Brian Cibelli Writing Assignment

Brian Cibelli Writing Assignment

Larger Context

This assignment is the introduction to a genre study on poetry in a 10th grade classroom. A genre study immerses students, helping them to grapple with and identify characteristics of the specific genre. In this case, the specific genre is poetry. Upon identifying and becoming familiar with poetry’s characteristics and techniques, students will be able to explain, in their own words, how poets use those characteristics and techniques in their writing. This permits students to practice NYS ELA Standards 1 (Information and Understanding) and 3 (Critical Analysis and Evaluation). After the students have developed their skills in poetry, the students will finish the genre study by producing their own poems, which they will share for peer-response (NYS Standard 4 – Speak for Social Interaction).

Before examining poems concerning other topics, we will first examine two poems written about reading poetry. In examining poems written about reading poetry, students will not only be introduced to and gain a better understanding of poetry’s characteristics and techniques, they will simultaneously gain a deeper understanding of the purpose of poetry and how it is intended, and not intended, to be read. For this assignment, students will write a unified essay in which they identify a controlling idea about reading poetry based on the two poems we read. After this assignment, students will continue to develop their analytical skills towards poetry by reading and examining several more examples. All the while, students will be doing brainstorming activities in their writer’s notebooks in preparation for writing their own work eventually. Before producing their own work, students will be introduced to poems about writing poetry that will help them understand the poetic mind while further developing their analytical skills. Equipped with a well-developed understanding of poetic techniques and an understanding of the poetic mind, students will pull from their writer’s notebooks to begin writing their own poems.

Immediate Context

The class will begin by free-writing in their writer’s notebooks about their previous experiences with reading poetry. I will provide prompts such as “I enjoy reading poetry because…”, “I don’t enjoy reading poetry because…”, “What I don’t understand about poetry is…”, etc. These will serve to get students thinking about poetry and their personal feelings toward it.

Following this exercise, the class will read two examples of poems written on the topic of how to read poetry. I have selected “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins and “How to Eat a Poem” by Eve Merriam. I will read the Collins poem aloud first. After hearing it, students will take a few minutes to record their initial responses in their writer’s notebooks. The prompts I would provide would be “What do you notice?”, “What do you feel?” (basic prompts), and “What do you feel is the most important word or line in the poem? Copy it and explain why it is important” (specific). I would then read the poem aloud a second time. This time I would perform guided reading, where I would essentially think aloud and stop at the key points in the poem to model what goes on in my mind as I read. During this reading, I would be sure to stop at and explain words or phrases students might not understand. Both poems use fairly simple vocabulary but words such as “rind” from the Merriam poem, might be unfamiliar. Following this reading, I would share my own responses and take student responses from volunteers. Because the assignment will ask for support based on literary elements and techniques, I would then concentrate on the author’s use of them. For “Introduction to Poetry” I would concentrate on Collins’ use of simile (“and hold it up to the light/like a color slide”), metaphor (most of the poem) and stanza/line structure. We would then repeat the entire process with the next poem, “How to Eat a Poem” by Eve Merriam. In addition to recording their responses, I would have students compare and contrast the two poems according to the initial responses they recorded. The literary elements and techniques I would concentrate on for this poem would be extended metaphor (the entire poem) and stanza/line structure.

Students will need to be very familiar and comfortable with the aforementioned literary elements and techniques so I would then perform mini-lessons on similes, metaphors, extended metaphor, and stanza/line structure. For the mini-lesson on extended metaphor, I would first ask the students to define the word “extended.” They should be able to define it as “to make longer” or something similar. Having already performed a mini-lesson on metaphor, I can comfortably define an extended metaphor as “a metaphor that has been extended, or made longer, throughout a piece of literature.” The example I would provide is the common metaphor “life is like a roller coaster.” I would ask the students to extend it for me. They should provide examples such as “it has its ups and downs”, “it’s exciting and scary at times”, “it has its twists and turns,” etc. This same exercise can be transferred to the poem “How to Eat a Poem”. The central metaphor that gets extended throughout is “poetry is like a piece of fruit” and the rest of the poem “extends” it. These mini-lessons will not only help students write their essays but it will also help develop their skill with these devices for when they sit down to write their own poems.

This assignment will require students to analyze the two poems in order to establish a controlling idea about reading poetry. They will need to support their formulated idea by referencing at least two literary elements or techniques pulled directly from the text. Students have written essays similar to this throughout the course of the year and are very familiar with this form of writing. On the other hand, students have not worked at any length with reading and analyzing poetry so this assignment addresses new territory.

The Assignment

Task: After reading the two poems “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins and “How to Eat a Poem” by Eve Merriam, write a unified essay about reading poetry as revealed in both poems. In your essay, use ideas from both passages to establish a controlling idea about reading poetry. Using evidence from each poem, develop your controlling idea and show how the author uses specific literary elements or techniques to convey that idea.

Purpose and Audience: Imagine that this essay will be read by a friend of yours who would like to understand what the poems mean and the literary techniques the authors use.

Format: Your paper will need to be at least two pages long. It should be typed, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, with one-inch margins all around.

Checklist: Before you turn in your paper, be sure to do a self-check. Your essay’s grade will depend on your ability to address all of the requirements of the essay in a clear and organized manner.

·  I used ideas from both poems to establish a controlling idea about reading poetry.

·  I used specific and relevant evidence from each poem to support my controlling idea.

·  I showed how each author uses specific literary elements or techniques to convey the controlling idea.

·  I clearly stated my controlling idea in my introductory paragraph.

·  I appropriately punctuated the title of the poems by using quotation marks.

·  I specifically refer to the text using direct quotations.

·  I integrated the quotes and examples I chose smoothly.

·  My analyses of the two poems are kept in separate paragraphs.

·  I used a high level of vocabulary.

·  I met the format requirements.

·  I checked my papers for typos, missing words and spelling errors.

Schedule: Your first draft is due on Thursday. You will peer review your essays in class on Thursday so make sure you have something to share. You will receive a grade for both the completeness of your first draft and your peer-edit. You should use the above checklist as a guideline for the peer edit. Your revised essays will be turned in on Friday.

On Monday, I will return your first drafts and hold a brief, one-on-one meeting with each of you to ensure you understand my comments. Your final draft will be due Friday.

Monitoring Progress

Once the assignment has been distributed, students will be provided with a planning page that utilizes a four-square writing method. An example can be found in Appendix A. This will serve to organize student’s thoughts for when they sit down to write their first drafts. Before the students will be allowed to begin writing their first drafts, they will be required to have their planning pages approved by me. This way, I can monitor and ensure they are prepared to write the essay from an early stage. Once the students have written the first draft, students will peer edit each other’s papers using the checklist above. During these peer edits, students will use color-coding tests to differentiate between summary and commentary in their papers. Students are often under the impression that the purpose of essays such as this one is to prove that they have understood what they have read. Typically, this type of summary response gets a 2 out of 6 on state tests. To begin this lesson, students will be given two essays, one marginal and one strong. They will examine the papers and decide on which is stronger. Having decided on the stronger paper, the students will generate a rubric based on the characteristics of it. This rubric will then be compared to the state/official rubric to show them how well their understanding of what makes an effective essay matches the state’s. We will then discuss the problems in the marginal essay. Next I will train the students how to differentiate commentary from summary. Students will be given three different colored pencils, one color each to mark summary, commentary and supporting detail. I will guide them through the process of coding the marginal paper before they code the stronger paper on their own. Once they have enough practice, they will code their own essays with an eye towards revision. After the second draft, I will make extensive comments and briefly meet with each student individually to make sure everyone is on the right path. Before they are released to begin work on their final draft, I will have a mini-lesson on transitions to improve the flow in their essays.

Eventually, students will utilize what they have learned about simile, metaphor, extended metaphor and structure as they write their own poems.

In terms of the NYS English Language Arts Standards, this assignment mainly addresses Standards 2 (Literary Response and Expression), 3 (Critical Analysis and Evaluation) and 4 (Speak for Social Interaction).

Literary Response and Expression: Listening to and reading the poems, after which they respond in their writer’s notebooks. They also share and listen to other share those responses.

Critical Analysis and Evaluation: This is inherent in writing the essay but, specifically, the formulation of the controlling idea. They evaluate the use of literary techniques used in the poems after being trained through mini-lessons.

Speak for Social Interaction: The peer-editing piece covers this.

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6 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Meaning / Has a thoughtful controlling idea based on thorough analysis of both poems; shows in depth understanding of the poems by connecting them to the controlling idea / Has a solid controlling idea based on analysis of both poems; clearly shows connections between the poems and the controlling idea / Has a controlling idea; connects the poems to the controlling idea / Has a controlling idea, but it does not show understanding of the poems; connects the poems to the controlling idea, but the connection may be unclear / Does not have a controlling idea; shows limited understanding of the poems in general; weakly attempts to connect the poems / Does not establish a controlling idea; makes no connection between the texts; does not demonstrate understanding of the poems
Development / Extensively develops the connection between the poems and the controlling idea using textual evidence related to well-chosen literary elements or techniques from both poems / Thoroughly develops the connections between the poems and the controlling idea using textual evidence related to appropriate literary elements or techniques from both poems / Solidly develops the connections between the poems and the controlling idea using some textual evidence related to literary elements or techniques from both poems / Mentions, but does not develop connections between the poems and the controlling idea; does not accurately mention literary elements or techniques; does not incorporate textual evidence / Does not develop connections between the poems and the controlling idea; barely or inaccurately mentions literary elements or techniques; does not incorporate textual evidence / Makes no connections between the poems ad the controlling idea; does not refer to the texts directly; does not mention literary elements or techniques
Organization / Stays focused on the controlling idea; expertly uses transitions to construct a logical progression of ideas and connections / Stays focused on the controlling idea; successfully uses transitions to construct a logical progression of ideas and connections / Stays focused on the controlling idea; constructs a mostly logical progression of ideas; may have some inconsistent structure / Establishes a controlling idea, but does not maintain focus; structure is vaguely consistent / Either does not have a controlling idea or does not logically connect to the established controlling idea / Incoherent; no logical progression of ideas; no controlling idea; no connections
Language Use / Shows awareness of audience by thoroughly explaining the poems and their message about reading poetry; uses high level vocabulary and varied sentence structure and length / Shows awareness of audience by adequately explaining the poems and their message about reading poetry; uses good vocabulary / Shows awareness of audience by explaining the poems and their message about reading poetry / Shows minimal awareness of audience; does not vary sentence structure or length or uses simple vocabulary / Barely explains poems at all; mostly inappropriate vocabulary and sentence structure / Does not explain poems at all; inappropriate sentence structure and vocabulary
Conventions / Has no spelling, grammar or punctuation errors / Has no more than two spelling, grammar or punctuation errors / Has no more than four spelling, grammar or punctuation errors / Has spelling, grammar or punctuation errors which occasionally make it difficult to understand / Has spelling, grammar or punctuation errors which make it difficult to understand / Has spelling, grammar or punctuation errors which make the essay virtually impossible to understand

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