Teaching Overview

Name: Elizabeth Wilcox Grade Level: 5

School: Whitehills Elementary

Describe your target area for guided lead teaching:

My target areas for guided lead teaching is poetry. Students will learn about different poetry forms,
strategies to read and interpret poems, and will be given a chance to write their own poems. Strategies
that will be covered include making connections, questioning, visualizing/creating mental images,
inferring/predicting, synthesizing, and evaluating. There will also be time for us to compare poetry across
text, either with another poem or a book.

List the main Grade Level Content Expectation(s) (GLCEs) that this unit will work toward:
o S.DS.05.01 engage in interactive, extended discourse to socially construct
meaning in book clubs, literature circles, partnerships, or other conversational
protocols (poetry discussions)
o L.RP.05.03 respond to multiple text types listened to or viewed knowledgeably,
by discussing, illustrating, and/or writing in order to clarify meaning, make
connections, take a position, and/or show deep understanding without major
misconceptions. (poetry discussions)
o R.MT.05.01 self monitor comprehension when reading or listening to text by
automatically applying and discussing the strategies used by mature readers to
increase comprehension including: predicting, constructing mental images,
visually representing ideas in text, questioning, rereading or listening again if
uncertain about meaning, inferring, summarizing and engaging in interpretive
discussions.

List a small set of well chosen objectives for the unit. Label each objective with a number so you can
easily list the objective(s) for each day in the table below (e.g., Within their guided reading group,
students will use “sl” sounds to read words such as slow, slope)
1. Students will use 6 comprehension strategies to construct meaning from poems by recording
their use of these strategies in their poetry notebooks, participating in small group poetry
discussions, and contributing in whole class discussion.
2. Students will make connections between two texts as evidenced by their discussion in small
groups and responses in their poetry notebooks.

Provide a rationale for why your overall goals and your specific objectives are important and worthwhile
content or skills to learn, and how they are relevant to your students’ lives.
Poetry is such a valuable way for students to personally express themselves. In teaching poetry and
how to read poems for meaning, students will be introduced to a new kind of literature they not only can
read, but can also write in. Poems are valuable for students because it is yet another form of literature
where students can practice comprehension strategies. Further, poems are usually emotionally
condensed and thus may touch on emotions that students can relate to that are not present in other
genres. Finally, poetry offers a way to enrich students’ vocabulary and introduce them to new ways to
make their own writing interesting (metaphors, similes, onomatopoeias, etc). In Inquiry 1, I learned that
music is a big part of the community. The rhythm that poetry has goes hand in hand with this. Further,
writing and interpreting poems is very individualized so students will be able to bring their own
background knowledge and beliefs to the forefront.

List the main assessment(s) you will use to determine if your students meet your unit objectives for the
10/25-26 10/27-28 10/29-11/1 11/2-11/3 11/4-11/5

• Obj#1: Making • Obj #1: • Obj #2 • Obj #1: • Obj #1:

Connections Questioning • Instr. Format: Visualizing Inferring/Predicti
• Instructional • Instr. Format: read aloud, • Instr. Format: ng
Format: mini- mini- whole class mini lesson, • Instr. Format:
lesson/think aloud lesson/think discussion, independent mini-lesson/think
(read poem aloud (read independent, work, partner aloud (read
demonstrating poem partner share, share, whole poem and show
how I make demonstrating whole class class discussion how I make
connections), discussion
how I question), • Ongoing predictions/infer)
independent small group • Ongoing Assessment: , group work
(students read (group reads a Assessment: (students solve
poem and record student
series of poems student participation, poem riddles
connections), and asks participation, together), whole
partner share, poetry notebook
questions), poetry Teaching Notes: split class discussion
community share community notebook, 2 days, poetry • Ongoing
• Ongoing share/discussio profundity scale selections, plain Assessment:
n
Assessment: • Teaching Notes, computer paper student
student • Ongoing cross-texts, split participation,
participation, Assessment: 2 days group poem
poetry notebook student work
• Teaching Notes: participation, Teaching Notes: split
split 2 days, poetry poetry notebook 2 days, poetry
selections • Teaching Notes: selections
prepared split 2 days,
chart paper to
record questions
and answers,
poetry
selections
11/8-9 11/10-11 11/12-15 11/16 11/17

• Obj #4- • Obj #2 • Final Project: • Continue Final Presentation of Final

Poet Project Projects
strategy- strong • Instr. Format: Investigation
feelings read aloud,
• Instr. Format: whole class
mini- discussion,
lesson/modeling independent
, writing and work, partner
conferencing, share, whole
minilesson class discussion
(paragraph use), • Ongoing
community Assessment:
share student
• Ongoing participation,
Assessment: poetry notebook
writing • Teaching Notes:
notebooks, 20-25 minutes,
conference talk cross-texts
• Teaching Notes: •
1 hour, chart
paper
 Outline for a Daily Lesson Plan: LAUNCH

Date:Oct. 25-26

Objective(s) for today’s lesson:

Students will activate their prior knowledge about poetry in a class discussion.
Students will use the making connections comprehension strategy to construct
meaning from the poems by recording connections in poetry notebook and class
discussion..

Rationale (Explain why this content and/or skill is important and worthwhile, and how you will work to
make it relevant to your students’ lives):
It is important for students to activate their prior knowledge around poetry so they
are prepared and in the poetry mindset. Activating their prior knowledge also allows the
students to think about where they have seen poetry before and how poetry is part of
their life.
This skill is important because not only does it help students make meaning of
poems, but further improves their comprehension in other areas of literature as well.
Making connections in and of itself is relevant to students’ lives because they can bring
their own knowledge and experiences and apply it to the text. Making text-text, text-
self, and text-world connections has no right or wrong answer so anything and
everything the students bring is valuable and relevant to the concept.

Materials & supplies needed:

Students: pencil/pen, poetry notebook (contains all poems and strategies)
Class: Overhead projector, poems and graphic organizers on transparencies for
overhead,
Poems:
A Poem Is
Seeing the World
My Teacher in the Market
Sweet

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each Academic, Social and
event Linguistic Support during
each event

• Introduction to the lesson 10 minutes

• I will begin by reading “A Poem Is” (and display it on
document reader) aloud to the students.
• Ask students to identify what genre of writing this is
(poem) and what about the text made them think that • Activating prior
knowledge
• Discuss differences between poems and other writing
• Modeling how to read
o Poems poems
 Poets pay careful attention to
language; discuss metaphors,
similes, personification
  More meaning, fewer words, poems • Clearly define these
generally shorter than other texts terms
o Record visually
 Originality for ELLs
 Form/structure; stanzas
• Ask students to think about how I read the poem,
discuss how to read poems
o Read silently first
o Pause at dashes, commas, semicolons, periods;
any surprise (word, phrase, or image that caught
your attention); end of stanzas; end of lines
o Pause for white space- between lines and
stanzas
o Read it more than once
o Just like songs have rhythm so do poems. • Connecting to students’
lives
Sound and rhythm is important in poems so read
them aloud
• Sometimes poems are confusing to understand
because of the language that they use. The way poems
are written is not usually how we talk everyday. We are
going to learn new strategies everyday to help us
understand poems.
• The first strategy we get to explore is making • Clear expectations for
connections poetry notebooks
• Pass out poetry notebooks, explain what they are (have
all our poems in them), and that they will be recording
their thoughts in these notebooks throughout the unit-
similar to their reading notebooks. It is important that
you record all your thoughts and uses of strategies we
will be using so I can be sure you are participating and
understanding. Make sure students write their names
on the notebook.

• Connecting to prior
• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson 30 minutes lessons
• Do we make connections when we read books or
articles? What connections do we make?
o T-t, t-s, t-w • Modeling for students
• Read aloud “Seeing the World” • As students are reading,
• Model making connections on the overhead by I will walk around the
thinking aloud (I will write my connections on the room and check that
students are recording
transparency)
connections. Redirect
• Now its your turn to try! Read “My Teacher in the students who are off
Market.” As you read, write down any connections task. Prompt students
you make with the text. Be prepared to share your who are lower level
connections with a partner. I expect to see at least 3 readers. Push advanced
connections for each poem. readers to make more
• Students share connections with a partner briefly then connections
we will share a few connections with the class
 End lesson 1- continue the rest tomorrow. Begin the
following day with review of what we did yesterday. • Students share
• Students will follow the same process for the next connections with partner
poem “Sweet” before having to share
with entire class, this
way they are prepared

• Closing summary for the lesson 5 minutes • Visually represented and

• Review what we have discussed for the day there for a reminder
o Characteristics of poetry
o How to read poetry
o Making connections
• Add Making Connections to our list of strategies for
comprehending poetry
• Remind students that this strategy and the
strategies we will be working with are used in all
reading, no matter the genre

• Direct students to put poetry notebooks away

and get their materials ready for the next lesson
Assessment (How will I gauge the students’ learning as I implement the Academic, Social, and
lesson plan and once the lesson is completed? Specifically, what will I look for? How Linguistic Support during
will I use what I am learning to inform my next steps?) assessment
Students’ poetry notebooks where they marked their
Lower level readers will not be
connections. I will be looking for at least 3 connections expected to have four
for each poem. connections
Higher level readers expected to
Observation of partner share and whole class discussion. have meaningful, in depth
connections
If students have a firm grasp then I will move on the
following day still reminding them of the strategy for
future use.
If students are struggling, then we will do a short review
at the start of the following lesson. In addition to
questioning, they will also be required to make
connections as they read.
Reflection (What did students learn? What did I learn about teaching literacy? (Which students struggled with the
material? How will I reteach these
What went well? What would I do differently next time?)
students)
After finishing this first lesson, I learned that I had
somewhat over planned. I was not able to get to For students who
everything I had originally planned but I was able to end struggled, I talked to them
at a point where we had finished a poem and making during a free time and had
connections. In terms of my teaching, afterwards I them add the necessary
realized that I got caught up in my lesson and teaching connections. Through
that it was hard for me to make sure that each and every further prompting and
student was engaged when I was talking and not doing discussing, they were able
something else. Scanning the room and monitoring to accomplish this.
student behavior is something I will need to be conscious
of in the future.

Outline for a Daily Lesson Plan

Date: Oct. 27-28

Objective(s) for today’s lesson:

Students will make cross text comparisons by completing a profundity scale of a
picture book and connecting it with a poem we will read in class discussion.
Students will use the questioning strategy to construct meaning from three
poems by reading poetry and recording questions they have before, during, and
after reading in their poetry notebook.

Rationale (Explain why this content and/or skill is important and worthwhile, and how you will work to
make it relevant to your students’ lives):
Asking questions before, during, and after reading a text is yet another useful
comprehension strategy. Good readers ask questions constantly as they read. Asking
questions allows readers to clarify meaning, speculate about text they are about to
read, or locate specific answers in the text. Not only is this strategy useful for poetry,
but it is also beneficial in other literary texts as well.

Materials & supplies needed:

Poetry notebooks for the poems First, Poem Book, December 9th
Chart paper and marker
Applying Strategy: Questioning Sheet

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each Academic, Social and
event Linguistic Support during
each event

• Introduction to the lesson (2 minutes)

Begin with a spooky Halloween poem. Ask students
what they notice about the poem. Prompt students to • Previous strategy
realize that consonants are repeated (gruesome recorded on chart paper
and 0ral review to
goblins, etc) to discuss alliterations. Students look for remind all students.
metaphors and similes.
• Instruct students to get out their poetry
notebooks.
• Yesterday we discussed making connections
• Today, we will read What You Know First and
“Sold Out.” We will make connections between
the two poems to help us better understand them.
 • Groups are chosen by
teacher based on
• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (40 minutes) reading levels (high,
medium, and low in a
• Read What You Know First using elmo so group) as well as
students can see picture and follow along. Pause personality traits (make
occasionally for students to share connections. sure each group has a
• As a class, complete a profundity scale. Students “leader”)
will record in poetry notebooks. • Orally model questioning
as well as visually
• End day 1 recording my questions.
• Begin day 2 • Students discuss in
• Begin with another Halloween poem. Discuss small group before being
author’s craft in poem. expected to share in
whole class. Students
• Read “Sold Out” aloud. Students make are told what is
connections as they read. As a class, discuss the expected.
two literary works and how connecting between • While students are
the two help us better understand them. working in small groups,
I will be walking around
• Transition to next strategy-questioning the room and talking with
• Good readers always ask questions before, groups- making sure
during, and after they read. While we read three everyone is on task and
poems today, we are also going to ask understands what they
questions. What kinds of questions should we are to be doing.
ask? Is a question like “what is this poem going
to be about?” a good, deep question? What
might be a deeper question? I will model with the
first poem.
• Students are divided up into small groups of 4
• I read the poem “First” aloud and model by
asking a few questions as I read. Then direct
small groups to discuss the poem and ask their
own questions. Remind students questions are
• Clearly define what
asked before, during, and after reading. Tell these terms mean
students we will share their questions as a class, • Provide examples
so be prepared to contribute. Everyone should
ask at least 4 questions.Tell the students that
they will have about ten minutes in their group
and when I begin to count back from 5, it is time
to stop your discussion and pay attention to the
class discussion. Bring the class back to whole
group and record their questions on chart paper.
• End day 2
• Begin day 3
• Review questioning and what constitutes a
“deep” question. Our questions need to connect • Additional practice
to the text and be important to the meaning of making connections
the poem. Give examples of meaningful and not
 as meaningful questions.
• Read “Poem Book” aloud and have students ask
questions in their small groups before, during,
and after reading. Groups then discuss if any of
their questions were answered as they read.
Bring the class back to whole group and record
their questions/answers on chart paper.
• Strategies are recorded
• Finally, I will read “December 9th” aloud. Students visually
follow the same process. Bring the class back to
whole group and record their questions. Ask
students “What questions were answered?”
“What new questions do you have?” “What
questions cannot be answered by the text?”
• Tell students that we have been asking questions
about what the poem is about- the characters,
the action, the story, but now we want to look at
examples of the “author’s craft.” Ask students
what they think this means. Conclude that it
means how the author writes or how the author
told us information about the characters and the
story. Ask the class these questions:
o How did the author use language? (ex: did
they use personification, metaphors,
similes?)
o How did the author use structure or form
(ask students what we mean by structure
or form) to convey the feelings of the
character and tell the story?
o What is the author’s purpose of writing?
What story were they trying to tell?
o What was the tone or mood of the poem?
How did it make you feel? Why?
o Show students some examples in the
poems and prompt them to look deeper.
• Time permitting, students in their groups can go
back and read the poems, but this time make
connections as they read. Emphasize to students
that we use multiple strategies as we read.

• Closing summary for the lesson (2 minutes)

• Record our new strategy for reading and
understanding poetry on our chart paper
• Remind students that even though we have this
new strategy, it is still important to make
 connections. Remind students to use these
strategies in all their reading.

• Direct students to put their poetry notebooks

away and get their things for the next lesson.
Assessment (How will I gauge the students’ learning as I implement the Academic, Social, and
lesson plan and once the lesson is completed? Specifically, what will I look for? How Linguistic Support during
will I use what I am learning to inform my next steps?) assessment
• Observe students contributing questions during
small group work.
• Wait time for students
• Small groups contribute their questions to whole
class discussion. • Different expectations for
• Check their poetry notebooks for at least 4 questions and
participation for higher
questions as they read and lower readers
• Student contribution in whole class discussion
about the author’s craft and answering these • Observe/assess
students in small group
questions in their poetry notebook. as well as large group
• If students struggled with questioning, then I would
take time at the beginning of the next poetry
lesson to review questioning once again and
provide more modeling. If students seem to have
a grasp on questioning, then I will move on as
planned.

Outline for a Daily Lesson Plan

Date: Oct. 29 and Nov. 1

Objective(s) for today’s lesson:

Students will use the visualizing comprehension strategy to construct meaning
from poems by drawing images and recording sensory images as stories/poems
are read.

Rationale (Explain why this content and/or skill is important and worthwhile, and how you will work to
make it relevant to your students’ lives):
This skill focuses on students’ own images and interpretations as they read. Thus,
their interpretations will be based on their own life and for the most part, everyone’s
images will be unique to them. Further, some students may think more visually so
explicitly introducing them to this strategy can be very beneficial and enjoyable for
them. This skill can be used beyond poetry and is beneficial for comprehension in other
strategies as well. Students are also told to “play a movie in their mind” as they read,
so this strategy further accentuates this and forces them to put these movies on paper.
 Materials & supplies needed:
Book: Hurricane
Adopting Mental Images During Reading handouts for all students
Mental images before and after for all students
Poetry notebooks: New Boy, Grandmother’s Spit, Sparklers, Hurrican, Esme on
Her Brother’s Bicycle
Supplemental: Poppies and picture

Procedures and approximate time allocated for each Academic, Social and
event Linguistic Support during
each event

• Introduction to the lesson (What will I say to help children

understand the purpose of the lesson? How will I help them make connections to
prior lessons or experiences in and out of school? How will I motivate them to
become engaged in the lesson and understand its real world purpose?)
(4minutes)
Remember how when we read, we always are playing a
movie in our mind? When we talk about playing a movie in Activating prior knowledge
our mind- are we only talking about what we see? Or could
we be talking about what we smell? Feelings? Sounds?
Poems are full of mental images that contain all of these
things and create wonderful images in our mind. Today, Drawing instead of writing
while I read aloud to you, we’ll all get a chance to sketch
our own mental images as we read. It is okay if you are not
an artist- these are just sketches. We’ll also see how these
images might change as we continue reading or compare
our images with a classmate.

• OUTLINE of key events during the lesson (Include

specific details about how I will begin and end activities; what discussion
questions I will use; how I will help children understand behavior expectations Graphic organizers help students
during the lesson; when/how I will distribute supplies and materials) (45 minutes) organize their thoughts
• Pass out adapting mental images handouts
• I will read the Hurricane story to students- not
showing them the pictures. Explain to students that I Clear directions and expectations
am going to stop at three different places in the
story. At each place I stop, I want you to draw a
quick sketch of what you see in the box and write
down other impressions you have below it (feelings,
scents, textures). Begin reading.
• Stop again at the end and allow students to sketch
their final impressions
• How did your images change?
• Show the story’s illustrations. What do you notice
about the illulstrations?
• Read New Boy to students. Have them sketch their
image and record sensory impressions (smell,
feelings, etc). Have students meet with a partner
and share their images. Then have students draw a
second mental image. Discuss how mental images
 evolve.
• End of day 1
• Begin day 2
• Same process with poem “Sparkler.” Draw mental
images and record sensory impression. Share with Venn diagram helps students
a partner and draw an image after sharing. organize their thoughts
• Collect handouts
• Students will draw their visualizations for “Esme on
her brother’s bicycle” and “Grandmother’s Spit.” This
time, student volunteers will share their sensory
impressions and visualizations with the whole class
using the elmo. We will discuss how one students
image is different from another’s.
• Cross-text comparison: Hurricane book and
Hurricane poem. Compare and contrast the two
texts. How did each author describe the poem?
What did you notice about the author’s craft in
each? Assign partners and have students complete Strategy visually in the room as a
a venn diagram comparing and contrasting the two reminder for students
works. Share findings with class.
• Collect venn diagrams

• Closing summary for the lesson (How will I bring closure to

the lesson and actively involve children in reflecting on their experiences? How
will I help them make connections to prior lessons or prepare for future
experiences? What kind of feedback do I want from them at this time?) (4
minutes)
• Add visualization to our list of strategies for poetry
(remind students of our other strategies)
• Discuss how important it is to be playing a movie in
our mind as we read. If our movie stops, good
readers go back/rewind to continue their
movie/understanding before continuing to read.

• Transition to next learning activity

Put your poetry notebooks away and get out your
materials for the next lesson.
Assessment (How will I gauge the students’ learning as I implement the Academic, Social, and
lesson plan and once the lesson is completed? Specifically, what will I look for? How Linguistic Support during
will I use what I am learning to inform my next steps?)
Students’ venn diagrams assessment
Students’ handouts of mental images Students work with a partner
on their venn diagrams.
Images are relevant to poem-
artistic ability not considered
Higher level students expected
to have more sensory
impressions