Poetry – 6th grade English
Lesson plan
DAY ONE OF UNIT
Goal of Instruction: The long-term goal of this lesson is to instruct students how to identify and
interpret poetic elements in preparation for the analysis and construction of poetry.
Content objectives
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Students will be able to differentiate the characteristics of prose and poetry when they
read a familiar song and an informational text of the same topic.
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Students will be able to identify poetry’s unique characteristics, along with those that the
genre shares with other texts (i.e. literary techniques like metaphor and repetition).
Language objectives
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Beginning ELLs will highlight poetic elements in a song that answer the prompt, “How
does this song ‘paint a picture with language?”
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Intermediate ELLs will be able to label poetic elements in a song after reading with new
vocabulary terms.
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All ELLs will be able to free write their prior knowledge about poetry, as well as any
questions about the genre, using simple terms in their learning log journals.
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All ELLs will know the different derivations of the root “poe-,” including “poem,”
“poetry,” “poet” and “poetic.”
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All ELLs will create Venn diagrams to compare examples of prose and poetry.
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All ELLs will begin to learn and use new poetry vocabulary through the use of a class
cluster of terms before and after an interactive lecture introducing poetry.
Standards addressed
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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.9 Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres
(e.g., stories and poems; historical novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their
approaches to similar themes and topics: This lesson plan introduces students to the
differences between prose and poetry, as well as poetry’s unique characteristics and
those it shares with other text genres.
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TESOL Goal 2, Standard 2 Students will use English to obtain, process, construct,
and provide subject matter information in spoken and written form: ELLs, as well as
their classmates, will participate in reading and writing activities individually, in pairs
and in groups as they learn about poetry, how to distinguish it from prose and how to
begin to interpret its unique characteristics.
Process and procedures for teacher and students
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Preparation, time and materials needed: 20 minutes
Before this lesson, I will need to choose prose and poetry texts for the students
to compare in class. I will also need to plan guided listening questions for the video to
be used for an interactive lecture. Finally, I will need to construct a list of vocabulary
words related to poetry along with their translations in Chinese, Spanish and Arabic,
as well as modify both the instructional text and song (prose and poetry examples) for
use by my group of ELLs.
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Introduction: 10 minutes
At the start of the class period, I will tell the class that today we will be
starting our unit about poetry. After passing out their learning logs, or what I call
journals, I will ask each student to start an entry where they briefly write their prior
knowledge about poetry, including why they think people write poetry, what is
unique about poetry and any examples of poetry they have encountered in the past. I
will specify that the ELLs need only free write simple words that first come to mind
when they hear the word “poetry.” As the students write for about five minutes, I will
construct a small Frayer Model-inspired chart of the root word “poe-” and connect it
to bubbles with its word derivations, specifically “poetry,” “poem,” “poet,” and
“poetic.” As the ELLs work, I will pass by their desks and show them the chart I
created on the whiteboard, telling them that it will be on the board for most of the unit
for them to refer to.
After about five minutes, I will have the students share what they wrote
individually in order to create a theme cluster about poetry on the whiteboard. I will
encourage my ELLs to share anything special about poetry in their native countries or
languages. Overall, I assume the class will share the following ideas to the cluster:
“rhyme,” “rap/hip hop,” “hard to understand,” “Dr. Seuss,” etc. After the video later
in the lesson, I will add to this cluster as students learn more about poetry.
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Main activity: 30 minutes
After students provide their initial thoughts about poetry, I will thank them for
participating and tell them that we will now be watching an animated video that will
help us all better understand poetry. I will pass out a list of vocabulary terms that will
be mentioned in the video (Appendix I), including prose, poetry and rhyme, and their
translations to my ELL students. At this point, I will open the video (Appendix II) on
the SmartBoard and play the video. I will stop the video at 1:07 and ask for a few
volunteers to summarize the definitions they just heard for prose and poetry. Before I
play the video again, I will tell the students to pay attention to the next part of the
video because it discusses technical terms about poetry that we will be exploring
more in depth in a couple of days. Then, I will stop the video again at 3:57 and ask
the students if they can try to figure out what the Emily Dickinson poem on the screen
is about and what characteristics it does or doesn’t have. After they share, I will show
them that the poem does not have a rhyme scheme or meter, but I will point out that it
clearly uses repetition. I will then say, “Let’s see what Tim and Moby have to say”
and will start the video again. I will encourage the students to watch the video again
later on their iPads to refresh their memories about what they learned. Now that the
students have watched the video, I will quickly ask if they have any new additions for
our poetry cluster on the white board. Hopefully, they will share responses similar to
“opposite of prose,” “paints pictures with words,” “repetition,” “rhythm” and
“meter.”
Following this brief discussion, I will tell the students that, now, we will be
using our new knowledge to actually compare a piece of prose, or an informational
text in this case, with a song, an example of poetry. I will pass out the prose, a text
called “How Fireworks Work,” and the song, “Firework” by the pop singer Katy
Perry (Appendix III), which most, if not all, students have probably heard at some
point. However, I will give the ELLs a modified version of each with simpler
vocabulary and other modifications (Appendix IV). I will then display images of
fireworks on the SmartBoard and begin reading aloud the informational text.
Afterward, I will play the Katy Perry song. Now that they have heard and read two
different texts about fireworks, I will ask the students what each text means in terms
of fireworks. We will discuss how the first text talks a bit about how fireworks create
an explosion that release beautiful light, as well as why fireworks are often used at
celebrations of all kinds. Then, we will talk about how the song uses fireworks to
represent people’s individuality and strength, which sometimes they are too scared to
show because they don’t want to feel different or don’t want to trust others.
After the discussion, I will explain to the students that we will now be creating
Venn diagrams in groups comparing the two texts we just read and listened to. I will
describe that a Venn diagram is a visual chart that helps us look at two things and
describe what is the same and what is different. Then, I will draw an example of a
Venn diagram on the whiteboard and title the left circle “prose,” the middle circle
“what they share,” and the right circle “poetry” (Appendix V). I will look at the two
texts and tell them that I am looking for something that makes prose unique. I will
write “information and facts” in the “prose” circle. Then, I will tell them I’m trying to
think about something that makes poetry unique. I will write “might rhyme” under the
“poetry” circle. Then I will tell the class that something the two texts have in common
is that they both can tell stories, which I will write in the middle circle of the Venn
diagram.
After modeling the Venn diagram and how to use it with the two texts, I will
explain that I will be grouping the students into small groups in which they will read
the text again and fill out their own Venn diagrams. I will group the four ELLs
homogeneously and tell them I will be working with them. I will divide the rest of the
students into five groups of four and then pass out one blank Venn diagram per group.
I will ask that each student provide at least one answer for the diagram and to please
label who wrote what in the group. During the activity, I will sit with the ELLs and
provide scaffolding specific to their needs and questions that they may have had at the
beginning of the class (which they wrote in their journals) and now after learning
more about poetry. I will guide them as they try to find the differences between the
two modified texts and they will fill out one Venn diagram as a group. When I see the
ELLs have a grasp on the assignment, I will leave them from time to time to check on
the other groups and guide them as well.
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Closure/Summary: 10 minutes
I will conclude the class period by first asking the groups to share their
responses and I will add their answers to the Venn diagram on the whiteboard. I will
tell them that I will compile the diagrams later that day and put a complete version of
the Venn diagram online for them to access via their iPads.
Then, I will introduce a short post-reading activity during which students will
use all the information they have learned today to try to start interpreting poetry and
its related elements, specifically literary devices. I will ask students to form pairs with
ELLs working with their classroom buddies. I will write the following prompt on the
whiteboard: “How does this song paint a picture with language?” I will ask the
classroom buddies to help their beginning ELLs with highlighting poetic elements on
their copy of the song like instances of repetition, rhyme and metaphor. I will ask the
intermediate ELLs to actually label these elements with the vocabulary learned in
class. I will also encourage, but not require, them to take notes on the song explaining
what the elements could mean and why the singer uses them. I will tell the students
that this activity is an example of the kind of work we will be starting next class.
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Connection to previous and forthcoming lessons:
This lesson serves as an introduction to a poetry unit. During this class period,
students briefly learn about poetry’s unique elements and begin to understand how it
differs from other text genres. Poetry’s characteristics, including meter, rhyme
scheme, tone and literary devices, as well how to interpret, analyze and write poetry
will be topics of focus in forthcoming lessons as students move up through stages
outlined in Bloom’s Taxonomy.
Assessment
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Work collected / observed
First, I will look through the students’ journals, especially those of the ELLs,
to observe the progress of their writing skills, with a focus on their ability to convey
meaning and spell words correctly. When the class period is over, I will collect each
group’s Venn diagram and their basic analyses (highlighting, labeling, note-taking) of
Katy Perry’s song. The first assignment will help me formatively assess students’
ability to read and identify poetic elements, as well as compare and contrast its
elements with those of prose. Because each entry in the diagram is labeled with a
student’s name, it will also help me later differentiate content instruction based on
each student’s understanding.
I will also collect each student’s song analysis as a means of determining
whether new vocabulary has been acquired, as well as how ready students are to start
interpreting and evaluating poetry. Part of the assignment is a formative assessment to
test students’ new ability to identify examples of poetic elements (beginning ELLs
especially) and label them (intermediate ELLs) as they read a poem. The activity also
serves as a close reading practice for students, especially ELLs.
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Criteria used
I will informally evaluate the Venn diagram and song analysis by giving each
student in the group or pair a check plus, check or minus depending on the depth of
their answer on their Venn diagram. The journaling activity will be part of the
participation grade. If I recognize, through the collection of these works, that the
class’ understanding about the basics of poetry is insufficient, I will provide further
scaffolding in the next lesson.
Appendix A
Poetry vocabulary terms1
1. Prose: writing that is plain and straightforward like a news article, textbook or novel
Translation: 散文, prosa, ‫مم تع غ ير عادي ك الم‬
2. Poetry: writing that uses descriptive words and attitude to paint pictures
Translation: 詩, poesía, ‫ش ع ر‬
3. Syllable: the different parts of a word’s pronunciation; each syllable has at least one
vowel
Example: school has one syllable, let-ter has two syllables, al-pha-bet has three syllables
Translation: 音節, sílaba, ‫ل فظي م قطع‬
4. Stress: emphasis on syllable in a word
Translation: 重音, énfasis, ‫ن برة‬
5. Rhythm: a repeated pattern of syllable stresses in a line of poetry
Translation: 韻律, ritmo, ‫إي قاع‬
6. Meter: how to measure a poem’s rhythm
Translation: 韻律, medida, ‫م تر‬
7. Iambic pentameter: a kind of meter; five sets of unstressed-stressed syllable
Example: I will not eat them with a mouse, I will not eat them in a house, I will not eat
them here or there, I will not eat them a-ny-where.
8. Rhyme: when words, especially their endings, have the same sound
Example: mouse and house and here and there
Translation: 韻文, rima, ‫ش عر ب يت‬
9. Couplet: two lines in a poem that typically rhyme or have the same meter
Translation: 對聯, copla, ‫ال ش عر ف ي وحدة ال دوب يت‬
10. Free verse: poetry that has no rhyme or meter
1
Before I give any translations to ELLs, I will caution them that the translations will not be
100% perfect representations of the English word.
Appendix B
Screenshots of poetry video2
Moby is on the left, Tim is on the right.
2
This video is from http://www.brainpop.com/english/writing/poetry/. You need a username and
password to log on.
After this point, 1:07, I will ask students to summarize the definitions of prose and poetry.
At this point in the video, 3:57, I will ask students to point out elements of poetry that they just
heard about. When I press play, Tim and Moby will explain what the poem is about.
Appendix C
Examples of prose and poetry for all students
Example of prose
Excerpt from “How Fireworks Work” by Marshall Brain3
If you have ever been to an aerial fireworks show at an amusement park, baseball game, Fourth
of July celebration or on New Year's Eve, then you know that fireworks have a special and
beautiful magic all their own – a good show is absolutely amazing.
Have you ever wondered how this magic works? What is launched into the sky to make these
beautiful displays? In this article, you will learn all about firecrackers, sparklers and aerial
fireworks.
Just about everyone in the United States has some personal experience with fireworks, either
from Fourth of July or New Years Eve celebrations. For example, you have probably seen both
sparklers and firecrackers. It turns out that if you understand these two pyrotechnic devices, then
you are well on your way to understanding aerial fireworks. The sparkler demonstrates how to
get bright, sparkling light from a firework, and the firecracker shows how to create an explosion.
Firecrackers have been around for hundreds of years. They consist of either black powder (also
known as gunpowder) or flash powder in a tight paper tube with a fuse to light the powder. Black
powder, discussed briefly in How Rocket Engines Work, contains charcoal, sulfur and potassium
nitrate. A composition used in a firecracker might have aluminum instead of or in addition to
charcoal in order to brighten the explosion.
Example of poetry
Excerpt from “Firework” by Katy Perry
Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin
Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?
Do you ever feel already buried deep six feet under?
Scream but no one seems to hear a thing
Do you know that there's still a chance for you
'Cause there's a spark in you?
You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July
'Cause, baby, you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
3
Text from http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/everyday-innovations/fireworks.htm
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y
Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
You're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe
You don't have to feel like a wasted space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow
Maybe you reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it's time you'll know
LESSON PLAN #2
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Appendix D
Modified examples of prose and poetry for ELLs
Example of prose
Excerpt from “How Fireworks Work” by Marshall Brain
Have you ever been to a fireworks show at Disney World, a sports game, at the start of a new
year? Then you know that fireworks have a special and beautiful magic. A good show is
amazing.
Is it really magic? In this article, you will learn all about firecrackers, sparklers and fireworks.
You have probably seen both sparklers and firecrackers. If you know how these work, then you
can understand how fireworks work. The sparkler demonstrates how to get bright, sparkling light
from a firework, and the firecracker shows how to create an explosion.
Firecrackers have been around for hundreds of years. They consist of either black powder or
flash powder in a paper tube that you can light with fire. Black powder contains special
chemicals that can make the explosion very bright.
Example of poetry
Excerpt from “Firework” by Katy Perry
Do you ever feel like a plastic bag
Drifting through the wind and wanting to start again?
Do you ever feel paper thin
Like a house of cards about to cave in?
Do you ever feel already buried deep? Six feet under
And when you scream no one hears a thing.
Do you know that there's still a chance for you
Because there's a spark in you?
You just have to ignite the light and let it shine,
Just own the night like the 4th of July.
Because, baby, you're a firework,
Come on, show them what you're worth,
Make them go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky.
Baby, you're a firework,
Come on, let your colors burst,
Make them go "Oh, oh, oh,”
You're going to leave them all in awe.
LESSON PLAN #2
You don't have to feel like a wasted space.
You're original and you cannot be replaced.
If you only knew what the future holds,
After a hurricane comes a rainbow.
Maybe you think all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road.
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it's time you'll know.
15
LESSON PLAN #2
16
Appendix E
Venn diagram
Note: Cursive entries are those that I will model and display on the board before students fill these out in groups.
Poetry
Prose
- Might rhyme
- Information and facts
What they
share
- Used to tell
stories