Professional Documents
Culture Documents
As students enter, I point to the board and remind them to start reading the minute
they get in. Please collect your journals as your enter. They are in the Pick Up
basket. Remember, you will be writing on a journal topic, so you might want to
review that list before reading. Beginnow!
2.
3. [5 min] Syllabus
Lets look over the syllabus? Did you get it signed? [I read important parts of
syllabus out loud].
4. [5 min] Introduction to New Lesson
Welcome students! Remember our discussion about poetry on Friday? Today we
will be reading and listening to a poem, and then we will create our own poems.
Id like for you to take a minute to think about one word that comes to mind
when you think about poetry and write it down. We will be going around the
room to share our words. [After one minute]: Okay lets go around the room
and share our words. [Let students share. Type up students words in a list,
projected from the computer.]
[After the first viewing] Great! We are going to watch it one more time. Now this
time think about and write notes on the questions beneath the poem. Ill give you a
few minutes to work on the questions after the video. This is silent work.
[When students begin to finish up, hand out the small group discussion sheet]
Okay, now look over what youve written and write down three talking points for
discussion like you did on Friday.
7. [10 mins] Small Group Discussion
All right guys. In your small groups, Id like for you discuss your talking points. You
have a couple of minutes. When you are done with your discussion, take a minute to
fill out the rest of the group discussion worksheet evaluating your performance. If
you have extra time, talk about the questions you started out answering.
[Monitor discussion by going from table to table and asking what they have put for
various questions. Pay particular attention to students with blank papers or students
who finish early.]
8. [25 mins] Writing Own Poems
a. [5 min] Brainstorming
Now, lets come together to talk about some of the discussion questions. Why do you
think this poem was titled Knock, Knock?
Is it just about the narrators father knocking on his door at night? Its also about
knocking down the doors of racism and poverty. This line is underlined in your text.
Is racism an actual door? No. The door is a symbol of racismthe door represents the
obstacles in the way of the narrators path to success and opportunity. Are there
obstacles in your life? What kinds of injustice make your life harder? Think about the
symbolic doors blocking your way to success in life, the obstacles that make life
harder.
Now we are going to do some individual work. I would like you to take a few minutes to
write ideas for your own Knock, Knock poems. Write about what kind of injustice or
the obstacles you want to knock, knock down. Lets take a minute to come up with a
list of things you could write about. It may be helpful to think of a time in which youve
been stereotyped. A lot of injustice is a result of stereotyping. If you want, you can write
about knocking down injustice and obstacles for a friend, but no names!
I will use the following list to help students come up with ideas during my monitoring.
We will not do a group share since the symbols may be personal for students.
-poverty (classism)
-racism
-sexism
-religious injustice
-cultural injustice (based on the culture you are from)
-injustice against people who have immigrated
-homophobia
-ageism
-abandonment
-abuse
-hunger
-pressure/anxiety in school
-death
-health problems
b. [10 min] Modeling
Here. I will model how I might write a Knock, Knock style poem that includes some
symbolic doors. Before beginning, lets look at what this poem should have. [Pulls up
checklist on projector.] So the poem needs a speaker, also known as a narrator. I think
Id like for this poem to be from my point of view. Id like to be the narrator. But I could
also have chosen to write from my fathers point of view, like Beatty did in his poem. But
I think Ill write from my point of view. So I need to include symbolic doors to knock
down. Okay. Some doors I wrote down on my list earlier were prejudice, inequality,
sexism, fear, pressure (from school, life). I think Im going to focus on those. And I need
to write in the poetic form. So I cant write long, continuous lines like youd see in a
novel or story. I need to write short, powerful phrases.
I really like the letter style of the poem so I might start with that. But not everyone has to
do this. You have a lot of freedom with what youd like to do. The checklist doesnt say I
have to do a letter poem, but thats where Id like to start. Who would I like to write to?
My little sister. Dear sister. Hmmm what can I write? Its not exactly the same, but in
the poem, when Beatty was writing about how he wishes his dad could come home, I was
reminded of how Im not at home with Julia, my sister right now even though shes
growing up and may need me. So Im going to write: I will not always be there to knock
on your door/Someday you will need to knock on doors for yourself. Because if Im not
there, shell have to learn to do things by herself. Next up, I have prejudice and
inequality on my list, so Ill write this: Knock knock down doors of prejudice and
inequality. Next I want to write about sexism. But I dont feel like saying it the exact
same way as the line before. Hmmmmwhat can I do? How about knocking down a
glass ceiling? Does anyone know what that is? It is a symbol for the barrier to
advancement in a profession that no one wants to admit. For example, its like how on
average, women make 76 cents to a mans dollar. Or how members of minorities may get
overlooked for a job promotion. The ceiling is called glass because its clearno one
wants to admit its there, but it keeps members of minorities from moving up through the
glass ceiling. So lets knock down the glass ceiling, Knock knock down the glass ceiling
that Ive begun to crack. I dont want women in the future to have to worry about a
glass ceiling or fear that she will be discriminated against in the workplace, so Ill ask
my sister to knock the ceiling down for her future daughter: Knock knock for your
daughter, so that she does not need to be afraid. I often feel a lot of pressure to be
perfect. Perfect grades, perfect choices. I dont want my sister to feel that pressure, so Ill
put, Knock away the heavy pressure of perfection. I want my sister to remember to
stand up for others. Even if its not her problemit kind of is. Shouldnt we stand up for
other people? Isnt it our duty as a human being to make sure everyones doors are
knocked down? Knock knock for those who cannot knock for themselves/For the people
of silent histories and voices silenced. I want every future generation to have a chance
at happiness, success, freedom. So Ill rap it up with: Knock knock so that every child
has a chance.Lets see thats ten lines. And the checklist says I need at least, so Im in
the clear. But, wait!! My poem is only 90 words! I need 100. So Im going to have to
write another couple of lines for homework tonight to get 100 words.
c. [10 min] Writing Knock, Knock
You only have 10 minutes for this activity so you may not finish. Thats okay. You can
finish it later. But get at least 5 lines done today in class. Im handing out checklists with
the rubric so you can see how every thing will be graded. [Hand out checklist and rubric
while talking.] Dont worry about using correct grammar and feel free to write in your
native language for this assignment. For this sort of poem, Daniel Beatty wanted to
reflect the way he talked, and Id like for you to do the same. Im leaving my poem up on
the board, but remember, you can also use Beattys poem as a model too.
8. [5 min] Closure:
Okay. Hopefully your feelings about poetry have changed today. In light of our
lesson, I would like for you to think of a new word that comes to mind when you
think of poetry.
[After one minute]: Lets go around the room and share our words. [Let students
share. Types new words beside the words from the beginning of class.]
Great job today! For an exit slip, write down any questions you may have about
the syllabus. And get those syllabuses signed! Homework tonight is SSR for 15
min.
Methods of Assessment:
Diagnostic: prior lesson
Formative:
o Small group discussion worksheet
o List of injustices
Summative:
o Knock, Knock style poems
Differentiated Instruction to accommodate one or more of my profiled students:
Students can write in home language. For Dmitri, this would mean native language, a
blend, or whatever he is comfortable with.
Materials Needed:
Students will need composition books and pencils/pensI will have backup
SSR books
Smart Board
Student Interest Survey
Turn In and Pick Up basket
Daniel Beatty video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VLjZPqJqE0
Knock, Knock Poem with questions
Small Group Worksheet
Model Poem
MODEL TEXT:
Dear Sister,
I will not always be there to knock on your door
Someday you will need to knock on doors for yourself
Knock knock down doors of prejudice and inequality
Knock knock down the glass ceiling that Ive begun to crack
Knock knock for your daughter, so that she does not need to be afraid
Knock away the heavy pressure of perfection
Knock knock for those who cannot knock for themselves
For the people of silent histories and voices silenced
Knock knock so that every child has a chance
score can be reached. All students can rewrite their poems, even if they score in the black
range of every section the first time around.
Quick Checklist
o The poem has a speaker, also known as a narrator.
o The poem includes symbolic doors to knock down.
o The poem is more than 10 lines and 100 words in length.
o Poem is written in the poetic form.
Narrator
Poetic Form
Symbolic Doors
Length
3
Poem has a narrator
and the narrator has
a personality. From
the poem, we get
some idea of who
the narrator is as a
person.
Poem is clearly a
poem. The writing is
not prose.
2
Poem has a narrator.
The narrator has no
clear personality.
1
The poem has no
established narrator.
The writing is
between poetry and
prose.
Talking Points:
1.
2.
3.
Group Evaluation:
1. Today, our discussion focused mainly on
2.
Come to a consensus as to how well your group accomplished the following goals.
Please dont just put an X in the box; add brief notes to support your rating.
note: This will be blown up to be full-paper sized.
4
3.
In our next discussion, our group will work on (Note an area related to your group
discussion where you feel you would like to improve together)