Unit 5A - How to Eat a Poem: Analyzing Craft and Structure

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Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Reading Curricular Calendar, Seventh Grade, 2017-2018

Unit 5A - How to Eat a Poem: Analyzing Craft and Structure

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Please contact [email protected] DRAFT 2017-2018 ©


April - May

Eating poetry? Ok, not really. This unit is actually about reading poetry. But reading in such a way that you get down to the bones of the poem, to the heart of what makes the poem tick—and most importantly, reading so that poems become a part of you. The truth is, your seventh graders are walking around with poems inside them already—poems they have dissected, connected, sometimes rejected, and then resurrected... only they call these poems songs. In the spirit of meeting students where they are, then, you might want to start this unit by looking at some songs. Really looking at the lyrics—how they look on the page. This can be a segue into a poetry inquiry: what makes poetry, poetry? There are many reasons to spend some time with your students poring over poetry. First of all, it will be a breath of fresh air after the dense, stuffy world of test preparation and sitting through exams. Just the look of a small poem delicately poised in the middle of an otherwise empty page will bring a physical sense of relief to some of your students—especially the ones for whom a standardized test is not the way that they are going to show their strength. But a small poem can be a lure into academic, analytical thinking—thinking that will be rigorous, but will also have many access points. There is no place where the work of close reading is better put to use than in the study of poetry. You can’t really read a poem without reading it twice or three times, and reading it very closely.

Essential Question: How can I read and reread a poem until I know how it works—why it looks the way it does on the page, how each part makes sense with the whole poem, and how specific words and phrases in the poem mean more than they would in another context?

• Bend I: What Is Poetry: An Inquiry Into the Wide World of Verse How can I investigate the world of poetry, becoming more familiar with authors, subjects, and traditions?

• Bend II: Thinking Through Structure, Including Poetic Forms How does knowledge of structure and form deepen my understanding of poetry and help me see more in the poems I read?

• Bend III: Little Things Are Big: Symbolism In Poetry

How do authors play with symbolism in poetry, and how does an understanding of symbolism help me to see more meanings in poetry?

Welcome to the Unit

Overview

Prepared for: Claire Lowenstein ([email protected])

Copyright 2022 Reading and Writing Project. Page 1 of 14

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Anchor Texts: • Bend I:

o “The Wren,” by Barbara McCauley (http://chimneysmoke.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/the-wren/)

o “You Can’t Write a Poem About McDonald’s,” by Ronald Wallace (http://poemhunter.blogspot.com/2007/05/you-cant-write-poem-about-mcdonalds.html)

o “Sympathy,” by Paul Laurence Dunbar (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sympathy)

• Bend II: o “Suburban,” by Michael Blumenthal o “Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night,” by Dylan Thomas

(http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15377) • Bend III:

o “On Turning Ten,” by Billy Collins (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-turning-ten/)

o “Kid in the Park,” by Langston Hughes (http://www.songofamerica.net/cgi-bin/iowa/song/97.html)

o The Clasp,” by Sharon Olds (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-clasp/)

Possible Pacing Chart for Teaching Reading and Writing Poetry

If you teach just 5 or 6 periods of ELA per section per week, you can stagger reading and writing units or teach a bend of reading, then a bend of writing. If, however, you teach 10 periods a week, you might find that teaching reading and writing in parallel is effective and engaging. Below is one possible pacing plan if you are able to make that choice.

Day Reading Workshop Writing Workshop

Bend 1 What is poetry? An inquiry into the world of verse

Trying Out Narrative and Lyric Poetry

1 Session 1: Investigating Poetry as a Genre: An Inquiry

Session 1: Finding Poems in Old Writing Projects

2 Session 2: Readers conduct an inquiry by making concrete observations first— noticing what the poems look like, what kinds of topics they cover, and any other aspects of the writing that they notice on first reads.

Session 2: Looking Inward and Outward to Find Inspiration in the Details of Life



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http://chimneysmoke.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/the-wren/

http://poemhunter.blogspot.com/2007/05/you-cant-write-poem-about-mcdonalds.html

http://poemhunter.blogspot.com/2007/05/you-cant-write-poem-about-mcdonalds.html

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sympathy

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15377

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-turning-ten/

http://www.songofamerica.net/cgi-bin/iowa/song/97.html

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-clasp/

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3 Session 3: (Continued from above session) Readers conduct an inquiry by making concrete observations first—noticing what the poems look like, what kinds of topics they cover, and any other aspects of the writing that they notice on first reads.

Session 3: Looking to the World for Inspiration

4 Session 3: Poetry Centers Session 4: Asking Unanswerable Questions

5 Session 5: Micro-session: Transferring attention to poetic structures and language in our novels ***Note: Students read novels during independent reading time.

Session 5: Offering Feedback to Writing Partners During Revision

Bend 2 Thinking Through Structures Including Poetic Forms

Revising So That Every Syllable Counts (Even if I’m not counting syllables)

6 Session 6: Readers read through the poem silently, then read through the poem one time aloud and finally begin to think through each part. Mentor Poems: “Suburban” and “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”

Session 6: Paying Attention to the Sounds and Meanings of Words

7 Session 7: Readers of poetry recognize that repetition can be a symbol for something that is repeated in life—either because it’s important or because the speaker of the poem is intrigued by it. We can ask: why is there repetition? Does it connect to a bigger theme or issue?

Session 7: Relating the Physical Appearance of a Poem to its Meaning

8 Session 8: (Same teaching point as above) Session 8: Revising for Craft Again and Again

9 Session 9: Readers Understand that all parts of the poem work together to make meaning.

Session 9: Using Craft in Fresh, Interesting Ways

10 Session 10: Poetry Centers

Session 10: Giving Special Attention to Endings

11 Session 11: Readers notice the power of syllables and word choice not only in their poems but in their novels as a way to set pace, rhythm and emotional mood.

Session 11: Experimenting With Voice and Word Choice



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***Note: Students read novels during independent work time.

Bend 3 Little Things Are Big In Poetry Chapbooks and Slams: Publishing Poems With Flair

12 Session 12: Readers try to say everything they can about both parts of a comparison, always asking, “Why are these two images or ideas brought together? What do they share?”

Session 12: Selecting Poems that “Go Together” to Publish in a Chapbook

13 Session 13: Readers look for symbols in poems as a way to make more of a text. There may be one image that is repeated that becomes symbolic throughout the texts, or multiple images that go together and make up a system of symbols. They ask, “What do these images remind us of? What do they seem to stand for in the world?”

Session 13: Creating Introductions to Poetry Collections

14 Session 14: Readers make their thinking about poems visible and show how their thinking came from the text itself.

Session 14: Celebration and a Final Reminder

• RL7.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

• RL7.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.

• RL7.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.

• RL7.5 Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning

• RL7.7 Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film).

CCSS/LS Standards Addressed in this Unit



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Students need at least one other person to talk with throughout the unit—poetry invites multiple perspectives, and the best way to see this is by reading with someone else. If book clubs have gone well, students can work in clubs. If more talk support and accountability are needed, students can move to partnerships. If you are teaching poetry writing at the same time or subsequently, these reading groups/partnerships might also be writing response groups or writing partnerships. Some possible classroom library structures (Some suggested texts are listed in the appendix):

• Packets of poems for each partnership or club (the packets should match the reading levels of the groups)

• In the packets: ○ Poems on a wide variety of topics with a wide variety of styles and lengths ○ Enough poems that students can notice many features of poetry and have new poems

to talk about throughout the unit • Poetry books to supplement their packets for group work and to read independently • An expanding folder of poems students bring in: poems that they find and love • Some novels in verse for extension into independent reading (for example: Locomotion, by

Jacqueline Woodson; Bronx Masquerade, by Nikki Grimes; Jump Ball, by Mel Glenn) As with all units where close reading of short texts is a focus, be sure that you continue to support students' independent reading of longer literature, and give them time to talk about their independent reading with partners. This means carving out at least one period per bend, or probably two, where students will read for a long stretch of time in their novels, perhaps looking for parts of their novels that include figurative language, or intense imagery, or other poetic techniques that are not exclusive to poetry. Another option is to invite students to read novels written in verse during this unit, as they can even more easily transfer their thinking about poems and poetic structures to the reading of these longer, but still poetic, novels. If you are teaching poetry writing during writing workshop at this time, the lessons here will support the writing work—the close reading of poems in reading workshop can double as mentor text analysis and serve as springboards for writing in writing workshop. In general, students will write better poetry if they are closely reading a variety of poems and trying out the techniques they have observed. Centers are a perfect structure for poetry inquiry work, and we recommend dedicating some days to this. We have put together some possible poetry centers, which TCRWP schools can find on Treasure Chest. But we imagine you can easily create other kinds of poetry centers as well: centers where students can listen to poets reading their own work (the Poetry Speaks series is a great investment!), centers where students study a particular poet across many of his/her poems, centers that invite students to study a particular form of poetry (like a sonnet center, or a villanelle center)...there are so many possibilities!

Getting Ready



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Since literary analysis is the key skill that you are teaching here, you will want to look back at students’ written responses to literature as a marker of how well they can discern a theme, use details from the text to explain how that theme was developed, and discuss the author’s craft. If you are coming out of a test prep unit, you can use students’ extended response to a piece of literature (ideally a poem). You can also decide to give students a quick (one period) assessment—giving them a poem and asking them a few questions that align with standards you will be teaching toward in the unit. You can then give that same assessment at the end of the unit, knowing that students will be better equipped to respond, and checking to see what parts of your teaching are transferring to their independent practice. Formative assessments within the unit will vary, depending on what you decide to focus on. If you are working on interpretive performance of poetry, because students will ultimately participate in a slam using their own and published poems, you might have a performance rubric that you give students as a checklist for preparing, asking them to use it with their partners to gear up for more public presentations.

The point of this bend will be to amaze, amuse and engage students in poetry—for the poetry lovers, let them break out and read what they have been craving all year. For your poetry doubters, intrigue them with bizarre or absurd poetry, or seduce them by getting them to bring in lyrics from their favorite songs and then making those lyrics their poetry packet. Do what you have to, but get them interested! There is so much room in the poetry world—definitely enough room to house your 60-150 seventh graders! Try shared reading lessons here, where you read out loud and project the poem or give out copies so that students are following along. You can even try some choral reading: you read it first, and then everyone reads it together a second time. Keep the shared readings short-ish, though, as you want to give the kids time to sift through their poems, discovering unexpected gems. Save a little time at the end of each session for students to share their findings. This is also excellent research for them for their poetry writing. Some of them will latch onto poets or individual poems that will be their guiding lights through the entire writing process. Let them explore! Bend I, Session One: Investigating poetry as a genre Invite students to investigate poetry as a genre. As mentioned above, you might want to first start with a song. Pick a popular song that is current, bring in the lyrics (clean version!) and read them aloud, projecting them or handing out copies so students can see the words as you are reading them. Do this before playing an audio version of the song as it is sung. First give students a chance to look at the look of the lyrics, and how the look relates to the pacing and the rhythm of the spoken words. Next, play the song and start a discussion about the difference between the spoken and sung versions. This could be an initial launching exercise—by the end of which you can ask students: what is poetry? Have them share some thoughts that you chart. Then move to look at more poems, either that day or the next.

Assessment

Bend I: What Is Poetry? An Inquiry into the Wide World of Verse



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Bend I, Sessions Two and Three: Deepening familiarity with authors and subjects

“Today I want to teach you that readers conduct an inquiry by making concrete observations first, noticing what the poems look like, what kinds of topics they cover, and

any other aspects of the writing that they notice on first reads.”

Bring in several poems to share over the next couple of sessions. Choose poems that are engaging and also very different from each other (some suggestions are listed at the beginning of this unit). Demonstrate your own observations and thoughts about the poems, and then ask students to do the same work in partnerships or groups. Be sure to teach students that readers conduct an inquiry by making concrete observations first, noticing what the poems look like, what kinds of topics they cover, and any other aspects of the writing that they notice on first reads. For example, you might model noticing that the poem “The Wren” looks like fragments of sentences—no capitalization or punctuation makes for a strange reading experience. After a shared experience with one poem, you can send students off to read across packets of poems, exploring the poems out loud in partnerships and then talking through what they are noticing. The bullet points are suggestions for observations – they can be demonstrated in separate lessons, and gathered from student observations, not listed out in a single lesson. At this early stage, students will not notice all of the features listed below. In an ongoing class chart in a public space, students may add features they notice as they continue to read, some possibilities of which are:

• What kinds of subjects poets write about • Where poetry appears—where it’s published • How poetry looks on the page: the structure of the text

○ Length of poem ○ Font size and style ○ Shape of poem ○ Poetic forms, such as sonnet, sestina, villanelle, etc. ○ Line breaks and white space/stanza breaks ○ Punctuation/capitalization

• What poetry sounds like when read out loud ○ Rhyme ○ Rhythm ○ Repetition ○ Alliteration ○ Onomatopoeia

Bend 1, Session Four: Poetry centers See references to setting up centers in previous units. On this day, students will have more agency in their work, and they will arrange with peers to study fluency, or themes in poetry, or meter. Of course, there are so many possible center topics! Please innovate and share your creations! Send to [email protected], and we will continue to add to Treasure Chest.



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Bend I, Session Five: Transferring attention to poetic structures and language to reading of novels On this day (or another day in this bend), give students time to bring in their independent reading books and read them in class. Your lesson might show them how, in fiction, there are often poetic passages worthy of the close-reading attention that you’ve been giving to poetry this week. Pick a passage with vivid imagery, or alliteration, or a passage that develops a clear tone or emotion. Then ask students to re-explore their independent-reading books and to find a similarly well-crafted passage, one that displays similar features. Sending students off to read, you might hand out special poetry Post-its (Staples has some in the shape of glasses that could be their poetry “lenses”), and encourage readers to pause when they get to a part that they think is poetic. Have them mark those parts, and at the end of class, compare how many they found in their various books. Which authors have the most? Ask some students to do poetic readings of their found passages, or have partners compare their passages.

It may seem like quite a leap, from a free-for-all inquiry to the strict constraints of the villanelle, but if the first few sessions went well, then students are engaged in poems by now. They have found some that they love, probably read a bunch that they didn’t care for. But they’re ready to do more—to start to look at poems like the carefully crafted constructions that they are, and to start investigating what makes them work. Your teaching here will move into more traditional minilesson formats after the first anchor experience. In every session, however, students will need access to the text that you’re using to demo—they have to be close to the text every time. Bend II, Session One: “Suburban” and “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” We suggest using the poem “Suburban” here. In all readings of poems, you will want to set up a protocol that students will follow in their partnership work as well. Teach students that readers of poetry read through the poem once silently—model this and have students read silently as well. Next, read the poem through one time aloud. Finally, begin to think through each part—what is this saying, and how do I know? When demonstrating, model how reading the poem out loud gives you a sense of the overall emotion and tone. When reading out loud, pause for punctuation and stanza breaks. After a read-through, prompt students to talk about what they noticed from a first reading. Some things you may chart that are worth noticing in any poem are:

• The tone or emotion of the poem as a whole • Images that seem particularly important • Repeating lines, phrases, or words that are worth thinking more about • Words or phrases that are confusing and need investigation

“Today I want to teach you that readers of poetry read through the poem once silently , then read the poem through one time aloud, and finally, begin to think through each part.”

Bend II: Thinking through Structure, Including Poetic Forms



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Remind students of the form of a villanelle—the repeated line structure and the rhyme scheme. Have them talk to a partner to review how this form helps get across a feeling about suburbia that the poet wants to convey. Next, introduce “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,” a classic poem by Dylan Thomas that shares the same structure as “Suburban.” Read through Thomas’ poem using the same protocol as before - and you might say something about Dylan Thomas’s youth and passion when he wrote this poem. This time, after a read-through, begin to closely read each stanza to ask: What is this saying, and how do I know? A note, though—it may be that your students don’t need you to introduce and read this poem for them. They may be ready to begin working independently or in table groups. By the end of this second close read, have students turn to discuss: what is the overall message of this poem? How does the form of a villanelle highlight or enact themes that Dylan Thomas is writing about—that death is something to fight against; that he doesn’t want to lose his father; or other ideas that you and the class co-develop. Bend II, Sessions Two and Three: Continuing to explore theme In these lessons, you will want to continue introducing students to poetic techniques that help poets get across themes. Repetition is probably one of the most common such techniques - you can return to the above two villanelles as examples of how poets use repetition to establish and convey their themes, and also teach students that readers of poetry recognize that repetition in a poem can be a symbol for something important. We can ask: why is there repetition? Does it connect to a bigger issue in the poem?

“Today I want to teach you that readers of poetry recognize that repetition in a poem can be a symbol for something important. We can ask: why is there repetition?”

When students are working in partnerships, they should agree on poems to read together. They can follow the protocol of silent read, read aloud, and then discuss point by point. Coach into the work they are doing together, reminding them of what they already know about using evidence from the text to support an idea or theme they are noticing. Another important teaching point is that readers understand that all the parts of the poem work together to make meaning. Readers push themselves to read new sections and ask, “How does this part fit with what I read before?” If it doesn’t seem to fit, readers don’t give up; they ask, “How can I fill in with my thinking so that there is a connection between the parts?” Readers use their partners or groups to think across the sections together and talk about possible connections. A great mid-workshop to bring new life to students’ talk is to remind them that readers think about the title of a poem and hold the title in their mind as they read. We can expect that the meaning of the title might shift as we read, and we can keep asking ourselves, “What does the title seem to mean now?” In a similar way, coach students to pay close attention to the last lines of a poem. We recognize that often the ending of a poem offers new insight into the rest of the text. We can read and re-read the final lines of a poem, making sure that we’re understanding how they make sense with every part of the text.



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“Today I want to teach you that readers understand that all the parts of the poem work together to make meaning.”

Some predictable teaching points for mid-workshop interruptions, small groups and shares are as follows:

For readers who need more support For readers who are ready for an extension

Readers read past line breaks and onto the next line, continuing to read until they get to an ending punctuation mark. This way we are sure that we’re reading a whole sentence and thinking about what the sentence means as a whole. If there is no ending punctuation, we try to imagine where we would punctuate it so that we could read the poem in sentences.

Readers notice when a poem has a story inside of it. If an event or sequence of events is retold in a poem, we can ask ourselves, “What is happening in this story?” We can notice when the story becomes suspenseful and expect that at the end of the poem the tension will either be resolved or we will be left in suspense. When we finish the poem, we can talk about how the ending affected us.

Readers read poetry from left to right, and down the page. If some text is set off to the far right side of the page, we make sure to read it: • After the line directly above it on the page • After any text to the left of it on the page • Before the line directly below it on the

page

Readers notice when a poem offers ideas, and always try to understand and respond to the ideas in the poem. We can talk to our partner or group about whether we agree with the ideas or not, and why. We can recognize that a poem is offering an idea when: • It sounds like the poet or the persona is

expressing an opinion. • Key words or phrases are repeated. • Part or all of the poem deals with issues

or themes that exist in the world. • Certain lines seem quotable—as if they

could be lifted out of the poem and applied to life in general.

Readers use writing to make poetry easier to read on the page. If a poem is written in a way that is hard to read on the page (words are split up or text is not positioned in expected ways), we can try re-writing it as prose in our notebooks as a way to make sure we understand the order of the words and how they go together.

Readers understand that the blank spaces on the page sometimes support ideas or images in the poem. The page can be a metaphorical setting for the poem. If there is a lot of white space on the page, it might suggest a setting of emptiness or silence; if the words are crowded onto the page, the poem might suggest a setting of chaos or noise.

Bend Two, Session Four: Poetry centers This day could be a second rotation of the centers. As a share, you might invite students to come up with new center ideas, and for homework to come in with poems or lyrics that would support their thinking. If they come up with good ideas, you might consider adding those to your final round at



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the end of Bend Three. Bend Two, Session Five: Transfer to independent reading A fun connection to this lesson came from Josh Cabat, a Folger Shakespeare educator. You’ll want to get an excerpt from Shakespeare’s Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 4, lines 23-55) in all the students’ hands. The purpose of this opening connection is to get them motivated about words and syllables by allowing them to get physical with the language. Set the kids up to wave when they hear a word that’s multisyllabic, and to put their hands down for single-syllable words. (Another option is to have them clap at every syllable.) As you begin to read aloud Macbeth’s monologue “The service and the loyalty I owe…,” the waving will begin, as well as excited giggles throughout the class! When moving onto Duncan’s response speech, “My plenteous joys…,” push kids to begin to notice how the syllable count is setting a specific pace and rhythm. Also, ask them to notice how the number of syllables can be a window into the character’s emotional state and/or the mood of the scene. By the end of the scene, as they listen to Macbeth’s aside, “The Prince of Cumberland! That is a step…,” goosebumps should start to crawl up their arms as they all have to put their arms down (or clap only once per word). Suddenly, the language is very plain. The single syllable words are a clue to the emptiness of this moment and the character’s internal thinking. Hopefully, students will walk away from this opening connection with a visceral understanding of the power of word and syllable choice—these tools not only shape the sound and rhythm of a moment, but also set the emotional soundtrack to a story and a character.

“Today I want to teach you that readers notice the power of word and syllable choices not only in their poems but also in their novels. These craft tools shape the pacing, rhythm

and emotional mood of both poetry and prose.”

If Shakespeare feels like a bit of reach this year, you can do this same lesson using a Walt Whitman poem or the Dylan Thomas poem you studied at the beginning of the bend. Then, you’ll want to stress the transference of this skill into prose—their independent novel. You might say, “In the same way poets use multi-syllabic or single syllable words to help set the emotional mood and sound of their language, authors of novels do this same work. As you read today, notice the word choice of your authors. Notice when they play with single, sharper words to show a moment of clarity or simplicity. They might also use a succession of single syllables to set a tone of quiet or emptiness, both for the setting and the character. Notice when they use a succession of big, blustery, multi-syllabic words to create a certain chaos, energy or intensity within a scene.” As fun and kinesthetic as this lesson is, try your best to keep it short, as the most important thing is to get students into their independent reading, practicing these strategies, while also gaining stamina. Again, make sure: Send off students into independent reading! In a mid-workshop teach, you can ask kids to notice the white space, not just in poetry but also in



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their novels. They might ask, “Why is this certain sentence set apart from the rest?” Or: “Why are these few words given their own paragraph? Why does the author want me to notice this idea/image/emotion set apart on the page? Why are they using this font in this scene? In this poem, why is this word always set apart from the rest of the text, surrounded by whitespace? What is its significance?” In this quick teach, you can remind students that poetry and prose are also visual. How a word, phrase or paragraph appears on the page is purposeful and intentional. Asking students to dig deeper into the blank spaces, the white spaces, will help them dig deeper into the text’s overall message. This day will also give you a chance to check in on students’ reading volume and reading goals.

In this final bend, you will want to zoom in even further into the world of the poem. We started with an inquiry, looking broadly across many poems to think about what’s possible in poetry; we moved into looking more closely at structures—how poems are put together as a series of parts; now, let’s look at the bricks of poetry: the actual words and phrases that are the building blocks of poems. Poets are more careful than any other kind of writer with their materials, so we want to study them down to every last detail. Choose poems that offer accessible but meaningful comparisons and symbolism to start. Students can work to read more poems in partnerships, and you can gear the packets to the reading level that you think is appropriate. This work is so important; you want to give all kids a chance to experience the satisfaction of figuring out a metaphor for themselves: it’s not fun if someone tells you what it means. Bend III, Session One: Comparing ideas and images Often, more than one image or idea is compared in a poem. In a read-aloud of a poem, for example “Kid in the Park,” by Langston Hughes, model for students the work of figuring out why the poet is putting two images next to each other. Teach them that readers try to say everything they can about both parts of a comparison, always asking, “Why are these two images or ideas brought together? What do they share?” We can use a T-chart in our notebooks to push ourselves to say more about each part of the comparison as a way to dig deeper into the metaphor. For example, in the poem “Kid in the Park,” by Langston Hughes, the title character is compared in the first stanza to a “Lonely little question mark/on a bench in the park.”

“Today I want to teach you that readers try to say everything they can about both parts of a comparison, always asking, ‘Why are these two images or ideas brought together? What

do they share?’”

Bend III: Little Things are Big - Symbolism in Poetry



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In my notebook, I might make a chart that looks like this:

Question Marks Kid in the Park

Ask questions Sits on a bench alone – maybe he wishes he could ask someone for help

Don’t have answers Doesn’t have a home – has no one to answer his questions

Signs of confusion Sees other people but doesn’t say anything

In the link, remind students that with their partners they still want to think about the big picture - what is the poem really saying? But now they have even more tools to talk about how the poem is getting that idea across, including structural features, metaphors, the title and last line, etc. Bend III, Session Two: Analyzing symbolism In this session, teach students to read for symbolism, which sounds fancy, but is actually natural. You might make a connection between something in the classroom that has taken on a symbolic feel—maybe there is a speaker that’s broken and that’s become a symbol of how the announcements always seem incomprehensible or irrelevant... Make some kind of connection to demonstrate that symbolism isn’t an academic process—it’s a human process. The big idea is that something small can stand for something larger than itself. In poems, we get bombarded with the small: and every little detail is usually doing extra work and carrying a much heavier meaning than it ordinarily would. You might use either Billy Collins’ “On Turning Ten” or Sharon Olds’ “The Clasp” here - or use one for your demonstration and have students read the other as an extended active engagement. In the case of the Collins poem, the speaker mentions several images from childhood which one might be tempted to read past quickly, as just any old examples of a boy’s discarded toys. But teach students that readers look for symbols in poems as a way to make more of the text. There may be one image that is repeated that becomes symbolic throughout the text; or multiple images may go together and make up a system of symbols. In our notebooks or with other readers, we can push ourselves to ask, “What do these images remind us of?” “What do they seem to stand for in the world?” We can then think about what the text is saying about the symbolized subject. In “The Clasp,” the title image haunts the rest of the poem—a mother’s angry grab of her daughter’s wrist. What else could “the clasp” refer to, if we assume it’s not just the retelling of this one small instance?

“Today I want to teach you that readers look for symbols in poems as a way to make more of the text. There may be one image that is repeated that becomes symbolic throughout

the text; or multiple images may go together and make up a system of symbols. In notebooks or with other readers, they push themselves to ask, ‘What do these images

remind us of?’ ‘What do they seem to stand for in the world?’”

Students will be able to find symbols in most of the poems they are exploring. A realistic share at the end of class could be for students to switch partners and present a poem to another partner, reading the poem through and then explaining one symbolic aspect of the poem with evidence.



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Bend III, Additional sessions You will want to return to centers for a final round or two at the end of the unit, perhaps folding in some suggested topics and texts contributed by students. You’ll also want to give more time to student’s independent reading and to practicing tracking symbols across those longer reads. They could in fact create found poems by collecting references to a particular symbolic object or setting across chapters. At the end of this unit, you may decide to give students most of the class period to create something with their partner that shows their thinking about one or more poems that they really connected with. This sets up an alternative way to assess students’ work, in addition to an on-demand independent literary analysis, which you can give in addition to, or instead of, this option. The goal is to teach students that 1) readers make their thinking about poems visible, and 2) readers show how their thinking came from the text itself. Some options for this are:

• A videotaped performance of a poem, with a commentary by both students • An annotated copy of the poem, printed or taped onto chart paper, with the partners’

written comments connected to specific words and lines from the poem • A videotaped or recorded conversation about the poem • An interpretation’ slam, where kids nominate poems for why they should be considered

‘the best’ and interpret them, including the author’s craft

“Today I want to teach you that readers make their thinking about poems visible, and readers show how their thinking came from the text itself.”



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Documents

Unit 5A - How to Eat a Poem: Analyzing Craft and Structure