Reading Unit of Study Interpretation of Poetry Date of Study May 23-June 17, 2005 Grade 5th

Week One / Week Two / Week Three / Week Four
Strings of
Mini-lessons for Independent Reading Workshop /

Immersion

When interpreting a text, you bring to and take away from it closely connected to your own experiences.
After each whole group experience below, readers should work in partnerships
and then independently using poems chosen for independent reading during Reader’s Workshop.
-Begin by experiencing the poems as a whole class, just reading them through as Read Alouds and Shared Reads, asking that readers simply listen.
-Follow this by reading poems straight through and invite children to begin commenting.
(continued…)
-Move to exploring and rereading poetry with a lens on rhythm and voice
-Jot notes in margins of poems during shared reading and then in partner reading during Readers Workshop.
Some authentic responses may include:
Topic
Mood
Personal Connections
Questions
Size and Shape of Poem
Purpose of White Space
Rhythm
Voice
Theme
Pattern
Imagery
Sensory Language
Alliteration
Etc… / Interacting with Poems: Revisiting What We Already Know
-Readers reread poems again and again thinking about the music of poetry. Do you notice rhythm, rhyme, pattern, alliteration, etc…?
-What questions do I have when reading this poem? What am I wondering?
-Am I making any personal or text-to-text connections to this poem? If so, how does this help me to better understand it?
-What am I visualizing as I read this poem? What specific words / phrases / lines add to the picture? How is this helping me to better understand it?
(continued…)
-Is this poem requiring me to use any of my other senses? If so, what specific words, phrases, and lines activate these senses? How is this helping me as a reader? / What is the poet really saying? How is it impacting my thinking?
-When thinking about the poet’s topic choice, what does the poet seem to want me to know (literal / concrete)?
-What is the poem really about? When thinking about themes and issues in the poem what do I infer?
-How does looking at Author’s / Poet’s Craft help me? Some possible things to focus the Craft conversation on:
(based on the needs of your students and mentor poems chosen):
*Looking closely at noun or verb choice.
*Looking closely at structure (How is the entire poem put together and why might the poet have made this choice?)
(continued…)
*Looking closely at similes or metaphors
*Looking closely at the use and non-use of conventions
(Are there capitals? Punctuation? Lack thereof? Why? How does this affect the reading of the poem?) / Interpretation Leads to Action in My Life and/or in the World
Looking closely at interpretation should help readers go beyond just looking at the reading and should teach them to be open minded and empathetic and also to consider another person’s point of view; interpretation leads to action - either personal or social.
Talk is imperative during this week. Children should be working in groups of 3 – 5 in service of bigger thinking and supporting thoughts with text evidence.
-What is the author / poet passionate about? What specifically in the poem supports your thinking?
(continued…)
-How does revisiting important parts of the poem, parts that really launch big thinking and conversations, help me to think about my life and the world around me?*
*Groups may choose to read a collection of poems through one of the lenses mentioned in the support documents.
4th Quarter EMs Addressed / / R-5-6.1
R-5-8.3 / R-5-5.3
R-5-8.3
GLEs addressed / / R-5-4.1 / R-5-4.2
R-5-5 / R-5-5
R-5-6
*Support for Work in Week Four
Randi and Katherine Bomer list the following lenses through which to look at the bigger ideas in texts. Again, interpretation guides readers toward action and away from passive reading.
Lenses through which to read / interpret:
-Groups
-Power
-Taking Things for Granted
-Fairness / Justice
-Voice / Silence
-Multiple Perspectives
-Representation
-Gender
-Race
-Class
-Money
-Labor
-Language
-Intimate Relationships and Families
-Relationships to Nature
-Violence and Peace
-Acting Alone or Together
-Fairness and Justice

Upper Grade Reading Unit of Study Interpretation of Poetry Date of Study May 23-June 17, 2005 Grade 5

Educational Measurables and Grade Level Expectations Across Balanced Literacy Components

Balanced Literacy Component /

Suggestions for Instruction

/ 4th Quarter EM’s Addressed / GLE’s Addressed
Read Aloud / Although there will be reading of poetry to support both this study and the reading unit of study on poetry, it is important that the Read Aloud component continue the work of comprehension in narrative and non-narrative texts. / R-5.6.1
R-5.5.3
R-5.8.3
R-5.3.2 / R-5
Shared Reading / Again, this is a useful venue for developing whole-class knowledge of chosen poems, but there should also be texts of other genres used in this component. / R-5.6.1
R-5.5.3
R-5.8.3
R-5.3.2 / R-5.5.5
R-5-5-6.1
Word / Language Study / Vocabulary exploration is an opportunity which poetry provides, because the brevity of poetry demands great attention to word choice. Additionally, words can be used in non-traditional ways, or created (My Mama Had a Dancing Heart) to develop a specific feeling or image. / R-5-3.1
R-5-3.2

Upper Grade Reading Unit of Study Interpretation of Poetry Date of Study May 23-June 17, 2005 Grade 5

Text Suggestions

Children’s Literature

Resources to use in your actual teaching. /

Independent Reading

Texts readers should have in their independent reading bins when engaged in this study. / Professional Reading
Professional resources you may find supportive as you as you roll out this study.
Shared Reading is especially supportive in this unit of study. Students should experience a number of poems in a thoughtful way, with multiple readings.
Read Aloud can be one way to explore poetry, but this component should continue the comprehension work in other genres as well.
A variety of poetry books and familiar poems (from Read Alouds and Shared Reading) can be placed in poetry centers during this unit.
*The focus in this unit should be on poetry that deals with deep feelings and issues.
Recommended Poem Collections:
Baseball, Snakes, and Summer Squash by Donald Graves
Nathaniel’s Talking and Honey, I Love by Eloise Greenfield
The Dream Keeper and Other Poem , Langston Hughes
Journey Through Heartsongs by Mattie Stepanek
(continued…)
Born to Yesterdays by Lee Bennett Hopkins
The Tree is Older Than You Are, by Naomi Shihab Nye
The Other Way to Listen by Byrd Baylor
Rimshots, Charles R. Smith, Jr,
Other Recommended Poems:
“Forgotten” by Cynthia Rylant
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden
“Just A Game” in Katie Wood Ray’s Wondrous Words
For the Love of the Game, Eloise Greenfield
. / §  See resources under Children’s Literature
§  Refer to entire poetry collection in grades 4 and 5 in the Literacy Closet
§  School and public library / Awakening the Heart, by Georgia Heard
Guiding Readers and Writers, Grades 3-6, by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell
Chapter 24, “Creating the Poetry Workshop: Reading, Writing, and the Arts”
Poetry Matters, by Ralph Fletcher

Upper Grade Reading Unit of Study Interpretation Poetry Date of Study May 23-June 17, 2005 Grade 5

Monitoring Student Learning

Indicators of Understanding

/
When conferring, you might say / ask:
1.  Students are able to interpret the poem using
·  visualization
·  connections
·  senses
·  questioning
2.  Students are able to identify themes and issues in the poem by inferring from the text.
3.  Students are able to identify author’s craft in the poem. /
  1. What does the poet want you to know? How is the poet conveying that meaning to you? Is it through
·  images
·  connections you are making
·  sensory descriptions
·  phrases/sections that lead you to questions?
What part of the poem leads you to believe what you interpret the poem to be about?
  1. What do you think is the theme or issue in this poem? Find evidence in the text that lets you know that.
  1. What are you noticing about author’s craft in this poem? Why do you think the author chose to write it in that way?

Suggestions for Intensive Small Group / One-on-One Work

When data shows… / For students who you notice are… / You might try…
1.  Struggling with strategies (visualizing, connecting, questioning) . . .
2.  Having trouble identifying the theme/issue
3.  Having trouble identifying author’s craft / 1. Breaking down poem into smaller parts. Use post-its to accumulate knowledge line by line and stanza by stanza (if applicable), or chart in columns, listing the strategies and showing evidence from poem.
In small groups, model how you are using those strategies to interpret the poem. Ask students to work on only one strategy at a time.
2. In small groups, revisiting whole class mentor poems for the theme/issue. Ask students to look at easier poems or poems where the theme is obvious.
3. Revisit mentor texts from previous studies where students have identified author’s craft. You may return to picture books to show students what craft techniques writers use. Try to find the same craft techniques in poetry.