EDSC 330 Final Lesson Plan 2

Names: Omar Martinez and Treeny Barajas Subject Area(s): English

Lesson Topic: Connection to a Poem through text coding. Grade Level(s): 9th

Standards
Literacy Standard(s):
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.4.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including
figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific
word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time
and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

Content Area Standard(s):

CCSS.ELA-Litearcy.W.9-10.4.
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and
style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations
for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

English Language Development (ELD) Standard(s):

ELD.9-10.II.C.6.
Combine clauses in a growing number of ways to create compound and complex
sentences that make connections between and link concrete and abstract ideas, for
example, to express a reason (e.g., He stayed at home on Sunday in order to study for
Monday’s exam) or to make a concession (e.g., She studied all night even though she
wasn’t feeling well).

Lesson Objectives & Supports

Content objectives:
SWBAT to make connections to the poem through the usage of a text coding guide
utilizing these four letters; R: Connection to background, V: Visualizing and creating
mental images, E: Emotional response to poem, and ?: When something is confusing
or hard to understand.

Literacy objectives:
SWBAT to describe in their journal deep and meaningful observations in 3-5
sentences the connections they made to cultural identity within the poem “Como tu/
Like you/ Like me”.

Academic vocabulary:
Tier II (General): Analyze, infer, identify, express
Tier III (Domain specific): Imagery, cultural identity, figurative language

Literacy strategies and Integrated ELD Strategies (SDAIE, Specially Designed

Academic Instruction in English):

Literacy Strategy:
• Text Coding Handout (Buehl, 2014): Students will use the text coding handout to
mark their process of thinking through the use of specific words while reading the
poem.
 SDAIE Strategy:
• Quick Write (Buehl, 2014): After reading the poem, students will have 5 minutes
to reflect on the poem in their journal and how it connects to cultural identity.

Assessment: How will you know if students met your objectives?

While students are working on the poem with the use of the text coding handout, we will
walk around and observe the connections they have made with the poem. Students will
express how they identify with the poem, and they will write down their connections on a
handout of the poem.

Students will turn in the handout at the end of the class period with their explication to
show their understanding of the key terms; imagery, identity, and figurative language.

Instruction: What you’ll teach, and how

Lesson Introduction/Anticipatory Set

Time Teacher Does Student Does
The teacher will have the instructions for
the day listed on the board for students to Students will know that instructions for the
prepare for the class day. Teacher will day are on the board, and they will read it
hand out the Text Coding Handout, along as they settle in.
0-3 min with a copy of the poem that the class will
be reading and tell students to review it as
it is being passed around.

After passing out all of the handouts, the Students will receive Text Coding Handout
3-5 min teacher will tell students that they have an and poem Como Tu/ Like You/ Like Me by
extra 2 minutes to finish reading and Richard Blanco and read it to themselves as
reviewing the handout and the poem. the teacher passes it around.

The teacher will go over the words and the

definitions to the text coding handout with
the students. The teacher will tell students
to take notes as she speaks on the text
coding handout and have any questions Students will listen to the teacher read and
they may have ready to ask. The teacher explain the words on the Text Coding
will simplify the definitions if the students Handout and take notes on the text coding
5-10 min are still confused about the word. The handout on what the teacher is saying and
teacher will explain how this handout will think about any questions they make have
be used to reflect and connect to the on the handout.
poem that the class will be reading. The
teacher will tell the students to identify
with the poem on a personal level.

Lesson Body
Time Teacher Does Student Does
 The teacher will display the poem on the
board and will model an example sentence
while using one of the letters on the first
sentence. The teacher will use this
example sentence to demonstrate how
students will be making connections, and
what their paper is expected to look like. Students will watch and listen as the
The Teacher will ask students to teacher gives them an example of what is
demonstrate they understand what they expected of them. Students will provide a
must do by making a connection to the connection to the first sentence as well
10-20 min
first line as well using one of the four using one of the four letters on the poem
letters. The teacher will explain to the handout.
students that this is expected throughout
the entire poem.

The teacher will ask students to begin

thinking about connections they could
make while the teacher reads the poem
out loud to the students. The teacher will
assess the student’s reactions to see if the Students will listen and follow along to the
20-30 min
poem is too confusing. The teacher will poem as the teacher reads it out loud, and
then ask the students to read the poem to begin making connections to the poem.
themselves once more. Students will mark areas they feel relates to
them somehow. Students will read the
poem to themselves.
Teacher will then dismiss students to begin
analyzing and making connections on the
poem with guidance from the text coding
handout. Teacher will walk around and
observe the inferences that students are
making and comment or make suggestions
30-40 min
to the students. The teacher will remind Students will individually work on text
students to read the words carefully and coding their poems and making their
watch for the ways that the poet uses inferences on the poem handout.
language to express his identity. Teacher
will ask students to look for how the poet
describes his culture in the poem, and
have students make connections with their
own culture or how they differ.

Lesson Closure
Time Teacher Does Student Does
Teacher will write a prompt on the board
while the students are working on text
40-42 min coding the poem. The prompt will ask
them; How does the poem represent
cultural identity, and what proof can you
provide from the poem?
 42-45 min Teacher will give students 3 minutes to Students will answer the prompt in their
write down their response to the prompt. journal.

45-50 min Teacher will hold discussion with students

to assess how well students made Students will engage in discussion with the
connections and if there the teacher needs teacher and the class on their formulated
to backtrack to better explain cultural opinions on cultural identity.
identity through a different format, or
continue on with the lesson.

Instructional Materials, Equipment & Multimedia

• Text Coding Handout
• Poem “Como Tu/ Like You/ Like Me” by Richard Blanco
Blanco, R. (2019). Como tú / like you / like me. Poets.org. Retrieved from
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/como-tu-you-me#

Differentiation:

English learners: They will be provided with a translation of the poem in their
primary language, and be provided with the text coding handout.
Striving readers: They will be given guided reading that directly explains
instructions and modify it to the needs of students.
Students with special needs: They will be given the text coding handout and the
poem the day before to give them a head start on the reading. They will be given
different methods of getting access to the text such as; audio readings or videos of
the reading.
Advanced students: Advanced students will be asked to explicate the poem and
pull supporting evidence from the poem. They will be asked to use quotes from the
poem that support the theme of cultural identity, and provide an explanation as to
how that quote supports it.
 Text-Coding Guide

Letter Definition Example Example of a

Sentence Starter Sentence
Ex: This reminds me of
R Connection to “This reminds me of…” the time my family went to
background knowledge. the park together to
celebrate my birthday.

Ex: I can picture this

V Visualizing and creating “I can picture this…” dance and it looks very
mental images. graceful as her dress
sways to her movements.

Ex: This makes me feel

E Emotional response to “This makes me feel…” warm inside because their
poem. love is real.

Ex: I don’t understand this

? When something is “I don’t understand because the words are not
confusing or hard to this…” familiar to me.
understand.
Como Tú / Like You / Like Me
Richard Blanco, 1968
{for the D.A.C.A DREAMers and all our nation’s immigrants}

. . . my veins don’t end in me

but in the unanimous blood

of those who struggle for life . . .

. . . mis venas no terminan en mí

sino en la sange unánime

de los que luchan por la vida . . .

—Roque Dalton, Como tú

Como tú, I question history’s blur in my eyes

each time I face a mirror. Like a mirror, I gaze
into my palm a wrinkled map I still can’t read,
my lifeline an unnamed road I can’t find, can’t
trace back to the fork in my parents’ trek
that cradled me here. Como tú, I woke up to
this dream of a country I didn’t choose, that
didn’t choose me—trapped in the nightmare
of its hateful glares. Como tú, I’m also from
the lakes and farms, waterfalls and prairies
of another country I can’t fully claim either.
Como tú, I am either a mirage living among
these faces and streets that raised me here,
or I’m nothing, a memory forgotten by all
I was taken from and can’t return to again.

Like memory, at times I wish I could erase

the music of my name in Spanish, at times

I cherish it, and despise my other syllables
clashing in English. Como tú, I want to speak
of myself in two languages at once. Despite
my tongues, no word defines me. Like words,
I read my footprints like my past, erased by
waves of circumstance, my future uncertain
as wind. Like the wind, como tú , I carry songs,
howls, whispers, thunder’s growl. Like thunder,
I’m a foreign-borne cloud that’s drifted here,
I’m lightning, and the balm of rain. Como tú ,
our blood rains for the dirty thirst of this land.
Like thirst, like hunger, we ache with the need
to save ourselves, and our country from itself.