EDUC 464 Winter
Megan Edwards
Close Reading of a Text Exemplar Assignment
The text I chose as my exemplar text for the close reading assignment is:
Casey at the Bat; A Ballad of the Republic sung in 1888 by Ernest Lawrence Thayer
This text is listed under the CCSS Appendix B: Text Exemplars for 4th and 5th grade under the
heading poetry.
Lexile Measure 930L
Mean Sentence Length 14.30
Mean Log Word Frequency 3.55
Word Count 572
Lexile.com lists this book as appropriate for ages 10+
Key terms that may be challenging for 4th graders and especially English Learners:
outlook
inning
patrons
straggling
despair
clung
springs eternal
human breast
whack
even money
preceded
lulu and cake
stricken
multitude
grim
melancholy
despised
tore the cover off
the ball
occurred
Safe at second,
huggin third
throats
lusty
recoiled
advancing
ease
bearing
doffed his hat
twas
writhing pitcher
defiance
sneer
leather-covered
sphere
haughty grandeur
unheeded sped
visage
tumult
bade
spheroid
fraud
maddening
scornful
awed
clinched
favored
The language issues will be the vocabulary as well as solid background knowledge with
baseball and all of its vocabulary and rules.
This poem is written in iambic lines which cause the reader to have a sing-song voice when
reciting it. Due to the iambic structure, the recitation has the daDAH daDAH daDAH structure.
Example:
Then FROM fiveTHOUSand THROATS and MORE there ROSE a LUSTy YELL
Grade Level of
Students
Title/Author
Synopsis of
Text/Rationale for
Choosing this Text
4th grade
Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic sung in1888
Ernest Lawrence Thayer
Brief Synopsis
The setting for this poem is the 9th inning of a baseball game. The
protagonists team, from the town of Mudville, is losing 2 runs to 4. There
are no runners on base with two outs. Surprisingly, the next two batters make
it safely to second and third base. The next batter up is the teams heavy
hitter, our protagonist, Casey.
The crowd goes wild. All hope is now with Casey. Casey lets the first two
pitches go by. Everyone is counting on him and everyone, including Casey,
is certain he will hit the ball out of the park but in the end, Casey strikes out.
Rationale for choosing this text
I chose this text for several reasons.
1.) This was listed as an exemplar text for 4th grade
2.) The students are able to read the entire text during the lesson, as
opposed to many other choices which are full novels.
3.) This is a fun text and should align with many students interests.
4.) The performance task, which aligns with one of the CCSS, RL.4.5
identify structural elements of poetry, compare and contrast a poem
with prose of the same story, is a task 4th graders can be successful
at.
Quantitative
analysis (Lexile and
grade level
of text) / Rationale
Lexile Measure 930L
Mean Sentence Length 14.30
Mean Log Word Frequency 3.55
Word Count 572
Lexile.com lists this book as appropriate for ages 10+
Qualitative
analysis/Rationale
This poem is written in iambic lines which cause the reader to have a singsong voice when reciting it. Due to the iambic structure, the recitation has
the daDAH daDAH daDAH structure or meter.
This poem also employs rhyme through-out.
These factors make this poem an excellent example of poetic text
structure.
Objective
Students Will Be Able To discuss the narrative events of
the poem Casey at the Bat by verbal response and open
discussion in a whole group setting as well as answering 3
text dependent questions.
The purpose of the first read will be to answer the
question, What are the characters anticipating?
Students Will Be Able To identify two structural
elements of poetry, specifically rhyme and meter, when
close reading Casey at the Bat during a 2nd read.
Students will show understanding by answering textdependent questions relating to poetic structure.
Students Will Be Able To compare and contrast the
poem with a prose of the same events by completing a Tchart as independent practice. Will have to be taught a
subsequent day.
Common Core Standard
RL.4.5 - Explain major differences between poems,
drama, and prose, and refer to the structural
elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhyme, meter) and
drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions,
dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about
a text.
OrientationCreate a
purpose for readingdo your
students have questions
about the text? Do you? Keep
the background information
to a minimum.
Teacher (T) will ask students (S) if they have been
learning about themes in poetry. (This class spent a week
learning about themes in poetry.) T will explain that
students will be closely reading a poem in which at least
one of the themes is anticipation. (T will Explain definition
of anticipation.)
We will read this poem to answer the question :
What are all the characters anticipating?
The 2nd reading will be to look for and mark the iambic
pattern of the poem with - / notations. - = da
/=
DAH
This poem is written in iambic lines which cause the reader to have a singsong voice when reciting it. Due to the iambic structure, the recitation has
the daDAH daDAH daDAH structure or meter.
Example:
Then FROM fiveTHOUSand THROATS and MORE there ROSE a
LUSTy YELL
Close ReadingWhat will
students do as they read
through the text,
independently, for the first
time?
Think Aloud
Select at least two sections
of the text that you think are
particularly challenging.
Model how you, as a
proficient reader, make sense
of these complex sections.
This could include making
sense of challenging
vocabulary.
Students will :
Circle any word or phrase that they are unsure of its
meaning.
Underline and word or phrase that is interesting
Teacher will:
Model the think aloud for the following passages
from Casey at the Bat:
But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
What could preceded mean? Well, if I look back at the
verse that came before this one, I notice that the audience
is thinking, if only Casey could get up to bat. But why
cant Casey get up to bat?
I know that in baseball hitters have to bat in order. I think
preceded means that Flynn and Jimmy Blake must have to
bat before Casey. Lets see if my prediction is correct by
reading the next line.
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
Here I think lulu and cake are not nice names for these two
players, Flynn and Jimmy Blake because the word former
means the first thing or person listed. Lulu must refer to
Flynn and cake must point to Jimmy Blake. So these two
lines must be trying to say that it is unlikely that Casey will
get to bat because these two players, who may not be very
good at hitting, are up before Casey and there is only one
out left.
The next line in the verse is
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
There are three words here I dont know. Stricken,
multitude, and melancholy. I think I know multitude. That
means a lot. What are there a lot of I think the audience.
Okay, so the author is saying on the something audience
grim something sat
I think I need to look up melancholy
Melancholy means a feeling of sadness.
Okay, on the something audience grim feeling of sadness
sat.
I need to look up stricken too
Stricken means seriously affected
on the seriously affected audience grim feeling of sadness
sat
Final answer, the audience was feeling sad
For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the
bat.
AND
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
I think I know what a sphere is. It is a 3D circle which is a
ball. Leather-covered okay, leather is what some jackets
are made of. OK. A baseball must be covered in leather.
The author is talking about the baseball. What about
hurtling? It must mean moving because the next words are
through the air and I know the baseball goes fast through
the air after it is thrown by the pitcher.
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
I do not know what haughty or grandeur mean. But I
know that the words are talking about how Casey is
standing and watching, probably the baseball come at him
because the line says a-watching it it means the ball.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded spedI dont quite know sturdy but I think batsman means Casey since he is a
man and he is at bat. Unheeded not sure but I know sped is like speed only
after speeding. The ball must have sped by Casey. Maybe unheeded means
the ball didnt hit anything because in the next line, Casey got a strike
against him so he did not hit the ball.
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.
---guided practice--Teacher will then ask student for words that they placed a check mark by.
Asking for the verse number so that all students can look at the trouble
word or phrase.
Teacher will ask student to look for context clues to see if they can figure
it out on their own or with help from other students.
5 more minutes
----------- 2nd read ------------T will explain to students that the author wrote this poem using poetic
structural elements called rhyme and meter.
We can talk about rhyme first. Please say rhyme Rhyme is what it
sounds like. When parts of a text rhyme in a pattern.
(Shown on the Smartboard)
But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.
Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.
The other poetic element the author uses is meter
Specifically, the author uses iambic meter
- /
- /
- /
- /
I am, I am, I am, I am
- /
- /
- / /
Today I had a rotten day.
- / - /
- / /
Today I had a rotten day.
- / / / /
As I was coming in from play,
- / - /
- /
- /
I accidentally stubbed my toes
/
/
/
- /
and tripped and fell and whacked my nose.
Here is what it looks like in our poem
But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
and the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
so upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.
Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.
For your second read, you are looking for the rhyming endings and the
iambic meter.
You can mark your papers like this:
Circle rhyming words and draw a line to link the two circles.
For the first 3 verses.
For the last verse, make the iambic markings over each syllable.
Text Dependent Questions
(& answers)
What occurred when the dust had lifted?
Jimmy safe at second and Flynn hugging third (answer)
What did Casey wipe on his shirt?
His hands (answer)
What did the umpire say after Casey said
That aint my style.?
Strike one. (answer)
Give two examples of the poem element called rhyme including both
rhyming words.
One example would be:
yell
in the dell
a lusty
Could be any pair of rhyming line endings from the text (answer)
Mark out 1 more verse with meter marks.
Example:
- / /
- / - / - / - / - /
It rumbled through the valley and it rattled in the dell;
Marked correctly as shown. Can be any line from the text (answer)
Performance Assessment
The performance assessment will be to answer text
dependant questions about general understanding and 1
question each about the two structural elements; rhyme
and meter
Needs to be a second lesson
The performance assessment will be for students to
independently compare and contrast the poem and the
prose version of the poem, using a T-chart.
Reflection:
This lesson could be fantastic but it needs to be taught
over 3 to 5 days. Todays lesson was 1 hour long. These
students are 8 and 9 years old. I think teaching each
standard in parts would be more appropriate.
With regards to todays actual delivery of the lesson:
1.) I almost lost the use of my visuals as the internet
connection for the school was down when I arrived. I
had come up with a modification which was that we
would talk about meter and rhyme only and ask the
master teacher if I could teach the reading
comprehension portion the next day. Fortunately, the
connection was restored 10 minutes before the
lesson was to begin.
2.) The amount of unknown vocabulary was difficult and
most students were not honest in marking the words
that they did not understand. Once we got through
the first 4 verses and they realized that I was going
to answer their questions, more students started
raising hands. I think I should have explained that I
expected to see MANY circled words and that we
would figure out what the words meant, together. I
think they felt their knowledge of words was being
tested rather than being explored.
3.) The master teacher does not use partners and so
when I asked the students to talk to their elbow
partners they did not know what to do. I had to
spend time partnering them up.
4.) I want to reiterate that the amount and the
complexity of the unknown vocabulary words is a
problem. For many of the words it is not easy to
figure out the meaning of words using context clues.
For example:
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.
I needed to stop and discuss each of these 7
words/concepts.
Almost every verse had a similar amount of unknowns.
I ended up showing so many visuals with the
Smartboard that it slowed the process. ( How do you
explain even money or springing eternal
without teaching a mini-lesson on those words
and ideas?)
They had read it through as a close read. Then we went
through each unknown. Then we moved to rhythm and
meter --- my solution would be to --- if I gave this
lesson again, I would have done the first two steps the
same; close read, go over unknowns as a group but
then, I would have had another read-aloud and one final
silent read. And that would have been the first day
of the lesson.
I would have worked on rhyme and meter on day two.
On day three I would have introduced the prose
version of Casey at the Bat and had student complete
the CCSS performance task of comparing and
contrasting the poem and the prose. And on day four, I
would show an animated version of the poem and have
them either discuss the differences or write the
differences with a t-chart.
Take away is many CCSS cannot be taught in one day.
I need to know as much as possible about what the
classroom routines are. (When it is my own classroom, I
WILL make sure I have a taught procedure for every
possible scenario.
I am happy that I exposed them to this poem. They did
enjoy it as we got closer to the end, when we went through
it a second time. As I defined, many times visually, the
unknowns, more and more students seemed interested in
the outcome of the story.
The following pages include the poem in plain text, and the
summative assessment given to the students.
Please note that student poems had each verse numbered 1 through 13 so that they could
refer to a verse when responding to questions.
Casey at the Bat
A Ballad of the Republic sung in 1888
The Outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.
But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.
But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.
Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.
There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.
Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.
From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And its likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand.
With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two."
"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.
The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.
Assessment on next 2 pages:
Name:_____________________
Casey at the Bat questions: (purple is only on
differentiated assessments)
1. What occurred (happened) when the dust had lifted? (verse 4)
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. What did Casey wipe on his shirt? (verse 7)
______________________________________________________________________________
3. What did the umpire say after Casey said
That aint my style.? (verse 8)
______________________________________________________________________________
4. What did Casey pound? (verse 12)
______________________________________________________________________________
5. What was gone from Caseys lips? (verse 12)
______________________________________________________________________________
6. Where are hearts light?
(verse 13)
______________________________________________________________________________
7. Give two examples of the poem element called rhyme. Please include both
rhyming words.
One example would be:
a lusty yell
in the dell
8. Mark out 1 verse, on your poem paper, with meter marks using a crayon or colored
marker or pencil
Example:
- / /
- / - / - / - / - /
It rumbled through the valley and it rattled in the dell;
(You do NOT need to rewrite the verse here)
9. How would you feel if you were in Caseys situation?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
(PowerPoint is separate attachment)
