Date:

Subject: Language Arts Grade Level: 8 Time Estimate: 50 minutes

Unit: Poetry Topic: Introduction to Poetry
Goal(s):
SWBAT understand the structure and elements of poetry.
Content Objective(s): TEKS: 110.2(b)4
SWBAT analyze the importance of graphical elements (e.g., capital letters, line length, word
position) on the meaning of a poem.
Language Objective(s):
SWBAT share information in cooperative learning interactions;
SWBAT use prereading supports such as graphic organizers, illustrations, and pre-taught topic-
related vocabulary and other pre-reading activities to enhance comprehension of written text;
Materials/Resources/Technology needs:
Poem for day:
! Introduction to Poetry by Billy Collins
! Sick by Shel Silverstein
! The Road Not Taken Robert Frost
Key Vocabulary:
! confession
! probe
! diverged
! undergrowth
! trodden
! free verse
! rhyme
! meter
Instructional Procedures
Focusing Event:
Have students fill out poetry anticipation guide. This guide asks questions regarding
what they know about poetry and what they think about it.
Teaching/ Learning Procedures:
1. Discuss anticipation guide answers as a class, so that there is an understanding of where
students stand with poetry. Have students write their tentative definition of poetry at
bottom of anticipation guide. Ask students who come from other cultures if they know of
any poetry from their culture, and if that affects their definition of poetry at all.
Encourage these students to bring in some poems as the unit continues.
a. Discuss poets definitions of poetry
i. Poetry is the best words in their best order. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge
ii. Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful. -Rita
Dove
2. Go over key vocabulary definitions. Explain that these are some of the words they will
come across during their poetry readings. Include printouts of key vocabulary with
poems for easy access.
3. Discuss how poems are structured. Explain that some sentences may continue onto
different lines, while other poems may not. They also do not always have to rhyme.
Todays poems will be free verse poems, which means they do not follow a particular
rhyme or meter.
4. Divide class into groups of three and hand out each of the poems (Introduction to Poetry,
Sick, The Road Not Taken). Pair strong native English speakers with struggle ELLs. Ask
each student to read one poem aloud to their group. Mark with symbols
* This word or line is cool
! This is important
? I dont understand this
5. Hand out graphic organizer and model What I Read-What I Think-What I Wonder using
Sick.
6. Have students fill out the graphic organizer for the other two poems (depending on time,
they can just do one).
7. Have these questions on the board and ask students think about them as they go through
the graphic organizer:
What did you like about the poem?
How did it make you feel?
What words or phrases did you like?
Did the structure of the poem help your understanding of it?
What needs clarification?
What surprised you?
What do you think this poem is about?
What might this poem be saying?
How does this add to your definition of poetry?
8. Come back together as a class. Have each group share some of their responses. Ask that
each person share at least one comment with class, so that everyone speaks.
Formative Check(ongoing or specific):
Check for understanding as students share within groups. Make sure that all students are
participating.
Reteach (alternative used as needed):
Model the poems as a class instead of working in groups. Ask questions about the structure and
style of the poem, while leading a discussion on tone and theme of the poem. Have students
share what they like and dislike about the poem, and help them to understand how those
elements make the structure of the poem work.

Closure:
Have students share their definitions of poetry as a class. Discuss how we might develop this
definition as the unit continues. Have students each student write one thing they learned today
on a post-it to stick on the door as their exit ticket.
Assessment:
Beginner ELLs: Have students draw pictures of one of the poems that were read to share with
the class. Ask students to try and convey the theme of the poem through their drawings.
Intermediate ELLs: Have students write a short paragraph discussing the poem and how it made
them feel. Ask them to try and identify some of the elements they see in the poem that they have
learned about in the past (figurative language, imagery, rhyme).