Strategies
Determining what poets and poems to use for teaching literary devices, figurative language, and the form of the sonnet is the easy part of planning this curriculum. The most challenging component is establishing how I will teach all the skills needed to effectively reach each student. Since my students are struggling readers, the strategies must accommodate their style of learning along with being on grade level for them. Another important factor in deciding which strategies to use is choosing ones that ensure a high level of engagement while incorporating higher order thinking skills. The strategies I have chosen to teach literary devices, figurative language, and sonnets will assist in teaching all that I have discussed previously.
Visualization
If children can visualize what is happening when a poem is read to them, they will have a better chance of understanding what is happening or what the speaker is saying. Visualization gives the poem a sense of reality and helps to create a vivid, clear picture in the students' minds by utilizing the five senses. Using visualization as a strategy is beneficial because it not only gives the teacher a chance to see how the students are interpreting a poem by verbally discussing their mental images, but it can also be used as an assessment by having the students draw an accurate image of what they perceive to be happening in the poem. My students are thoroughly engaged whenever they are able to use their artistic abilities.
One way I would incorporate visualization into my lesson would be to show the students pictures of different scenery. For example, I would project an image of a farm scene with various features. After allowing the students to study the picture, I would ask them questions that would trigger their five senses: What do you see in this picture? What season do you think this picture was taken in? How can you tell? What types of things would you smell if you were located on this farm? What would you hear? Once we finished discussing the photo, I would then have the students write examples of metaphors, similes, hyperbole, and personification based on what we visualized through the picture.
Media
Children live in a world of technology. Incorporating technology into a lesson not only creates an engaging activity, it will also assist the students in making connections by using a medium they are comfortable with. Media can be used in a variety of ways, from You Tube clips to songs, to access prior knowledge. Smart boards are a new way of creating fun, engaging and higher order thinking activities for students. A Smart board is an interactive whiteboard that aids students' learning. When I use the Smart board for displaying a poem, students can underline or circle the various figurative language or literary devices while completing other creative activities.
Make Connections
An important factor for student achievement is that the students understand how to make connections to a poem. They need to learn how to connect the poems to themselves, the world and other texts they may have read. Through making these connections, they are creating the ability to understand the poems on a higher level of thinking.
Learning Centers
Learning centers provide an opportunity for students to work independently and self-monitor their comprehension and knowledge. When organizing the centers, keep in mind what the students have learned and create activities for them to enhance what they know already. Centers should be utilized when students finish their work early or when the teacher is working with a small group. On those occasions the rest of the students can work in centers.
While I would have various stations set up for students who finish their work early or while I am working with a specific group, one example I would use for a center would be sequencing chain. I would cut a poem into strips. The students would have directions explaining the rhyme pattern of each stanza and with this information they would put the strips in sequence. From there, they would create the chain by connecting each link. The sentence strips would be color coded for easy assessment.
Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers are an exceptional way for students to organize their thoughts. "There are three compelling reasons why you should use graphic organizers. First, students are considerably more likely to understand and remember the content subject you are teaching. Second, because the semantic information processing demands are reduced, you can often address the content at more sophisticated or complex levels. Third, students are more likely to become strategic learners. Reading and writing skills, communication skills, and analytical, critical, and creative thinking skills are all subject to improve when students learn to recognize these patterns of thinking, construct, and use graphic organizers." 2 3
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