Language
Standard:
discovering the power to influence tone, mood, style, voice, and meaning
L.9-10.2 & L.9-10.3
R.9-10.1; R.9-10.2; R.9-10.4; R.9-10.9
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)
Featured Skill:
Students will apply the conventions of Standard English.
Students will understand how authors manipulate these
conventions to enhance meaning. Students will, themselves,
manipulate conventional grammar rules to enhance meaning.
Featured Text
Grade Level:
9-10
(Suggested for grade 9)
Theme and/or Essential Question
 What does it mean to be an independent
Primary Texts:
 e.e. cummings’ “anyone lived in a pretty how
town” and “next to of course god america i”
Secondary Texts:
 Excerpts from “Flowers from Algernon” and
Push
Instruction
Process
individual and a member of a larger
community?
 How can an author develop a character by
manipulating spelling and grammar
conventions?
 How can the conventions of grammar add
to or change the meaning of a text?
Activity
Instructional Steps
Modeling
and
explaining
the featured
grammar
skill
1. Background: Students should, in grades K-8, learn about spelling,
capitalization, and punctuation. Students may not have explored in
depth the use of these conventions in terms of purposeful
manipulation 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.
2. In this particular lesson, the teacher will not model the featured skill.
Students will engage in a close reading of the original and then the
punctuated text of “anyone lived in a pretty how town” by e. e.
cummings in order to determine the usage and impact of the
grammatical conventions. This lesson guides students to discover the
impact of usage in a piece of writing.
Language  Page 1
Process
Activity
Instructional Steps
Practice
in Context
Reading 1: Student reading
Reading text
and
identifying
deliberate
use of the
featured
grammar
skill
3. Students will read the original text of “anyone lived in a pretty how
town” independently. After reading, students will participate in
Think-Pair-Share discussion about their initial responses to the text
and its possible meaning. Teacher may scaffold the reading for
lower-level readers by reading the text aloud or by playing an audio
recording of e.e. cummings reading the poem himself. (The audio
recording is available on YouTube and on CD collections such as In
their Own Voices: A Century of Recorded Poetry.
Reading 2: Student Reading
4. Students will read the “corrected” version of the poem. After the
reading, students will, again, participate in a Think-Pair-Share
activity (now with a different partner) and discuss any new meanings
they may have gleaned from the text.
Analyzing and Evaluating : Class Discussion
5. Students will use the included set of questions to direct their
attention to specific elements of the text.
Writing: Use the featured skill(s)
Application
in Writing
6. Use the conventions in a meaningful way. Evaluate the use of the
conventions.
Writing text
and applying
7. Students will capitalize and punctuate another e.e. cummings poem,
the featured
“next to of course god america i.” Students will write a brief
grammar
accompanying narrative that explains the intended effect(s) of their
skill in a
“corrections” to the text.
deliberate
way
Language  Page 2
Process
Activity
Instructional Steps
For extension: (Students could be provided options for
extension activities)

Extensions and Interventions

Additional
Resources

Potential
Confusion
Students could read excerpts from the short story version of “Flowers
for Algernon” (more mature classes could use Push by Sapphire) and
examine how the author characterizes the narrator’s intellectual
development by manipulating spelling and grammar conventions.
Students could enter a sample of their own writing into the SAS
Curriculum Pathways Writing Reviser program. After viewing the
program’s feedback and suggested changes, students could
discuss/write about how those changes may alter their intended
meaning. (See your department chair or the Senior Administrator for
High School English if you need a teacher’s username and password
for access to SAS Curriculum Pathways.)
For Intervention and support:

Teachers should review the questions for the class discussion
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.
 To support students, students should be encouraged to work
collaboratively using the Think-Pair-Share protocol. 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 syntactical gymnastics and surrealist imagery found in the poetry of e.e.
cummings can be very confusing to high school students. Encourage
students to cultivate a willingness to endure in the world of cognitive
dissonance, slowly allowing their comfort to increase and the dissonance to
resolve. Pose the use of unconventional language and grammar as a secret
code that the author dares them to crack, and facilitate “bumbling through”
as part of the inductive reasoning process.
Language  Page 3
Process
Activity


Teacher
Notes
Additional
Resources
to Consider




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.
The traditional grammar textbooks and workbooks already used in WCPSS
ELA classrooms.
Anson and Schwegler’s The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers.
Tom Ready’s Grammar Wars series
Language  Page 4
Text: “anyone lived in a pretty how town”
Step One: Read the poem to yourself and annotate the text.
Read the poem to yourself. Make note of words, phrases, and images that intrigue you in some way.
After reading, pair with a partner and discuss the poem using the following questions:
1. What is the genre of the poem?
2. How does the poet’s use of rhyme and alliteration affect the poem?
3. What images in the poem were particularly interesting or confusing?
4. What is the poem’s meaning or theme?
After working with your partner, you will share the highlights of your discussion with the whole class.
Step Two: Read the “corrected” version of the poem to yourself and annotate the text.
Read the “corrected” version of the poem to yourself. Make note of how the changes in capitalization and
punctuation have affected the meaning of the poem.
After reading, pair with a new partner and discuss this version of the poem using the following questions:
1. What effect did the capitalization have on the poem?
2. What effect did the punctuation have on the poem?
3. Did the changes make the poem any easier to understand? Why or why not?
After working with your partner, you will share the highlights of your discussion with the whole class.
Step Three: These questions are designed to promote understanding of the poem.
1. Explain how this can be read as a narrative
poem.
2. How are the characters “anyone” and “no one)
different than the rest of the people in their
community?
3. What effect did the lack of capitalization and
punctuation have on the text and its meaning?
4. Which version of the text do you prefer? Why?
Step Four: Writing
Read “next to of course god america i” and “correct” the poem’s capitalization and punctuation. Write a
brief narrative that explains your changes and their intended effect on the poem’s meaning.
Extension
Read excerpts from either “Flowers for Algernon” or Push. Using 2-3 well-thought out and organized
paragraphs, explain how the author manipulates the rules of spelling, capitalization, and grammar in
order to develop the narrator’s character. Be sure to include specific examples from the text to support
your analysis.
Language  Page 5
“anyone lived in a pretty how town” (Reading 2 activity sheet)
Type of change made
The change: Describe
the change made from
the original poem to the
“corrected” version
The impact: Describe
how the change impacts
tone, mood, and/or
meaning
Capitalization:
Look for words in the
“corrected” version that are
capitalized which were not in
the original poem.
End Punctuation:
Look for end punctuation
(periods, question marks,
exclamation points) that have
been added to the “corrected”
version of the poem.
Other Punctuation:
Look for punctuation that has
been added, deleted, or
changed in the “corrected”
version of the poem.
Language  Page 6
“anyone lived in a pretty how town” by e.e. cummings
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did
Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain
children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more
when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her
someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream
stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)
one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was
all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.
Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain
Language  Page 7
“anyone lived in a pretty how town”—the “corrected” version
Anyone lived in A Pretty How Town
with up so floating many bells down.
Spring…summer…autumn…winter…
He sang his didn't; he danced his did.
Women and men both little and small
cared for Anyone not at all.
They sowed their isn't; they reaped their same.
Sun…moon…stars…rain…
Children guessed (but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn…winter…spring…summer…)
that Noone loved him more by more.
When by now and tree by leaf,
she laughed his joy she cried his grief.
Bird by snow and stir by still.
Anyone's any was all to her.
Someones married their Everyones.
Laughed their cryings and did their dance.
Sleep…wake…hope…and then…they
said their “Nevers!” They slept their dream.
Stars…rain…sun…moon…
And only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down.
One day, Anyone died, I guess.
And Noone stooped to kiss his face.
Busy folk buried them side by side.
Little by little and was by was.
All by all and deep by deep
and more by more, they dream their sleep.
Noone and Anyone-- earth by April.
Wish by spirit and if by yes.
Women and men--both Dong and Ding-Summer…autumn…winter…spring….
reaped their sowing and went their came.
Sun…moon…stars…rain
Capitalized and punctuated (with apologies to e.e. cummings) by Matt Scialdone
anyone lived in a pretty how town
Language  Page 8
“next to of course god america i” by e.e. cummings
``next to of course god america i
love you land of the pilgrims' and so forth oh
say can you see by the dawn's early my
country tis of centuries come and go
and are no more what of it we should worry
in every language even deafanddumb
thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry
by jingo by gee by gosh by gum
why talk of beauty what could be more beautiful than these heroic happy dead
who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter
they did not stop to think they died instead
then shall the voice of liberty be mute?''
He spoke. And drink rapidly a glass of water
Language  Page 9