• Student notebooks with examples of imagery and class discussions explaining why the examples are effective will provide more information about students’ understanding of an author’s use of imagery, connotation, and tone.
• Use the following checklist to evaluate students’ understanding:
  • Student demonstrates the ability to recognize an image and understands its significance in the text.
  • Student selects and explains at least five effective images from the story.

Focus Questions: What differentiates poetry from prose? Is figurative language different in poetry than in prose?

Have students take out their reading/language arts notebooks. Ask them to write a word or phrase describing the way they think Bradbury wants readers to feel about the situation Harry Bittering faces in “Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed” (Examples: puzzled, uneasy, threatened, as though there is an unexplained mystery). This has been discussed in Lesson 2, but students have had time to rethink the story while gathering images for their collection, so some students may have new opinions. Ask students to find two examples of imagery that support their response. Record the images and examples on the board/interactive whiteboard while students record them in their notebooks. Have students discuss their responses with a partner. Talk about how the images work together to create an impact, preparing the readers for what finally comes at the end of the story. Remind students to examine the connotations of the words in the images. Point out that the examples are integral to the story’s meaning and can’t be plucked out without damaging the story. (This should all go very quickly because it builds on what was covered in Lesson 2).

Arrange students into small groups. Then say: “We have taken a close look at how the author of ‘Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed’ uses language. Now we are going to take an even closer look. You are going to write a poem using Ray Bradbury’s words to write your poem. I’m going to put a couple of titles on the board.” Write the words Changes and Mars on the board/interactive whiteboard. “You are going to choose one of these as a title––and as a focus––for your poem. You won’t make up words. Instead, you will choose phrases from the story to make your poem. For instance, your poem ‘Changes’ might start like this (and notice that although you don’t change or add words, you can cut words out or drop suffixes, as I have done here):

Changes

The children, small seeds,

sown to all the Martian climes.

A salt crystal in a mountain stream,

being washed away.

Remember to look for word images in the story that illustrate your title and then arrange the words to look like a poem. If you have ideas about other titles you could use besides ‘Changes’ and ‘Mars,’ check with me and we’ll take a look at the story to see if you’ll be able to find enough images for it.”

Have a member of each group present the group’s “poem” and discuss each one, focusing on the most effective support for the title and the most effective imagery. (Remember the underlying question to ask is always “why?” Why does an example support the title? Why is an image effective?) After each group shares, ask student volunteers to share thoughts about the effective imagery and how it was supported in the poem. Record student responses on the board/interactive whiteboard for each group.

Extension:

• For students who need additional practice, review the idea of evidence from stories and poems providing “proof” of a certain tone in the text. Remind students that if they say, for example, that the tone of a text is gloomy, they should be able to provide evidence from the text to support their claim.
• Students who are ready to move beyond the standard may read the short story “The Trolley” and copy examples of effective imagery into the collection in their notebooks.