Unit Plan

Date: Spring 2020 Teacher’s Name: Ms. McCormack

Subject: ELA Grade Level: Grade 10
Learning Segment Topic: Poetry and Prose Length of each lesson: 50 Minutes

Central Focus:
Students will develop an understanding of poetry and the different elements within a poem.
Additionally, they will then gain an understanding of what prose is and how it differs from
poetry.They will demonstrate their comprehension skills by practicing close reading as well as
utilizing their critical thinking skills in order to compare the two styles of writing. Different
authors’ points of view and rhetoric styles will be analyzed to determine the purpose of the texts.
Students will differentiate the elements of poetry and prose to understand that there is a
seperate purpose for both forms of expression.

Essential Question(s):
- What is the use of poetry/poetic language?
-What is the use of prose/poetic language?
- What is the author’s purpose?
- What evidence can I cite to support my claim?

Learning Standard:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.6
Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses
rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.

Pre-Assessment: Students will fill out a short anonymous questionnaire asking:

-Have you ever read poetry?
-Have you ever written poetry?
-Do you know what an informational text is?

Differentiation:
- Students are grouped specifically depending on their reading comprehension skills from past
lessons.
- One specific student who isn’t proficient in English works with a student who is especially
fluent in both English and Spanish.
- One specific student who often sits by the teacher’s desk is paired with the strongest reader in
the class.

Academic Language Plan:

- Students will be exposed to multiple genres of text which aids the learning of academic
language.
- Students are comparing and contrasting two genres of writing which strengthens the learning
of academic language.
- Students will have to confront the following academic language functions: compare and
contrast, analyze, and synthesize.

Day 1: Introduction to Poetry and Prose

Learning Objectives: Assessments:
- Students will be able to identify the basic - Assessment #1 - Writing Break reviewing
elements of poetry the main elements of poetry
- Students will be able to identify the basic
- Assessment #2 - Writing Break #2
elements of prose
reviewing the main elements of prose

-Assessment #3 - Post-Lecture Assessment

that summarizes lecture

Procedure: Include an estimate of how much time you will allot for each phase below. Include
all steps in the plan. Number the steps in the plan.

Anticipatory Set (5 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H4JBJhLQn8

1. 3 pre-assessment questions are posted on the smartboard as the students enter the
room. They are asked to jot them down as soon as they are seated. (Slide 2)
2. After the students are seated and jot down the essential questions, they are shown the
“Why We Read Poetry” video. (Slide 3)
a. As the students watch the video, the teacher reviews the questions they just
answered.

Initial Phase (instruction – direct/indirect) EXPLORE (25 minutes)

1. The essential questions are posted on the board and students are asked to write them in
their notebooks in order to look back on them throughout the lesson. (Slide 4)
2. The teacher gives a lecture via PowerPoint Presentation on the following:
a. The Elements of Poetry (Slide 5)
i. Students are given Handout #1: Poetry Vocabulary Guide to follow along
with during lecture
b. Why Do We Write Poetry? (Slide 6)
i. Before the answers are shown, the students are asked to answer the
question based on prior knowledge.
c. Writing Break: Stop in the middle of lecture… (Slide 7) (Assessment #1)
i. The students are to summarize what they just learned in their notebook.
 Guiding questions include:
-What are the main elements of poetry?
-Why do people write poetry?
-How is poetry different from other styles of writing you have read in other
classes?
d. The Elements of Prose (Slide 8)
e. Why Do We Write Prose? (Slide 9)
f. Writing Break: Stop at the end of lecture…(Slide 10) (Assessment #2)
Students are to summarize what they just learned from the second half of
the lecture in their notebook.
Guiding questions include:
-What are the main elements of prose?
-Why do people write prose?
-How is prose similar to styles of writing you have read in other classes?

Middle Phase (practice-guided/independent) EXPLAIN (10 minutes)

1. Students are split into special groups based on reading ability, language, proficiency,
and behavior. (Slide 11)
2. Post-Lecture Assessment: (Slide 12) (Assessment #3)
a. Prompt for students: Now that you’re in your groups, summarize both part 1 and
part 2 of today’s lecture. The one catch is...you must do it in 5 sentences! I will be
collecting this when you are done.
b. Evaluative criteria is posted on the board along with the prompt.

Concluding Phase (closure/summary: Action/statement by student(s)/teacher to wrap up

lesson (15 minutes)

1. A blank sheet of paper is handed out to each student

2. Snowstorm Activity: Prompt (Slide 13)
a. On the paper, they are to write down 1 fact that they learned today which they did
not know prior to class.
b. Then, they crumble up the paper
c. Given a signal, they throw their papers like snowballs in the air
d. Each student picks up a “snowball” near them and they go around the room
reading the fact out loud

Follow up: What comes next to reinforce the lesson (HW or supplemental instruction).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDo1_71aJ0o (Slide 14)

1.) For homework, students are to watch an instructional cartoon on Poetry and
Prose on YoutTube called “Poem vs. Prose”
2.) Then, they are to write down 3 key ideas they learned from the video to bring into
class the following day.

Materials:

1. PowerPoint
 2. Handout #1 - Poetry Vocabulary Guide

Resources:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H4JBJhLQn8 - Why We Read Poetry

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDo1_71aJ0o - Poem vs. Prose
3. http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/30738_poetry.pdf - What is Poetry?

Day 2: Reading of Poetry

Learning Objectives:
- Students will be able to analyze Lord
Tennyson’s Poem
- Students will be able to demonstrate an
understanding of the purpose of poetry
- Students will be able to sketch an image
from Lord Tennyson’s Poem
Assessments:
- Assessment #4 - Entry Slip referring to the
lesson from the previous day
- Assessment #5 - Drawing and Illustrating an
image of the poem read
- Assessment #6 - Poetry Analysis Worksheet
that reflects on poem

-Assessment #7 - Exit Slip that focuses on

making predictions

- Homework - Reinforces elements of poetry

Procedure: Include an estimate of how much time you will allot for each phase below. Include
all steps in the plan. Number the steps in the plan.

Anticipatory Set (5 minutes)

1. Students are given an entry slip as soon as they walk in the door about the
previous day’s lesson to activate prior knowledge. (Slide 15) (Assessment #4)

Initial Phase (instruction – direct/indirect) EXPLORE (20 minutes)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45322/the-eagle-56d224c9a41d1

1. Every student is given a copy of Alred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Eagle”

a. Then, each student is given a copy of Handout #2, or Annotation Directions to
give them a guide while annotating.
b. Students are shown an example of an annotated poem on the board. (Slide 16)
c. After reviewing both the annotation guides and examples, the students are given
3 minutes to read the poems on their own silently without annotating.
 d. Then, the teacher reads the poem out loud to the class without annotating.
e. Next, the students annotate the poem on their own according to the annotation
guide.
f. Finally, the teacher and the students go through the poem line by line adding any
annotations and comments they may want to add.
2. Drawing & Illustrating
a. Students are to illustrate the eagle that was just described in the poem.
b. First, they are shown completed examples on the board (Slide 17)
c. They are to label their drawing and explain why they drew it the way they did.
d. Drawings are shared with a partner close to them

Middle Phase (practice-guided/independent) EXPLAIN (15 minutes)

1. The students are to work independently on a provided poetry analysis worksheet

(Assessment #6)
a. Evaluative criteria is posted on the board (Slide 18)

Concluding Phase (closure/summary: Action/statement by student(s)/teacher to wrap up

lesson (15 minutes)

1.) Students are given an Exit Slip that involves predicting the similarities and differences
between today’s lesson and tomorrow’s lesson. (Slide 19) (Assessment #7)

Follow up: What comes next to reinforce the lesson (HW or supplemental instruction).

1. Student are to look up any poem of their choice on poetryfoundation.org

2. In their notebooks, they are to write down the title of the poem and write down one
element of poetry from class that they notice being utilized.

Materials:

1. Powerpoint
2. Handout #2

Resources:

1. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45322/the-eagle-56d224c9a41d1 - The Eagle

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
2. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Poetry-Annotation-A-Colorful-Guide-
4320595 - Annotation Poetry Guide

Day 3: Reading of Prose - Informational

Text
-
 Learning Objectives:
- Students will be able to summarize a text
- Students will be able to use reading
comprehension skills in order to read an
informational text
- Students will be able to summarize an
informational text
Assessments:
- Assessment #8: “The Eagle” Do Now
asking about poem from previous day
- Assessment #9: Partner Reading
Summary Sheets that focuses on
summarization
- Assessment #10: Post-Reading
Assessment Worksheet that assesses
reading comprehension
- Assessment #11: Compare and
Contrast Worksheet that connects this
lesson with the next lesson in the
learning segment.
- Assessment #12: Exit Slip drawing
from lesson

Procedure: Include an estimate of how much time you will allot for each phase below. Include
all steps in the plan. Number the steps in the plan.

Anticipatory Set (5 minutes)

1. Students will complete a “Do Now” regarding Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem that was
covered on Day 2 of this unit. (Slide 20) (Assessment #8)

Initial Phase (instruction – direct/indirect) EXPLORE (10 minutes)

Eagles. (2019, June 11). Retrieved February 23, 2020, from http://www.pbs.org/ wnet/
nature/eagles-introduction/3089/

PreReading Plan (PreP)

1. - Students are split into pairs and are asked to list words and phrases that they associate
with the word “Eagle”
2. - An example created by the teacher is shown on smartboard while students work as a
reference (Slide 21)
3. - Students group all of their ideas into categories based on word associations and
similarities - Students eliminate words that do not fit into these categories

Middle Phase (practice-guided/independent) EXPLAIN (25 minutes)

Eagles. (2019, June 11). Retrieved February 23, 2020, from http://www.pbs.org/ wnet/
nature/eagles-introduction/3089/

In pairs, students are to read the PBS informational text regarding eagles.

1. - Each member of the teacher-assigned pairs rotate being the “Coach” and the “Player”
a. The teacher also choose who is the “coach” and who is the “player”
 2. The teacher demonstrates pair reading with a sample paragraph and a student volunteer
3. The stronger reader starts off as the “player” and reads the informational text out loud
first.
4. The “coach” reads along and corrects any mistake the reader makes.
5. The pair write a summary of each paragraph read in 10 words or less on a piece of loose
leaf. (Assessment #9)
a. An example is shown to students first. (Slide 22)
6. The pairs switch roles until the selection is finished.

Concluding Phase (closure/summary: Action/statement by student(s)/teacher to wrap up

lesson (20 minutes)

1. After reading the text and completing the “Coach and Player” activity, students
(remaining in the same pairs) revisit their lists of associated terms from the PreP activity
and evaluate how well their prior knowledge relates to the information they now learned.

2. Next, students are given a fill-in-the-blank summary template to assess how well they
comprehended the informational text. (Assessment #10).
a. This worksheet guides students into proper summarizing asking questions like:
i. What is the main idea?
ii. What are the key details?
iii. How would you say this in your own words?
b. Before they complete the sheet, they are also given an example of the fill-in-the-
blank worksheet done by the teacher. (Slide 23)
c. The teacher reviews the model to the class and goes through it step by step.
3. Exit Slip
a. Prompt: At the end of yesterday’s class, I asked you how you thought today’s text
would differ from yesterday’s text. Was your answer accurate? Was it incorrect?
Why or why not? (Slide 24) (Assessment #12)

Follow up: What comes next to reinforce the lesson (HW or supplemental instruction).
Homework written on PowerPoint:

1. The students are given homework which is a Compare and Contrast worksheet that
connects the poem read in the previous lessons to the informational text read in this
lesson. (Assessment #11)

Materials:

1. PowerPoint

Resources:

1. Eagles. (2019, June 11). Retrieved February 23, 2020, from http://www.pbs.org/ wnet/
nature/eagles-introduction/3089/

Day 4: Compare and Contrast

 Learning Objectives:
-Students will be able to make compare two
texts to find similarities and differences
-Students will be able to identify the purpose
of each text
Assessments:
-Assessment #13 - Graphic Organizer Venn
Diagram that compares and contrast both
texts
-Assessment #14 - Brainstorming reflecting
on learning

Procedure: Include an estimate of how much time you will allot for each phase below. Include
all steps in the plan. Number the steps in the plan.

Anticipatory Set (5 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M-6dIukdaY

1. The students are shown an educational video on comparing paired texts to activate prior
knowledge. (Slide 25)

Initial Phase (instruction – direct/indirect) EXPLORE (15 minutes)

1. Students are to pair up with their same partner from the past few lessons with their
Compare and Contrast homework worksheet from the night before (Assessment #11)
a. They are to share their answers with one another while each pair is given a
specific question that they are to focus on.
b. After 5 minutes, 1 person from each group goes up to the smartboard and writes
their response on the corresponding line. (Slide 26)
c. As a class, the students and teachers go through every question to discuss the
responses and listen to any agreements/disagreements.

Middle Phase (practice-guided/independent) EXPLAIN (20 minutes)

1. Graphic Organizer
a. Remaining in their pairs, students are to use the previously completed Compare
and Contrast Worksheet, the Poetry Analysis Worksheet (Assessment 6 from
Day 2) ,and the Post-Reading Assessment Worksheet (Assessment #10 from
Day3) to complete a provided Venn Diagram.(Assessment #13)
i. Prompt is displayed on smartboard (Slide 27)
1. Teacher models 1 example of a similarity and a difference

Concluding Phase (closure/summary: Action/statement by student(s)/teacher to wrap up

lesson (15 minutes)

1. Brainstorming
a. In their notebooks students are to brainstorm and identify how much they have
learned about Comparing and Contrast/Poetry and Prose (Slide 28)
 i. They are to be specific and prove their response

Follow up: What comes next to reinforce the lesson (HW or supplemental instruction).

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/m/monarch-butterfly/

1. Students are to read a provided National Geographic informational text about butterflies
in preparation for class the next day.

Materials:

1. PowerPoint

Resources:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M-6dIukdaY Compare And Contrast

2. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/m/monarch-butterfly/
Monarch Butterflies

Day 5: Creating Poetry from Prose

Learning Objectives:
-Students will be able to demonstrate an
understanding of the differences between
poetry and prose
-Students will be able to create a poem from
an informational text
Assessments:
-Assessment #15 - Admit Slip about the
previous night’s homework
-Assessment #16 - Kahoot reviewing poetry
and prose
-Assessment #17 - Writing Workshop
students create their own poems from an
informational text

Procedure: Include an estimate of how much time you will allot for each phase below. Include
all steps in the plan. Number the steps in the plan.

Anticipatory Set (5 minutes)

1. The students are given an admit slip to fill out when they come in the room (Assessment
#15)
a. They are to be seated, answer the question promptly, and keep it to aid them
throughout the lesson

Initial Phase (instruction – direct/indirect) EXPLORE (15 minutes)

https://create.kahoot.it/share/poetry-vs-prose/402f00b6-d333-4647-aec4-d83ec4b0789c

1. Kahoot
 a. The class participate in a kahoot game that goes over the information covered in
the past 4 days (Slide 29)
b. Students access the kahoot game on kahoot.it with code 2357272 via their
laptops

Middle Phase (practice-guided/independent) EXPLAIN (20 minutes)

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/m/monarch-butterfly/

1. Writing Workshop
a. The students are to create their own poetry out of the informational text they read
the night prior. (Assessment #17)
b. The teacher reads the informational text out loud to refresh the class’s memory
and answer any questions on meaning/vocabulary etc.
c. Using Tennyson’s poem from Day 2 as an example, the students are to create a
2 stanza poem on Monarch Butterflies.
d. Every other line of the poem must correspond with direct evidence from the
informational text
i. A model is shown on the Smartboard before students begin (Slide 30)
1. This model is gone through step-by-step
e. This is a “writing workshop” so the student work independently but teacher is
available at all times to answer questions and guide the students in the right
direction
f. Completed poems will be uploaded to a discussion board on Google Classroom

Concluding Phase (closure/summary: Action/statement by student(s)/teacher to wrap up

lesson (10 minutes)

1. Three W Activity - What did we learn? So What? Now What?

a. Students reflect on what we learned, what the relevance, importance, and
usefulness was, and how it fits into what we are learning. (Slide 31)

Follow up: What comes next to reinforce the lesson (HW or supplemental instruction).

1. For Homework, students are to go onto Google Classroom and write feedback on 3 of
their classmate’s poems.

Materials:

1. Powerpoint

Resources:

1. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/m/monarch-butterfly/