Student Learning Plan
English Education
1
Designer: Matthew Ebersole
Topic: Poetry Analysis
Teaching Date: Monday, March 15th, 2010
Grade Level:
7th
Description of Students:
Time Frame:
50-55 minutes
Objectives :
TSW analyze the affect of poetic devices on the narrative of “The Highwayman.”
TSW identify the unique elements of haiku, limerick, and free verse.
Assessment:
Check for understanding during “Highwayman” activity.
Check for understanding while students complete
limerick and free verse activities.
Check tomorrow’s HW to see how well students
understand concepts.
Resources:
Literature books: page 568, part 2 of “The
Highwayman.”
2
Content:
Haiku:
Limerick:
Free Verse:
See attached notes:
Student Learning Plan
English Education
3
Instructional Strategies and timings
.
1. Place students literature books on their desks in the morning, so that we can quickly and efficiently finish
working with “The Highwayman.”
2. Pass back poetry term quizzes. Figurative language quizzes will be returned Tuesday.
3. Briefly review with the class any major issues they had on the poetry terms quiz. (5 minutes)
4. TTW instruct students to get out their “Highwayman” activities from Friday’s class. TTW spend some time
looking at how figurative language affects the narrative elements in the second portion of the poem, after reading
the second half to the class.
Specifically, as an entire class, we will look at stanzas 6 and 8. We will discuss how the use of Tlot-tlot, and
imagery create first the rising action, and then the climax with the Highwayman’s death. EX: Imagery with “He
lay in his blood on the highway.” (10 minutes)
5. Pass out notes on poetry forms.
6. Thinker: Write 3-5 sentences about yourself. Answer the question, “Who am I?” This thinker activity will
be used to create a poem at the end of class.
6. TTW speaks about limericks. TTW ask the students to stand up and stand in groups of two, like soldiers
marching to war. TTW recite lines of limericks and tell students to repeat them back. TTW do this activity for
one limerick, and then tell the students to sit down. This activity allows students to move about briefly, and also
illustrates why or how limericks were initially used.
7. TTW spend very little time reviewing the basic concept of Haiku, because students have been repeatedly
exposed to this concept prior to the 7th grade.
8. When we have finished reviewing the notes, TTW request students to complete the activity at the end of their
notes.
9. TSW work individually or at their tables to complete two limericks.
10. TSW use the writing from their thinker to create a free verse poem. TTW direct students exactly how to
complete the activity. TSW take each of their sentences from their thinker activity, and make each sentence a
line of poetry. TSW then arrange the lines in any order they want.
4
Multi-disciplinary Connections
Adaptations:
Differentiation Strategies:
Spend considerably more time with “The
Highwayman” in the afternoon than morning classes
because these students are having a lot of difficulty
with poetry analysis.
Student Learning Plan
English Education
5
Reflection/Recommendations for Future Use:
Overall, this lesson went well. Students in all classes have a difficult time with poetry analysis of
“the Highwayman.” They are capable of finding the narrative structures in the poem, for example, the
rising action, and they are capable of finding the poetic devices in the poem. However, students have
an extremely difficult time connecting the use of poetic devices to the narrative structure of a poem. I
suppose I could have merely skirted over poetry analysis, but I believe that my poetry unit, however,
brief, must at least touch on the notion of poetry analysis. This was a situation where the recursive
nature of teaching was evident. Students had spent a significant portion of time earlier in the year
studying the narrative structure of fiction and nonfiction. They had studied plot lines, and so they were
familiar with narrative structure and narrative arc. Students also seemed to enjoy “The Highwayman”
as a poem. They especially liked when I read to them. I did give several students the opportunity to
read as well, but in general, there were few volunteers, and despite my encouragement, students were
not sufficiently “into” the reading of the poem. They were incapable of the dramatic effects and
emotional tone of voice that I wanted them to use.
6
Poetry Forms Notes
Objective: To identify free verse, limerick, and haiku.
To use today’s thinker to create a free verse poem.
Thinker: Write for a few minutes about the following prompt: “Who am I?” Describe yourself
in any way you want. Write at least 4-5 sentences.
Free Verse- Poems that make their own rules. These poems do not have to have rhyme, rhythm,
rhyme schemes, or follow any other rules.
EX: Walt Whitman, “Leaves of Grass”
Limerick - a funny 5 line poem, with one couplet, and one triplet. A triplet is a 3 line rhymed poem.
A limerick’s rhyme scheme is AABBA.
Many limericks use hyperbole, onomatopoeia, and idioms.
EX: There was an Old Man with a nose,
(A)
Who said, “If you choose to suppose, (A)
That my nose is too long, (B)
You are certainly wrong,
(B)
That remarkable Man with a nose. (A)
Ballad- a narrative poem, often set to music. EX: “The Highwayman”
Haiku- A form of Japanese poem, most often about nature. The basic structure is 3 line poem where
the 1st and last lines have 5 syllables, and the middle line has 7 syllables.
EX: Haiku by Richard Wright
(5 syllables) I am nobody:
(7 syllables) A red sinking autumn sun
(5 syllables) Took my name away.
Student Learning Plan
English Education
Make up your mind, Snail!
You are half inside your house,
And halfway out!
Finish the Limerick: Remember, the rhyme scheme is (AABBA) and it should be funny.
There was an Old Man on a _________,
Who seldom, if ever, stood still;
He ran up and down,
In his Grandmother's _________,
Which adorned that Old Man on a _________.
There was a Young Lady of ______________,
Who casually sat on a ________________;
When the door __________ __________ _____,
She exclaimed, '____________?'
This courageous Young Lady of Norway.
Now let’s turn a piece of prose into a free verse poem.
1. Look at the sentences you wrote for today’s thinker.
2. Make each sentence into a line of poetry.
3. Arrange the lines in any way you want.
4. You will now have written a free verse poem about yourself.
7
8