where can I eliminate any dead words that just take up space?

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PEER ASSESSMENT AND REVISION OF POETRY

RATE YOUR FELLOW POET ON THE SCALE BELOW.

1=You attempted? 2=You Succeeded. 3=You wowed me!Write peer assessment numbers in the left column.

Check 3 areas where skills most need additional revision.

Skills Skills to ContinueDemonstrated Developing

_____ 1. ESTABLISH and maintain a focused purpose _____(re-create a feeling, capture a moment in time,tell a story, paint a word picture, etc.)

_____ 2. COMPOSE title that captures essence of poem _____without revealing too much

_____ 3. SUPPLY effective sensory details to show specific images _____

_____ 4. INCLUDE appropriate poetic devices _____(simile, metaphor, allusion, alliteration, etc.)

_____ 5. CHOOSE rich language to fit specific audience and purpose _____

_____ 6. PROVIDE specific, relevant details to create desired mood _____

_____ 7. SELECT only the most precise nouns and verbs _____

_____ 8. DETERMINE whether rhyme or non-rhymed lines _____best communicate the theme/message of this poem

_____ 9. ARRANGE language using white space, line breaks, _____ word order, punctuation, font, or shape to enhance meaning

Reader’s Questions

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Extensions/Accommodations for ECE and other Diverse Learners

Students with disabilities may require additional accommodations.Refer to IEP (Individual Education Plan)

Organize and Structure

ÿ Establish routines to insure that students have consistent opportunities toprocess information and to maintain an effective learning climate.• Activate prior knowledge with a written or verbal review of key concepts at the

beginning of class.• Present the agenda for the lesson and task expectations verbally and in written

form.• Establish well-defined classroom rules. Have students model and rehearse

behavioral expectations.• Set clear time limits. Use a timer to complete tasks.• Utilize student’s peak learning times to teach important lessons.• Use verbal/nonverbal cues and frequent breaks to keep students focused.

ÿ Plan and organize classroom arrangement to minimize disruptions andenhance efficiency.• Allow adequate space for effective traffic patterns, furniture, and equipment.• Arrange classroom to limit visual and auditory distractions.• Provide preferential seating (near teacher, good view of board, special chair or

desk) to increase attention and reduce distractions.• Keep student’s work area free of unnecessary materials.

ÿ Display and use visuals, posters, objects, models, and manipulatives to increasememory, comprehension and establish connections to core content. Examplesinclude….• Mnemonic devices such as COPS (Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation,

Spelling).• A model of the final product before beginning an experiment, project, lab, etc.• Posters of steps for specific learning strategies (open response, writing process,

formulas).ÿ Use varied student groupings to maximize opportunities for direct instruction

and participation.• Use of one-on-one and small group instruction for students who require additional

support.• Carefully consider student abilities, learning styles, role models, type of

assignment, etc., when grouping students for cooperative learning and with peerpartners.

• Collaborate, co-teach, or consult with ECE, Comprehensive Teachers, etc.

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ÿ Prior to instruction, design and organize content to strengthen storage andretrieval of information.• Design instruction that incorporates a multi-sensory approach (visual, auditory,

tactile/kinesthetic) to insure that all learning styles are accommodated. Includedemonstrations, simulations, hands-on activities, learning strategies, andmnemonic devices.

• Identify and focus on information critical for mastery. Determine the contentstudents need to know (vs. what is nice to know). Organize instruction aroundthe big ideas.

• Design an agenda showing exactly what the students will learn.• Sequence presentation of content from easier to more difficult.• Prepare study guides, a copy of class notes, or graphic organizers ahead of time.

Allow some students to use partially completed copies during the lesson.• Provide simplified versions of books and materials with similar content.• Design specific management procedures to insure acquisition of content and task

completion using…• Planners, agendas, assignment sheets, homework/personal checklists, folders,

notebooks, and/or parent notes.• Written as well as verbal cues/prompts, color-coding, symbols, picture clues.

Instruct Explicitly

ÿ Present and pace explicit instruction to reinforce clear understanding of newconcepts and make connections to prior learning.• Teach, model and rehearse learning strategies pertaining to the content of the

lesson including organizational guides, cooperative learning skills, andmemory/mnemonic devices. (KWL, Venn Diagrams, SQRW = Survey Question,Read, Write, etc.).

• Introduce new concepts by clearly connecting them to prior knowledge using keyvocabulary, chapter review questions, agenda, syllabus, etc. Present in bothwritten and verbal form.

• Present assignments/directions in small steps/segments.• Use short phrases, cue words, and signals to direct attention (my turn, your turn,

eyes on me).• Adjust the volume, tone, and speed of oral instruction.

ÿ Frequently monitor students to enhance memory, comprehension, andattention to content.• Use frequent and varied questioning strategies. Target higher order thinking skills.• Call on students by name. Restate student responses. Provide positive and

corrective feedback.• Use and model ‘think aloud,’ self-questioning, problem solving, and goal setting

techniques.

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Reduce

ÿ Condense main ideas and key concepts to avoid overload and allow fordevelopmental mastery.ÿ Modify requirements of assignments based on information critical for mastery.ÿ Provide clear, visually uncluttered handouts/worksheets.ÿ Adapt assignment and test formats. Use alternate modes such as short answer,

matching, drawing, true/false, and word banks.ÿ Break tasks into manageable segments. Adjust duration of instruction and

independent work.ÿ Reduce redundancy and unnecessary practice.ÿ Use activities that require minimal writing. Avoid asking students to recopy

work.ÿ Adjust amount/type of homework and coordinate assignments with other

teachers.ÿ Provide credit for incremental learning.

Emphasize and Repeat

ÿ Use repeated practice/targeted cues to increase retention of essential conceptsand to develop ability to monitor own learning.ÿ Provide frequent, but short, extra practice activities in small groups.ÿ Have student read/drill aloud to self or peer partner.ÿ Highlight text or use coding methods for key concepts.ÿ Use bound notebooks and/or learning logs to store vocabulary, facts, references,

and formulas.ÿ Allow students guided practice and test taking strategies before assessments.ÿ Frequently restate concepts/directions using short phrases.ÿ Use computer activities, games, and precision teaching drills for practice activities

instead of worksheets.

Motivate and Enable

ÿ Enhance opportunities for academic success to remediate faultylearning/thinking cycles and to reduce failure.ÿ Create unique learning activities including skills, posters, clay models, panoramas,

dramatizations, etc. (see textbook manuals for alternative activities).ÿ Offer students choices of topics/projects and alternative methods to demonstrate

knowledge (oral tests/presentations, illustrations, cooperative groups, etc.).ÿ Allow flexible timelines for assignment completion, homework, and testing with

retakes.ÿ Consider the students learning styles when designing extent of involvement in a

learning activity.

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ÿ Extend time for students to process ideas/concepts, which are presented inlectures/discussions.

ÿ Use technology such as taped text, word processors, scanners, and audio feedbacksoftware.

ÿ Provide spare material and supplies.ÿ Provide personal word lists/spelling aids for written assignments.ÿ Adjust grading procedures to reflect individual goals, only correct answers, and

percent of completed work. Allow extra credit projects to bring up grades.

ÿ Enhance opportunities for behavioral success to reduce frustration andconfusion.ÿ Increase positive comments and student interactions (make 3 positive statements

for every one negative statement).ÿ Use positive and specific verbal/nonverbal praise. Provide immediate feedback.ÿ Review rules regularly. Provide varied rewards and consequences.ÿ Maintain close physical proximity to students especially during independent

work sessions.ÿ Alert students several minutes before transitions occur.ÿ Use personal contracts and goal setting which match the student’s needs,

interests, and abilities.ÿ Teach self-monitoring skills using progress charts/reports. Gradually wean

students from artificial incentives.ÿ Maintain regular communication with parents.

ReferencesRief, Sandra and Heimburge, Julie, How to Reach and Teach all Students in the InclusiveClassroom (1996).Hawthorne Educational Services, Inc., The Pre-Referral Intervention Manual (1993).Choate, Joyce, Successful Inclusive Teaching (1997).Winebrenner, Susan, Teaching Kids with Learning Difficulties in the Regular Classroom(1996).Inspiration Software, Inc., (1999), www.inspiration.comPhillips, Vickie and McCullough, Laura, SST/Staff Support Teams (1993).Moll, Anne, Collaborative Strategies, (2001).

Adapted from Student/Staff Support Teams, Phillips, McCullough 1993and Collaborative Strategies, Mall (2001)

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Documents

Teaching Students to Write-read Poetry