Immersing Students into Poetry

Author(s):

Casey Ochieng and Elizabeth Jones section 19015.


Grade Level:

4

Timeframe:

2 Class Periods
Each period will take 45 minutes to one hour. (We will allow for up to one hour maximum)

Lesson Description or Explanation

Students will be given time to immerse themselves in lots of examples of poetry. Teachers will bring in books, copies of poems, and allow students to search for poems using the internet. Students will notice as many things they can about the poems they read and share these noticings with the class. Students will incorporate the things they learned about poetry into creating their own poems. Students will be able to use computers to compile their notes and to type and format their own poems.

Indiana Curricular Standards

4.3: Students read and respond to a wide variety of significant works of children's literature. The selections in the Indiana Reading List (http://dc.doe.in.gov/Standards/AcademicStandards/PrintLibrary/readinglist.shtml) illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students. At Grade 4, students read a wide variety of fiction, such as classic and contemporary literature, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology, poetry, songs, plays, and other genres.
4.5: At Grade 4, students are introduced to writing informational reports and responses to literature. Students continue to write compositions that describe and explain familiar objects, events, and experiences. Student writing demonstrates a command of Standard English and the drafting, research, and organizational strategies outlined in Standard 4 - Writing Processes and Features. Writing demonstrates an awareness of the audience (intended reader) and purpose for writing.

ISTE Standards

1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes
using technology. Students:
a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
c. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.
d. identify trends and forecast possibilities.

6. Technology Operations and Concepts
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students:
a. understand and use technology systems.
b. select and use applications effectively and productively.
c. troubleshoot systems and applications.
d. transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies.

Assessments

Formative/Summative

Formative Assessment: Compile their notes about what they noticed about poetry into a document on the computer. This assessment with be evaluated based on the amount and depth of the notes they take.
Summative Assessment: Students will type and format their own poem on the computer. This assessment will be evaluated based on how the poem looks, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and creativity.

Prior Knowledge

Curricular Knowledge or Skills: Students will use the knowledge they begin building at the beginning of the unit about what poetry is. Students will need to understand what a poem is, characteristics of poetry, and how to understand poems. To get students thinking about these things, as a class the students will look at books and talk about what they notice. This will get the students noticing the same things and thinking about the same concepts in poetry.
Technology Knowledge: Students will need to understand how to use Microsoft Word to create documents. These documents will be a page for notes and a page on which they will publish their poem. Before these things will be required of the students, the teachers will ensure that the students can use computers in this way.

Technology


Internet Resources:
http://www.storyit.com/Classics/JustPoems/index.htm, http://www.poetry4kids.com/,
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/, http://www.poetryarchive.org/childrensarchive/home.do

Hardware: Computers with internet access

Software: Microsoft Office -- Word

Procedure

Day 1:
Students will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in many different poems. Teachers will supply multiple books and packets of poetry for students to read and think about. Students will also take turns using computers to look up poetry on the internet from websites provided by the teacher. As students take time to look through poems, they will write notes about what they see, how they feel, and what they think about poetry. We will then come together as a class and create a large list of things they noticed. Students will use any remaining time to begin creating their own poem using ideas from their notes and the class discussion.

Day 2:
Students will have a chance to use the computer to create their own typed page of notes about what they noticed about poetry. They can use their own notes and the chart that was created by the entire class on the previous day. Next, the students will have the chance to finish creating their own poems. They may use the computer to type, format, and make their poem look creative.

Differentiated Instruction

ESL

For any ESL student the teacher can have books of poetry with language from their native country or use websites with poems of their native language. They will also be encouraged to write their own poem about something they know a lot about and in whichever language they prefer.

Challenge/Extend

For any students who need more challenging work during this assignment, they will be encouraged to create their own anthology of poems. They do not have to do it all in the two days allowed. They may continue working on it later if they need to. They will need to understand what an anthology is and create one on their own.

Special Needs

For any students with special needs the teacher will need to work one on one with the student. The teacher will also need to bring in poems that are at an easier reading level. If a student is blind or cannot read, a teacher or a peer can read some poems to the student. If students are deaf, they will need special written directions so they know what is expected of them.