LESSON PLAN

Name: Emily Anderson Date: 28 November Lesson Start and End Time:
2022
Academic Area: Language Grade Level: 4th Co-op initials with date:
Arts Grade
Pre-Instruction Planning
Topic Bedouin Poetry
PA Anchor/Standard or CC.1.3.4.E – Reading Literature – Craft and Structure of Text –
Eligible Content explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose and refer
to the elements of each when writing or speaking about a text
Lesson Objectives Students will identify the differences between a poem, a book, and a
drama.
Students will create a written work of art in reflecting on the physical
and cultural elements of the desert by addressing their own
experiences in terms of their culture, family, and desires. 
Materials Pencil
Lined paper
iPad
Computer
Projector
Hard copy of poem “If My Heart Were a Stone, it Would Drop
Down to Meet You” by Malihah Zawaideh
YouTube Video “Al-Taghrooda, Traditional Bedouin Chanted
Poetry”
Book, The Desert is Theirs by Baylor, B. and Parnall P.
Planning for Learners Differentiation:
Modifications/Accommodations:
For differentiation, this lesson allows students to pick any topic they
would like to write about related to their culture, family, or desires.
For modifications and accommodations for this lesson, students can
use technology including an iPad or computer if learning is best
achieved in this format. In addition, iPads and computers can be used
to look up pictures in guiding students through the writing process.
Extra time can be built into the schedule for students who may need
more time to complete their poems. 
Lesson Presentation
Introduction
Sequence of activities
including assessments
 Lesson Wrap-up
Self-Evaluation

Bedouin poetry involves comprising a poem of seven lines or less that relates to one’s

culture, family, or desires. Bedouin poems are of significant importance to those living in the

Middle East, and they are often chanted by those traveling through the desert. An example of a

Bedouin poem students can discover is titled, “If My Heart Were a Stone, it Would Drop Down

to Meet You”, written by Malihah Zawaideh, which reads,  

“Oh my family, I miss you 

If my heart were a stone it would drop down to meet you 

Oh you tree on top of the mountain 

The gazelle is sleeping in the hot hours of the day, the sound of the rain knocks against the tree 

Oh woods on the top of the mountain 

She is very beautiful, all the men track her steps like wolves following the goats.” 

Lesson Overview: In beginning the lesson on Bedouin poetry, I will ask students if they know

what a poem is and then go over the structure of a poem. We will spend a couple of minutes

discussing their answers and going over the structure of a poem and then I will pass out a hard

copy and project the poem, “If My Heart Were a Stone, it Would Drop Down to Meet You”. I

will read aloud the poem to students and then I will pick volunteers to read a line from the poem.

Following reading the poem again, I will then play the video, “Al-Taghrooda, Traditional

Bedouin Chanted Poetry” and play it up until 2:10 minutes. I will then ask students the questions,

first asking, “Why is Bedouin poetry important to those who sing it?” and “How can we use

Bedouin poetry in describing our lives?” Once we walk through these questions together for
about five to ten minutes, I will then ask students to think about how they can relate what they

read and listened to from the poem and observed and listened to in the video about the culture,

family, and desires of those who live in the desert in thinking about their own culture, family,

and desires. Students can raise their hands to share their thoughts with the class if they choose.

We will then transition into writing individual Bedouin poems, and I will pass out lined paper or

provide students an iPad or computer who require it to write their poems. I will pull up the poem

that was read aloud earlier and discuss with students how a Bedouin poem is seven lines or less

and mentions thoughts related to one’s culture, family, and desires. I will require students to

write at least six lines of poetry and I will give students twenty-five minutes to work

independently on their poems. I will walk around the classroom during this time to ensure

students feel confident in completing their given writing task. When the writing time period

comes to a close, I will pull up and read page five from the book, The Desert is Theirs, projecting

from my computer the text that writes  

Ask why they chose a place where life would be so hard. They’ll say that once at the

beginning of time Earthmaker patted out a dab of dirt in his hands and a greasewood bush

grew there. Greasewood. . .so you know it was a desert. You know it needed Desert

People. Even then Coyote was around giving advice and scattering seeds on the sides of

hills. Where he dropped those seeds, you see saguaro cactus growing now (Baylor and

Parnall, 1975). 

Afterward, I will ask students what differences they see in comparing the elements of a poem

with a book. To make further connections, I will then have students act out or chant the material

they wrote to formulate a picture in their mind of what drama looks like in comparing its format

to their poem and a book, such as The Desert is Theirs. In closing the lesson, I will ask students
why they thought I had them act out or chant their poems, and then I will share how through this

lesson, an important takeaway is that we can learn a lot more about our own cultures and

environments when we observe and take part in these ways in which a particular group identifies

who they are. 

Assessment: In assessing my students' work from this lesson on Bedouin poetry, I can assess

their poems according to a rubric. The rubric can be divided into three columns, with 3 indicating

exceptional work, 2 indicating satisfactory work, and 1 indicating needs improvement. The

categories will focus on the length, content, and overall creativity students put forth in their

writing and whether or not a poem’s structure can be identified. Additional assessment will take

place throughout the lesson by asking students frequent questions as we move from the various

activities in considering a poem’s structure. 

 Works Cited

Asymptote. “If my heart were a stone, it would drop down to meet you”: Bedouin
Oral Poetry and Translation as Reciprocity.
https://www.asymptotejournal.com/special-feature/if-my-heart-were-a-stone-it-
would-drop-down-to-meet-you-bedouin-oral-poetry-and-translation-as-
reciprocity-caitlin-woolsey/.

Baylor, B. and Parnall P. The Desert is Theirs. Aladdin Paperbacks, 1975.

UNESCO. (2012). YouTube. (Al-Taghrooda, Traditional Bedouin Chanted

Poetry). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd3g3o2Wq0Y.