Poetry Lesson
(Submitted by Heidi Wood - SD 41 Burnaby)
Poem: My Box of Letters
Source: Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology
Poet: Lee Maracle
Learning Outcomes
Students will:
- Listen critically to understand and analyse ideas and information, by visualizing and sharing; making inferences and drawing conclusions.
- Recognize and apply the features of oral language to convey and derive meaning, including text structure and nonverbal communication.
- Read fluently and demonstrate comprehension and interpretation, including: poetry in a variety of forms, stories from Aboriginal and other cultures.
- Select and use various strategies during reading and viewing to construct, monitor, and confirm meaning, including: making connections, visualizing, determine the importance of ideas/events and reading selectively.
- Respond to selections they read or view, by expressing opinions and making judgments supported by reasons, explanations, and evidence
Goal of the Lesson
- To have students explore and record their own history through inferential reading of poetry.
- To have students explore meaning in text through guided conversation.
Activate Prior Knowledge
Utilize the “Poet’s Toolbox” (Georgia Heard)
Review with the students what kinds of tools can be used when writing a poem: imagery, metaphor, words (powerful & descriptive), etc.
Teacher reviews with the students the templates for “I Am From” poems using the resource: “Reading, Writing and Rising Up”
Discuss how poems and stories can be non-fiction, autobiographical or fictional.
- What is non-fiction?
- What is an autobiography?
- Why write an autobiography?
- What autobiographies have you read?
- What did you find the most captivating in the text?
Predict
Teachers ask students to consider the following questions while completing the poetry writing/reading tasks below:
What does the title of the poem tell you?
What are some different types of boxes? Letters?
Questions & Interpret
What tools have been used that help you confirm meaning and make an opinion? Support your answer with examples from the text.
What tools does the author use to convey her thoughts and feelings? (ie. personification of the letters of the alphabet)
What is the purpose and significance behind the structure of the poem? (specifically looking at the couplets, the date in brackets after the title, the age in which she wrote the poem at the end)
What do the “letters” really represent?
What change does the speaker describe in the poem? Her changing relationship with the letters, words, language – from resentment to have more control over them.
Have you had a similar experience with something you have had to learn or wanted to learn? Tell this story to a partner.
In your opinion, what is the poet trying to connect with?
What was the speaker’s strategy in coping with her difficult relationship with the alphabet? Instead of rejecting the letters, words, language, she became their friend and now she has a career as a writer.
Tasks
Before Reading
- Complete the cloze poem activity.
- Share/discuss student word choices
During Reading
- Read the original poem My Box of Letters
- Take turns reading the original in pairs/two voices/round/etc….
- Discuss tools and questions to promote inference making and visualization
After Reading
- Respond to the poem in a letter to an ancestor/elder. Include questions about their education, their home, the family, etc….
- Reply to the letter using the “I Am From” template included below (adapted from “Reading, Writing and Rising Up”)
- A/B pair share – partner A tells what they learned from partner B, B shares from A, with the larger class
- View the videos below
Videos
Lee Maracle Part 1
Click above to view video (Windows Media Player)
Lee Maracle Part 2
Click above to view video (Windows Media Player)
Reminders/Caution
Discussing family trees and encouraging discovery into a child’s heritage can sometimes cause conflict or unresolved emotions.
Optional format:
- family circles instead of family trees
- significant person who has made an impact on them
Demonstrate Understanding
Refer to the assessment/evaluation checklist included. (the one included was developed with student input during class discussion)
Reflect on Learning
What did I learn about myself/my family that was new?
How did this process make me feel during/after?
Extended Learning Activities
- Create a class “I Am From” map that show where each child is from and connect the location with a string to their poem.
- Create Identity Boxes (sample picture & template included)