Materials Materials for Less Proficient Students

SIOP LESSON PLAN Instructor: Donna Melia Subject: Grade 7/8 ELA Unit: Poetry Materials Materials for Less Proficient Students U-Tube Clip from Forrest Gump movie Handout with key vocabulary defined Crystal vase Copy of annotated poem Picture of Langston Hughes Copies of Langston Hughes’s poem “Mother to Son” (attached) Graphic Organizer for creating a simile/metaphor (attached) STANDARDS ELA 6: Formal and Informal English ELA 20: Composition: Consideration of Audience Students will analyze the language styles of and Purpose different characters (in poetry: speakers) in a work Students will write for different audiences and of literature. purposes. ELA 8: Understanding a Text Students will indentify basic facts and main ideas MA ENGLISH LANGUAGE in the poem and use them for a basis of PROFICIENCY DOMAINS AND interpretation. GENERAL LEARNING OUTCOMES ELA 14: Poetry Listening and Speaking Students will identify, analyze, and apply S.1 Vocabulary knowledge of themes, structure, and elements of S.3 Academic Interaction poetry and provide evidence from the text to Reading support their understanding. R.2 Beginning to Read in English ELA 15: Style and Language R.3 Comprehension Students will identify and analyze how an author’s words appeal to the senses, create R.4 Literary Elements and Techniques imagery, suggest mood, and set tone and provide Writing evidence from the text to support their W.1 Prewriting understanding.

OBJECTIVES Language Objectives: SWBAT:  Make a distinction between the speaker and the  Recognize metaphors and similes in text poet  Discuss the function of metaphors and similes  Understand the poetic terms: poet, speaker, imagery, metaphor, and simile  Write a metaphor or simile to represent life’s struggles/challenges  Explain how images are used to convey strong emotions in poetry  Write a poem that incorporates an extended metaphor  Begin to understand how poets deliberately choose words for their  Distinguish between formal English and dialect. meanings, imagery, and sounds and arrange the Content Objectives: lines of their poems to emphasize certain words or SWBAT: ideas.  Recognize the speaker in a poem and draw  Complete a writer’s workshop to help develop conclusions about the speaker based on the poem’s their own voices as writers and collect material that content could be used later in writing their own poems. Key Vocabulary (*students have seen this word already – re-teach) Academic Content Difference* Poet Compare/Comparison* Poem Conclude/Conclusion* Speaker Create* Imagery/Image Paraphrase Figure of Speech Difference Metaphor Simile Struggles Challenges Difficult* Dialect Crystal Activities Before beginning the lesson review objectives written on board with students. Building Background 1. Show U-tube clip from Forrest Gump on SmartBoard. “My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” 2. Ask the class what two things are being compared? What do the two things (life and a box of chocolate) have in common? 3. What other comparisons are sometimes used to describe life’s struggles or challenges? Wait time. 4. Why do writers make these kinds of comparisons? (HOT) 5. Define Key Vocabulary (Introduced, written, repeated) Whole Class Instruction 1. Show a crystal vase. Ask students to do a Quick Write on the qualities of the vase. 2. Introduce Langston Hughes and show poster of Hughes 3. Hand out “Mother to Son” poems 4. Read poem aloud to class three times 5. Ask what words don’t seem to be written in proper English, but written instead the way that someone speaks? Explain dialect. Define. Repeat. Application: Partner Work (Mixed ability/proficiency) 1. Direct partners to list of questions on the board and assign each set of partners one of the questions to answer after re-reading the poem with their partner. a. Who is speaking in this poem? Is it the poet or someone else? What can we tell about the “speaker” from her words? b. What image is being described in the poem? c. What are the mother’s stairs like? What is this saying about the mother’s life? d. Discuss use of crystal stair for imagery. What do you “see” in your mind when you read the words “crystal stair?” e. Discuss the use of the word “bare” on a line by itself. Why does the poet arrange the word this way? What is the meaning of the word “bear” vs. “bare?” 2. Partners present their findings to the class. Application: Individual Work/Writer’s Workshop 1. Hand out graphic organizers (attached) 2. Model/Think Aloud how to fill out each section on overhead 3. Have students work alone to complete graphic organizer 4. Check on each student’s progress and give support where needed

Wrap-Up Literary Analysis Recap – Let’s review some of the literary devices Langston Hughes used in his poem. Imagery – the use of sensory details or images that appeal to the senses (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste) and help create a picture in the reader’s mind Example: The Crystal Stair Dialect – the form of language spoken by people in a particular region or group – Example: ain’t and i’se Metaphor – something is described as though it were something else Example: mother’s life is a staircase. Extended Metaphor – several connected comparisons are made. Simile – a comparison using like or as Example: Life is like a box of chocolates

Higher-Order Question In the last 7 lines what message is the mother trying to give her son? Help students paraphrase the lesson.

Exit Ticket What’s the difference between a metaphor and a simile? What are both of these figures of speech trying to do? Bonus: Finish this sentence using a simile: A good friend is like a ______.

Differentiated Instructional Support for Two Different English Language Proficiency Groups

Support for Students who are less proficient Handout with key vocabulary defined using The Longman Dictionary Annotated poem Writing Intervention: Review of instructions and one-on-one support during partner/individual time. Enrichment for More Proficient Students Have students find our more information about Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance online at pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/arts/topic10.html. Read the article and two additional poems by Langston Hughes. Pull up the website for the class and share what you have learned.

Homework Options Students should finish the graphic organizer if they did not have time to finish in class.

Assessment Formative Assessment Exit Ticket Following Day - Students work in small groups with a new poem to see if they can find the same poetic devices. Traditional Assessment – A poetry exam that includes the literary terms. Authentic Assessment – Students will write poems using the five-step process and peer editing. At the end of the unit, they will participate in a poetry reading in class with an authentic audience. 21 st Century Skills – Students will create a digital story/report about a poet of their choice. They will be given the option of portraying a poet from their native country and translating one of his/her poems from their L1. They will present their digital story to an authentic audience. Self-Assessment – At the end of the unit, students will reflect upon improvements in their own writing and add the reflection to their writing folder.

Reinforcement Tasks How this Lesson Fits into the Poetry Unit and what additional class work and assignments will be presented to reinforce today’s benchmarks. A close reading of a poem helps students go beyond identifying simple and obvious characteristics to explore the speaker and the extended metaphor in more depth. Students can think about what they can tell from the poem about [the speaker’s] attitudes, about what they think might be [the speaker’s] priorities in life. On each of the days of this week, a different poem with a different poetic voice will be explored giving students many opportunities to identify poetic voice and poetic elements in each of the poems. The poems selected will be multi-cultural. In writer’s workshop, students will brainstorm about the same topics explored by “real poets”– this is practice finding their own poetic voice. After such an exploration, students are ready to write poems. Later in the week, they will be given explicit instruction on how to write a poem. They can use any of the graphic organizers for their raw material. This accumulation of raw material helps to cut down on writer’s block because they should have something saved that they can write about. They will be asked to include a simile or a metaphor in their poem to express emotion. They will use the process approach to writing and be given ample time and opportunity to revise their work, peer edit, and closely examine their word choice. The instructor will be available for guidance during classroom writing workshop time. As they share their poems with the class, teacher and student can talk about how it feels to use details from their own lives as raw material for their art. By the end of the week, they should see a connection between what they have written with what ‘real poets’ create. Sources:

“The Poet’s Voice: Langston Hughes and You” Created October 8, 2010. http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/poet’s-voice-langston-hughes-and-you

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (Vintage Books, 1994)

Mother to Son BY LANGSTON HUGHES Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And turning’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. Langston Hughes, “Mother to Son” from Collected Poems. Copyright © 1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes. Reprinted with the permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated.

Source: The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (Vintage Books, 1994)

Graphic Organizer

Literary Comparisons

What do these two things have in common? Simile – a comparison that uses “like” or “as”

Life Box of Chocolates

1. (model) You never know what is 1. (model) You never know what going to happen. kind of chocolate you are going 2. to get. 3. 2. 3.

Metaphor – something is described as though it were something else

Mother’s Life Staircase 1. (model) Not smooth and beautiful 1. (model) Not crystal

Write Your Own Literary Comparison My Life (Model) Roller Coaster (Model) Good days and bad days (Model) Ups and downs

Donna Melia EDC G 649

Lesson Draft Reflection

This poetry lesson is loosely based on a lesson I taught in my Grade 8 Language Arts classes. I found it on the Edsitement webpage and modified it to meet the needs of my students. As I learned more about sheltered instruction and the SIOP model, I made several changes/additions to the lesson to meet the needs of ELLs in the classroom. The first additions to the original sketch were the Language Proficiency Outcomes as defined in the ELPBO document from the Massachusetts DOE. I also added specific language objectives. At the beginning of the lesson, I added a “Building Background” section that was designed specifically with ELLs in mind. In my first draft, this section was entitled “Activators” and did not include the visuals, nor did it include the preview of key vocabulary. In the whole class instruction, I added the visuals of a crystal vase and the quick write so ELL students would understand the line “Life me ain’t been no crystal stair.” I also added a lengthier discussion on the difference between formal English and dialect so that ELL student have a context for the words “ain’t” and “I’se.” During Partner Work, I paired a more proficient student with a less proficient student to give students the opportunity to clarify with a partner. I also divided the questions among the pairs to reduce the number of tasks and allow students the opportunity to present their findings to the class. I added a graphic organizer (GO) to the Writer’s Workshop portion of the lesson and a think-aloud to model the use of the GO. I expanded the “Wrap-Up” section of the lesson to include a review of key vocabulary and content concepts, a higher-order thinking question, and a formative assessment (exit ticket). All in all, I believe that the modifications to this lesson will not only benefit ELLs in my classroom, they will benefit all students, especially those with learning differences, and in many instances are examples of “good teaching.”