Pre-Reading

A) Look at the cartoon does the boy like the way poetry is thought in
school?
No because he thinks that studying poetry spoils the poem.
B) Look at the cartoon again. The girl gives another example of something
that is hard to explain. What can we infer from her example? What
clues help us to reach this conclusion?
C)
Choose the correct answer.
B. She thinks she's pretty
2) a. What do you think we can infer in the following situations?
You come to school and there are no students in the classroom.
Strike
The principal comes into the class in the middle of the lesson.
We are in trouble
On your cell phone you see that your driving teacher is calling you.
I succeed in test.
b. Give examples of how the thinking skill of inferring could be useful in your
everyday life.
My mom call me when I was in school.

Introduction To Poetry
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poems room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the authors name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

Basic Understanding

A Find the words in the list that are similar in the meaning to the words and
phrases below.
1. the top of something - surface
2. write - author
3. beach - shore
4. thick string - rope
5. when you admit that have done something wrong - confession
6. a place where bees live - hive
7. to make someone suffer - torture
8. a sport in which you move over the water - waterski
9. to try and find out information - probe
10. a pipe made from rubber or plastic - hose
B
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Complete the sentences with the words below.

You must hold the slide up to the light.
If you press your ear to a hive, you will hear the bees.
Readers want to take a rope and tie the poem to a chair.
Readers will try to beat the meaning out if the poem with a hose.
The poet says that the readers torture the poem when they analyze it.
The reader greets the poet by waving to him.

Understanding the Poem

Answer the questions.
1. What does the speaker ask the students to do? Name three things.
- To look closely at the poem.
- To listen carefully to the poem.
- To use your senses to explore the poem.
2. What do the students want to do?
They want to tie the poem to a chair and torture a confession out of it.
3. What is the "confession" that students want to get?
a. what the poem means
b. how the poem rhymes
c. who wrote the poem
4. How do the students try to get this "confession"?
They want to tie the poem to a chair with a rope and beat it with a hose.

Analysis and Interpretation

A Who is the speaker "I" in the poem?
- The poet, the teacher, the speaker

B 1) Imagery is language that uses the senses to create vidvid

picture In the readers mind. Poems are often filled often with
imagery. Read the quote from the poem and circle the correct
meaning.
1."hold it up to the light/like a color slide"
a. Look closely at the words in the poem.
2. "press an ear against its hive"
b. Listen carefully to the words of the poem.
3. "drop a mouse into the poem/ and watch him probe his way out"
a. Consider different interpretations of the poem.
4. "feel the walls for a light switch"
b. explore the poem until you find a meaning.
5. "water-ski / across the surface of a poem"
b. Have fun with the poem.
6. "waving at the author's name on the shore"
a. Read about the author's background.
2 Which image did you like the most? Explain.
I liked the image that through it the poet wants the students to hold the
poem up to the light as a color slide because this why we can always see
something a bit different and more clearly as if we look at the a slide.
C What can we infer from the poem about the speaker's attitude
toward reading poetry?
C. Poetry should be read first for enjoyment
.
D How does the speaker feel about the way students usually try to
interpret poetry?
The poet feels that when students read a poem they immediately start to
see the meaning from the dictionary and analyze the poem and they often
ignore the reading between the lines and they to force the meaning out of
the poem.
E What is personified at the end of the poem?
The poem is personified it's compared to human who must be tortured in
order to extract a confession
Bridging text and context
How does the information in exercises A on page 8 add to your
understanding of the poem?

When I read the information I understand hoe important poetry is for the
poet Billy Collins.
He believes that if is an enjoyable experience to read a poem or to listen to
it. And he says that students should enjoy poetry rather than just analysis he
calls on people to use.
Post-Reading

a) The room is dark and unknown, just like the meaning of the poem. To
understand the poem, the reader must move from darkness to light by
FEELING around for the light switch. Once the light is turned on, the
reader will be able to see how the room (poem) is arranged.
Reflection
1. Did you enjoy reading this poem?

I enjoyed reading the poem because it has an important subject, it tells us

how to study and explore a poem in different and creative way rather than
just analyzing and to use our senses when we study poetry using images like
looking for a light switches in the dark.
I enjoyed reading the poem especially when the most poet used the
metaphors of waterskiing and torture to illustrate the picture he is painting
for the reader.
2. How did learning about thinking skill of inferring help you understand
the poem?
The thinking skill of inferring helped me to infer that the poet tells his
readers to enjoy the poem using their senses, he wants to read poems with
understanding between the lines.
3. Do you think you will able to use suggestions given in this poem to
help you understand other poems?
Yes, I will be able to use the message of the poem to understand it, think
should enjoy poetry and not just to analyze it also l can stud poetry in a more
creative way for example instead of answering questions about it, would
draw or sculpt parts of the poem This will help me not to be frustrated and
bored and me read encourage more poems and get enjoyment.
4. How did the poets use of imagery add to your understanding and
enjoyment of the poem?
The imagery that collins used helps me infer how he thinks poetry should be
read.
I think that collins believes that if readers look at poetry In. Different way,
more people will understand and appreciate poetry.