Comprehending POETRY

Easy-to-Use—But Challenging—Activities Series Comprehending POETRY Grades 4-8 by CharlesF Comprehending Poetry The WHY April is National Poetry Month, but poetry belongs in classrooms all year round. Poetry standards appear across the grades, and because students have a lot they can learn when it comes to poetry, they need lots of exposure to a range of types, features, and so forth. Yet, teachers and students might tend to shy away from it, making it one of the least read genres. The good news is that the more you read it, the more you “get it”—and there are easy-to-use scaffolds and strategies for getting it. The WHAT “Comprehending POETRY” is part of the easy-to-use—but challenging—activities series by CharlesF. There are five activities that can be easily adjusted for grades 4 through 8 by choosing poems that are appropriately challenging for your particular students. The activities primarily focus on interpreting poetry (Common Core Reading/Literature standards 2, 5, and 9, depending on the grade level), but also require students to show their understanding of structure, inferring, story elements, and so forth. Here’s what’s waiting inside: Contents 1 The Critic’s Corner 2 I Saw That Coming 3 Get in Line 4 These Are All About . 5 I Spy The High Points ALL of the activities are literature based, so they will work well with whatever poems you already have planned for your students. Each activity has a “TEACHER PAGE” that tells you what you need to know. The “WHY” section lets you know quickly why you would want to do the activity and the “HOW” section provides a step-by-step plan. When needed, a “MODEL” is included to help students understand the task. Some activities have a “VARIATION” or an “EXTENSION”— ideas to use now or in the future. ALL of the activities are easy for the teacher to prepare and easy for the student to follow. But this isn’t fluff. Thinking caps required here! ART CREDIT: All clip art is believed to be royalty free for commercial use. Credit information follows: Wordle (www.wordle.net); poetry poster (www.poets.org); notepad (www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=15769&picture=notebook-with-pen); honesty sign (www.clker.com/clipart-honesty-1.html); paper with F (www.clker.com/clipart-failed-paper.html); sandglass (www.clker.com/clipart- 6250.html); book stack (www.clker.com/clipart-63776.html); autumn tree (http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view- image.php?image=17972&picture=autumn-smiling); arrow (www.clker.com/clipart-archer-1.html); field (www.public-domain- photos.com/landscapes/fields/field-37-1.htm); sun (www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=40490&picture=sun); detective in long jacket (www.clker.com/clipart-ipygfepyf.html); magnifying glass 1 (www.clker.com/clipart-magnifying-glass-26.html); magnifying glass 2 (www.clker.com/clipart-14444.html); magnifying glass 3 (www.clker.com/clipart-stretched-magifying-glass.html) (TEACHER PAGE) THE CRITIC’S CORNER The WHY Sometimes students can be overwhelmed when trying to articulate their thoughts about a poem. This activity provides students with a relatively simple framework they can use to organize their thinking. Depending on how much experience your students have with poetry, you may need to start with the “Less Challenging” framework provided in the “Variations” section, or you may want to try the “More Challenging” option. Whatever the case, use these frameworks again and again to grow students’ comfort with responding to poetry. Once students have a good handle on noticing critical aspect of poems, they should enjoy the “I Spy” activity at the end of this packet. The HOW 1. Read a poem as a class. 2. Display the handout. 3. As a class, decide how to fill in the blanks. 4. Explain to students that they will select and read a poem independently and then complete the handout for that poem as preparation for sharing their poem with a small group. Provide poetry collections. 5. Allow students to work independently. 6. Place students in small groups. Instruct students to take turns reading their selected poem aloud and then sharing what they wrote about the poem. Then other group members should share their thoughts on the poem as well. (This step could also be done whole-class.) 7. Discuss as a class, asking students how filling in the blanks helped them be able to focus on important aspects of the poem. VARIATIONS Less Challenging: If students need to a simpler way of getting at the big picture of a poem, begin with this structure: The speaker feels _____ about _____. (Example for Donald Graves’s poem “The Bully”: The speaker feels honored to have a friend who sticks up for him against a bully.) Use students’ responses to gauge their understanding of the speaker’s emotion and the topic/meaning of the poem. More Challenging: If students are ready to take on more aspects of a poem, add to the structure, perhaps with a few of these starters: It is a _____ (e.g., lyrical) poem. The mood of the poem is _____. In line(s), the poet uses figurative language to _____. This poem has the same topic/theme as _____. Name: ____________________________ The Critic’s Corner The poem __________________________________________________ (title) by _________________________________________________ is about (poet’s name) __________________________________________________________. (main meaning/message) I like lines __________ because ________________________________. (line numbers) Write those lines here: I noticed that the poet _______________________________________. (identify a technique, feature, or style) Tell more about that: I hope you will like this poem too. (TEACHER PAGE) I SAW THAT COMING The WHY Rhythm is crucially important in understanding a poem’s meaning. But rhythm can be difficult to teach explicitly. An explanation like “It’s kind of like the musical beat that lies beneath the lines” may be lost on students! In this activity, some of the words of a poem are missing, so students have to think about not just the ideas of the poem but also the rhythm and the language of the piece in order to figure out what words might belong. By focusing on a word level while thinking about the poem as a whole, students should recognize that the language and rhythm are important in comprehending poetry. The HOW 1. Distribute the handout that features the poem that is most appropriate for your students. Provided are the poems “The Boy Who Never Told a Lie,” “Idioms,” and “Take Time.” (Or create your own handout with a poem you want your students to read, adding blanks for words that the context should help them be able to determine.) 2. Read the directions. Emphasize that the goal is to choose the exact word as the poet—or at the least, a word that is similar (for instance, a movement word, a kind of emotion, a word that rhymes with another word). Also emphasize that students should pay attention to the rhythm as a clue. 3. Read the poem aloud, saying “blank” when a word is missing. 4. Allow students to work independently. 5. Have students share and compare their work in small groups. 6. Display the handout and as you read, pause to allow students to shout out a word they selected; discuss similarities and differences. Then read the poet’s version. Discuss as a class how the language, rhythm, and style (voice, tone, mood, etc.) did or did not help them figure out the missing words. 7. End by stressing that because poetry is concisely written, each word is often important to notice in order to make meaning. Name: ____________________________ I Saw That Coming Can you fill in the blanks of this poem with the words the poet actually used? Give it your best shot by using the ideas, rhythm, and language of the other lines as clues. The Boy Who Never Told a Lie —Anonymous Once there was a little boy, With curly hair and pleasant eye— A boy who always told the truth, And never, never told a lie. And when he __________ off to school, The children all about would __________, “There goes the curly-headed boy— The boy that never tells a lie.” And everybody loved him so, Because he always told the truth, That every day, as he __________ up, ‘Twas said, “There goes the __________ youth.” And when the people that stood near Would turn to ask the reason __________, The __________ would be always this: “Because he never tells a lie.” The Boy Who Never Told a Lie —Anonymous Once there was a little boy, With curly hair and pleasant eye— A boy who always told the truth, And never, never told a lie. And when he trotted off to school, The children all about would cry, “There goes the curly-headed boy— The boy that never tells a lie.” And everybody loved him so, Because he always told the truth, That every day, as he grew up, ‘Twas said, “There goes the honest youth.” And when the people that stood near Would turn to ask the reason why, The answer would be always this: “Because he never tells a lie.” Name: ____________________________ I Saw That Coming Can you fill in the blanks of this poem with the words the poet actually used? Give it your best shot by using the ideas, rhythm, and language of the other lines as clues. Idioms by Charles Fuhrken The Idiom Test was coming up soon. I pulled an all-nighter, then studied ‘til noon. But during the test, I ran out of steam.

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