COEPD LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE – Poetry Lesson Plans

Teacher Candidate: Rebekah McCloy

Content Area & Grade: Lesson Topic and Rationale: Length (timing) of Lesson:

10th Grade English Language Arts
The Holocaust in Poetry: This lesson teaches the Holocaust through poetry, a powerful 50 Minutes
way through which to learn about the terrible event. Through the poems and assignments
that the students are given in this lesson, they will learn about poetic devices, but more
importantly they will learn how to analyze poetry, look at the deeper meaning, and learn
from it.

INSTRUCTIONAL OUTCOMES
WV Standard/s (daily): https://wvde.us/tree/middlesecondary-learning/english-language-arts/

ELA.10.18

By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, independently and
proficiently, at the high end of the grade 9-10 text complexity range.

Learning Objective/s (SWBATS):

 Students will be able to analyze poetry by reading and annotating poems about the Holocaust so that they can meet the required standard and learn a
skill that may be useful later on.
 Students will be able to participate to a higher degree in class discussions by first collaborating in groups so that they can become aware of varying
opinions.

Formative Assessment:

Poem Analysis Worksheet

 PREPARATION
Materials/Resources:
 A computer, a projector, and speakers will be needed for today’s class. Two videos will be shown. Video Links: https://youtu.be/PdLPe7XjdKc and
https://youtu.be/V7fMK8lNXMI
 Enough printed out copies of “Refugee Blues,” “The Extermination of the Jews,” and the poetry analysis worksheet for the entire class will be needed.
 Poem Links: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/refugee-blues/
 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=30902
 Pencils
 Paper
 Headphones
 Computers/Tablets for student use

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES
*Highlight BLUE for materials/GREEN for technology
*Highlight PINK for instructional strategies
*Highlight YELLOW for discipline-specific academic language/vocabulary

Procedural Steps Questions Differentiated Instruction

Activating Strategy/ Time

Introduction What are the similarities and Students who have hearing
8:00- Students will watch the short film version of Dr. Seuss’ differences between the Star-Bellied disabilities will be given the
8:12 The Sneetches. Copies of the physical book will be Sneetches and those without? option to sit closer to the
available if students would prefer to follow along with the speakers.
narration in those during the video’s playing. What can we learn from Dr. Seuss’
story? Students who have visual
8:13- Following the video’s viewing, there will be a classroom disabilities will be given the
8:17 discussion regarding the video. option to sit closer to the
screen.
Video Link: https://youtu.be/PdLPe7XjdKc
The use of the video will
8:18- The background behind the Sneetches and how it relates benefit those who are
 8:20 to today’s topic will then be covered. visual and/or auditory
learners and the option to
use the book will benefit
the kinesthetic learners.

If there are issues with the

technology, The Sneetches
and “Refugee Blues” will be
read aloud.

Core Instruction Time

How can we connect The Sneetches
8:21- Students will be handed a printed out copy of the poem, to “Refugee Blues”? Students who have visual
8:23 “Refugee Blues” by W.H. Auden. Following this, the disabilities will be given the
teacher will give a brief background on both the poem What poetic devices did you see option to sit closer to the
and W. H. Auden. being used in this poem? screen during the video.
When other students are
8:24- A video will be shown of Sheila Hancock reading the What in the poem stood out the most reading the poem, these
8:26 poem. to you? students will be permitted
Video Link: https://youtu.be/V7fMK8lNXMI to listen to the poem again
8:27- Following the viewing of the video, the students will read What observation can you make (headphones will be used)
8:36 the poem on their own and annotate it. Students will also about the Holocaust from this poem?
be given a poetry analysis worksheet to fill out. Students who have hearing
disabilities will be
8:37- When done, students will break off into groups of four permitted to sit near the
8:41 (the teacher will determine the groups by counting off speakers during the video
the students). While in these groups, students will be viewing.
sharing the observations they made while reading the
poem. Through the use of both
the video and the printed
8:42- The class will then come back together as a group to out copies of the poems,
8:46 share what they discovered while in small groups. multiple learning styles can
be served.
 Closure Time
Are there any questions about the Students with a visual
8:47- The students will be introduced to that night’s homework homework assignment? disability will be provided
8:50 assignment, which calls for them to read the poem, “The with an audio recording of
Extermination of the Jews” by Marvin Bell. Copies of the the poem.
poem will be provided. They are to read the poem and
then write a short paragraph (100-150 words) in response Students with a learning
to it. Students are permitted to listen to an audio disability will only have to
recording of the poem or view the poem on a computer, write a 75-word paragraph.
if it would help them to better understand the poem.
With the option to listen to
an audio recording of the
poem, auditory learners
are being served. Visual
learners can be served by
having the visual of the
printed poem, and
kinesthetic learners can
benefit from the option to
use a computer for this
homework assignment.

Contingency Time
If students finish early, the Marvin Bell poem will be read If there are issues with the
aloud, and students will get into their groups from earlier technology, The Sneetches
to discuss the poem. This could also help them when it and “Refugee Blues” will be
comes to completing their homework assignment. read aloud.
 COEPD LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE – Poetry Lesson Plans
Teacher Candidate: Rebekah McCloy

Content Area & Grade: Lesson Topic and Rationale: Length (timing) of Lesson:

10th Grade English Language Arts
The Holocaust in Poetry: This lesson teaches the Holocaust through poetry, a powerful 50 Minutes
way through which to learn about the terrible event. Through the poems and assignments
that the students are given in this lesson, they will learn about poetic devices, but more
importantly they will learn how to analyze poetry, look at the deeper meaning, and learn
from it.

INSTRUCTIONAL OUTCOMES
WV Standard/s (daily): https://wvde.us/tree/middlesecondary-learning/english-language-arts/

ELA.10.18

By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, independently and
proficiently, at the high end of the grade 9-10 text complexity range.

Learning Objective/s (SWBATS):

 Students will be able to gain an understanding of a major historical even by reading poems about the Holocaust so that they can learn from the past.
 Students will be able to decipher poetry by reading poems about the Holocaust so that they can understand the deeper meaning that lies behind many
poems

Formative Assessment:

Quote and Response Worksheet, The Poem Analysis Worksheet, and the Freewrite

PREPARATION
Materials/Resources:
 A computer, a projector, and speakers will be needed for class today. One video will be shown in class today. Video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFWx293yaWA
 Printed out copies of “Stranger” will be needed as well. https://www.poetry.net/poem/43745/stranger
 Pencils
 Paper
 Headphones
 Computers that are available for student use (either a classroom monitor or a netbook)
 Student’s printed out copy of “The Extermination of the Jews by Marvin Bell

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES
*Highlight BLUE for materials/GREEN for technology
*Highlight PINK for instructional strategies
*Highlight YELLOW for discipline-specific academic language/vocabulary

Procedural Steps Questions Differentiated Instruction

Activating Strategy/ Time

Introduction How did Bell’s poem influence your Students who have visual
8:00- Class will be started by the students pulling out their preconceived notions on the great disabilities will be given the
8:10 copies of “The Extermination of the Jews” by Marvin Bell. tragedy of the Holocaust? option to listen to an audio
While students are getting the poem out, the teacher will version of the poem (with
pass out a Quote and Response worksheet. Students will What new understandings of the headphones).
be asked to get into the same groups they were in the Holocaust did you receive in reading
day before (some group shifting can happen, depending and analyzing this poem? Students who are auditory
on absences). When in their groups, students will be learners will also be given
asked to fill out the worksheet together, picking out the What poetic devices, if any, did you the option to listen to an
three quotes that had the most impact on them. Students see playing a role in this poem? audio version of the poem
will then respond to the quotes, digging into the deeper (with headphones). Since
meaning behind them. each students has a paper
copy of the poem, the
 8:11- Upon student completion of this portion of the visual learners will be
8:13 assignment, students will pull out the paragraphs they served in this way.
completed for homework, and they will discuss their Kinesthetic learners will
responses with their group members. once again be given the
option to view the poem on
8:14- Following this, the class will come together, and we will a computer.
8:18 discuss what they discovered during group discussions.
Students with learning
disabilities will only have to
pick out two quotes during
the first activity.

Core Instruction Time

8:19- Students will watch the video of Auschwitz survivor, Students with hearing
8:20 Roman Kent reading the poem, “Stranger,” by Primo Levi. disabilities will be given the
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch? option to sit next to the
v=lFWx293yaWA What poetic devices, if any are used speakers during the video.
in the poem?
8:21- Following the video’s end, students will be given a Students with visual
8:28 printed out copy of “Stranger”. They will be instructed to What deeper meaning can be derived disabilities will be given the
read the poem, annotate their copy of the poem, and fill from “Stranger”? option to sit nearer to the
out a poem analysis worksheet. screen during the video.
How can we apply the message that When working on the
8:29- Students will then break back into small groups to discuss it supplies to our lives today? “Stranger” assignment,
 8:32 what they have learned. This time, students will be these students will be given
placed in groups of four based on a random name the option to have an audio
drawing the teacher does. recording of the poem to
listen to (with
8:33- Following this, the class will come back together to headphones).
8:36 discuss their revelations as a larger group.
The use of the both the
8:37- Then, students will all participate in a class activity. They video and the printed out
8:46 will play the Getting to Know You game, a game that copy of the poem will serve
requires students to go to each student in the class and multiple learning styles.
find one similarity and one difference that they have with The class activity will be
everyone in the class. The only rule is that they are not to beneficial to those who are
use physical appearances. At the conclusion of the game, kinesthetic learners.
students will get the opportunity to share a similarity and
a difference they have with one of their peers. The
purpose of the activity is to show students the value and
importance in both parallels and differences.
Closure Time

8:47- The last few minutes of class will have the students What big picture connection(s) did
8:50 freewriting about what they have learned from the you find in the poems, the Getting to Students with a learning
poems, the game, and the Dr. Seuss video. Know You game, and The Sneetches disability will have the
video. option to choose one item
and share what they
learned from it.

Students can do the

freewrite either on paper
or on a computer, if they
are available. This will
benefit visual and
kinesthetic learners.
Contingency Time

If we finish up with the material early, the students will If technology problems
have the opportunity to share their freewrites with the arise, the teacher will read
class. the poems out loud for the
students.
Stranger
Primo Levi
From whatever country you come,
look at the ruins of the camp.
Think, and do all you can,
so your pilgrimage
be not in vain,
as was not in vain our death…
For you and your children,
the ashes of Auschwitz are
a warning.
Act so that the terrible fruit
of hatred,
whose traces you saw here,
will never grow a new seed
neither tomorrow, nor ever!
Refugee Blues
W.H. Auden
Say this city has ten million souls,
Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:
Yet there's no place for us, my dear, yet there's no place for us.

Once we had a country and we thought it fair,

Look in the atlas and you'll find it there:
We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.

In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,

Every spring it blossoms anew:
Old passports can't do that, my dear, old passports can't do that.

The consul banged the table and said,

"If you've got no passport you're officially dead":
But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.

Went to a committee; they offered me a chair;

Asked me politely to return next year:
But where shall we go to-day, my dear, but where shall we go to-day?

Came to a public meeting; the speaker got up and said;

"If we let them in, they will steal our daily bread":
He was talking of you and me, my dear, he was talking of you and me.

Thought I heard the thunder rumbling in the sky;

It was Hitler over Europe, saying, "They must die":
O we were in his mind, my dear, O we were in his mind.

Saw a poodle in a jacket fastened with a pin,

Saw a door opened and a cat let in:
But they weren't German Jews, my dear, but they weren't German Jews.

Went down the harbour and stood upon the quay,

Saw the fish swimming as if they were free:
Only ten feet away, my dear, only ten feet away.

Walked through a wood, saw the birds in the trees;

They had no politicians and sang at their ease:
They weren't the human race, my dear, they weren't the human race.

Dreamed I saw a building with a thousand floors,

A thousand windows and a thousand doors:
Not one of them was ours, my dear, not one of them was ours.

Stood on a great plain in the falling snow;

Ten thousand soldiers marched to and fro:
Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me.