Anthony Pozdol SCED 301 Summer 2014

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LESSON PLAN#4 (Day 8 of Unit)

SUBJECT: English/Language Arts
Unit Theme: Survival and Oppression
Topic/Title: Different Color Burdens (How Perspective Alters Meaning)

GRADE LEVEL: 10th

NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 24

LESSON DURATION: 50 Minutes

STATE STANDARDS:
CCSS Reading Standards for Literature Grades 9-10: 1.) Cite strong and thorough textual
evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn
from the text.

CCSS Speaking and Listening Standards Grades 9-10: 1.) Initiate and participate effectively
in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with
diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others ideas and
expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used
in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact
of specific word choices on meaning and tone.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research,
reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a
range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

OBJECTIVES:

Students will be able to summarize perspectives role in creating meaning.

Students will be able to differentiate the meanings between two works of similar genres
written with similar themes.

Students will model an understanding of satire through discussion of how a satirical poem
functions in class.

Students will be able to cite inferred meaning in a text.

MATERIALS/RESOURCES:

Anthony Pozdol SCED 301 Summer 2014
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For students: Paper; pen or pencil; Copies of the poems White Mans Burden by Rudyard
Kipling and Brown Mans Burden by Henry Labouchere.

For teachers: Chalkboard/Whiteboard; Chalk/Markers; Copies of the poems White Mans
Burden by Rudyard Kipling and Brown Mans Burden by Henry Labouchere.

NOTE: The students read White Mans Burden on day 1 of the unit. They have been
familiarized with the historical context of the poem, some background information on
Kipling himself, and the interpretation of the poem as glorification of a Euro-centric notion
of superiority.

LESSON INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES

A. When students arrive, copies of the White Mans Burden poem should be on their
desks. To spark early conversation, ask the students what they remember about the
poem from the first days discussion. If they struggle, ask them questions like: who is
the author; what is their background; when was it written; and how has it been
interpreted. (5 Minutes)

B. Development: Instruction and Activities
1. Facilitate a class-wide close-read and discussion of White Mans Burden. (20
Minutes)
Ask a student to read the first stanza. Have the students identify within the
first two lines who it is that breeds the best of men (Answer: The White Man.
We know this because the white man is invited to take up his burden and
send forth the best he breeds).
Next have them look at the same first stanza and identify the traits of the
other people groups according to the speaker (Sample answers: captive,
fluttered, wild, half-devil and half-child).
Ask another student to read the second stanza. Then ask the class: What do
the lines, to seek anothers profit and work anothers gain, imply about the
nature of the white mans burden (Sample answers: its charitable, its
admirable, its selfless).
Ask a student to read the third stanza. Then ask the class: what does the
white man seem to have power over? (Sample answer: the white man can
bid sickness cease).
Following the same procedure have a student read the fourth and fifth
stanza. Who blames the white man? Who hates the white man? (Sample
answers: the people they help make better and the people they protect).
Make the connection for the students between the lines, Why brought ye us
from bondage our loved Egyptian night, and the Exodus account of the
Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt. Clarify that what is being implied is
that the white man is being burdened by complaints from former slaves the
white man has freed.
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Have a final student read the last two stanzas of the poem. Then ask the
students to consider what could be implied by the repeated capitalization of
White Man.
2. Pass out copies of the poem Brown Mans Burden by Henry Labouchere.
Facilitate another close read and discussion of this poem with the entire class.
(20 Minutes)
This time have the students read the poem silently to themselves. Then ask
them to look at the two poems side by side, and underline nearly identical
phrases or key words/concepts that appear in each poem (for example: half-
devil and half-child; make living and mark dead; repeated burden
phrase to begin each stanza; the concept of being guards).
Begin discussion by asking the class who White Mans Burden is
presumably written to (Answer: white men). Follow up by asking what
people group Brown Mans Burden is presumably written to (Answer:
white men, like Rudyard Kipling). How do we know? (Sample answers: take
on implies its the white mans burden to take on, and pile on implies its
the brown mans burden that the white man adds to; in the final stanza
Labouchere directly addresses Kipling.)
Ask the class the following and write their answers on the board: What is the
tone of the burden being presented by Kipling (sample answers: admirable,
dutiful, charitable, prideful, heroic)? What is Laboucheres tone while
discussing burden (sample answers: comical, dark, satirical)?
Refresh the students memory on the literary function of showing vs.
telling, that you previously discussed on day 5 of the unit in regards to Maus.
Explain how satire functions in a similar way. Laboucheres poem is a
satirical response to Kiplings. Rather than respond to Kipling with an
argumentative essay, Labouchere shows us through ridiculous poetry just
how ridiculous the idea of Kiplings white mans burden is. He shows us just
how ridiculous the idea of the white and squeaky clean good guy is.

C. Closure

1. Re-enforce the idea that additional perspectives have the power to alter
meaning. Explain how this is evidenced in Laboucheres response to Kipling. It
re-framed burden. It obliterated the heroes and villains binary. (3 Minutes)
2. For homework, have the students answer the following prompt in their journals
in no less than half of a page:

Today you learned about perspectives role in altering meaning. Identify a time in
your life when you felt or believed one way, until you heard another perspective
and it changed the way you felt. Was this a good change?



D. Differentiated Instruction/Assessment
Anthony Pozdol SCED 301 Summer 2014
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For Mary and Jerry, most accommodations would be focused on the journaling
homework. The one measure Id probably take for the both of them is that Id
contact their parent(s)/guardian(s) to give them a heads up that the second week of
the unit will involve reflecting in their journals on the concepts and ideas discussed
in class. Parents will be sent home specific instructions on the given prompts and
the key ideas, and encouraged to discuss them with their children. Parents should
double check to make sure their child has done the journal assignment and help if
needed. For Mary specifically, I will check daily to make sure her assignment
notebook is accurately filled out and that she is clear on what she is being asked to
do.

To accommodate Ray, it will be important to communicate to his parent(s)/
guardian(s) that he will need their assistance with journaling from home. Ray will
be given the option of having his parent/guardian type out his thoughts as he speaks
them addressing the prompt, or Ray can have them record his thoughts via
audio/video recording device. Ray will also be sent home with audio versions of the
poems studied in class. In class itself, Ray will regularly be seated near the exit.

ASSESSMENTS

Formative:
There is a running journal that began on the second day of the unit. On this particular day,
students will be asked to journal from home about a time when a new perspective has
changed their mind about something they previously felt different about. This entry has to
be at least one half of a page in order to receive credit. There will be no letter grades
assigned to each journal entry. Students will simply be given a point for each entry, and
deducted a point from each missing entry. This is an exercise that allows them to practice
writing and even more so engage in critical thinking and making thematic connections. By
the end of the unit, when I collect these journals, I will have a better idea as to the quality of
learning taking place and the progress that has been made.