Lesson Plan Template

Theme/ Name of Lesson: Introduction to Poetry

Grade Level: ELA 10 – 1 Faculty of

Education

Duration of the Lesson: 80 minutes

Name of Instructor: Ben Scott

Materials Consulted: Oh Captain! My Captain! By Walt Whitman

Resources for Instruction: Oh Captain! My Captain! By Walt Whitman, youtube.com/watch?

v=LZ055ilIiN4

Connection to the Program of Studies:

GLO: Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to comprehend literature and
other texts in oral, print, visual and multimedia forms, and respond personally, critically and
creatively.
SLO:
 2.1 Construct meaning from text and context
 2.1.1 Discern and analyze context
 2.1.2 Understand and interpret content

Lesson Objective (SMART): Students will…

 Students will develop an appreciation for why we study poetry by studying relevant
examples and context.

Essential Question for the Lesson:

 Why do we study poetry?

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Fall 2017 - Instructor: A. Stout
 Introduction
Teacher will… Students will… Time

 Start the class by watching The Hill We  Watch the video 7–

Climb by Amanda Gorman 10
 Tell the class that she’s 23 years old mins
and a Harvard Graduate who used to (2:10
have a speech impediment and has an )
auditory processing disorder which
makes her hypersensitive to sound.
 Tell the class that today is the first day
in our poetry unit that will tie in with a
film study.

Formative Assessment (What will you look for to know students are engaged and learning?
How will you know if your outcome is being met?)

 Their interest in the video

Body (you may have a range of activities)

Teacher will… Students will… Time

Activity #1: Activity #1: Act.

 Before we get started, tell the  Think about and write down their #1:
class that I know that there are opinions on poetry and why they 15 –
usually a lot of feelings about feel that way about it. 20
studying poetry.  Move to sit with a new group of mins
 Tell the class that they have 2 students. (2:25)
minutes to individually think  Discuss their opinions about poetry
about and write down how they with their peers
feel about studying poetry and  Discuss the opinions as a class.
why they feel that way.
- Tell the class that I won’t get
offended by their opinions.
- If students are still writing
and thinking, give them a bit
of extra time.
 Tell everyone to get up and move
to another desk away from who
they usually sit with (if this is
allowed).
 Tell the students to discuss their
opinions with the people in this

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Fall 2017 - Instructor: A. Stout
 new seating arrangement.
 Give them 5 minutes to discuss to
start and more if they need it.
 Get the attention of the class and
ask if anyone wants to share their
honest opinions about studying
poetry.
Activity #2:
 After the class discussion of their
thoughts on poetry, tell the Activity #2:
students to individually reflect on  Think about why we study poetry Act.
WHY we study poetry. individually. #2:
 Give the students a solid 5  Discuss their ideas with their group 20 –
minutes to start and encourage and come up with a master list of 25
them to really think about it reasons mins
 Share their master list with the (2:45)
 Have them discuss with their
groups again and have them class.
come up with a master list of
reasons for why we might study
poetry.
 Encourage them to continue to
brainstorm as a group to come up
with as many ideas as possible.
 Have each group share their
master list with the class
- Ask questions to get more
explanation from them (Why
did you group choose that
reason, etc.)
Activity #3:
 Hand out copies of Oh Captain!
My Captain! Activity #3: Act.
 Ask if anyone has read it or  Read and re-read the poem #3:
knows anything about it  Answer the questions on the board 15 –
- If anyone does, tell them not 20
 Discuss the questions with their
to spoil anything for the class mins
group
 Tell the class to read the poem, (3:00)
then re-read it, and then maybe
even RE-READ it again!
 Write out the following questions
on the board:
- What did you think about the
poem?
- Does the poem remind you of
anything (personal

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Fall 2017 - Instructor: A. Stout
 experience, a book, a movie, a
song, a story, etc.)?
- What do you think the author
is writing about?
 Tell the class that they have 10
minutes to read the poem
through a few times and answer
the questions individually.
 Have them discuss their answers
to the questions with their
groups for about 5 – 7 mins
Activity #4 (Flex):
 While they are discussing, put the Act.
following questions on the board: Activity #4: #4:
- Who is the speaker?  Read the poem again 15 –
- What is the situation?  Answer the questions as a group 20
- What is the poem about?  Discuss the questions as a class if mins
we have time (3:15)
- What ideas are expressed by
the poet?
 Once they are done discussing,
tell the class that this poem was
written about Abraham Lincoln
(don’t tell them anything else)
 Tell them to read the poem again
and to answer the questions as a
group.
 If we have time, discuss the
questions as a class.
Flex Pt. 2:
 Tell them to reflect with their
group:
- How do we study poetry?
- Think about the many
different forms of poetry
Formative Assessment (What will you look for to know students are engaged and learning?
How will you know if your outcome is being met?)

 Responses to questions and in class discussions

Conclusion
Teacher will… Students will… Time

 Ask the class if they think it helps  Answer the exit slip 7 – 10
to look at the context when mins

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Fall 2017 - Instructor: A. Stout
 reading a poem. (3:22)
 Ask them to take off a small piece
of paper for their exit slip
- What did you think about the
poem before and after getting
the context?

Formative Assessment/ Summative Assessment (What will you look for to know students are
engaged and learning? How will you know if your outcome is being met?)

 The exit slips

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Fall 2017 - Instructor: A. Stout