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Lesson Plan

Breaking up a Poem by ECSDM

Subject

English Language Arts (2005), English Language Arts (NYS P-12 Common Core)

Grade Levels

Intermediate, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade

Objectives

Using the teacher-guided presentation, students will discuss and take notes on writing poetry and utilizing line breaks.
As a whole group, students will locate the twenty-six words and compose a poem using their criteria for line breaks.
With partners, students will turn the poem into a Haiku and present their poem to the class.
After reviewing or clarifying Haikus with a PowerPoint presentation, students will create their own Haiku poem for homework.

Learning Activities

When students enter the room, they will clear off their desks except for their notebooks, a writing utensil and a Breaking Up Poetry Rubric.
After addressing the class, students take notes and ask questions on the PowerPoint presentation "Writing Poetry- Line Breaks."
After looking at the last slide, the teacher will ask the students to observe any differences in the classroom. When the students notice the twenty-six words posted around the room, the teacher will ask the students for any similarities between the words or any other observations.
When the students decide to arrange the words numerically and alphabetically, the teacher will direct two volunteer students to read the poem aloud to the class. As a class, students will decide with criteria-based reasons where the line breaks should occur; they can also change the language or remove any words that doesn't flow.
After assigning partners, students will edit the class poem and arrange some of the words into their own haiku. If students are unfamiliar with haikus the PowerPoint can be used before the students work with partners (just save the last slide for the closing activity). If they are familiar with Haikus, the teacher should show the PowerPoint presentation after volunteer students have shared their haikus.
The homework assignment is located on Slide 4 of the PowerPoint presentation, Haiku.

Materials

The students will need their notebooks and writing utensils. The teacher will need the Haiku PowerPoint presentation, the Writing Poetry- Line Breaks PowerPoint presentation, the Alphabet Poem PowerPoint (printed and laminated), a SMART Board and a LCD Projector.

Alphabet Poem

Writing Poetry- Line Breaks

Haiku

Description

This lesson is designed to introduce poetry and help break down the barriers in reading, speaking, listening, writing and understanding poetry. As a whole group, students will establish their own criteria for line breaks by discussing questions and taking notes on a PowerPoint presentation on line breaks.

Students will cooperatively search the classroom for twenty-six words that when arranged alphabetically or numerically creates a poem. After reading the poem twice, students will arrange the poem with line breaks and discover any clarifications that coincide with their own organization of the poem. After going over the format and history of a Haiku, students will turn the poem into a Haiku with partners. Students will create a haiku for homework using their task specific rubric as their guide.