Lesson Plan for the Stanislaus Poem

Transcription

1 Lesson Plan for the Stanislaus Poem Note to Teachers: This lesson was written by a junior high English teacher using a lesson plan model most teachers are familiar with in one way or another, but please feel free to modify as needed for both your grade level and your student population. This is a set of ideas, not commandments. Thank you for taking time to keep poetry in your classroom and for everything you do! This lesson can be completed as a whole class project, or in small groups, pairs, or individually. This lesson can take as long as the teacher needs, but probably should be no shorter than two half hour periods or one hour-long period. Suggested Lesson Objectives: Students will write a quatrain, a four-line rhymed or unrhymed poem, that reflects a positive aspect of life in Stanislaus County. Students will create a word picture in the form of a quatrain about something they like about our area. Students will use imagery, figurative language (metaphors, similes, or personification), and (possibly) rhyme to reflect a positive aspect of life in Stanislaus County. (Of course, this one could be further unpacked to focus on just imagery or just similes or just rhyme.) Students will practice the writing process as they create quatrains for the Stanislaus Poem. Accessing Prior Knowledge: The teacher can lead the students to think about what they like about living in Stanislaus County. (For younger grades, the teacher might need to define county or to limit the discussion to what the students like about the neighborhood, town, or school.) The teacher can discuss landscape, activities, friends, family, weather anything the students might find beautiful and positive about living in our area. The teacher might consider creating a class web or cluster of student ideas on the board. If any negative aspects of life here come up (there s nothing to do; the air gives me asthma, etc.), the teacher could redirect students to look for the positive. (i.e.: what a joy it is when the air is clear and we can see the mountains around us, going to the river for a picnic, etc.). Concept Development: The teacher will explain that some poems have forms (haiku have three lines and a certain number of syllables, sonnets have fourteen lines and a specific rhythm, etc.). The poem students will write today will have four lines and is called a quatrain (relate to the Latin quad- and the Spanish cuatro). The lines can be as long or as short as the writer likes, but should share something that is important or beautiful to the writer about living in our area.

2 The teacher will share two or three of the sample quatrains, pointing out the four lines that make up the poem and pointing out the word picture the poem creates. The teacher can ask, What does this poet find beautiful/important/positive about living in our area. After looking at two or three quatrains, the teacher can share a couple more, asking the students to point out what makes this poem a quatrain, what is the word picture created, what is the positive idea or image, what is it the poet likes about our area. In addition, if the quatrain sample rhymes, the teacher could point out the rhyme scheme (Which lines rhyme with each other? How do they create a pattern? Options: AABB, ABAB, ABBA, etc.) Checking for Understanding (can be done with white boards or non-volunteers) The teacher may ask * What makes a quatrain? * How many lines are in a quatrain? * Can anyone tell me what Spanish word quatrain is related to? * What is one aspect of our lives here in Stanislaus County that your quatrain could be about? (i.e.: hawks nesting in the cedar next to my house!) What is one aspect of our lives here in Stanislaus County that your quatrain would probably not be about? (i.e.: someone graffitied our fence) Can your quatrain rhyme? Does it have to rhyme? What should your quatrain create in the readers minds? (a word picture/imagery) Guided Practice/Skill Development (I do/you do) The teacher demonstrates (thinking aloud) writing a quatrain about a positive aspect of life in Stanislaus County. It is strongly suggested that the teacher write a quatrain ahead of time and refer to that as their think aloud, but teachers could also use the following quatrain and think aloud to demonstrate if they choose: Teacher Talk: I want to write a poem today about something that I really like about living in our area. Hmmm. What do I really like? I have to think hard about this because sometimes it s not easy to see the beautiful in an area we are so familiar with and sometimes I may just forget to notice those things, so.hmmm I have hawks nesting in a really tall cedar tree across from my back yard. And they ve been building a nest every year for the past four years and raising their hatchlings, so I think I want to write about that. Now, what do I especially like about the hawks? I like to see them swoop into the top of the tree and I like to see them fly off again. I like to hear their calls to each other. I like the way they are shadowed against the sky at dusk. And I think the way they get chased sometimes by smaller birds is funny. I love their grace and their Poem: Idea! Hawks in the cedar tree! Brainstorm about hawks: Flying in and out Calling to each other Getting chased Kings and Queens of the neighborhood

3 majesty by majesty I mean they seem like kings and queens of our whole neighborhood, and it makes me really happy that they come back year after year. Now I want to figure out what I most want my poem to say, and sometimes poets don t know this ahead of time. Sometimes the poet has to write the poem first and then see what it says to know what they really want to say, and that is a-okay. Now I m going to use some of my ideas to write this little poem. I think I want to start here with placing the hawks in time, so I m going to use twilight because I like seeing them silhouetted against the getting-dark sky. I like including the name of the tree because I want to be specific. I could just say tree, but a cedar looks really different from, say a crape myrtle even though they are both trees. Being specific helps create a better word picture. I really like how the hawks call to each other as well. It makes me happy to know that they are there and communicating, so I want to mention the calls and I think I might tie that in to them being kings and queens. When I think of kings and queens, I think of medieval times, so I think of swords and hawks do have very sharp, screechy voices, so I think I can use a metaphor here their voices are sharp as swords (that s a simile), but I m going to make it shorter and say sword-sharp. Remember that in poetry every word counts so if you don t have to use extra words, don t. Poetry can be simple, short and powerful all at the same time. You don t need to get all fancy I want to continue with the idea of them being king and queen of the neighborhood, so I am still thinking about kings and queens, and I know that kings and queens usually wear what do they wear?...right! Crowns! But hawks don t wear crowns, so maybe I can say that right here in the poem. They don t wear crowns, but they are still pretty royal. So the idea of them being royal is really growing in this poem. I think that might be a big idea for me, so I m going to stick with it. They don t wear crowns, but they are still in charge, they are still royal and everyone knows it. Hmmm I think I m going to put that in my poem too. And I think I m going to put in a nod to my town of Modesto (Modesto means modest First draft: At twilight, we see them, our hawks. They swoop out with their sword-sharp voices. They don t wear crowns

4 in Spanish) so I m going to mention my town without really mentioning it. (That s called an allusion, a hint at something.) And I want to end my poem with a really strong, visual word maybe realm? Maybe territory? No, I think I ll bring it back to the king idea and use kingdom. So let me put my ideas together now and see how they turn out Okay! I like this pretty well, but I think I can make it work even better and I know it has to be a quatrain, but right now it looks like it is six lines instead of four, so I need to fix that. I m going to move the and from the first line down to the second, and I think I m going to put the fourth line up one as the second part of the third. And I think I want to change, They don t wear crowns to something else that sounds more formal, so I want to get rid of the contractions, so They wear no crowns The fragment that looks like the sixth line is really part of the fifth (or what will be the fourth, but because of the formatting here it is indented to show that it is part of the one above. So, a second draft might look like this. Okay! I like this better. I m going to read it aloud a couple of times to make sure it sounds just right. In fact, I m going to read it once and then I wonder if I can have a couple of volunteers to read it aloud. Thank you! I think this is going to be my final draft. And I don t need to worry about a title since this will just be one part of what we hope will be a very big and wonderful poem celebrating our county. but everyone knows that this modest place is with their sword-sharp voices. They wear no crowns, but everyone knows that this modest place is with their sword-sharp voices. They wear no crowns, but everyone knows that this modest place is really with their sword-sharp voices. They wear no crowns, but everyone knows that this modest place is really So, now it is the students job to write a poem. They can work as individuals, in small groups, or as a class to do this. Remind them that it is okay to write something and then decide to write something different. The important thing is to create a quatrain that shares something they think is great about our area, creating a word picture and/or using figurative language or rhyme (whatever your emphasis is) to do this. Check for Understanding: Use the questions in the CFU section above. In addition, you might ask

5 Do the poems need have to have short lines or long lines? (either is fine) What is a word picture? Is it okay to write something and then to decide to change it? (yes!) Is your quatrain going to be about something you like about our area? And of course, you can create CFU questions to fit the specific emphasis of your lesson (i.e.: figurative language, rhyme scheme, etc.) The students write while the teacher circulates and provides encouragement. It might help younger grades to draw a picture of their idea first to get their ideas flowing or to draw a picture to go along with their quatrain. (Please note, though, that no pictures will be published as part of this collaborative work.) Closure: Have students share what they have written so far. (A mini poetry café?) Or, ask any of the above CFU questions and have them write answers on their whiteboards and do a class check. Or, have them write three questions they think people should know the answer to (and have them write the answer too!) after today s lesson and turn these in to become a quick review tomorrow. If they want to write more than one quatrain, please encourage them to do so and then have them chose the one they like best to send in to the Stanislaus Poem. If necessary, don t forget to attain the proper parent permission needed to submit your students poetry to this project. You don t need to send this to us, but it might be good for you to have on hand. Be sure to include the names of every poet involved as well as your name, school, and contact information. Please mail your students quatrains (and yours too, we hope!) to the Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center P.O. Box Modesto, California We will publish up to 300 quatrains in a print edition of the Stanislaus Poem, and every quatrain submitted will be published on our website.