Poetry is perfect for your close reading activities. Here's a lesson plan idea you can use with your own poetry passages, or if you have Classworks use one of ours!
Plan
Choose a poem from Classworks Classroom Reading activities with an appropriate lexile level for your class.
Try one of these:
How will students access the lesson? Try one of these options:
- Use the interactive white board to project the passage with print copies for students
- Small groups using a shared tablet
- Individually using their own device
Sample Classroom Activity
Read the poem (1st time): Focus on the structure
- Number the stanzas using the notes tool
- Highlight (yellow) all of the words they do not know
- Highlight (blue) words that appeal to touch, sight, smell, sound, or hearing
- Class discussion: Focus on vocabulary
- Use context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words
- Paraphrase each stanza using the notes you created
Read the poem (2nd time): Focus on content
- Complete the text-dependent questions associated with the passage
- Have each student summarize the poem in one sentence
- View students' work in the passage real-time
- Share summary sentences as a class. Keep track of similarities and differences.
Read the poem (3rd time): Focus on interpretation
- Have students answer the short answer question
- Or, have students describe what the poem means and why
- Both responses should be supported with evidence found in the text
