Unit Concept or Theme: Poetry and Language

Grade level: Eleventh Grade

Length of unit: 3 Weeks
Stage 1 Desired Results

Meaning
Enduring Understandings/Generalizations:

Standardized language is used to assure universal understanding
nonstandardized language allows for more interpretation of the
reader/recipient.
Poetry both uses and manipulates standardized language to evoke
emotion, rhythm, and aesthetics.
Both authors and readers can create meaning within a text

Essential Questions:

Why is there a stigma surrounding poetry?
How does the form of poetry affect our reading?
How much artistic license does a poet have?
Who creates meaning the author or the reader?
Knowledge & Skills Acquisition
Learning Goals: (e.g., Iowa/Common core standards.)

Reading:
1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including
determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. (RL.11-12.1.)
2. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful.
(Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.) (RL.11-12.4.)
3. Analyze how an authors choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to
provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact. (RL.11-12.5.)

Writing:
1. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event
sequences.
2. Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and
outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth, or resolution).
3. Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.
(W.11-12.3.)

Language:
1. Apply the understanding that usage is a matter of convention, can change over time, and is sometimes contested. (L.11-12.1.)
2. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to
comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
3. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. Analyze nuances in the meaning of words
with similar denotations. (L.11-12.5.)

Speaking and Listening:
1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (oneon-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11
12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
2. Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing for a full range of positions on a
topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote divergent and creative perspectives. (SL.11-12.1.)

Students will know

Key concepts
poetry, artistic license, authorial concept
Elements of poetry
Form: line, stanza, quatrain, couplets
Style: sonnet, ballad, ode, free verse, found
Rhythm/Rhyme: meter, iambic pentameter, syllabic, trochee,
stressed/unstressed, feet, verse, assonance, consonance,
alliteration, anaphora rhyme scheme, scansion
Elements of Language
Punctuation: ellipse, hyphen, semi-colon
Grammar: person, tense, parts of speech
Figurative: metaphor, symbol, simile, metonymy,
synecdoche, tone
Students will be able to

Identify the elements of a poem and their function
Classify different types of poems according to their characteristics
Plot/number a rhyme scheme
Be able to scan a poem
Locate purposeful misuse of language in poetry
Analyze author intent and interpret choices, citing textual evidence
Create their own poem and defend the choices made
Offer opinions and ideas toward another peers work in a productive
manner
Resources/Materials:


How Do I Love Thee?
After the Sea-Ship Walt Whitman
Because I could not Stop for Death Emily Dickinson
Washed Away
Winter Poem Nikki Giovani
Jabberwock C.S. Lewis
pity this busy monster, manunkind ee cummings

Storybird.com classroom and poetry feature



Stage 2 Evidence (Assessment)
Types of assessment: Selected-Response (tests, quizzes); Personal Communication (interview, oral exam, discussion);
Written Response (short constructed response questions, entrance/exit slips, essays); Performance Assessment (role-play,
Simulation, labs, dramatization)
Pre-assessment:

Poetry survey informal to both gather data on how much students know about grammar and poetry (Have they taken language courses
before, have they been exposed to creative writing, how many years of grammar study, etc.) as well as get a general idea of opinions of
poetry (do they like it and why, find it difficult and why, any favorite poets, most famous poet they can think of, etc.). The survey would
be short, but include a mixture of question types, like scales of 1-10 on agreement, multiple choice, short answer, etc.


Formative Assessment:

Quick writes
How After the Sea-Side? and How Do I Love Thee? conform to your expectations of form/style? Defy?
Why are conventions in poetry different from prose?
How much artistic license should poets have?
Why was Jabberwock still readable? What sort of conventions did C.S. Lewis pay attention to?
What was difficult about writing a poem with storybird? How much did it allow or disallow authorial
choice and concept? Did you find the constraints useful or hindering?
Monitor student sharing in partner, small group, and whole class discussion
Alphabox



Summative Assessment:

Students will create their own poem using the techniques that have been discussed in class, such as a mixture of standard and
nonstandard language, varied word choice, and form. Students will also submit a 2-3 page essay that explains their choices to either
conform to or resist typical conventions, how they anticipate it will be read, and how they think it worked or didnt work based on peer
reactions and how they edited after that.



Stage 3 Learning Plan




Use these questions to help guide the creation of your learning plan.

How many days will your unit last?

How will you sequence/organize learning your unit in an iterative/incremental way?

What opening activity will you use to hook or engage student learning in this unit?

How will you ensure students know where the learning is headed in this unit?

How will you introduce students to your Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions? At what points will you have your students
re-consider these understandings/questions?

How will you sequence/organize your assessments in an iterative/incremental way?

How will you foster critical thinking and problem solving in this unit? Self-reflection? Curiosity and imagination? Collaboration?
Innovation/Creativity? Adaptive thinking? Accessing and analyzing information? Oral and written communication?

What active instructional strategies/learning activities might you use to engage students in learning (You need to use at least 3 different
types of instructional strategies)?

How will you differentiate for individual student needs in this unit? What differentiated instructional strategies will you use (e.g.,
student choice, flexible grouping, jigsaw, choice boards/menus, tiered assignments, anchor activities, etc.)?

How will you use technology to support and facilitate student learning in this unit?