COEPD LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE – Poetry Lesson Plans

Teacher Candidate: Allison Butcher

Content Area & Grade:
English, Language Arts
9th Grade
Lesson Topic and Rationale: Length (timing) of Lesson:
Reading, Comprehending Poetry 50 Minutes
This unit will teach students the impact that poetry can have on society and the
importance of being able to understand the meaning behind it. This is important because
it can give students their own voice and a way to make a difference in their own lives.
Students will learn that speaking out in various forms of writing can call attention to
issues and show others how they may be in the wrong when they are making their peers
feel excluded and alone. It can also cause students to think about the lives of people who
they walk by every day without thinking about how certain things make them feel.

INSTRUCTIONAL OUTCOMES
WV Standard/s (daily): https://wvde.us/tree/middlesecondary-learning/english-language-arts/

ELA.9.18
By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, in the grade 9-10 text complexity range proficiently, with
scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Learning Objective/s (SWBATS):

SWBAT relate a poem to a moment in their own lives.
SWBAT conclude the meaning of the given poem.

Formative Assessment:

Exit Slip
 PREPARATION
Materials/Resources:
Copies of “Jorge the Church Janitor Finally Quits” by Martín Espada, Bell Ringer Journals, Group Worksheet with bullet points, highlighters, Exit Slip, Copies of
“black like me” by Renée Watson, iPads

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES
*Highlight BLUE for materials/GREEN for technology
*Highlight PINK for instructional strategies
*Highlight YELLOW for discipline-specific academic language/vocabulary

Procedural Steps Questions Differentiated Instruction

Activating Strategy/ Time Have students read “Jorge the Church Janitor Finally Has anyone felt the way that the
Introduction 5 Quits” by Martín Espada. This should be passed out on all character Jorge does in this poem? Students who have
min desks before class starts. difficulty reading can listen
to the poem being read
The following should be displayed on the board or aloud using their iPads and
projector: headphones.
“Write a paragraph that answers the following questions.
Have you ever felt alone or invisible? Have you been in a
place where you were different than everyone else?
Were you called out for it? How did this make you feel?”
Core Instruction Time

Group Share 7 Have students share their bell ringer with the group that Ensure that students are in
min they are currently sitting in. If they are sitting at a table their assigned seats which
alone, then they should join the smallest group. There are carefully chosen so that
should be four groups total. there is a balance of strong
readers and readers who
Share a time that you felt this way with the class, so they may struggle.
are more willing to share their own stories.

Class Share One person from each group must share with the class, Has anyone not shared from a group Introverted students will
5 tell the students to encourage someone in their group to to class discussion before? not be required to share
min share who has not before. since only one person from
the group has to, but they
Poem Analyzation Have the students use the highlighters in the middle of are encouraged to.
their tables and independently highlight any piece of this
5 poem that is confusing to them.
min
Afterwards, they should talk with their group and see if Were you able to help each other The highlighting helps
they can help each other figure out what their highlighted with the pieces that confused you? students with ADD/ADHD
pieces mean. Does any group need help figuring focus in on the specific
7 out something that you all had pieces of the poem that
min Assign one stanza to each group and have them write highlighted? they struggle with.
three bullet points describing what this means in the
context of the poem.
Sharing in groups and with
10 Have students share their findings with the class. class is beneficial for
min extroverted students.

5
min
 Closure Time

6 Pass out 3-2-1 exit slips which ask:

min 3 things you learned today
2 things you want to know more about
1 question you still have
Tell students that their homework is:
 read “black like me” by Renée Watson and
highlight pieces that confuse them in it. Does anyone need to check out a Handing students a copy of
 Write a 5-7 sentence paragraph responding to class highlighter to do the the poem rather than
either the poem we read in class or the homework? asking them to look it up
homework poem. Write about how the poem on the computer eliminates
makes you feel or how you can relate to it on distractions for ADD/ADHD
a personal level. students.

Hand a copy of the poem to the students as they walk out

the door in exchange for their bell ringer slips.
Contingency Time If there is extra time, students can share something from Will someone share one thing that
their exit slips. They can also begin their homework in they have on their exit slip with the The use of popsicle sticks
class. class? Use the jar of popsicle sticks for calling on students
that has everyone’s name on them if provides a way of low
If there a planned shortened schedule (school event), do no one volunteers. stakes sharing for
not have students share bell ringers with group or class. introverted students.

If there is an unplanned shortened schedule (fire drill,

code red drill), students can do the poem analyzation
group work during the next class period.