1

Coralyn Sunico

Dr. Ikeda

EDSE492

23 April 2018

My Best Lesson

Description

The foundation for my lessons derived from “Power Standards.” These were three main

standards that I wanted the students to achieve by the end of the unit so that they could

accomplish the summative assessment that tested the student’s ability to determine a theme of a

poem, cite evidence to support inferences and/or analysis, and determine the meaning of words

and/or phrases. To achieve these standards, students completed a Four-Square handout for

“Poetry” by Pablo Neruda, which I read aloud to them, and a poster for either spoken word

poems “OCD” by Neil Hilborn or “When Love Arrives” by Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye. The prior

assignment was completed individually to help students understand the purpose of each box and

their relationships; then, the group assignment divided the four boxes into four roles, which they

completed on a single Four-Square poster.

During poetry readings, we discussed unfamiliar words and phrases by using context

clues and a Tone Grid. I asked students to look at specific lines where the words were used and

to analyze the tone of that section. We used a Tone Grid, which mapped out tone words that

students selected from the Tone Word Bank, helping the students understand the connotation of

words according to the type (humorous, cheerful, depressed, and furious) and degree (positive,

negative, neutral). I reminded students to use the Tone Grid as if it was a grid that they used in

math where positive words would be placed higher on the grid while negative words would
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appear lower on the grid. By understanding the tone, students were able to figure out the

meaning of words and phrases.

Analysis

Many of their responses during their small group discussions articulated the themes of

various poems and were supported by relevant evidence; the students were also able to define

certain words and phrases by discussing with their group members or using context clues.

Because each assignment practiced each Power Standard, the students were able to perform well

on the summative assessment, though three students did not meet the standards. On average, the

students scored 7.6/10.0, so the class, overall, met the standards.

The Foldable helped students locate definitions of literary devices and reading strategies

quickly to help them during their practice activities. Providing the students with many

opportunities to practice the standards also reinforced their reading skills needed for the

summative test. Additionally, mimicking the language of the test on the practice assignments

helped the students familiarize with the format of the final test.

The conversations during the group activities were evident of the student’s learning and

engagement. In the small group discussions, one pair from each group was assigned the theme

column of the Four-Square poster, while the other pair was responsible for completing the

evidence column. There was one theme pair that wrote the theme of the poem but spent some

time figuring how to represent it in a visual form. For example, their theme was “Love is not

what you expected,” and the students contemplated how to draw “the unexpected.” Two students

talked about drawing two different versions of hamburgers: one perfectly portrayed hamburger

that usually appears in advertisements, and one realistic hamburger that are actually served in

restaurants.
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Reflection

Though most students did well on the summative assessment, improvements can be made

to the group activities. Rather than having students work in groups most of the time, the students

would have learned better individually or in pairs because the Four-Square split up the Power

Standards among four students; each student should have practiced all Power Standards equally.

In the future, I will assign group work only at the beginning of the unit to allow students to

practice discussing the poem with others to also build their academic language. Then, I can

scaffold their learning by allowing them to work in pairs and eventually have the students work

independently.

Knowing that my students are experiencing their own issues as adolescents, I

incorporated poems that spoke and related to many of their problems. This reminded students

that they were not the only ones going through stress and anxieties—that they were not alone.

This provided a foundation for students to learn more about mental illnesses and ways to cope

with their problems. The more they learned about other people’s problems, the more they

reflected on their own, thus helping the students learn more about themselves.

Originally, I had planned for the groups to complete two Four-Square posters for the two

spoken word poems. The information would have been recorded on one Four-Square poster

where the students would label their responses with the name of the poem they analyzed.

Analyzing two poems per group was the plan, but I ended up assigning one poem to each group.

I realized that each poem had different difficulty levels; therefore, I assigned the more complex

poem to groups with high performing students and the more explicit poem to lower performing

students. The change was made to adjust to the student’s needs by matching their level of

performance with the poem’s level of difficulty. At the same time, assigning only one poem
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allowed students to willingly choose a different poem, thus giving student’s ownership of their

own learning because they chose the poem that best fit performance level or at least challenged

them.

Video Summary

The video consists of two different parts: the instructional period and the group activity.

The first part of the video displayed me introducing the poetry unit where we created a Foldable,

a poetry resource that detailed the Power Standards, definitions, and reading strategies. The

second part of the video displayed short clips of the students working in their small groups to

complete the Four-Square posters.

Lesson Plans

Lesson 1: Introduction to Poetry Unit

TITLE: Introduction to Poetry Unit

GRADE LEVEL: 9th grade English I Honors

TIME FRAME & SETTING: 75 minutes, U201.

CONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE: theme, evidence, literary devices (tone, anaphora, volta).

PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE: determining theme, analyzing and identifying evidence to

justify reasoning.

STANDARDS:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.1- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support
analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2- Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze
in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is
shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

OBJECTIVES:
- Students will be able to write and draw the theme of a poem.
- Students will be able to cite textual evidence to support the theme.

MATERIALS & TECHNOLOGY:

- PowerPoint Lesson Presentation
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- Blank printer paper (three halves per student)

- Pencils, markers, highlighters
- Poetry Unit Packet
- 22c. Four-Square “Poetry” handouts

PROCEDURES:
• ENGAGE & MOTIVATE:
1. Introduce the poetry unit by reading “I Have to Write a Poem for Class” by Jack
Prelutsky aloud to the class.
▪ Think-pair-share: ask students to discuss and share their feelings or
impression of poetry.
2. Remind students that our focus is on reading poetry, so we’ll engage in a lot of
discussion about, writing analysis of, and creating our own poems.
3. Introduce the objectives by having students prepare a Foldable that will be used as
a guide for them throughout the unit.
▪ The six levels of each fold will contain the following in order:
• Title page: Poetry Unit
• Objectives of the Unit
• Identify a Theme
• Determine Meanings of Words and Phrases
• Analyze Effects of Specific Works on Tone
• Cite Evidence to Support Analysis and Inferences
4. Remind students they we will refer to the Foldable throughout the unit to help us
achieve the objectives. (This may also be a resource for students to use when
taking the summative assessment).
• ACTIVITY:
1. Review and copy down Annotation Legend as displayed on the screen so that
students know how to mark the text when we read poems:
▪ Theme = highlight
▪ Theme evidence = highlight underline
▪ Words/phrases and context clues = circle
▪ Tone = + for positive word and – for negative words
▪ Literary devices = underline and label
2. Go over the definition of repetition, specifically anaphora, and have students copy
the definition on the back of their Foldable under the section labeled Glossary
(definition displayed on the screen).
▪ Do the same for the word tone; students have the option to copy this word
down because they have already been introduced to this term.
3. Model to the students how to analyze tone by annotating a sample passage
displayed on the screen.
4. On the next slide, present an example of the Tone Grid, which they will copy in
their Foldable on the tone page. Then, have student’s copy five words from each
tone category of the Tone Word Bank (positive/negative, sorrow/fear/worry, and
humor/irony/sarcasm) onto their Foldable.
▪ Explain to the students that the grid is like a graph that they use in math:
positive words will be placed more towards the top and negative words
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more towards the bottom; neutral words will be close the x and y axis of
the grid.
5. Read “Poetry” by Pablo Neruda to the class. Ask students to just listen for the first
read then ask students to identify the topic of the poem.
6. Read “Poetry” again, but this time ask students to annotate positive and negative
words during the read.
▪ Specify that students should look for at least one example of anaphora.
7. Ask students where they identify anaphora in the poem and to explain the tone of
that section.
8. Introduce volta to the students and instruct them to find it in the poem. Ask
students what the previous tone is like at the beginning and what tone it changes
to towards the ending. Then, ask students how this affects the overall tone of the
poem.
9. Display theme strategies on the screen and ask students to copy them down.
10. Pass out Four-Square handouts to have students work on individually. Students
will also complete an acrostic or cinquain poem of poetry or themselves.
• EXPLORE & EXPLAIN:
1. Engagement:
▪ Because one of the poems has an implicit them, they will be engaged
trying to figure out the theme and to find evidence that supports it.
▪ Providing students with an Annotation Legend will help with students’
comprehension, as they will mark the text as they read. In a way, they may
have fun trying to find things in and label specific elements of the poem.
▪ Having two different ways to represent the theme of the poem (written and
drawing) will engage different types of learners.
2. Critical Thinking:
▪ Students will need to determine the theme of the poem by identifying the
subject or topic of the poem then figuring out the author’s feelings about
the subject or tone.
▪ Students will analyze repetition and word choice to identify the
relationship between the prior two and the theme.
▪ Translating the theme into an image or symbol will exercise their
understanding of the theme.
3. Explanation:
▪ The Foldable will be used to keep track of strategies for students to use to
help them determine the theme. Some strategies to help explain the theme
is identifying the subject or topic then looking at the way the author talks
about said subject or topic. Other ways provided is by looking at repeated
words or concepts.
▪ Simply labeling the positive and negative words can help students identify
whether the tone is overall negative or positive; from there, the student can
be specific in describing a tone.
• REINFORNCE & WRAP-UP:
1. Reinforce: students will continue to use this same process and approach for each
poem we encounter until we reach the summative assessment.
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2. Students will work independently to create their own poem either about poetry or
a self-reflective poem.
▪ Some options for the students is to create an acrostic poem, which has
already been introduced before, or a cinquain poem, which is fairly new.

DIFFERENTIATION (two focus students):

- Multi-Lingual Learner (MLL):
o I will read the poem aloud to the class first so that the student can hear what the
poem sounds like; this can help the student read the poem on her own.
o Strategies will be provided to help the student determine the theme and tone of the
poem.
o I will model to the student how to analyze tone in a sample piece by discussing
my thought process so that the student may apply the same method to her
assigned poem.
o Specific prompts will be ready and suggested to the student; I may also have the
student write these questions in her or his Foldable to refer to in the future.
- High-Performing:
o I will specify to the student to find one evidence that focuses on the tone of the
poem and one on the word choice, as these two elements are more challenging as
opposed to finding phrases that speak directly to the theme of the poem.
o There is a choice to compose an acrostic or cinquain poem. Since the Cinquain
poem is new to the students, this will be a challenging and engaging activity for
the high-performing student. This specific student is also creative, so she might
enjoy creating a poem in a different way.

ASSESSMENTS:
- Formative Assessments:
o Monitoring: I will walk around the class to make sure that the students are staying
on task and marking the text. I can also glance at their drawing of the theme very
quickly to gauge whether their interpretations reasonably match the theme of the
poem.
o Four-Square “Poetry”: students will complete a Four-Square handout on their own
that requires students to identify the theme of the poem, draw a picture to
represent the theme, and cite two pieces of evidence to support their theme. This
will measure the student’s ability to determine the theme and further extend their
understanding of it by representing it in a different form such as a symbol or
image. The ability to cite two pieces of evidence from the poem will also
demonstrate their understanding of the theme by making connections between the
evidence and the theme. Thus, this assignment will measure their success in
achieving the standards.

ELABORATION & EXTENSION:

1. Elaboration:
a. Poetry Unit Foldable: students will have their Foldable ready with strategies to
help them determine the theme of the poem. They will also use the assigned
Annotation Legend to help them identify tone in the poem as well.
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2. Extension:
a. Students can review their annotation and think of the most appropriate word to
describe the overall tone of the poem and the most appropriate words to describe
the tone at the beginning and at the end, as the tone shifts.
i. They can also look back at the first introduction poem to analyze the tone
by annotation and labeling the poem with one appropriate word to
describe the overall tone, and again, two words to describe the shift from
the beginning to ending tone.

RESOURCES:
- “Tone Word Bank”
- Poetry Unit Packet (refer to Handouts section)
o “I Have to Write a Poem for Class” by Jack Prelutsky
o “Poetry” Pablo Neruda

Lesson 2: Spoken Word Poetry

TITLE: Spoken Word Poetry

GRADE LEVEL: 9th grade English I Honors

TIME FRAME & SETTING: 75 minutes; U201.

CONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE: theme, tone, mental illnesses, love, style.

PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE: determining theme, analyzing and identify evidence to

justify reasoning, analyzing the impact of literary devices and style on meaning.

STANDARDS:
9-10.RL.1- Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text
says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text
9-10.RL.2- Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its
development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and
refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
9-10.SL.1- Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions
(one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics,
texts, and issues, building on others’ idea and expressing their own clearly and
persuasively.

OBJECTIVES:
- Students will be able to write and draw the theme of a poem.
- Students will be able to cite textual evidence to support the theme.
- Students will engage in group work to complete a Four-Square poster.

MATERIALS & TECHNOLOGY:

- PowerPoint Lesson Presentation
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- 1 poster paper per group

- Pencils, markers, highlighters
- Poetry Unit Packet

PROCEDURES:
• ENGAGE & MOTIVATE:
1. Have students get into their Poetry Group 2 and tell students that we will be
listening to and watching poems instead of reading them.
2. We will review repetition again, as it will be discussed for the next poem.
3. Have students take out their Foldable to review terms and strategies for
determining themes.
• ACTIVITY:
1. Play “OCD” by Neil Hilborn.
▪ Discuss the tone of the poem and identify volta.
▪ Discuss mental illness with the students and explain obsessive compulsive
disorder.
▪ Ask the students to determine the topic and theme, then ask students to
explain their rationale.
2. Play “When Love Arrives” by Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye.
▪ Ask students to identify the topic and theme, then ask them to explain their
rationale.
3. Distribute poster paper for groups to complete a Four-Square for their assigned
poem.
▪ In each group, there will be one pair who will focus on the theme: one
person writes the theme, the other person draws the theme. The second
pair will focus on finding and recording the evidence.
▪ Instruct students to write their name at the bottom of each quadrant.
▪ Should they need to review the video again, I will provide a link to the
video so that they may watch the video on their phone.
• EXPLORE & EXPLAIN:
1. Engagement:
▪ Group work will engage the students to talk with one another to discuss
the theme of the poems.
▪ The poster paper will help students learn about the poem visually as they
write the theme and draw an image or symbol to represent the theme.
▪ Providing a spoken word poem will engage students who are visual and
auditory learners.
2. Critical Thinking:
▪ Students will need to work together to identify evidence that support the
theme of the poem while translating the theme through a visual
representation.
3. Explanation:
▪ Students can use their Foldable to review the strategies to identify theme.
They can also look back to their previous Four-Square assignment and
annotated poems from the previous lesson.
 10

▪I will also have prepared questions prepared to probe the students thinking
about the theme and its relationship with certain parts of the poem.
• REINFORNCE & WRAP-UP:
1. Reinforce: students will continue to use this same process and approach for each
poem we encounter until we reach the summative assessment.
2. Students will work on independently to complete the Spoken Word Questions,
which will extend their understanding of the poem by analyzing tone.
▪ Students will share their response for the last question, which asks the
students to describe what love looks like to them.

DIFFERENTIATION (two focus students):

- Multi-Lingual Learner (MLL):
o Playing the video multiple times and allowing the student to view the video on her
own will help the student analyze the poem at a comfortable pace.
o The connection between facial expression, body language, and the words spoken
by the poet will enhance the student’s comprehension of the poem.
- High-Performing:
o The interplay for roles of each group will encourage the student to interact with
others to make sure that her contribution is in line with the other student’s
responses.
o Knowing that this student is high-performing, I would assign her group the more
complex poem that has the implied theme rather than the explicitly stated theme.
This would be more challenging and engaging for the student to work with.

ASSESSMENTS:
- Formative Assessments:
o Monitoring: I will walk around the class to make sure that the students are staying
on task and discussing the poem. I will glance at their posters as I walk around to
check the connection between the theme, drawing, and evidence. This will also
help me understand whether the students are able to determine the theme so that I
can intervene when needed.
o Four-Square Poster Paper: students will complete a Four-Square poster with their
group that requires students to identify the theme of the poem, draw a picture to
represent the theme, and cite two pieces of evidence to support their theme. This
will measure the student’s ability to determine the theme and further extend their
understanding of it by representing it in a different form such as a symbol or
image. The ability to cite two pieces of evidence from the poem will also
demonstrate their understanding of the theme by making connections between the
evidence and the theme. Thus, this assignment will measure their success in
achieving the standards.

ELABORATION & EXTENSION:

1. Elaboration: students can refer back to the Foldable to help them understand certain
literary devices or theme to help them analyze the tone or theme.
2. Extension: students will complete a Spoken Word Questions handout to extend their
learning of the poem. This will ask the students to analyze specific lines to identify
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literary devices and explain the effects that one literary device has on the tone of the
poem. They will also be asked to describe love using the same style that the poets used
for “When Love Arrives.”

RESOURCES:
- “OCD” by Neil Hilborn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnKZ4pdSU-s
- “When Love Arrives” by Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPG6nJRJeWQ
o Four-Square Poster Format (below)
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Four-Square Poster: ___________________________________________________
title of poem and author(s)
-

Pair 1 Pair 2
Person 1: Theme: determine the theme of the poem Person 1: Find evidence to support the theme of the poem.

NAME NAME

Person 2: Theme: draw a visual to represent the poem. Person 2: Find another evidence to support the theme of the poem.

NAME NAME
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Handouts

The first page is from one handout, the Four-Square” “Poetry” by Pablo Neruda, which

the students completed independently during the first lessons. The next page is the backside of

this handout where students could choose to write an acrostic poem about poetry or a cinquain

poem about themselves; this was more of an extension to the assignment that was not used as an

assessment.

The second handout, which is the Poetry Unit Packet, is a packet that consists of the

objectives for the unit and the poems that were read in class. The following pages are copies of

the two poems that were read for the first lesson.

Originally the theme was organized into a row on the Four-Square handout, but I changed

the order to a column to make it more accessible for pairs to work together on the Four-Square

poster.
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Name: ___________________________________ Period: ________ Date: _________________ #: _______

Four-Square: ______________________________________________________
title of poem and author(s)

Theme: Determine the theme of the poem. Theme: Draw a visual that represents the theme of the poem.

Evidence: Cite evidence that supports the theme of the poem. Evidence: Cite another piece of evidence that supports
the theme of the poem.
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Write an Acrostic Poem for the word POETRY

P ______________________________________________________________________________

O ______________________________________________________________________________

E ______________________________________________________________________________

T ______________________________________________________________________________

R ______________________________________________________________________________

Y ______________________________________________________________________________
~~ OR ~~

Write a Cinquain Poem about a poetry or about yourself.

Cinquain Poem is a five-line poem that describes a person, place, or thing.

Line 1: a one-word title, a noun dessert

Line 2: two adjectives cold, creamy
Line 3: three -ing participles eating, giggling, licking
Line 4: a phrase cone with three scoops
Line 5: a synonym for your title a ice cream
different noun.

____________________

____________________, ____________________

____________________, ____________________, ____________________

_________________________________________

____________________
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 17
I Have to Write a Poem for Class
By Jack Prelutsky

I have to write a poem for class

But don't think I'll succeed,
I know I don't know all the words
That I am going to need.
I cannot quite imagine
How my poem's supposed to be —
I've got a sinking feeling
I'm not good at poetry.

My poem must have a meter

And it also has to rhyme,
It's due tomorrow morning…
How I wish I had more time!
I do not think that I can write
A poem the way I should --
But look…this is a poem right here,
And it is pretty good.
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Poetry
By Pablo Neruda

And it was at that age ... Poetry arrived And I, infinitesimal being,
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where drunk with the great starry
it came from, from winter or a river. void,
I don't know how or when, likeness, image of
no they were not voices, they were not mystery,
words, nor silence, felt myself a pure part
but from a street I was summoned, of the abyss,
from the branches of night, I wheeled with the stars,
abruptly from the others, my heart broke loose on the wind.
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth

had no way
with names,
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire,
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.
 19

Assessment Criteria

The assessment criteria for the class and the focus students were the same. The rubric

below was used to assess the student’s performance for both the individual work on the Four-

Square: “Poetry” by Pablo Neruda handout and the group assignment on the Four-Square Poster:

“OCD” or “When Love Arrives.”

Not Met (0-1) Approaching (2-3) Met (4)

Theme Student did not Student stated a Student stated a

Determine the state a theme, or theme, but it is too theme relevant to
theme of the poem. the theme is broad or vague, not the poem that
incorrect. specific to the expresses a clear X1
poem’s topic. connection to the
topic of the poem
and the feelings of
the poet.
Image Student did not Student drew an Student drew an
Draw a visual draw an image to image that attempts image that relates
representation of represent the to represent the to the theme of the
the theme. theme, or the image theme, implying poem and has a X.5
misrepresents the some connection to clear connection to
theme. the theme. the theme.

Evidence Student did not cite Student cited at Student cited two
Cite two pieces of evidence to support least one relevant relevant evidence
evidence that the theme or cited evidence to support to support the
support the theme. irrelevant evidence. the theme, or two theme of the poem X1
pieces of evidence that clearly justifies
that do not directly the theme.
justify the theme.
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Graphic Display of Assessment Data

Figure 1. Scores of Individual Work Compared to Focus Students’ Scores

Four-Square:
"Poetry" by Pablo Neruda
10
Points Received (out of 10)

0
Class Scores Focus Student Scores

11% of the student received 7/10, which is approaching the standards.

17% of the students received 9/10, which is meeting the standards.
72% of the students receive 10/10, which is also meeting the standards.
89%, more than half the class including the two focus students, met the standards.

Figure 2. Scores of Group Work

Four-Square Poster: 40% of the class, who received 3/10 or
"OCD" and "When Love Arrives" 6/10 as a collective, did not meet the
standards.
Group A
60% of the class who scored 9/10 or
above met the standards.
Group B

More than half of the class met the

Group C standards as a collective in their small
groups; two of the groups (Group B and
Group D Group E) that met standards included
the two focus students.
Group E

0 2 4 6 8 10
Points Received (out of 10)
 21

Scanned Copies of Student Work Sample and Rationales for Given Scores

Student Work Sample for Individual Work

Low: 6.5/10

This student received a 6.5/10, which is approaching the standards. The student stated a

theme, but it was too broad and not specific to the poem; the student also failed to include the

word “poetry” in the theme, which is the topic of the poem. On the rubric, the student scored a

2/4 for theme. For the image, the student was able to visually represent the theme, which

captures the poet’s feelings about the topic, but again, failed to specify that the topic is poetry.

The image was scored 1.5/2. Lastly, the student scored a 3/4 for evidence; because the student

was unable to determine a clear theme, the evidence was also incorrect or lacked connection to
 22

the theme. The evidence, for example, expressed a sense of confusion, hence the repetition of “I

don’t know.” The confusion expressed does not directly connect to the theme of trying new

things. Altogether, the student scored a 6.5/10: the student was able to represent the feelings of

the poet and cite evidence, but the information does not demonstrate the student’s overall

understanding of the poem due to the lack of coherence between the theme, drawing, and

evidence.

Medium: 9/10

This student received a 9/10, which is meeting standards. The theme scored a 4/4 because

it is relevant and specific to the poem, stating the topic of poetry and that it can be perceived as

an escape for people, which is how the poet feels about poetry. The drawing also received a full
 23

score of 2/2 because it clearly represented the theme of poetry being an escape; it also included

labels to specify that the hole is an escape. The evidence scored a 3/4 because at least one piece

of evidence related to the theme of escape. For example, the second cited evidence discussed the

experience of writing poetry as “pure nonsense, pure wisdom.” The first evidence, however,

described the arrival of poetry, which does not necessarily demonstrate escape. Although the

student had some difficulty citing relevant evidence to support the theme, the student determined

a specific theme of the poem and demonstrated it clearly through a visual representation.

High: 10/10

This student received a 10/10, which is meeting the standard. Each element received full

points. The theme expressed how the poet feels about poetry, viewing it as a way to enter a new
 24

world. The image, too, reflected that, as it is implied that the illustrated character moved from

one world to another. The two pieces of evidence have a direct connection to the theme. Poetry

bringing one into a new world is supported by the following phrases of the evidence: “I saw the

heavens” and “felt myself a pure part of the abyss.” Both phrases demonstrated a transition from

one space to another, thus supporting the idea that poetry brings one into a new world.

Student Work Sample for Group Assignment

For the group assignments, students were assigned roles to complete specific boxes. The

students were graded as a group because the objectives included students being able to engage in

discussion; therefore, I expected the students to work collaboratively.

Low: 3/10
 25

This group received an overall score of 3/10. The theme scored a 2/4 because it was too

broad and not specific to the poem; the students needed to clarify how love is complicated as

described in the poem. The students also wrote a theme before that regarding the hardships of

relationships, however they chose to rewrite a different theme that is written in the box. It seems

that the rest of the Four-Square was based off the initial theme and was not adjusted to represent

and support the boxed theme, thus affecting the score of the rest of the assignment. The image

misrepresented the theme but supported the initial theme, thus received a 1/2. The evidences also

do not connect to the theme but support the initial theme, thus received a 0. Had the students

worked together to adjust their parts based on the change of theme, they would have a more

accurate and coherent assignment.

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Medium: 9/10

This group received a 9/10. Their theme received a 4/4 because it was clear and specific

to the poem. The image, however, does not directly connect to the theme, and the door and light

switch do not represent love changing for good or bad. The visuals represent the evidence of

change, as the students cited evidence that demonstrated how the poet changed after his

girlfriend left him. Therefore, the evidence was relevant and received 4/4, but the image

represented the evidence and not the theme, so this element received a 1/2.

High: 10/10

This group received a 10/10, and each element of the criteria received full points. The

theme was specific to the poem, stating that love can change one for better or for worst. This is
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demonstrated through the visual representation where the effect of love produces either a happy

face to represent the better or a sad face to represent the worst. The two pieces of evidence were

also relevant and showed a clear connection to the theme, describing instances where the poet

had changed his routine and behavior due to love.

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List of Resources used in Unit

1. Poetry Unit Packet

a. “I Have to Write a Poem for Class” by Jack Prelutsky
b. “Poetry” by Pablo Neruda
c. “OCD” by Neil Hilborn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnKZ4pdSU-s
d. “When Love Arrives” by Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPG6nJRJeWQ
2. Tone Word Bank:
http://www.foothillfalcons.org/ourpages/auto/2013/8/30/62075757/Tone.pdf