Summary
Most everyone thinks the world revolves around them; however, everyone struggles with problems, and each person’s perspective colors his or her view of events. In this lesson, students will evaluate authors' perspectives (background, bias, passions, regrets, etc.) and use of figurative language in three different poems while examining a biography on each author. The final evaluation piece will require students to choose a newspaper article and analyze the author’s perspective within the writing. While this lesson is currently aligned only to 10th grade standards, it would be appropriate to teach in 11th grade as well, adjusting standards as needed.
Essential Question(s)
Why is it important to consider and attempt to understand another person’s perspective? Why is it important to examine an author’s perspective when reading a text?
Snapshot
Engage
Students look critically at photos and discuss what relationship each has to the topic of perspective.
Explore
Students manipulate poetry lines and their order, looking for deeper meaning and determining the significance of perspective.
Explain
Students analyze figurative language in poetry to determine meaning and perspective.
Extend
Students explore authors’ biographies for evidence to support who wrote which poem.
Evaluate
Students are evaluated through a "T Chart" (see Attachments) on pairing of poem to author, making sure logical evidence supports the pairing. Additionally, students write analyses of writers' perspectives from current newspaper articles in order to transfer the idea of perspective to another genre of writing.
Materials
Perspective pictures (attached)
Copies of the poems "Grass," "Richard Cory," and "The Silent Slain" (attached)
Poets' biographies
Poster board or butcher paper
Sticky notes
Access to a current newspaper article (Internet or paper copy)
Student devices with internet access
Engage
To begin this lesson, display the following pictures on the board (or have copies available for distribution to students).
After students look critically at the photos, have students discuss with an elbow partner how these photos relate to the idea of perspective. Allow for a few minutes of substantive conversation, and then ask a few students to share their ideas out with the whole class.
To assess prior knowledge, ask students to compare perspective in pictures to perspective in writing. Ask students, "What does it mean when we talk about an author's perspective in writing?"
After students have a chance to discuss this both in small groups and class-wide, guide students to a shared understanding of perspective and what influences one's ideas or thinking about a thing or relationship. This includes personal background, bias, passion, regrets, and other components.
Follow with the essential question, “Why is it important to understand an author’s perspective when reading a text?" Encourage students to keep this question in mind throughout the lesson.
Explore
To engage students in the use of close reading strategies when reading the poems, have the poems “Grass” by Carl Sandburg, “Richard Cory” by E. A. Robinson, and “The Silent Slain” by Archibald MacLeish cut into strips of lines (for “Grass” and “The Silent Slain”) and stanzas (for “Richard Cory”).
Hand students a poem in strips and have them sort the poem into what they think the order might be. (Make sure to not reveal the poet of each poem until the very end of the lesson.)
Ask students to pair up and explain to a classmate (or in writing) why they ordered their poems the way they did. As students finish, ask for a volunteer for each poem to share his or her poem's order and reasons for the order.
As students share, ask the rest of the class to examine how their orders are similar or different from the one shared and what differences in meaning were thus communicated, which they may share out. The goal of this activity is for students to discover and discuss how the meaning of a poem can be altered when it is rearranged; therefore, the meaning and theme of a poem is dependent on its order, structure, and organization.
Explain
Group students into pairs or groups of three and distribute one copy of each poem to each group. Again, make sure to not reveal the poets' names — the poet has been intentionally omitted from each poem on the attached file. Students can work with their partners from the previous ordering activity.
Instruct students to use the Why-Lighting strategy for each poem, paying close attention to figurative language and evidence of author's perspective. Students will have to make inferences to justify the author’s use of figurative language and the meaning behind the figurative language.
Here's how Why-Lighting works in this particular lesson:
Students will highlight words, phrases, or lines that are significant or important to their understanding.
Students will write in the margins of each highlighted word, phrase, or line WHY they chose this as important.
Students discuss (in small or large groups) the words, phrases, or lines they chose and why they chose them.
Have partners group up with another partner pair to make a group of four. Ask them to share their findings and come to a group consensus on the connections between figurative language, theme, and author's perspective. Each group should share their thoughts, focusing on how figurative language supports a poem's theme and how that connects to perspective.
Extend
Ask students to remix their groups to form a new group of three (or four) with new classmates. (For grouping strategies, check out the "Cooperative Grouping Strategies" document under Attachments.) Direct students to the three poets’ biographies and instruct them Jigsaw the three informational texts (biographies). Ask students to Why-Light their biographies. (Each student reads only one of the biographies and becomes an expert on that author. Groups of four will have two students reading the same article. It doesn’t matter which article has two readers.)
Ask students to infer which poet wrote which poem and why the biography supports the poet’s perspective in the poem. The group of three should agree on the matching of authors with poems. Students must cite evidence from the informational text (biography) to support their choice.
Students should fill in the attached "T Chart" during this activity. Each student should complete his/her own "T Chart," even though this is a collaborative activity.
Have students transfer their findings to poster board or butcher paper and post around the room or make available through technology. Students can re-create their T charts on a larger scale for this activity. This is a chance for them to "publish" their work.
Using the Gallery Walk/Carousel strategy, have students look at the findings and add comments and evidence on the pairings with Post-it notes. Model for students what possible comments might look/sound like in the Gallery Walk/Carousel activity. Check for understanding and logical support for pairings.
After the Gallery Walk/Carousel activity, allow students to review the comments on their presentations and change the pairings if they feel it is prudent. If students do change their pairings, ask them to cite evidence from the informational text to support the change(s). If they don't, ask them to justify this.
Tell students which author wrote which poem. Ask students to check their work and voice evidence from each biography that would support that author’s perspective in each poem.
Evaluate
Ask students to find a recent newspaper article of their choice (using technology, if available) to assess for author perspective, use of figurative language (if applicable), and the impact the diction has on the informational text. Ask students to write a one paragraph summary of the article and include any bias within the author’s perspective they found. Encourage students to consider their previous activities and conversations as they transfer that work to a different genre.
As an Exit Ticket, ask students to write or share a summary statement about how they learned experiences and contexts may lead to biases and differing perspectives. As part of this summary statement, students should recall the essential question (Why is it important to understand an author’s perspective when reading a text?) and think upon how understanding perspective might help them in other aspects of their lives. Give them Post-it notes and have them jot down 1–2 examples to turn in or post on the wall or the door.
Resources
K20 Center. (n.d.). Why-Lighting. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/128
K20 Center. (n.d.). Jigsaw. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/179
K20 Center. (n.d.). Gallery Walk / Carousel. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/118
K20 Center. (n.d.). Bell Ringers and Exit Tickets. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/125