ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: 1. Students understand that poems are written for different purposes. 2. Students will understand that poetry has a variety of forms.
Goal(s): 1. Students will know that poetry is written for many reasons. 2. Students will know that there are different forms and patterns in poetry. 3. Students will know that poems don’t always rhyme. 4. Students will know key terms (ie: poem, couplet, triplet, limerick, cinquain, haiku.)

Questions Answered

Essential questions: 1.What is a poem?  2. Why are poems written? 3. How does a poet’s own experience affect how/why a poem is written? 4.  What kinds of patterns can be found in poetry?  5. How are poems different from other kinds of writing?  6. What kinds of poems do you think very young children enjoy the most? 7. Why?  8. How could you use our classroom resources to teach others about poetry?
Objectives: 1. Students will be able to identify the purpose of a simple poem. 2. Students will recognize and write different kinds of pems including couplet, triplet, limerick, cinquain, haiku. 3.  Students will know the basics of creating a simple class PowerPoint presentation for their poems.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding? 1.  Quiz: a word bank quiz, relating key poetic elements to different types of poetry. 2. Quiz: a matching quiz, matching poems to purpose. 3. Flashcards: working as a group, match poems to definitions and types
What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding? 1.  Prompt: Given a sample of poetry, tell what kind of poem it is, using our Poetry Word Bank. 2. Prompt: State two reasons Eve Merriam may have written the poem “Cat’s Tongue”, and tell why you chose those reasons.
What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding? 1.“Pack Along a Poem” book - apply your understanding of poetry patterns by creating a book of poetry. 2: “Poetry Whys” - reflect on various poets’ purposes for writing, using a personal reading log. 3. “Poetry Power” - design a PowerPoint presentation which compares and contrasts different forms of poetry.
What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect? 1.  Teacher observation of class discussion of poetic purpose, using a Holistic Rubric. 2. Student self-assessment of “Pack Along a Poem” book, using a 3-stage Rubric. 3. Student self-assessment of class PowerPoint presentation, using a Checklist. 4. Work samples: poetry written by the students themselves, as part of the poem book.