Subject: Literature

Subject: Literature

Subject: Literature

Grade: 8th

Unit Time (in weeks): 4

Rationale: Students will build fundamental literary analysis and response skills in this unit centered around analysis of figurative lanuguage and author’s purpose in poetry. The lessons will connect to students’ work in Read-a-Story (stories by Edgar Allan Poe) through use of the same skills in each class.

Outcome: Students will use knowledge of authors’ purpose, skills in close reading of text, and analysis of symbolism to respond to poetry.

Summative assessment: Teacher-written multiple choice, sentence completion and short-answer test, with final completion of Poetry Chart activity.

Sequence of Objectives:

  1. Students will respond to a quotation from a poet (“Poems are imaginary gardens with real toads in them.” - Marianne Moore) and define “figurative language” and “symbol.”
  2. Students will define “metaphor” and and analyze metaphors in a poem (maggie and milly and molly and may, ee cummings).
  3. Students will define “personification” and analyze examples in a poem (The Mirror, Sylvia Plath).
  4. Students will define “onomatopoeia” and analyze examples in two poems (The Bells, Edgar Allan Poe; Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll).
  5. Students will define “haiku” and create their own haiku poems using figurative language.
  6. Students will define “couplet,” “stanza” and “rhyme scheme” and identify each in three Robert Frost poems (Fire and Ice, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, The Road Not Taken).
  7. Students will identify rhyme scheme for sonnets and paraphrase Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116.
  8. Students will describe a poet’s personality (Emily Dickinson) through knowledge of her biography, and analyze how her personality is reflected in four of her poems (I’m nobody; Heart, we will forget him!; The brain is wider than the sky; Hope is the thing with feathers).
  9. Students will reflect on their knowledge of poetry.

Day: 1

Objective: Students will respond to a quotation from a poet (“Poems are imaginary gardens with real toads in them.” - Marianne Moore) and define “figurative language” and “symbol.”

Assessment: Student-written examples from teacher’s reading of two haiku poems.

Activity:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Teacher-created PowerPoint presentation re: symbols, figurative language
  3. Students create definitions for each word collaboratively (full class)
  4. Teacher reads two haiku poems
  5. Students identify examples of symbolism and figurative language, turn in assessment worksheet

Changes needed based on previous day?

Resources I need:

Day: 2 & 3

Objective: Students will define “metaphor” and “alliteration” and analyze metaphors in a poem (maggie and milly and molly and may, ee cummings).

Assessment: Participation in class activities, sharing at end of class, homework assignment

Activity:

Day 2:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Review “alliteration”: tongue twisters activity.
  3. Students respond to question “How is alliteration different from rhyme?”
  4. Define “metaphor”: relate to symbolism (PowerPoint). Teacher will provide examples of similies as well.
  5. Students write metaphors to describe a friend or family member
  6. Students share metaphors; class edits/improves as needed together

Day 3:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Review terms; review definitions; teacher gives further examples as needed
  3. Read poem as a class, identify examples of each term
  4. Discussion: Which girl in the poem is the oldest? The youngest? How do you know? (Students construct individual written response for homework based on discussion.)

Changes needed based on previous day?

Resources I need:

Copies of poem

Sound file for tongue-twisters

PowerPoint

Day: 4 & 5

Objective: Students will define “personification” and analyze examples in a poem (The Mirror, Sylvia Plath).

Assessment: Student-created example of personification; correct identification/analysis of examples in poem.

Activity:

Day 4:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Partner activity: “If your desk could talk, what might it say to you?” Students write short response.
  3. Students share responses.
  4. Teacher provides definition for “personification,” identifies particularly-good examples from student responses.
  5. Students, in partners, add to their responses to include more details using personification.
  6. Teacher asks: “What kind of details could we add if we wanted to suggest that the desk was sad? Old? Wise?” (Perhaps other characteristics, depending on what students have not included in their responses.)

Day 5:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Review definition & homework
  3. Read “The Mirror”; identify the author’s strategy for personification
  4. Students write individual responses to the poem: How does the author use personification to help us understand the character?
  5. Discuss some responses/allow students to edit their work.

Changes needed based on previous day?

Resources I need:

Copies of poem

If Your Desk Could Talk worksheet & video

Day: 6, 7, 8

Objective: Students will define “onomatopoeia” and analyze examples in two poems (The Bells, Edgar Allan Poe; Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll).

Assessment: Completion of each day’s activity; participation in discussion; Day 8’s in-class worksheet assignment.

Activity:

Day 6:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Teacher shows “Batman” clip with words like “ooof!” and “pow!” What kinds of words are these?
  3. If students do not supply the term, teacher will. Brief discussion of other words like this.
  4. Class reads parts 1 & 2 of “The Bells” together; students highlight examples as we read, share when finished
  5. Class listens to actor’s reading of full poem. How does the poem’s sound help us to understand its meaning? How is the sound different in the second half of the poem? (Students respond to questions on worksheet, then discuss, then edit their responses if needed.)

Day 7:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Teacher plays sound clip from “haunted house” CD, asks students what kind of a creature they hear approaching. Students discuss their different images.
  3. Class reads “Jabberwocky” together. What is unusual about the poem? (Nonsense words.) How do we know what these words mean?
  4. Students, in partners, retell the story as prose & present their retellings to the class. Discussion of differences in interpretations; how did we each hear the same basic story, but picture different images?

Day 8:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Class re-reads “Jabberwocky” together.
  3. Teacher shows two video clips with different interpretations of the poem; students summarize each on worksheet.
  4. Class discusses which video they liked best, and why.
  5. Students answer questions “Why were there no images of people, or the Jabberwocky, in the second video?” and “How can we relate this poem to the Marianne Moore quote?” on worksheets.

Changes needed based on previous day?

Resources I need:

Video/audio clips

Copies of poems, worksheets
Day: 9

Objective: Students will define “haiku” and create their own haiku poems using figurative language.

Assessment: Student-written poems; use of figurative language

Activity:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Students read examples of haiku poetry in their textbook
  3. Teacher discusses structure of haiku (Smartboard examples)
  4. Students create two of their own haiku poems, each using at least one type of figurative language
  5. Students share, edit one another’s work if needed
  6. Students create an illustrated copy of their poems

Changes needed based on previous day?

Resources I need:

Examples for Smartboard

Supplies for illustrating (paper, pencils, markers)
Day: 10

Objective: Students will define “couplet,” “stanza” and “rhyme scheme” and identify each in three Robert Frost poems (Fire and Ice, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, The Road Not Taken).

Assessment: Correct identification of each in the three poems, on worksheet.

Activity:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Teacher-led PowerPoint discussion with examples of each term; teacher demonstrates on Smartboard how to label rhyme scheme
  3. Students label rhyme scheme in “Road Not Taken” on Smartboard
  4. Half the class reads “Fire and Ice”; half reads “Stopping By Woods.” Each group identifies examples of the three terms, labels rhyme scheme.
  5. Groups switch poems, do the same task.
  6. Full class compares responses, edits as needed with teacher guidance
  7. Teacher asks, “How does the structure of ‘Fire and Ice’ reflect the poem’s message?” Students write response, share, edit as needed after discussion.

Changes needed based on previous day?

Resources I need:

Copies of poems

PowerPoint doc

Day: 11, 12

Objective: Students will identify rhyme scheme for sonnets and paraphrase Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116.

Assessment: Note-taking worksheet; final version of paraphrase

Activity:

Day 11:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Teacher mini-lecture on sonnets, with Smartboard: structure, topics, Shakespeare’s sonnets. Students take notes using structured worksheet.
  3. Students read Sonnet 116; discuss examples of figurative language. Teacher previews the next day’s assignment: rewriting the sonnet as a letter

Day 12:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Class re-reads Sonnet 116
  3. Students work individually to rewrite the sonnet as a letter (teacher circulates)
  4. Students exchange with a partner (after 15 mins), discuss differences & new ideas
  5. Students create final version of letter

Changes needed based on previous day?

Resources I need:

PowerPoint doc

Copies of poem

Note-taking worksheet copies
Day: 13, 14, 15

Objective: Students will describe a poet’s personality (Emily Dickinson) through knowledge of her biography, and analyze how her personality is reflected in four of her poems (I’m nobody; Heart, we will forget him!; The brain is wider than the sky; Hope is the thing with feathers).

Assessment: Structured note-taking on Biography video about Dickinson’s life; in-class student essays using at least three of the poems

Activity:

Day 13:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Class reads “I’m nobody”; teacher asks what kind of person the narrator is. How do students know? Would they want to be friends with this person?
  3. Teacher introduces Biography video & note-taking worksheet
  4. Class views video, completes worksheet
  5. Teacher reviews worksheet on Smartboard
  6. Questions/discussion

Day 14:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Students, in partners, circulate through three stations, one for each of the remaining poems, and add their comments at each station (questions include: What might have inspired Dickinson to write this poem?; What would you ask her about this poem?; Summarize the poem’s message).
  3. Teacher reviews responses with full class, guides further discussion
  4. Teacher presents & disucsses tomorrow’s in-class essay assignment

Day 15:

  1. 10-minute review, questions
  2. 30-minute writing assignment: Imagine that Emily Dickinson is your friend, but your other friends dislike her; they say she’s too quiet and shy and “weird.” How might you convince your friends to give her a chance? Try to convince them that she’s interesting to talk to, that she would be a good friend, and that she is unique or special. In your response, refer to at least three of the four poems we’ve read in class, and to at least two historical facts from the video.

Changes needed based on previous day?

Resources I need:

Video link

Note-taking worksheet copies

Materials for stations (posters, markers)

Copies of writing assignment
Day: 16, 17, 18, 19

Objective: Students will reflect on their knowledge of poetry.

Assessment: Student presentations; teacher-written test.

Activity:

  1. Daily Quote & discussion
  2. Teacher re-introduces Marianne Moore quote, leads brief discussion with examples of how to apply it to Dickinson poems
  3. Teacher introduces Poetry Chart assignment, in which students will select four poems to “chart” according to their “imaginary gardens” (figurative language) and “real toads” (deeper meaning).
  4. Students will work in class for rest of the period & all of Day 17.
  5. Students will present their work, and class will review for test, on Day 18.
  6. Unit test will be given on Day 19.

Changes needed based on previous day?

Resources I need:

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