Jadah Koob

Unit Plan
Poetry
Sophomore English
Essential Questions
1. How do the poems effectively convey the message the poet wants it to?
2. How can you effectively write a poem and present it?

Unit Objectives
1. Students will know the parts of a poem and will be able to identify them.
2. Students will be able to tell difference between types of poems.
3. Students will be able to interpret poems.
4. Students will be able to write poems and present them to the class.

Assessment Objectives
1. Students can be given a poem and can label the different parts.
2. Student can learn about different types of poetry, and identify them.
3. Students can thoughtfully plan out and write a poem.
4. Students can interpret poems.
5. Students can clearly and concisely explain what the poem is about or saying.
Class Description: The class is made up of 21 students, 10 girls, and 11 boys. Most are

Caucasian with two African American, three Hispanic, and two Asian students. All of the

students have English as their first language. This is a general sophomore English class, so all of

these students are 15 or 16, Most of the students are from middle/upper-class families, while five

of them come from families around or below the poverty line. These students are attending class

in a town that has about 10,000 people living in it, along with students who live in rural areas

near the town. Many of the students are in extra circular activities as well many have part-time

jobs.

The school provides the students will laptops that they can take home at night. They have

these as well as traditional school supplies. The classes are 50 minutes long with five-minute

passing periods, and I will be the only teacher. The classes start with a bell ringer that they will

type in a google doc, which they send me at the end of the week. Sometimes these are related to

what’s going on in the class, but most of the time they are something to make them think or let

me get to know the students better. This sets to tone for the class, making it easier to start.

When the school year started I gave them an interest inventory, which let me know about

the after-school activities and part-time jobs. I use these to come up with some of the bell

ringers, like asking about the sports that they like, and if they don’t like them, something that

they do like. The class typically pretty good about doing their work with a little bit of talking, but

occasionally need to be back on track. Most of the students are where they're supposed to be,

with a few above and below.

 Lesson Plan 1

Class: Sophomore English

Grade Level: 10th Grade

Unit: Poetry

Teacher: Ms. Jadah Koob

Iowa Core State Standards (ICSS)

RL.9-10.10- By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas,
and poems, at the high end of the grades 9–10 text complexity band independently and
proficiently. Read on-level text, both silently and orally, at an appropriate rate with accuracy and
fluency to support comprehension.

21st Century Skill(s)

21.9-12.ES.3- Leverage the strengths of others to accomplish a common goal

 Communicate effectively
 Collaborate effectively

Essential Question
How do poems effectively convey the message the poet wants it to?

Objectives
By the end class today, students will be able to identify the different parts of a poem and will be
able to identify them in a poem.

Assessment

Students will hand in Edgar Allan Poe’s A Dream Within a Dream labeled with the parts of a
poem.

Anticipatory Set 10 Minutes

“What do you think poetry is?”
Have them answer
“What do you think makes a poem, a poem.”
Have them answer.
Show Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwhouCNq-Fc&list=PLDur4-sbdZr-
7d26QlvbDynIBvERXPT5y&index=14 (5:19)
Talk about the parts that the video pointed out.

Teaching: Activities (35 Minutes)

Hand out the handout about the parts of the poem handout, and go through them with the
students. They can use this handout throughout the unit.
Parts of a poem: Title, Author/Poet, Stanza, Space, Verse, Form, Rhyme, Rhyme Scheme, Mood,
Theme, How it’s arranged.
Project Robert Frost’s Ice and Fire on to the board, and listen to the poem:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44263/fire-and-ice (37 Seconds)
Label the parts of the poem on the board with the students. (10 minutes)

Have them find a partner and handout the A Dream Within a Dream handout, and they will label
the parts of a poem, one they’re with their partner, listen to it as a class:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAG-jJlFJIw (2 minutes) (20 Minutes)
Have them hand it in when done (3 minutes)

Closure (5 minutes)
On a piece paper, have them write down their favorite poem, or if they don’t have one, favorite
book, and have them turn it in before they leave.
Materials
Writing Utensil
paper
Handouts (provided)
Duration
Anticipatory Set: 10 minutes
Teaching activities: 35 minutes
Closure: 5 minutes
“I Can” Statement
I can identify the parts of a poem, and use them to label a poem.
 Parts of a Poem
Title: The name of the poem.
Author/Poet: Who write the poem.
Stanza: A group of lines together and that are separated by an empty space from other stanzas.
Space: The gap that separated stanzas.
Verse: A single line of a poem.
Form: The type of poem.
 Lyrical Poem: A poem that expresses emotion, typical spoken in the first poem.
 Narrative Poem: A poem that tells a story, with a narrator and characters
 Descriptive Poem: A poem that describes the world around them. It will have imagery
and adjectives allowing the reader to picture it.
Rhyme: Words that end with similar sounds, usually at the end of a verse.
Rhyme Scheme: The pattern of the rhymes at the end of each verse.
Mood: Emotions involved in the poem.
Theme: What the poem is about.
Centered: The way the poem is arranged on the page.

Free Space to Take More Notes:

 A Dream Within a Dream
Edgar Allan Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow —
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone? 
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand —
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep — while I weep!
O God! Can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?
 Lesson Plan 2

Class: Sophomore English

Grade Level: 10th Grade

Unit: Poetry

Teacher: Ms. Jadah Koob

Iowa Core State Standards (ICSS)

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). 

21st Century Skill(s)

21.9-12.TL.2 Students use technology tools and resources, including distance and distributed
education, for effectively exchanging information with a variety of audiences in an array of
media-rich formats.

Essential Question
How to the poems effectively convey the message the poet wants it to?

Objectives
By the end class today, students will students will be able to tell difference between types of
poems.

Assessment

The students will turn in a paper explaining their reasoning behind their choices.

Anticipatory Set (6 minutes)

Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxGWGohIXiw&list=PLDur4-sbdZr-
7d26QlvbDynIBvERXPT5y&index=15 (0:30- 4:07) (59)
Explain Slam Poetry. Use same video 4:35-5:50.
After ask, based in the Parts of a Poem handout, what type of poem is this. It is a narrative.
Teaching: Activities (39 minutes)
All the students will look at the poems in the handout.
After ask, based in the Parts of a Poem handout, what type of poem these are, there is one each.
If they would like they can look up audio to listen to while reading the poems.
Above Grade Level- they will label which type of poem it is. They will write a paragraph about
why they think it is the one they picked. They will pick out parts of them poem to back up their
claim.
Grade Level- they will label which type of poem it is. They will write a short paragraph why
they think it is the one that they picked.
Below Grade Level- they will label which type of poem it is. They will write two sentences
about why they picked they one that they did.
They will type these up on a word document or google doc and turn it in at the end of the class.
Read if you finish early.
Closure (5 minutes)

Write in a piece of paper which poem was their favorite, and turn it in before they leave.

Materials
Computer
Handout (provided)
Paper
Writing utensil

Duration
Anticipatory Set: 6 minutes
Teaching Activities: 39 minutes
Closure: 5 minutes

“I Can” Statement
I can tell the difference between different types of poems.
 Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
BY: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
   So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Fire and Ice 

BY ROBERT FROST
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

The Raven
BY: EDGAR ALLAN POE
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
    While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
            Only this and nothing more.”

    Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
    Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow
    From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
            Nameless here for evermore.

    And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
    So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
    “’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;—
            This it is and nothing more.”

    Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,

“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
    But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
    And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you”—here I opened wide the door;—
            Darkness there and nothing more.

    Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
    But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
    And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!”—
            Merely this and nothing more.

    Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
    “Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;
      Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore—
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—
            ’Tis the wind and nothing more!”

    Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
    Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
    But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door—
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door—
            Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”
            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,

Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;
    For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
    Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
            With such name as “Nevermore.”

    But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
    Nothing farther then he uttered—not a feather then he fluttered—
    Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before—
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”
            Then the bird said “Nevermore.”

    Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,

“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store
    Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
    Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore—
Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore
            Of ‘Never—nevermore’.”

    But the Raven still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
    Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
    Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore—
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
            Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”

    This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;
    This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
    On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,
But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,
            She shall press, ah, nevermore!

    Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
    “Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee
    Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    “Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—

Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
    Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—
    On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—
Is there—is there balm in Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”
            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    “Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!

By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—
    Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
    It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”
            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    “Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting—
“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!
    Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
    Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”
            Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

    And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
    And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
    And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
            Shall be lifted—nevermore!
 Lesson Plan 3

Class: Sophomore English

Grade Level: 10th Grade

Unit: Poetry

Teacher: Ms. Jadah Koob

Iowa Core State Standards (ICSS)

W.9-10.4- Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style
are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

21st Century Skill(s)

21.9-12.TL.2 Students use technology tools and resources, including distance and distributed
education, for effectively exchanging information with a variety of audiences in an array of
media-rich formats.

Essential Question
How can you effectively write a poem and present it?

Objectives
By the end class today, students will know what type of poem and the topic of the poem that they
will write.

Assessment

Students will turn in a paragraph about what they want to write and if they want to work with a
partner.

Anticipatory Set 10 minutes

Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MXRAZ4pjZo&list=PLDur4-sbdZr-
7d26QlvbDynIBvERXPT5y&index=4 (4 minutes)- Another example of slam poetry.
Introduce the final project.
They will have to write a poem and read it in front of the class. If they would like write a
traditional poem or do slam poetry. They can do it alone or with a partner if they’re doing slam
poetry. If writing a traditional poem, they have to work alone. Rubric and handout at the bottom.
Teaching: Activities 30 minutes

The students will decide on the topic and type of their poem. If they are doing slam poetry, they
will decide if they want to work with a partner or alone.
Once they’ve decided their topic, they will write a paragraph on why they want to write the poem
in that topic.
They should type these and turn them in before the end of class.
After the topic is approved, they should start researching, or writing notes about what
they’re going to write about.

Closure 10 minutes
Students should ask one other student that they don’t talk to all the time about what their poem is
going to be about, and report it to the teacher before leave.
Materials
Computer

Duration
Anticipatory set: 10 minutes
Teaching Activities: 30 minutes
Closure: 10 minutes
“I Can” Statement
I can come up it a topic for poem and thoughtfully plan it out.
Rubric
Originality The poem is The poem is somewhat The poem is
thoughtfully planned planned out, but doesn’t incomplete/ not a poem.
out, and the student make sense.
clearly put effort into it.

Parts of a Poem They choose their parts It isn’t clear what kind The poem is
of the poem creating of poem the student incomplete/ not a poem.
one of the three. They chose. They don’t use
use the other parts of a the parts of a poem
poem to show they effectively.
understand the parts,
rhyming isn’t required.

Performance The student, clearly and The student presents to The student can’t be
confidently reads or the class, but doesn’t heard and doesn’t make
preforms their poem. make eye contact, and eye contact.
They make eye contact isn’t clear and
with the audience. confident.
 Poem Project
Part Description Done
Topic and Type of Poem Pick out a topic for the poem
and type of poem. Has
discussed with the teacher
about the topic and gotten
approval.

Research You have done researched

and written down notes about
the topic. Some will have
more than others depending
on the topic. People writing a
more personal one will have
less notes. These will be
turned in at the end.

Rough Draft Student will turn in a rough

draft, and get notes from the
teacher about changes.

Performance Students preform or read

their poems in front of the
class. Notes and final version
of the poem are turned in.
 Lesson Plan 4

Class: Sophomore English

Grade Level: 10th Grade

Unit: Poetry

Teacher: Ms. Jadah Koob

Iowa Core State Standards (ICSS)

RL.9-10.5- Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events
within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects
as mystery, tension, or surprise. 

21st Century Skill(s)

21.9-12.TL.2 Students use technology tools and resources, including distance and distributed
education, for effectively exchanging information with a variety of audiences in an array of
media-rich formats.

Essential Question
How to the poems effectively convey the message the poet wants it to?

Objectives
By the end class today, students will students will be able to interpret poems.

Assessment

Students will turn in a paper with how they interpret one of Harry Baker’s poems, either Paper
People or The Sunshine Kid.

Anticipatory Set (10 minutes)

Just hearing the title Paper People, what do the students think that poem might be about?
Just hearing the title, The Sunshine Kid, what do the students think that the poem might be
about?
Teaching: Activities (30 Minutes)
The students can choose which poem they would like to interpret. They can listen to them at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxGWGohIXiw&list=PLDur4-sbdZr-
7d26QlvbDynIBvERXPT5y&index=15 (Paper People: 6:05-9:15) (The Sunshine Kid 10:04-
13:35) and they should listen to both to pick out which one they want.
They should type out their interpretation of the poem, and turn it in by the end of class.
Work on poem project if they have extra time left.
Closure (10 minutes)
Student should write on a piece of paper why they picked the one that they did.
Materials
Computer
Writing Utensil
Paper

Duration
Anticipatory Set: 10 Minutes
Teaching Activities: 30 minutes
Closure: 10 minutes
“I Can” Statement
I can interpret poems.
 Paper People
Harry Baker
I like people.
I’d like some paper people.
They’d be purple paper people.
Maybe pop-up purple paper people.
Proper pop-up purple paper people.
“How do you prop up pop-up purple paper people?”
I hear you cry. Well I …
I’d probably prop up proper pop-up purple paper people
With a proper pop-up purple people paperclip,
But I’d pre-prepare appropriate adhesives as alternatives,
A cheeky pack of Blu Tack just in case the paper slipped.
Because I could build a pop-up metropolis.
But I wouldn’t wanna deal with all the paper people politics.
Paper politicians with their paper-thin policies,
Broken promises without appropriate apologies.
There’d be a little paper me. And a little paper you.
And we could watch paper TV and it would all be pay-per-view.
We’d see the poppy paper rappers rap about their paper package
Or watch paper people carriers get stuck in paper traffic on the A4. Paper.
There’d be a paper princess Kate but we’d all stare at paper Pippa,
And then we’d all live in fear of killer Jack the Paper-Ripper,
Because the paper propaganda propagates the people’s prejudices,
Papers printing pictures of the photogenic terrorists.
A little paper me. And a little paper you.
And in a pop-up population people’s problems pop up too.
There’d be a pompous paper parliament who remained out of touch,
And who ignored the people’s protests about all the paper cuts,
Then the peaceful paper protests would get blown to paper pieces,
By the confetti cannons manned by pre-emptive police.
And yes there’d still be paper money, so there’d still be paper greed,
And the paper piggy bankers pocketing more than they need,
Purchasing the potpourri to pepper their paper properties,
Others live in poverty and ain’t acknowledged properly.
A proper poor economy where so many are proper poor,
But while their needs are ignored the money goes to big wars.
Origami armies unfold plans for paper planes
And we remain imprisoned in our own paper chains,
But the greater shame is that it always seems to stay the same,
What changes is who’s in power choosing how to lay the blame,
They’re naming names, forgetting these are names of people,
Because in the end it all comes down to people.
I like people.
’Cause even when the situation’s dire,
It is only ever people who are able to inspire,
And on paper, it’s hard to see how we all cope.
But in the bottom of Pandora’s box there’s still hope,
And I still hope ’cause I believe in people.
People like my grandparents.
Who every single day since I was born, have taken time out of their morning to pray for me.
That’s 7892 days straight of someone checking I’m okay, and that’s amazing.
People like my aunt who puts on plays with prisoners.
People who are capable of genuine forgiveness.
People like the persecuted Palestinians.
People who go out of their way to make your life better, and expect nothing in return.
You see, people have potential to be powerful.
Just because the people in power tend to pretend to be victims
We don’t need to succumb to that system.
And a paper population is no different.
There’s a little paper me. And a little paper you.
And in a pop-up population people’s problems pop up too,
But even if the whole world fell apart then we’d still make it through.
Because we’re people.
 The Sunshine Kid
Harry Baker
Old man sunshine was proud of his sun,
And it brightened his day to see his little boy run, Not because of what he’d done,
nor the problems overcome,
But that despite that his disposition remained a sunny one.
It hadn’t always been like this.
There’d been times when he’d tried to hide his brightness,
Every star hits periods of hardship,
It takes a brighter light to inspire them through the darkness.
If we go back to when he was born in a nebula,
We know that he never was thought of as regular,
Because he had a flair about him,
To say the Midas touch is wrong but all he went near seemed to turn a little bronze,
Yeah this sun was loved by some more than others,
It was a case of Joseph and his dreamcoat and his brothers
Standing out from the crowd had its pros and its cons,
And jealousy created enemies in those he outshone Such as the Shadow People.

Now the Shadow People didn’t like the Sunshine Kid,

Because he showed up the dark things the Shadow People did,
And when he shone he showed the places where the Shadow People hid,
So the Shadow People had an evil plan to get rid of him,
First up – they made fun of his sunspots,
Shooting his dreams from the sky, their words were gunshots,
Designed to remind him he wasn’t very cool
And he didn’t fit in with any popular kids at school.
They said his head was up in space and they would bring him down to earth,
Essentially he came from nothing and that is what he was worth,
He’d never get to go to university to learn,
Only degrees he’d ever show would be the 1st degree burns
From those that came too close, they told him he was too bright,
That’s why no-one ever looked him in the eye,
His judgement became clouded and so did the sky,
With evaporated tears as the sun started to cry.

The sunshine kid was bright, with a warm personality,

but inside he burned savagely –
Hurt by the words and curses of the shadowy folk who spoke holes in his soul and left cavities,
and as his heart hardened,
his spark darkened,
Every time they called him names it cooled his flame,
He thought they might like him if he kept his light dim
But they were busy telling lightning she had terrible aim,
He couldn’t quite get to grips with what they said,
So he let his light be eclipsed by what they said,
He fell into a Lone Star State like Texas,
And felt like he’d been punched in his solar plexus.

That’s when Little Miss Sunshine came along

Singing her favourite song
about how we’re made to be strong,
And you don’t have to be wrong to belong,
Just be true to who you are,
because we are all stars at heart.
Little miss sunshine was hot stuff –
The kind of girl when you looked at her you forgot stuff,
But for him, there was no forgetting her,
The minute he saw her her image burned in his retina,
She was out of this world, and she accepted him,
Something about this girl meant he knew whenever she was next to him,
Things weren’t as dark as they seemed, and he dared to dream,
Shadows were nowhere to be seen; when she was there he beamed,
His eyes would light up in ways that can’t be faked,
When she grinned her rays erased the razor-tipped words of hate,
They gave each other nicknames they were ‘cool star’ and ‘fun sun’,
And gradually the shadowy damage became undone,
She was one in a septillion,
and she was brilliant,
Could turn the coldest blooded reptilian vermillion,
Loved by billions,
from Chileans to Brazilians,
And taught the Sunshine Kid the meaning of resilience.

She said: “All the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of a single candle,
So how the hell can they handle your light?
Only you can choose to dim it,
and the sky is the limit,
so silence the critics by burning.”
If eyes are windows to the soul then she drew back the curtains
And let the sunshine through the hurting.
In a universe of adversity two stars stuck together,
And though day becomes night the memories last forever,
Whether the weatherman said it or not, it would be fine,
Cause even behind the clouds the kid could still shine.
The Sunshine Kid was bright, with a warm personality,
And inside he burned savagely,
Fuelled by the fire inspired across galaxies,
By the girl who showed him belief.
 Lesson Plan 5

Class: Sophomore English

Grade Level: 10th Grade

Unit: Poetry

Teacher: Ms. Jadah Koob

Iowa Core State Standards (ICSS)

SL.9-10.6- Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, such as conducting interviews,
participating in public performances, or debating an issue from either side, demonstrating
command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

21st Century Skill(s)

21.9-12.ES.1- Listen to understand and appreciate the points of view of others

Listen for comprehension

Essential Question

How do the poems effectively convey the message the poet wants it to?

Objectives
By the end class today, students will have preformed or read out the poem to the class in a clear
and concise manner, showing that they understand poetry by being able to write one.
By the end of class today, students will have shown that they have throughout or researched the
topic of their poem.

Assessment

Students will have read or preformed their poem in front of the class.

Students will have turned in notes about their poem.

Anticipatory Set (5 minutes)

Give them about five minutes to get read to read their poem to the class.
Teaching: Activities (40 minutes)
Students will read or preform their poem for their class, and the rest of the class will write down
what the poem is about.
Closure (5 minutes)
The students will read or preform their poem, and be graded based in the rubric they were given.
Materials
Writing Utensil
Paper

Duration
Anticipatory Set: 5 minutes
Teaching Activities: 40 minutes
Closure: 5 minutes
“I Can” Statement
I can read or preform a poem in front of the class.