Asa Clark Middle School Lesson Plan 2

On March 31, 2015, I taught a suburban 8th grade Language Arts

lesson on figurative language in poetry. I demonstrated the following
two of the Wisconsin Teacher Standards for Licensure and
Development: Teachers know the subject they are teaching and
Teachers know how to teach. I had studied the concepts of poetry in
order to instruct the lesson. I came up with examples for each of the
types of figurative language I was covering in order to help the
students understand the material better. I used a PowerPoint (which
served as both a visual and verbal presentation), had a partnered
discussion, gave out a handout to each table, and had the students
post their poems to their blogs. I also projected my own poetry while
they wrote theirs so they could see the process of writing. I really
wanted the students to see that just because I was teaching the
lesson, that didnt make me an expert poet. For day two of the
workshop, I had planned for my cooperating teacher to have the
students get into small groups to discuss their poems and figure out
which literary devices they used.
Two of the Alverno Graduate Advanced Education Abilities that I
demonstrated in my lesson are Conceptualization and
Communication. I was able to demonstrate conceptualization by
integrating my knowledge of poetry and Language Arts in order to
instruct a lesson on poetry. If it werent for my background in English, I
would not have been able to effectively communicate the figurative
language that is used in poetry and provide examples. When I first
asked the class what figurative language was, a student asked if she
could give an example of what she thought it was. She provided an
example of a simile, which I was able to tell simply because I know how
to spot figurative language. I used communication by providing a
PowerPoint, which was both an oral and visual (written) presentation.
In addition, by constructing our own blogs with our own poetry, we are
utilizing a form of media that allows us to read and comment on each
others poems. I also think I demonstrated the ability of Diagnosis by
observing the students as they worked. I walked around the room as
the students wrote their poems and worked individually with them. I
would read their poetry, ask them where they used the figurative
language devices, and tried to get them thinking of even more ways
they could use it. In some cases we talked about what motivated them
to write the type of poem that they did as well.
I believe that I successfully demonstrated at least five of the
Common Core Standards. Literacy.RL.8.4 and Literacy.RI.8.4 asks that
students be able to determine the meaning of words and phrases as
they are used in text, including figurative and connotative meanings.
Literacy.L.8.5 asks that students be able to demonstrate an
understanding of figurative language, which I assessed in their

individual poems. Literacy.W.8.4 states that students be able to

produce clear and coherent writing in which the development,
organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and
audience. Each student was required to write their own poetry using at
least three types of figurative language, which accomplished this
standard. And finally, Literacy.W.8.6 states that students be able to
use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing
and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently
as well as to interact and collaborate with others. I required the class
to post their poems to their blogs and on day two of the workshop, the
students got into small groups to discuss each others poems in terms
of both the meaning and the types of figurative language they used.
My lesson fit into the curriculum for the term, which is the Lucy
Calkins readers workshop framework. I also utilized UBD in my
implementation of the lesson. When deciding what to do my lesson on,
I first looked at the Common Core Standards in order to determine
what I wanted the students to learn. I decided I wanted the students
to be able to understand and demonstrate the use of figurative
language. I then decided that in order to assess that the students
understood figurative language, I would have them each write their
own poems, requiring them to use at least three types. Finally, I
planned the lesson. I found the definitions for several types of
figurative language and provided examples for each. I also picked a
poem that had two types of figurative language for us all to discuss.
Therefore, in planning my lesson, I focused on backward design.