Lesson Plan Title: Wordsworth Day #1

Date: March 20, 2018

Subject: English Language Arts B30
Grade: 12
Topic: Joy and Inspiration
Key Questions:
 How is joy different from inspiration? (lead)
 How do you define joy in simple words? How do you define inspiration in simple words? (guide)
 What would life be like with no source of joy or inspiration? (Hook)
 How do poems reveal a poem’s speaker’s joy and inspiration? (essential)

Materials:
 YouTube clips (4)
 Wordsworth poems (2)
 Wordsworth questions

Stage 1- Desired Results – you may use student friendly language

What do they need to understand, know, and/or able to do?

Students will be know how to define and differentiate joy and inspiration by the end of this lesson. The
motivational set will help students not only know that there are different factors that cause joy, but also that
people can be inspired by multiple things (family, love, objects, and negative events). Students will also know
how to effectively explain and discuss poems to help further understanding.

This lesson will help students understand that poetic devices found in poems can help the reader interpret
the meaning of the poem. Class discussions will help students explore their interpretations of the poem, and
interpretations may vary in the class but students will understand that different views of the poem exist and
they must be respectful of those interpretations.

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to read the poems and identify the poetic devices in each
poem. Students should be able to explain each poetic device and how it contributes to the overall tone of
meaning of the poem. Students will also be able to identify the cause of joy in each poem and the inspiration
of each poem. Students will also be able to work in partners, which means students will be able to help their
learning partner gain a deeper understanding of the poem through peer-teaching and a small discussion of
the poems. Students will also be able to practice and improve upon their speaking, listening, and reflecting
skills throughout the entire lesson.

Broad Areas of Learning:

Sense of Self, Community, and Place: Students will be able to nurture meaningful relationships with their
peers, especially during the side-by-side learning activity. Students will be able to help their peer understand a
poem more by effectively explaining and discussing the poem to them. Students will be encouraged to help
their peers and lean on their peers for support, particularly with the side-by-side learning activity. This type of
peer support will not only help create a positive environment to learn in, but will help students learn to
appreciate their peers more.
Lifelong Learners: This lesson will help students practice basic skills of speaking and listening. The teacher will
engage the students in a class discussion after the poem readings in order to discuss what happened in the
poem, what the meaning may be, and apparent poetic devices. Class discussions will help students practice
their speaking skills when they chose to participate and their listening skills while their peers are talking.
Students will also be presented with another opportunity to practice their speaking and listening skills during
the side-by-side learning activity where students will be expected to teach their peers about the poem they
had to read and listen while their partner teaches them.

Engaged Citizens: Students will have a huge responsibility in this lesson, and that is to help their learning
partner learn and gain a deeper understanding of a poem. Students will have to be confident enough in their
ability in order to teach their peer and have their learning partner benefit from their teaching. Students will
have to decide how they are going to discuss their answers and explain the poem in their own words to their
peer so that their peer clearly understands the poem. Students will come to recognize that their teaching
decisions will either result in clarity or confusion within the student.

Cross-Curricular Competencies:

Developing Thinking: Students will be asked questions during this lesson that will help students explore why
the meanings of the poems the students will be reading are influenced by certain poetic devices present in
the poem. Some of the questions that the students have to answer and teach to a partner during the side-by-
side learning activity forces students to think critically about specific diction used in the poems and wonder
about the type of effect changing certain words in the poem would have on the overall meaning of the
poems. Students will also have to think critically in the lesson by analyzing and responding to the poems read
in class.

Developing Identity and Interdependence: This lesson will help students value, understand, and care for one
another. The side-by-side learning activity in the lesson instructs students to answer questions on 1/2 poems
and teach those answers to their learning partner. This may be a hard task for some students, but this activity
will help students demonstrate a sense of respect for their learning partner and the effort they set forth.
Students must rely on one another to effectively teach the other about their chosen poem. Students have a
responsibility to help their learning partner understand their poem deeper. This activity will help students
value and care for others in the class since students will have to value their peers’ deeper understanding of
the poems.

Developing Literacies: Students will be able to learn and gain understanding of the lesson’s content through
listening and viewing. The motivational set and the poem reading allows students to gain understanding and
insight from viewing and listening to either a visual representation of joy and inspiration or to the teacher
reading and explain the poems in more detail. Students will further practice their listening skills by listening to
their learning partner during the side-by-side learning activity. This activity also allows students to improve
upon their speaking skills and their ability to explain fluidly and coherently. Technology plays a small part in
this lesson, but YouTube will technically act as a source for students to gain knowledge of the terms joy and
inspiration. Students will be able to evaluate the ideas and information found in the music videos from
YouTube and determine if it is useful or not when it comes to helping them understand joy and inspiration.

Developing Social Responsibility: This lesson mostly requires class discussions and partner work, so it is
essential that students remain respectful and supportive of their peers. Incorporating class discussions into
the lesson ensures that each student has the opportunity to contribute. Some ideas and views may differ
from other students’ views and ideas in the classroom, but students will have to understand that other views
and ideas exist. Students will be able to respect and appreciate all the views and ideas that are shared during
class discussions. This lesson, particularly the class discussion and the side-by-side learning activity within the
lesson, will help students learn how to be supportive of their classmates and the diverse ways students may
contribute to the lesson’s activities.

Outcome(s):

CR B30.3 - Listen to and comprehend grade-appropriate informational and literary texts created by
international, including indigenous, speakers and authors, and analyze the perspectives, biases, beliefs,
values, identities, and power presented in each text.

PGP Goals:

1.1 – the ability to maintain respectful, mutually supportive, and equitable professional relationships with
learners, colleagues, families and communities

1.2 – Ethical behavior and the ability to work in a collaborative manner for the good of all learners

Stage 2- Assessment

Assessment FOR Learning (formative) Assess the students during the learning to help determine next steps.

The teacher will circulate around the classroom during the side-by-side learning activity in order to observe if
students are understanding the poems, specifically when students engage in the peer-teaching and discussion
portion of the side-by-side learning activity. This will help the teacher determine if the students are
competent with the poem enough to teach their peer. This will be an opportunity for the teacher to review
key poetic devices, answer any questions, and help provide further clarification to the students. The teacher
will use student comments, issues, questions, and experiences during the partner work as feedback of
student learning. These comments, issues, questions, and student experiences may bring up reoccurring
issues or questions, and the teacher can use this to determine how to improve the lesson for the future so
that similar issues, confusion, and questions can be avoided. Circulating the classroom can also help the
teacher determine if there is reoccurring issue that needs to be addressed to the class. If multiple students
are having issues then the teacher can address the whole class and work through the issue together with the
entire class.

Assessment OF Learning (summative) Assess the students after learning to evaluate what they have learned.

This lesson does not include summative assessment.

Stage 3- Learning Plan (60 minute class)

Motivational/Anticipatory Set (introducing topic while engaging the students)

Activity 1.1 – Music Videos

The students will watch and listen to three music videos on YouTube. There will be a small class discussion
that follows each music video before showing the next music video. There will be background information
given to the students about the inspirations and joys that created the songs after the students share their
own ideas and thoughts first. The students will be asked about the following:

 What or who is this song about?

 What are the emotions that are portrayed in the music video? (only applies to “Die a Happy Man” and
“Sky Stays This Blue”) Does it convey joy? Inspiration? Both? Explain your answer.
 What inspired this song? Why do you think that?
 What do you think this singer’s life would look like without their source of joy and inspiration?

Background information:

Die a Happy Man – Thomas Rhett (4:03 minutes)

 The woman in the music video is actually Thomas Rhett’s wife, Lauren. The two have known each
other since they were first graders in Georgia. Their feelings for one another actually started to
develop during their time at bible camp together. They then dated for a while before marrying one
another. Thomas Rhett’s inspiration for the song, “Die a Happy Man,” was his wife. One of Thomas
Rhett’s greatest joys in his life is his wife and the love they share, so Thomas Rhett’s was inspired to
write the song “Die a Happy Man” by his wife and they loving relationship.

Female – Keith Urban (3:10 minutes)

 This song was inspired two things. The #MeToo movement and the allegations against Harvey
Weinstein (American film producer) is one of the inspiration for this song. The #MeToo movement
wanted to bring awareness to the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially
in the workplace. This movement followed soon after the sexual misconduct allegations against
Harvey Weinstein. The second inspiration for this song is his family, which consists of his wife and two
daughters. Keith Urban took something negative and turned it into a form of empowerment for the
most important females in his life, which are his wife and two daughters.
 Connects to Lucy song – taking her death but using his sister as a joy and inspiration

Sky Stays This Blue – Dallas Smith (3:02 minutes)

 The little girl in Dallas Smith’s music video was his 3-year-old daughter. His daughter brings so much
joy to his life, so he decided to write a song about his daughter and the life he hopes she lives.

After providing background information on each song, the teacher will discuss how the songs and music
videos connect to the poems by Wordsworth that will be read in class.

Duration: 20 minutes
Main Procedures/Strategies:

Activity 1.2 – Poem Reading - “I Wandered as a Lonely Cloud”

The students will listen to Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud” read by Sian Phillips on YouTube.
The students will be instructed to follow the reading of the poem with their own copies of the poem. The
students will also be encouraged to observe the images used in the clip during the reading of the poem. The
teacher will discuss how this poem was inspired by the beauty of nature, particularly the beauty of a field of
daffodils, and the joy and happiness that it gives to him. The purpose of showing the YouTube clip is to show
the beauty of daffodils in order for students to understand why such a thing of nature could provide someone
with such joy.

The teacher will go over the poem after the poem reading is viewed, which will help guide the students into
the activity post poem readings. The following will be discussed after the poem reading.

1. Stanza 1
a. The speaker is wandering by himself until he comes across a field of daffodils
b. Wandered – roaming around without a purpose, usually something we do when we want to
find peace and explore.
c. Reverse personification – the speaker is metaphorically compared to a natural object (cloud)
and then the flowers are seen as “dancing,” which is something that usually humans do – this
helps how there is a sense of unity between humans and nature
d. Diction – usually daffodils are described as “yellow” but the fact Wordsworth uses the word
“golden” to describe the daffodils emphasizes how he perceives nature

2. Stanza 2
a. The speaker is beginning to go into more detail of the daffodils that he came across while
wandering
b. Simile – comparing the daffodils to the stars in the sky – this comparison shows the speaker
thinking of the daffodils as angels or other heavenly beings (these flowers are as beautiful as
angels)

1. Stanza 3
a. The speaker continues to admire the flowers but does not at this moment fully appreciate the
happy sight before him
b. This stanza highlights how the loneliness that the speaker felt earlier on in the poem has
disappeared due to the beauty he has come across
c. Diction – the word sparkle is used, which I associated to the stars again. It seems as though
everything the speaker is seeing is glistening, twinkling, and shining
d. Repetition – the word “gazed” is repeated to show the time in which the speaker spent
looking at the flowers
2. Stanza 4
a. This is where the speaker actually comes to appreciate the cheerful sight of the dancing
daffodils
b. Pensive – means thinking sad thoughts – such an experience is unpleasant and it isn’t until
this unpleasant experience that the speaker finally begins to truly appreciate the beauty of
nature

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnqCvDplPeA
Duration: 10 minutes

Activity 1.3 – Poem Reading - “She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways”

The teacher will read through the poem with the class. The teacher will then discuss each stanza. The
following information will be provided to the students:

1. Stanza 1
a. The first stanza describes the area in which Lucy (“She”) lived
b. The word spring can symbolizes new life and innocence – this would make sense considering
the first stanza presented Lucy as alive
c. Untrodden ways – these are pathways that are remote and lack travelers, so this shows how
Lucy lived in state of isolation away from others
d. “A maid whom there were none to praise – which means an unmarried women that no one
paid attention to
2. Stanza 2
a. This stanza references nature as a way to represent Lucy’s beauty
b. Violets are usually found in places where nobody goes, so it would make sense that Lucy
should be compared to a violet
c. Violets are vibrant colours and can also symbolize gentle appearances – Lucy is being
compared to a vibrant violet but this beauty is hidden and goes unnoticeable to others.
d. Lucy is compared to a star – “Fair as a star, when only one is shining in the sky” There’s only
one star shining in the sky, which implies that it is not a star at all but rather the planet Venus
since Venus is the brightest object in the night sky and it shines brighter than other stars in
the night sky. This means the speaker sees Lucy’s beauty as something that outshines
everything else
3. Stanza 3
a. This stanza just emphasizes Lucy’s isolation and repeats the characterization of Lucy as distant
and unknown – this cycle relates to the movement between growth and death since Lucy was
presented as alive in the first stanza whereas the speaker talks about her death in the last
stanza
b. “and oh, the difference to me” – verbal expression of pain

The poem as a whole:

 The length of the poem is quite short, which emphasizes the short life that Lucy lived
 The language used in the poem is simple and short words. This emphasizes the type of person Lucy
was.

Duration: 10 minutes

Activity 1.4 – side-by-side learning activity

One student will be responsible for answering the questions on “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” and the other
student will be responsible for answering the questions on “She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways.” The
students will be given time to work separately before coming together to discuss their findings.

Duration: 10 minutes (5 minutes to work through questions, 5 minutes to share)

 Adaptations/Differentiation:
 The subtitles will be turned on in the settings of YouTube before the music videos are played for the
class so that anyone will hearing impairments can read along as the music video is playing.
 Students with learning disabilities or any student struggling to comprehend the poems with be paired
with an academically stronger student during partner work.

Closing of lesson:

Activity 1.5 – Wrap-up

The big ideas from each poem will be wrapped up and discussed. Students will also be asked a question to
think about for tomorrow. The question the students will think about will help prepare them for an activity
that will take place in the second lesson.

Question to think about: What would the Instagram of the poem’s speakers look like? What would they
Instagram for their followers to see? What joys would they capture? What would be their inspiration behind
each photo of their Instagram?

Duration: 5 minutes

Personal Reflection: This lesson went fairly well, and I am most happy with how the students reacted to my
motivational set. Using music videos for songs that students were familiar with helped me introduce and discuss
joy and inspiration with the students prior to the main procedures of the lesson a lot easier. However, my c-op
teacher made comments on the type of questions I was asking the students. I was asking close-ended questions
and questions that only required basic knowledge instead of deeper thinking. My co-op teacher advised me to
work on the type of questions I ask to students, specifically questions that can expand their knowledge. She
introduced me to Bloom’s Taxonomy and explained how I can reference Bloom’s Taxonomy when I think of
questions I can ask students. Moving forward, I want to develop questions that require critical thinking and
deeper thinking, and I can do this by using the resource that my co-op teacher has provided me.
 William Wordsworth
“I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” Questions:

1. What was Wordsworth purpose for writing this poem?

2. Identify and explain the overt and implied message(s) conveyed.
3. Who might be the intended audience of this poem? Why?
4. What is the speaker’s sense of joy? Why is this their joy? Find evidence
from the poem to support your answer.
5. How do the feelings or emotions of the speaker change through the
poem? Give examples.

“She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways” Questions:

1. What was Wordsworth purpose for writing this poem?

2. Identify and explain the overt and implied message(s) conveyed
3. Who might be the intended audience of this poem? Why?
4. What is the speaker’s sense of joy and inspiration? Why is this their joy
and inspiration? Find evidence form the poem to support your answer.
5. Why wouldn’t Wordsworth compare Lucy to a rose or tulip? Why does
he compare her to a violet?