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Voices of Urban Youth

Lesson Plan

Voices of Urban Youth

Objectives

Students will read several poems and passages by urban youth and discuss their meaning, form, and cultural perspectives. Students will: [IS.27 - Language Function]

  • evaluate the characteristics of poems and narratives to determine how the form relates to purpose.
  • interpret and analyze the use of literary devices within and among texts.
  • evaluate the effectiveness of the author’s use of literary devices in various genres.
  • evaluate the context of literal, figurative, and idiomatic vocabulary to clarify meaning.
  • summarize, draw conclusions, and make generalizations using a variety of mediums.
  • identify and evaluate the structure, essential content, and author’s purpose between and among texts.
  • develop new and unique insights based on extended understanding derived from critical examination of texts.
  • analyze the societal and cultural influences in texts. [IS.28 - Level 1]

Essential Questions

  • How does interaction with text create thinking and response?

Vocabulary

[IS.1 - Preparation ]

[IS.2 - ELP Standards]

[IS.3 - ELL Students]

  • Characterization: The method an author uses to reveal characters and their various personalities. [IS.4 - All Students]
  • Flashback: A device used in literature to present action that occurred before the beginning of the story. Flashbacks are often introduced as the dreams or recollections of one or more characters. [IS.5 - All Students]
  • Foreshadowing: A device used in literature to create expectation or to set up an explanation of later developments. [IS.6 - All Students]
  • Generalization: A conclusion, drawn from specific information, that is used to make a broad statement about a topic or person. [IS.7 - All Students]
  • Hyperbole: An exaggeration or overstatement (e.g., I was so embarrassed I could have died.). [IS.8 - All Students]
  • Imagery: A word or group of words in a literary work which appeal to one or more of the senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell; figurative language. The use of images serves to intensify the impact of the work. [IS.9 - All Students]
  • Inference: A judgment based on reasoning rather than on direct or explicit statement. A conclusion based on facts or circumstances; understandings gained by “reading between the lines.” [IS.10 - All Students]
  • Irony: The use of a word or phrase to mean the exact opposite of its literal or usual meaning; incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the expected result. [IS.11 - All Students]
  • Literary Elements: The essential techniques used in literature (e.g., characterization, setting, plot, theme). [IS.12 - All Students]
  • Metaphor: A figure of speech that expresses an idea through the image of another object. Metaphors suggest the essence of the first object by identifying it with certain qualities of the second object. An example is “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun” in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Here, Juliet, the first object, is identified with qualities of the second object, the sun. [IS.13 - All Students]
  • Mood: The prevailing emotions of a work or of the author in his or her creation of the work. The mood of a work is not always what might be expected based on its subject matter. [IS.14 - All Students]
  • Narrative: Text which conveys a story or which relates events or dialogue; contrast with expository text. [IS.15 - All Students]
  • Personification: An object or abstract idea given human qualities or human form (e.g., Flowers danced about the lawn.). [IS.16 - All Students]
  • Plot: The structure of a story. [IS.17 - All Students and Struggling Learners] The sequence in which the author arranges events in a story. The structure often includes the rising action, the climax, the falling action, and the resolution. [IS.18 - Struggling Learners] The plot may have a protagonist who is opposed by an antagonist, [IS.19 - All Students] creating what is called conflict.  [IS.20 - All Students]
  • Poetry: In its broadest sense, writing that aims to present ideas and evoke an emotional experience in the reader through the use of meter, imagery, connotative, and concrete words. [IS.21 - All Students] Some poetry has a carefully constructed structure based on rhythmic patterns. Poetry typically relies on words and expressions that have several layers of meaning (figurative language). It may also make use of the effects of regular rhythm on the ear and may make a strong appeal to the senses through the use of imagery.
  • Point of View: The way in which an author reveals characters, events, and ideas in telling a story; the vantage point from which the story is told. [IS.22 - All Students]
  • Setting: The time and place in which a story unfolds.
  • Simile: A comparison of two unlike things in which a word of comparison (like or as) is used (e.g., She eats like a bird.). [IS.23 - All Students]
  • Symbolism: A device in literature where an object represents an idea. [IS.24 - All Students]
  • Theme: A topic of discussion or writing; a major idea broad enough to cover the entire scope of a literary work. [IS.25 - All Students]
  • Tone: The attitude of the author toward the audience and characters (e.g., serious or humorous). [IS.26 - All Students]

Duration

2–3 hours/2–3 class periods

Prerequisite Skills

Prerequisite Skills haven't been entered into the lesson plan.

Materials

Note: Each of the poems in this lesson was composed by or about a young person living in the city, and each one reveals the impact of environment on the speaker in the poem. Other poems and passages may be substituted for the suggested resources listed below. [IS.29 - ELL Students] It is helpful if a biography of the writer is available so that students can read it after analyzing the reading. The poems used should also offer students the opportunity to examine a variety of forms and writing styles so that they can see how a poet’s perspective shapes the work.

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Related Materials & Resources

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Formative Assessment

  • View

    During the lesson, keep the focus on analyzing the meaning of the reading, including the cultural perspective offered.

    • Have students search “We Real Cool” for evidence to support their opinions.
    • Observations of student participation in group and class discussion should also provide some insights into problem areas and strengths.
    • Students’ responses to “We Real Cool” and the comparison of the speaker in that poem with the one in “Saturday at the Canal” should provide insight into any problems students might be having.

Suggested Instructional Supports

  • View
    Scaffolding, Active Engagement, Modeling, Explicit Instruction
    W: Have students continue to practice the process of analyzing readings (WWGSAP) and keeping a response journal to record their thoughts.
    H: Provide the opportunity for students to respond to the readings with their own opinions and supporting evidence in written form and to discuss them with classmates.
    E: Assess and assist students as they work, both in person and through their response journal entries.
    R: Have students discuss their reactions to the readings in small groups and in class and revise and add to their written responses.
    E: Through group discussion of the readings and responses allow students to see their classmates’ reactions to and understanding of the readings.
    T: Have students discuss as a class and analyze readings as a group, so students who are unsure of their responses have the support of other students as they work through the process.
    O: Have students begin with a patterned response like the ones from the earlier lesson; then move to a comparison of speakers; finally, focus on the speaker’s perspective and the use of imagery.

     

    IS.1 - Preparation
    Preparation: List ELLs in this class and their level(s) of English proficiency.  
    IS.2 - ELP Standards
    Include the ELP standard(s) to be addressed in this lesson.  
    IS.3 - ELL Students
    Ensure these vocabulary words are familiar to ELLs. Provide many opportunities for using them orally in a meaningful context.  
    IS.4 - All Students

    To present this vocabulary, consider using this video/rap called “5 Things”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6I24S72Jps

    IS.5 - All Students

    For all learners, consider using the following clip to illustrate literary devices, flashback, foreshadowing, symbolism, atmosphere, and plot twist.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13NYEimqla8

    IS.6 - All Students
    See IS.5
    IS.7 - All Students

    For all learners, consider viewing this clip to illustrate Generalization:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrhleVq1VRA

    IS.8 - All Students
    For all learners, consider viewing this clip to illustrate hyperbole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmLBxy31dS4&feature=related 
    IS.9 - All Students
    For all learners, consider the following user-friendly definition: Imagery—words that paint a picture in a readers mind. For all learners, consider using some examples, found at: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/imagery-examples.html 
    IS.10 - All Students

    For Inference, Mood and Tone:  Teacher selects a picture or photo and passage based on a theme from selected cartoons and models through use of a “Think Aloud” the following:

    •  What do I infer from this picture/passage?
    • What do I “see” in this picture/passage?
    • What do I think is happening in this picture/passage?

    Then the teacher answers these questions aloud for students. Teacher then chooses a picture/passage from the selected works and asks students the following:

     What do you infer (read between the lines) about this picture/passage? 
    IS.11 - All Students
    For all learners, consider the following user-friendly definition: Irony—the difference between what you think is going to happen and actually does happen. 
    IS.12 - All Students

    For all learners, consider this user-friendly definition. Metaphor—a strong, direct comparison that does NOT use like or as. 

    Also, see this short clip for an illustration of simile, metaphor, and personification.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF9_fsUkxuk

    IS.13 - All Students

    For all learners, consider this user-friendly definition. Metaphor—a strong, direct comparison that does NOT use like or as. 

    Also, see this short clip for an illustration of simile, metaphor, and personification.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF9_fsUkxuk

    Also, see this short clip for an illustration of simile, metaphor, and personification.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF9_fsUkxuk 
    IS.14 - All Students
    See comment IS.4 and for all learners, consider this user-friendly definition: MOOD—the way a work makes you feel. Also see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDUhDV-72S0 
    IS.15 - All Students
    For all learners, consider providing and modeling a short text passage that illustrates “narrative”. 
    IS.16 - All Students
    For all learners, consider this user-friendly definition: Personification—giving human qualities to things that are NOT human
    IS.17 - All Students and Struggling Learners

    Consider this user-friendly definition:

    Plot-the sequence of events in a story

    Also, for struggling learners, consider using this graphic organizer to illustrate the elements of plot:

    http://jordanmccollum.com/wp-content/uploads/plot-chart-labeled.jpg

    IS.18 - Struggling Learners
    Note: Struggling learners may need more support for the concepts of: rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution 
    IS.19 - All Students

    For all learners, consider the following user friendly definitions:

    • Protagonist—usually the main character, the “good” character, and the story focuses on this character’s conflict
    Antagonist—usually is the “bad” character, or the person going against the protagonist. 
    IS.20 - All Students

    For all learners, consider this user-friendly definition:

    Conflict-The struggle between two opposing forces.

    To support all learners, consider  using this video:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szaWwIceU-4 
    IS.21 - All Students
    For all learners, consider using and alternative user-friendly definition of “poetry”.  
    IS.22 - All Students
    For all learners, consider selecting various passages/photos/text that illustrates the various points of view.  
    IS.23 - All Students
    For all learners,  see this short clip for an illustration of simile, metaphor, and personification. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF9_fsUkxuk 
    IS.24 - All Students
    For all learners, consider viewing the following short clip on symbolism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwE_ai5zyOg 
    IS.25 - All Students

    For all learners, consider this user friendly definition of Theme:

    For all learners, consider using the following definition:

    Theme—the main idea about life.

    IS.26 - All Students
    See comment IS.10
    IS.27 - Language Function
    Include a language function objective for this lesson.  
    IS.28 - Level 1

    Level 1

    Level 2

    Level 3

    Level 4

    Level 5

    Entering

    Beginning

    Developing

    Expanding

    Bridging

    Name pre-taught vocabulary and repeat definitions with a partner

    Give features of WWGSAPC with a partner

    Make predictions about the author based on information in text in a small group

    Defend own point of view about the cultural heritage impact on author's purpose in a small group

    Engage in class discussion of WWGSAPC elements of a passage

     
    IS.29 - ELL Students
    How are these passages relevant to ELLs? Use your answer to activate prior knowledge.  
    IS.30 - All Students
    For all learners, consider this user-friendly definition for clarity AFTER the discussion: Culture—the shared attitudes, values, and goals that make up a group of people.  
    IS.31 - Struggling Learners
    For struggling readers, consider paired reading/partner reading, Oral CLOZE reading.  
    IS.32 - Struggling Learners

    For struggling learners/readers, consider the following:

    • Use a graphic organizer with the question already provided
    • Use the “5 W chart” for students to complete
    Use this technique for all subsequent activities that direct the student to write/respond in writing to the selected works 
    IS.33 - Struggling Learners
    For struggling learners, consider creating a graphic organizer that already has the WWGSAPC mnemonic filled in.  
    IS.34 - All Students

    For deeper understanding of these concepts for all learners, consider using the Socratic Seminar as the framework for all “discussion” related activities for the texts in the “materials” section.

    For information on the Socratic Seminar, see:

    http://www.pattan.net/Videos/Browse/Single/?code_name=socratic_seminar

    and: www.paideia.org

    IS.35 - All Students
    This is a good place to discuss “stereotype.”  
    IS.36 - Struggling Learners
    See comment IS.31
    IS.37 - ELL Students
    ELLs working in small groups to complete the list.  
    IS.38 - All Students
    Good instructional practices include considering grouping strategies, and close monitoring of the groups progress.  
    IS.39 - Struggling Learners
    See comment IS.33
    IS.40 - ELL Students
    Oral response in small group for ELLs.  
    IS.41 - Struggling Learners
    For struggling learners, provide a T-Chart graphic organizer.  

Instructional Procedures

  • View

    Focus Question: How does your cultural experience influence your reading and understanding of text? [IS.30 - All Students]

    Students will examine several poems and short stories about and/or by urban youth, including their cultural perspective. They will keep a response journal during the process.

    Part 1

    Read the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks. [IS.31 - Struggling Learners] Have students write a response to it that follows the pattern established in Lesson 1 [IS.32 - Struggling Learners] (what is most striking about the poem, what students can tell about the poet, evidence for both, brief summary, author’s purpose, how the speaker affects what is said and how it is said). Follow the WWGSAPC process described in Lesson 1: [IS.33 - Struggling Learners]

    • W: form—short lines; short sentence; sentences carry over to next stanza; three words in each sentence; each sentence begins with “we”
    • sound—three short words in each sentence; interruption at end of each stanza; alliteration of “Lurk late,” “Strike straight,” “Sing sin,” “jazz June”; internal rhyme of “cool” and “school,” “late” and “straight,” “sin” and “gin,” “soon” and “June”; assonance of “Sing sin” and “Thin gin”
    • W: speaker is included (“we”) with the seven pool players at the Golden Shovel; is apparently a dropout (“left school”) and takes pride in the fact (“real cool”); enjoys danger (“Lurk late,” “Strike straight,” “Sing sin,” “Thin gin,” “Die soon”); expects to die young (“Die soon”)
    • G: Speaker is young, cool, and looking for trouble.
    • S: Dropout teens hang out with friends at the local pool hall, where they have fun, drink, have knife fights, and wait for early death.
    • AP: Show the excitement and brevity of life for some inner city teens.
    • C: Be certain to ask students for connections so they re-enforce the habit of looking for relationships among the readings and between their own experiences and the readings.

    Ask students to discuss how the poet’s cultural heritage affected what she wrote and how it was written. [IS.34 - All Students] (She was apparently a resident of an urban area, and she was familiar with rough life.) The dropout teens spend their time getting into trouble at the pool hall. The poem’s lines are short and quick and smooth, like the flick of a knife (“strike straight”). Discuss their responses as a class putting the information on the board/interactive whiteboard or on chart paper. Have students read the short biography of Gwendolyn Brooks and the interview and ask them to identify information in those resources that makes them rethink what they have already said or whether the information confirms their opinions. [IS.35 - All Students]

    Part 2

    Next, have students read Gary Soto’s “Saturday at the Canal” on their own. [IS.36 - Struggling Learners] This time, instead of writing a response, have them list what they know about the speaker. [IS.37 - ELL Students]

    • is past 17
    • doesn’t like school or games; teachers too old to understand
    • probably from poor area–“unwashed hair”
    • spent Saturdays at the canal, throwing rocks into the water with a friend (nothing to do)
    • is unhappy, wants to go to San Francisco but can’t get there
    • thinks about hitchhiking but doesn’t
    • wanted to be a musician
    • doesn’t ever get to leave town

    With their completed lists, divide students into groups. [IS.38 - All Students] Say, “See what the other members of your group have and then make any changes or additions to your list. Next, compare the speaker in this poem with the speaker in ‘We Real Cool.’ Be as specific and thorough as you can, and remember to list your evidence. You have about 20 minutes to do this, and then one of the groups will lead the class discussion.”

    Once they are ready, select one of the groups to present their comparisons; have the group lead the discussion for any additions/comments/disagreement.

    Possible comparisons:

    • both speakers are young (or at least the speaker in Soto’s poem is remembering his youth) and have found no place for themselves at school
    • the speaker in Soto’s poem is deeply unhappy and bored, while the speaker in Brooks’s poem even with––or maybe because of––the threat of death, leads a lively life
    • the speaker in Soto’s poem has a friend as bored and unhappy as he is, while the speaker in Brooks’s poem has six companions who are also devoted to living dangerously
    • the speaker in Soto’s poem falls victim to years that “froze/As we sat on the bank,” and the speaker in Brooks’s poem, though expecting an early and violent death, is still very much engaged with living a wild life

    Part 3

    “Next you are going to read ‘View of the Library of Congress from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School,’ and this time I’d like you to return to the regular response form (WWGSAPC). [IS.39 - Struggling Learners] In about 20–25 minutes, you will have a chance to share your thoughts about the poem.”

    Possible responses:

    • W: the speaker hadn’t thought of becoming a poet until the substitute teacher mentions it; reads the Hayden obituary; starts being interested in Hayden, who was the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, the precursor of the Poet Laureate; finds out where the Library of Congress is so that he can throw his rocks in that direction; connects his dress shoes, the gift of an aunt who works at the LOC, to the LOC and poetry; begins to think like a poet; connects Hayden’s death and his loafers
    • W: attends an all-black public school in Washington, D.C; is already a talented poet; spends time with friends on roof of apartment building, skipping stones in the direction of famous Washington sites where family members worked, calling out the names of the places; lives in Washington but isn’t really familiar with the Library of Congress; realizes his aunt has worked there for years; aunt bought him dress shoes; connects dress shoes with Hayden’s death; tries to connect Dunbar, the poet for whom his high school is named, to other institutions
    • G: the speaker is young and unworldly, but talented and searching for connections
    • S: The speaker is complimented on his poetry by a substitute teacher, who gives him the obituary of poet Robert Hayden. The speaker keeps it and works toward thinking like a poet, connecting Hayden’s death to the Library of Congress and to dress shoes bought for him by his aunt who works at the LOC.
    • AP: to show the awakening of a teen to his talent and to the possibility of becoming a poet. The topic is important to the speaker because it is a beginning for him in a world where he and his friends know the important sites only because family members work there. He is trying to find his place by thinking “like a poet” and connecting unfamiliar things, Hayden’s death and the LOC, to things he knows, his aunt and the dress shoes. The form and style are plain and straightforward, being most descriptive about the newspaper obituary and its recycling through nature and the dress shoes purchased for him by the aunt who works at the LOC––connections of two items that are important to him.
    • C: Discuss connections, for example, the poem’s contrast in attitude with the speaker in “Saturday at the Canal.”

    “We are going to conclude this lesson with the Langston Hughes poem ‘Dream Deferred.’ When you write your response, I would like you to do it a little differently. I want you to focus on two things as you think and write about the poem: ‘Why did Hughes choose to use these particular images, and what do you know about the speaker?’ [IS.40 - ELL Students] [IS.41 - Struggling Learners] Take about 20–25 minutes to read the poem and write about it.” After students have completed their responses, allow about 10 minutes for class discussion.

    “Now, I’d like you to identify an image in the poem you think is the most powerful and explain why you chose it.”

    Possible responses:

    • a raisin drying in the sun—the speaker’s unrealized dream is withering away like the raisin
    • a festering sore that ruptures, the pus running out—the dream deferred becomes more and more troublesome and painful, until it finally erupts
    • the postponed dream has become nauseating, something to be avoided
    • the “syrupy sweet” is so sweet that it has acquired unattractive characteristics, like the dream deferred it seems attractive at first but then changes and becomes less desirable
    • the postponed dream grows as a heavy load, one that grows heavier as the speaker carts it about
    • the speaker asks a question about the dream deferred: “Or does it explode?” This is an indication that the dream has finally become dangerous because it has been postponed for so long. The speaker is intensely interested in the “dream deferred” and in what happens when it is never realized. He speculates about it, trying several comparisons to see if they work. All are unpleasant, but it is the final one that threatens real danger.

    Have students write a reflection in their response journal, answering the question, “How does reading this poem expand, inform, or contradict what you think about culture?” Collect these reflections for assessment of students’ understanding of the concepts.

    Extension:

    • Provide the following information and resources to enhance students’ understanding of some of the authors whose work they analyzed in this lesson:

    o   Paul Laurence Dunbar, for whom the high school in “View of the Library of Congress. . .” is named, was the first black poet to be nationally recognized. One of his most famous poems is “Sympathy,” the first line of which, “I know what the caged bird feels, alas,” has become a part of the language.

    o   Robert Hayden, who grew up in a Detroit ghetto, should also be included. (see http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/o-daedalus-fly-away-home/ and http://www.poemhunter.com/robert-hayden/biography/). His poem “O Daedalus, Fly Away Home” could be discussed for its link to Greek mythology, along with its connection between slavery and the desire to escape and Hayden’s own desire to escape.

    o   Langston Hughes spent time in Harlem and was intensely interested in civil rights––share his biography with students––it requires no stretch of the imagination for the “dream deferred” to be civil rights.

Related Instructional Videos

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DRAFT 06/13/2011
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