Page 83 - ELA_CA_HighSchool_Sampler_Flipbook

ACTIVITY 1.4
12 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11
ACTIVITY 1.4
America’s Voices
PLAN
Materials: highlighters Suggested Pacing: 2 50-minute class periods
TEACHER TO TEACHER
The poems in this activity identify differing aspects of the spirit
of America and ask students to think about a more complex set
of attitudes that Americans have toward what it is to be an American.
LEARNING STRATEGIES:
Close Reading, Marking the Text
TEACH
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Walt Whitman (1819–1892), who did not attend college, worked as a journalist, carpenter, and building contractor before publishing a collec- tion of his poems, Leaves of Grass, in 1855. He called himself the “people’s poet,” and his foundational work features free verse, uses common speech patterns, and celebrates the country’s working class and cultural diversity.
1 Read the Preview and the Setting a Purpose for Reading sections with your students. Help them understand the Literary Terms they encounter in the Preview. Tell students you will first read the Whitman poem twice and then the Hughes poem twice.
2 Follow the close reading sequence (first read, second read) for the Whitman poem before moving on to the Hughes poem. Repeat the same close reading sequence for the second poem.
3 FIRST READ: Based on the complexity of the poems and your knowledge of your students, you may choose to conduct the first reading in a variety of ways:
• independent reading • paired reading
• small-group reading • choral reading
• read aloud
4 As students are reading, monitor their progress. Be sure they are engaged with the text and annotating imagery, diction, and words that suggest tone. Evaluate whether the selected reading mode is effective.
5 Based on the observations you made during the first reading, you may want to adjust the reading mode. For example, you may decide for the second reading to read aloud certain complex passages, or you may group students differently.
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS
W.11–12.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.11–12.9a: Apply grades 11–12 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early- twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics”).
Additional Standards Addressed:
RL.11–12.4; RL.11–12.10; W.11–12.2a; W.11–12.10
Focus Standards:
10/3/15 12:38 AM
9781457304675_TCB_SE_G11_U1_B1.indd 12
12 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 11
RL.11–12.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
RL.11–12.9: Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early-twentieth- century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
Poetry
My Notes
Learning Targets
• Analyze thematically linked poems to identify the relationship between tone, imagery, and diction.
• Support explanations with appropriate textual evidence.
Preview
In this activity, you will read two poems by celebrated American authors and analyze tone, imagery, and diction.
Setting a Purpose for Reading
• Underline phrases that activate your senses.
• Highlight words that seem to indicate tone.
• Circle unknown words and phrases. Try to determine the meaning of the words by using context clues, word parts, or a dictionary.
I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman
blithe: happy, carefree
mason: a person who builds with brick or stone
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on
the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands, The woodcutter’s song, the plowboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon
intermission or at sundown.
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl
sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else. The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young
fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
5
10
© 2017 College Board. All rights reserved.
© 2017 College Board. All rights reserved.