Stage 1: Desired Results

Established Goals (the major takeaways)

 Students will read and respond to a variety of poetry
 Students will understand how poetic devices and forms add meaning to a poem
 Students will apply poetic devices and forms in their own original poetry
 Students will understand how performance of spoken poetry can convey new meaning
 Students will assemble and analyze a variety of poems across one theme or poetic device.

Enduring Understandings: Essential Questions :

 Everyone can read and understand poetry.  What is poetry?
 Imagery, Sound, and Form contribute to  How is it different from prose? From song?
meaning.  How does poetry communicate?
 They, too, are poets.

Students will know: Students will be able to:

 Alliteration  Read and react to poems on their own
 Assonance  Define, identify, and apply poetic devices
 Consonance  Explain how poetic devices and forms add meaning to
 Onomatopoeia a poem
 Connotation  Recognize and write in different poetic forms
 Denotation  Perform a poem aloud
 Perfect rhyme
 Slant rhyme
 Eye rhyme
 Meter
 Iamb
 Line
 Stanza
 Enjambment
 Sonnet
 Limerick
 Free verse
 Villanelle
 Sestina
 Haiku

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks: Other Evidence:

 Recitation/performance of poetry  Journals
 Poetic Device Quiz
 Poetry Portfolio
 Stage 3: Learning Plan

Day One: What is poetry?

I. Journal Prompt: “Write a poem about lunch today.”
II. Discussion: What is poetry? When you think of a poem, what do you think of? What do you think about
reading poetry?
III. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwhouCNq-Fc
IV. Observations on poetry by famous poets
V. On the chalkboard, define poetry
VI. Play: Poem or No-em? And refine the definition of poetry
VII. Next question: how should we read poetry?
VIII. Read and discuss: “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins

Homework: Read How to Read a Poem pg 12-28. Read each poem 3 times! Select one poem to respond to in a
journal response reacting à la Runyan.

Day Two: Reacting to poems (imagery)

I. Warm up: Free Write
II. Journal Prompt: Use rich and exact language to describe this image.
III. Discuss Tania Runyan’s approach to reading poetry--Focus on “the color slide”
IV. Students share responses to poems in groups
V. Introduce different kinds of imagery and techniques
VI. Crafting imagery writing exercises

Homework: Read How to Read a Poem pg 29-46. Read each poem 3 times! Select one poem to respond to in a journal
response reacting à la Runyan.

Day Three: Reacting to poems (sound)

I. Recap last class
II. Think/Pair/Share: observations and reactions to sound in a poem from the homework
III. Discussion: Sound and its effects (Jazz Fantasia)
IV. Playing with sounds partner prompts
V. Writing with sound exercise: Write a poem about an amusement park. Use sounds in your diction to imitate
the sounds you might hear at an amusement park.

Homework: Read “Beat! Beat! Drums!,” “Cloony the Clown,” “Eldorado,” and “All I Wanna Do” three times each
(including once aloud!). Write a journal response. Print song or rap lyrics to bring with you to class.

Day Four: Crafting poems (technical sound)

I. Sharing amusement park poems--discuss sounds
II. Play Hip-Hop or Poet?
III. Introduce Rhyme, Alliteration, Assonance, Consonance, Onomatopoeia
IV. Play with http://graphics.wsj.com/hamilton/
V. Discuss difference between lyrics and poems: ask students to paste song lyrics or original poem into
website.
VI. Constructing sound exercise: Write a poem using at least one example of alliteration, assonance, and
consonance. Students may work with a partner or individually.

Homework: Read “Harlem Hopscotch,” “Old Ladies’ Home,” “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” etc.
Day Five: Crafting poems (rhythm and meter)

I. Recap yesterday’s class : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URuMb15CWJs (Repetition in syllables to

create beat, aka meter)
II. Harlem Hopscotch read and watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mBHyKECPuA (Meter not only
contributes to sound, but to the poem’s meaning.)
III. Old Ladies’ Home (Just like with sound, we have to break the meter up into pieces to fully understand the
rhythm)
IV. Intro to Iambic Pentameter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5lsuyUNu_4
V. My Papa’s Waltz--pound snap
VI. 20 Meter Dash Game -or- allow students to write in a specific meter

Homework: Write a poem that establishes a rhythmic pattern.

Day Six: Performing poems (spoken word)

I. Poetic Device Quiz/Homework check
II. More scansion (Stopping Woods) (Transition to performing poetry)
III. Read and Listen: O Captain! My Captain!
IV. What does it take to recite poetry well?
V. Spoken word or Slam Poetry videos

Homework: Write two original poems using imagery and sound devices.

Day Seven: Crafting poems (form)

I. Yes/And: Warm Up
II. Stations (~10 minutes each): students interrogate the intentionality of different forms and create original
poetry that experiments with form.
i. Dickinson’s Form: Dickinson’s poem “A Word is Dead” is separated into its words. Students
must piece the words together using logic and creativity to create the form. Students compare
their creations to the original and discuss with the group mates.
ii. Grasshopper by e.e.cummings: Students respond to a series of questions that guide the students
to understanding this jumbled poem. Students respond to cumming’s form: is it useful? Is it
confusing? Does it match the subject matter?
iii. Haiku: Students read about Haikus and make their own using Hai-cubes. Students are asked to
discuss the creative possibilities and limitations of haiku.
iv. Concrete Poetry: Students read three concrete poems and attempt to write their own.
III. If time, debrief

Homework: Read about limericks and write your own.

Day Eight: Crafting poems (form: limericks and sonnets)

I. Debrief yesterday’s class (10 minutes)
i. Show photos--discuss choices made through form
ii. E.e.cummings’s choices?
iii. Haikus-share-pros and cons to form
iv. Concrete poetry-share
II. Limerick and Sonnet
i. Share limericks
ii. Think/Pair/Share: discuss this form
iii. Introduce Sonnets
III. Introduce Poetry Portfolio
IV. Instruct students to write sonnets or limericks for their theme
Day Nine: Crafting poems (form)
I. Writing period: students can work on their original poems for the poetry portfolio.

Day Ten: Reacting to poems (imagery, sound, and form)

II. Read a poem aloud with the class.
III. Students read silently a second time.
IV. In class writing: students write a close reading journal entry that notes the poem’s imagery, sound, and
form, especially in connection with one another.
V. Partner share
VI. Harkness discussion about the poem

Day Eleven: Library

I. Mini lesson with the librarian on using library’s resources to find poems and poets for the poetry portfolio.
II. Students have the rest of the period to research poets and read poetry

Day Twelve: Library

I. Work day: students use the period to research poets, reach poetry, and put together their poetry portfolio

Day Thirteen: Project presentations

II. Portfolios due
III. Students will present their work to their classmates
IV. Students will write their own observations about poetry