Name



Name: Ashley Monaco

Date: September 23, 2009

Unit Title: Poetry

Brief Description of the Class: This lesson is meant to be taught to 8th grade English classes of mixed ability levels. This is an inclusive classroom, and aides accompany certain students at various times throughout the school day.

NYS ELA Standards:

1. Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.

2. Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

Benchmarks/Performance Indicators:

1. ELA1.08.RE1.04: Students preview informational texts to assess content and organization and select texts useful for the task.

2. ELA1.08.RE1.07: Students distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information.

3. ELA1.08.RE1.11: Students condense, combine, or categorize new information from one or more sources.

4. ELA2.08.WR2.01: Students write original literary texts to:

• maintain a consistent point of view that enhances the message and/or establishes the mood

• select a genre and use appropriate conventions, such as dialogue, rhythm, and rhyme

5. ELA2.08.WR2.03: Students maintain a writing portfolio that includes literary, interpretive, and responsive writing.

Lesson Title: Found Poetry

Duration: 90 minutes

Objectives in Behavioral Terms:

Declarative Knowledge: Students will be able to define the term “found poetry.”

Procedural Knowledge: Students will be able to create two found poems, one as a class using news articles about the war in Afghanistan and one on their own from news articles about current events of their choice.

Dispositional Knowledge: Students will be able to feel more comfortable expressing themselves through the use of this style of poetry.

Dispositional Knowledge: Students will develop a deeper understanding about their own opinions pertaining to certain world events after closely examining a current event of their choosing.

Materials/Resources: With their eyes by Annie Thoms, various newspaper and magazine clippings at differing levels, highlighters, dry-erase board and marker,

Strategies: modeling, whole class discussion, active learning, response cards

Teacher Activities: I will open class by reading the found poem I created in reaction to the genocide in Rwanda. Not to pat myself on the back, but how many of you are thinking to yourselves “I could never write something like that”? Well, this is a found poem. Who remembers what a found poem is? (take answers) A found poem is created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and making changes in spacing or altering the text by leaving certain words or phrases out, highlighting certain words, etc. Annie Thoms and her students used the words from interviews to create their found poems for With their eyes. I used various newspaper articles published around the time of the genocide in Rwanda. From several of your journal responses to with their eyes, I can tell that it is hard for some of you to get interested in events that happened in the past. To help you relate found poetry to your daily lives, we are going to use current events to create a found poem as a class. To connect with how the events of September 11th are still affecting us today, we are going to look at newspaper articles from the war in Afghanistan. It is often difficult to find words to describe how we feel about events in our lives, so I want to show you that it is okay to use the words of others to express yourselves. In a few minutes I will give each of you an article. I want you to read through it and highlight one sentence that you had the most reaction to. If you can’t pick a sentence, try picking five individual words. When you have found your sentence or your words, come up to the board and write them down. You can space them however you see fit. Then, at the end, as a class we will read our new found poem and make decisions as to whether anything needs to be moved around for clarity or meaning. (This activity takes place) Now, for homework I want you to find a current event article that you feel strongly about. It can be from a newspaper or a magazine or words that you hear on the news. Create a found poem using your chosen article. Be prepared to share your poem in groups and explain the current event the poem is based on. Please bring in both your article and your found poem to be included in your writing portfolio. I have a pile of newspapers and magazines at the back table that you can browse through if you would like. This is what will happen for the remainder of class: in a moment, I will pass out response cards. Please answer the question “What is a found poem?” in your own words. When you are finished, leave the card face down on the corner of your desk. You may then use the remainder of class to find a news article and then start reading workshop. By (enter in time that is twenty-five minutes before end of class) I expect everyone to be reading. I will come around and conference with you about your book. (While students are filling out response cards, hand out homework assignment sheet).

Student Activities: Students will read a newspaper article about the war in Afghanistan and highlight a phrase or five words that they have a reaction to. They will write their selection on the board. When everyone has finished, students will decide if any words or phrases need to be moved around. Students will fill out a response card answering the question “What is a found poem?” Students will find a newspaper or magazine article to be used for homework and then begin reading workshop.

Adaptations for Students with Special Needs: Where necessary, students may have their newspaper articles read to them. Also when necessary, students may have someone else write their selection on the board for them. News and magazine articles on the back table will come from many different sources, including TIME for Kids and other lower-level news sources.

Assignments:

In class: students will read given news articles about the war in Afghanistan and highlight a phrase or five words that they have a reaction to. They will write their selection on the board. When everyone has finished, students will decide if any words or phrases need to be moved around. Students will fill out a response card answering the question “What is a found poem?”

Homework: students will select a newspaper or magazine article or news broadcast that they feel strongly about and use them to write found poems.

Assessments:

1. (Formative) Students will fill out a response card answering the question “What is a found poem?”

2. (Formative) Students contribute in class to create a found poem from newspaper articles about the war in Afghanistan.

3. (Formative) Students will write a found poem using newspaper articles, magazine articles, or news broadcasts about current events that interest them.

4. (Formative) Students will share found poetry in small groups and explain the current event the poem is about.

Social Justice Connections: Using current events articles encourages students to take a closer look at what is happening in the world around them and react to it. To address injustices we must first address ignorance.

Reflection: After implementing this lesson, I feel that the connections between with their eyes by Annie Thoms and the current event articles about Afghanistan should have been more prominent and discussed more thoroughly. Students need to know that they have a right to know about what is going on in the world and react to it, and that it isn’t all just boring politics. Perhaps as an added incentive, I could work with the social studies teacher to make it possible for their found poems about current events to count both in my class and as their current events article of the week in their social studies class.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download