discovering the power to influence tone, mood, style, voice, and meaning
L.11-12.3; L.11-12.1; L.11-12.2 R.11-12.4; R.11-12.6; R.11-12.9
To be college and career ready in language, students must have firm control over the conventions of standard English. At the same time, they must come to appreciate that language is as at least as much a matter of craft as of rules and be able to choose words, syntax, and punctuation to express themselves and achieve particular functions and rhetorical effects. (CCSS, 51)
Students will understand the use of a colon, as well as other forms of punctuation, to impact meaning within a text.
Suggested for Grade 12
Primary Text:
 “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost (pg 727)
Secondary Text:
 “The Poison Tree” by William Blake (pg 547)
 “What Are Friends For? A Longer Life” by Tara
Parker-Pope ( NY Times)
 "Lean on Me" by Bill Withers (music video)
 How do our relationships with others shape our lives?
 How does our ability (or inability) to communicate affect personal relationships?
 How do metaphors and imagery improve writing?
 How does syntax affect meaning?
Process Activity Instructional Steps
Modeling and explaining the featured grammar skill
1.
Background: Students should, in grades 6-8, learn about the function of a colon. Students may not have explored in depth their use in terms of purposeful inclusion in order to impact meaning. Students may not have an understanding of the choices they have in punctuation and how those choices ultimately create emphasis on a particular element. NOTE: Students probably have read the featured texts, either in English I or in English III. Students now have an opportunity to move quickly past the familiar ideas in the text to analyzing deeply the purposes of the author’s choices of language. Because of this opportunity, this piece may easily be used as the initial language lesson of the year with standard-course students.
2.
In this particular lesson, the teacher will not model the featured skill.
Students will engage in a close reading of Frost’s “Mending Wall” in order to determine the usage and impact of the grammatical conventions (here, the colon). This lesson guides students to discover the impact of usage in a piece of writing. For students to become well acquainted with the text, multiple opportunities to read the selection will be necessary.
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Process Activity
Reading text and identifying deliberate use of the featured grammar skill
Instructional Steps
3.
We encourage the reading of the entire selection before the close study in order to provide a context for the particular excerpt in this lesson. Independently, students will read and annotate the essay.
4.
Teachers may want to read the excerpted section aloud. Students need to hear all the words pronounced correctly; delivery includes deliberate choices that could begin to rob students of the opportunity to make meaning based on the word choice, word order, and punctuation.
5.
Students will read “Mending Wall” independently. Students should focus on Frost’s use of rhetorical devices while likewise noting how he uses grammatical conventions to shape his message. Have students seek to formulate a sentence that encapsulates the poem’s theme.
6.
Students should annotate the essay and answer questions. (See handout). The questions are intended to promote understanding/comprehension; however, these are not questions that are all necessarily ‘right there’ types of questions. The questions all require students to return to the text and potentially locate additional information to increase understanding.
7.
The teacher may choose to allow students to re-read the text a second time with a partner. They may share their findings and discuss their impressions.
8.
Use the skills in a meaningful way. Evaluate the use of the skill in other works.
Writing text and applying the featured grammar skill in a deliberate way
9.
Students will, based on the multiple encounters with the focus skill, determine the usage.
10.
Students will choose one of the writing options available.
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Process Activity Instructional Steps
Additional
Resources
 As an opening “attention grabber,” the teacher may ask students to write a list of the top five most important qualities in a friend. Ask students to share. Lead students to discuss what obstacles present themselves that sometimes makes maintaining a strong relationship with a friend. Use these ideas to build the rest of the lesson.
 Students may view Bill Wither’s classic hit "Lean on Me" (lyrics can be accessed here ). Have students compare the friendship described in the song to either the friendship in “Mending Wall” or in “The Poison
Tree.”
 Students may read “What Are Friends For? A Longer Life” , annotate, and write down the main idea of the piece. They should also highlight the five supporting details that they believe best supports this main idea. Finally, ask students to circle any colons used and write a sentence explain how the colon serves its purpose to help the author craft and deliver her message.
 Teachers should review the questions for the excerpt carefully. The questions are intended to help the students attend to the reading for comprehension. The use of the questions should be determined by the students in the room. If students are able to read and comprehend without questions that direct them line by line, then these supports can be taken away. Always remember that the purpose of the questions is to promote close reading of the selection; the removal of the direct questions should not remove the opportunity to read carefully and closely. The questions should only be reduced or removed once students are equipped with the annotating and close reading skills necessary to question the text naturally. (See the attached handout).
 To support students, students should be encouraged to work collaboratively. The first reading should be done by students independently—we want students to have the opportunity to try to find some elements first. Reading aloud is an opportunity for a second reading and to hear all the words pronounced correctly. As students become more intimate with the selection, working collaboratively allows them to build on the ideas of others and negotiate the meaning of particular elements.
 The use of the colon is a matter of choice. Students, particularly those who are rule driven, will recognize that other punctuation may serve the same purpose. We need to help students understand that functionally the punctuation can be replaced by another for correctness; however, function alone does not always articulate intent and meaning.
 Students may confuse a colon with a semicolon.
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Process Activity
Instructional Steps
 Answer keys are not provided. The lessons are intended to create opportunities for students to rely on the text to gain independence in reading complex texts. In this instructional model, the only wrong answers are those that are not well supported or engage in fallacious reasoning.
 It is best for teachers to engage in conversations and make instructional decisions with a PLT about this lesson, its content, and student outcomes.
 You may have noticed that providing background information is not part of the beginning of the lesson. Within the Language Lessons, students will need to rely upon the words and punctuation to create meaning without the assistance of the teacher or other background building activities prior to the learning experience. As students progress through the activities, they will need information and build the background that we typically provide up front. When students enter the world of college and career, they will need to be equipped with the necessary skills to determine context, question a text, determine the information they will need to know to increase understanding, and know where to locate that information.
Read the excerpt to yourself and annotate the text.
Read the excerpt to yourself. Make note of words, phrases, and punctuation (particularly semicolon/dash usage) that intrigue you in some way.
Look for irregularities, similarities, and unknowns.
Irregularity: I find it peculiar the way the author used this word.
Similarity: I am seeing a pattern here: in words, phrasing, or ideas. (Diction and Syntax)
Unknowns: I don’t know what that means. Or I don’t know what that means in this context.
In this step your teacher or a classmate will read aloud.
Listen carefully to the words being read. If you read a word incorrectly, you may want to make note of that change. Translate each line of the excerpt. As you learn more, you will want to adjust your translation.
In this step, you will be asked to read Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” carefully. These questions are designed to promote understanding of the text.
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*The teacher may choose to allow students to listen to the poem while reading. Click here.
1.
Frost toys with his syntax in the first sentence of his poem. Why might he have chosen to do so?
(Consider how the emphasis changes).
2.
Literally, what are the two neighbors doing in the poem?
3.
What is the theme of the poem? Provide textual evidence (cited properly with line numbers) to substantiate your claim.
4.
What is the poem’s driving metaphor? How does this serve to highlight Frost’s intended theme?
5.
Frost uses a colon in lines 5, 18, 22, 23 and 29. Examine each of these uses and compare/contrast their purpose. Remember: The author made a choice to use colons. Why might the author have opted to use this particular grammatical convention? Could another punctuation have served the same purpose? To what effect would the meaning change if so?
6.
The poem employs a variety of images that depict boundaries. Give two examples of this tactic and suggest why this helps perpetuate Frost’s theme.
7.
“He is all pine and I am apple orchard,” the speaker says in line 24. What does this metaphor imply?
8.
The neighbor repeats over and over that “good fences make good neighbors.” Explore both the literal and metaphorical implications of this statement.
9.
The text is written in blank verse. Why might Frost have chosen to use this form?
10.
What are some reasons the text suggests the neighbor feels the need to distance himself?
11.
How do the various examples of repetition impact the piece?
This step will ask you to perform a close reading of William Blake’s “The
Poison Tree.”
1.
What literary devices do you note in the first stanza?
2.
What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does this help in its reading?
3.
The speaker uses a colon in lines 1 and 14. Why might he have chosen to do so? What other grammatical convention(s) might he have used? How would this change shift the meaning or the effect of the poem?
4.
What is the driving metaphor of “The Poison Tree”? Explain why the metaphor is a fitting choice.
5.
Why might the tree have born an apple of all fruits?
6.
What is the theme of the poem? How is this theme different/similar from the theme of “Mending
Wall”?
Writing
Option 1: Have students write a poem with a driving metaphor at its core. This poem’s theme should align with those of the pieces studied in the lesson (i.e., friendship). The poem should also make use of an aptly used colon. *Require more advanced students to write the poem in blank verse structure.
Option 2: Have students write an advice column advising either the pair of friends in “The Poison Tree” or in “Mending Wall” on how to remedy their relationship. The piece should include at least one expertly placed colon. *Require students to follow up by explaining WHY their colon use is “expertly” placed and purposefully needed for tone or meaning.
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