Whole Group Direct Instruction Lesson
Reading Direct Instruction Lesson Plan
Grade Level/Subject: 4th Grade Reading Topic: Finding Theme in Poetry
Rationale: Students need to know how to find a theme in a poem using details from the text in order to better understand the poem.
CCSS: RL.4.2 . Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
Behavioral Objective: After reading a poem, students will be able to identify a theme of the poem using specific details from the text.
Prerequisite Knowledge & Skills: Students should be able to recount stories and determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how the idea is shown using key details.
Materials/Resources:
A Fork in the Road
Roads
The House by the Side of the Road & Question Sheet
Student journals
Focus/Review: Tell students, “A poem’s theme, like that of a story or play, is a message or lesson that the poem is trying to get across. The message or lesson is usually something that most people feel is important about life. The theme comes from what the poem says and how it says it.” Show students a photo of a fork in the road and ask what the picture shows. Read the poem, A Fork in the Road and ask what idea it may be expressing. Ask students to tell how the photo helps show what the poem expresses. Have students record their answers in their journals.
Objective (as stated for students): Today, you will learn how to find the theme, or what the message of a poem is.
Teacher Input: Tell students, “Good readers find the theme of whatever they are reading while they are reading to help them understand the meaning of the story or poem. To do this, we have to use key details to find the message that the writer is trying to get across to us.” Then, read the first half of the poem Roads by Rachel Field. Say to students, “Even though I have only read half of this poem so far, I can predict the theme of the poem. To figure out the theme of a poem, first, I have to think about what the poem is about. Second, I have to ask what the poem describes. Third, I have to ask myself how those details might connect to a message or a lesson that I can take away from the poem. Let’s look back at the poem. What is this poem mostly about? I think it is about the different places roads can take you. What does the poem describe? This poem describes roads going different places. These places include harbor towns, quays, and the tailor’s door. So far I think this poem is telling me that roads can take me to different places. Here is a table I like to use when finding the theme in stories and poems. It helps me to see all of the parts I am looking for.” Show students the table they can use to help them figure out the theme of a poem. Draw it on the board.
What Is It About? What Does It Describe? What Do You Learn?
Guided Practice: Tell students, “Now we are going to read the rest of this poem.” Read the second half of Roads. After finishing the poem, tell students, “We are going to fill in this chart to help us decide on a theme for the poem.” Using the chart drawn on the board, ask students what they think the poem is about. Take several ideas that are similar and place them in the first box. Then ask students what the poem describes. Remind students to use specific details from the text. Tell students that it the poem may not be speaking literally but that it could be figurative language. Take several ideas that line up with each other and write them in the second box. Then ask students what they learned from the poem. Take several ideas and write them in the third box. Once the chart is filled in, uncover the multiple-choice question on the board. Ask students to think about the answer and then turn and talk with their neighbor about their answer choice.
This question should say,
Which sentence best describes the theme of this poem?
When students have had about 2 or 3 minutes to discuss their answers ask students for their answers. Be sure to ask students why they picked the answer choice they did. If students are struggling to come up with the correct answer, (A), tell them, “The poem isn’t just about where roads may lead a person. It is also about possibilities and the unexpected. Which of these choices describes this theme?”
Once students have chosen their answers, have them write in their journals their answer choice and tell what details helped them figure out which answer choice describes the theme.
Independent Practice: Give students the poem, The House by the Side of the Road by Sam Walter Foss and the question sheet that goes along with it. Remind students to use the table to help them answer the questions. Students will complete this sheet to turn in to the teacher.
Question Sheet
1. Read these lines from the poem.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by –
What do these lines show about the speaker?
2. Which like from the poem best shows that the speaker would rather help other people than avoid them?
3. Describe a theme of this poem. Include at least two details from the poem to support your answer?
Closure: Tell students, “Remember, when you are trying to find a theme in a poem, just like in a story, you are finding what message the poem is trying to send to us. Don’t forget, when we are trying to find the theme, we can use our table that asks what the poem is about, what it describes, and what we have learned from the poem.”
Evaluation: Student journals would be collected and response would be checked for participation. Question sheets from independent practice will be collected for a grade. If all 3 questions are correct, the student has reached mastery. If 1 or more questions is incorrect, the student will need re-teaching.
Plans for Individual Differences: For the lowest group of readers, they will work with the teacher in a small group on the independent practice assignment to be sure they understand the concept. While teaching be sure to call on different students to check for understanding among all of them. Read poems more than once while teaching to provide clarification.
Reference(s): Clinical teacher’s guidance and suggestions
Grade Level/Subject: 4th Grade Reading Topic: Finding Theme in Poetry
Rationale: Students need to know how to find a theme in a poem using details from the text in order to better understand the poem.
CCSS: RL.4.2 . Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
Behavioral Objective: After reading a poem, students will be able to identify a theme of the poem using specific details from the text.
Prerequisite Knowledge & Skills: Students should be able to recount stories and determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how the idea is shown using key details.
Materials/Resources:
A Fork in the Road
Roads
The House by the Side of the Road & Question Sheet
Student journals
Focus/Review: Tell students, “A poem’s theme, like that of a story or play, is a message or lesson that the poem is trying to get across. The message or lesson is usually something that most people feel is important about life. The theme comes from what the poem says and how it says it.” Show students a photo of a fork in the road and ask what the picture shows. Read the poem, A Fork in the Road and ask what idea it may be expressing. Ask students to tell how the photo helps show what the poem expresses. Have students record their answers in their journals.
Objective (as stated for students): Today, you will learn how to find the theme, or what the message of a poem is.
Teacher Input: Tell students, “Good readers find the theme of whatever they are reading while they are reading to help them understand the meaning of the story or poem. To do this, we have to use key details to find the message that the writer is trying to get across to us.” Then, read the first half of the poem Roads by Rachel Field. Say to students, “Even though I have only read half of this poem so far, I can predict the theme of the poem. To figure out the theme of a poem, first, I have to think about what the poem is about. Second, I have to ask what the poem describes. Third, I have to ask myself how those details might connect to a message or a lesson that I can take away from the poem. Let’s look back at the poem. What is this poem mostly about? I think it is about the different places roads can take you. What does the poem describe? This poem describes roads going different places. These places include harbor towns, quays, and the tailor’s door. So far I think this poem is telling me that roads can take me to different places. Here is a table I like to use when finding the theme in stories and poems. It helps me to see all of the parts I am looking for.” Show students the table they can use to help them figure out the theme of a poem. Draw it on the board.
What Is It About? What Does It Describe? What Do You Learn?
Guided Practice: Tell students, “Now we are going to read the rest of this poem.” Read the second half of Roads. After finishing the poem, tell students, “We are going to fill in this chart to help us decide on a theme for the poem.” Using the chart drawn on the board, ask students what they think the poem is about. Take several ideas that are similar and place them in the first box. Then ask students what the poem describes. Remind students to use specific details from the text. Tell students that it the poem may not be speaking literally but that it could be figurative language. Take several ideas that line up with each other and write them in the second box. Then ask students what they learned from the poem. Take several ideas and write them in the third box. Once the chart is filled in, uncover the multiple-choice question on the board. Ask students to think about the answer and then turn and talk with their neighbor about their answer choice.
This question should say,
Which sentence best describes the theme of this poem?
- a. You never know where life will take you.
- b. Traveling is the best way to learn about the world.
- c. Some places are more interesting than others.
- d. Don’t let people fool you into going the wrong way.
When students have had about 2 or 3 minutes to discuss their answers ask students for their answers. Be sure to ask students why they picked the answer choice they did. If students are struggling to come up with the correct answer, (A), tell them, “The poem isn’t just about where roads may lead a person. It is also about possibilities and the unexpected. Which of these choices describes this theme?”
Once students have chosen their answers, have them write in their journals their answer choice and tell what details helped them figure out which answer choice describes the theme.
Independent Practice: Give students the poem, The House by the Side of the Road by Sam Walter Foss and the question sheet that goes along with it. Remind students to use the table to help them answer the questions. Students will complete this sheet to turn in to the teacher.
Question Sheet
1. Read these lines from the poem.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by –
What do these lines show about the speaker?
- a. He doesn’t mind living on a noisy street full of traffic
- b. He wishes to spend his life close to other people.
- c. He likes watching a running race that goes by his house.
- d. He prefers a quiet life over being a part of a busy world.
2. Which like from the poem best shows that the speaker would rather help other people than avoid them?
- a. “I would not sit in the scorner’s seat”
- b. “I see from my house by the side of the road”
- c. “By the side of the highway of life”
- d. “But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears”
3. Describe a theme of this poem. Include at least two details from the poem to support your answer?
Closure: Tell students, “Remember, when you are trying to find a theme in a poem, just like in a story, you are finding what message the poem is trying to send to us. Don’t forget, when we are trying to find the theme, we can use our table that asks what the poem is about, what it describes, and what we have learned from the poem.”
Evaluation: Student journals would be collected and response would be checked for participation. Question sheets from independent practice will be collected for a grade. If all 3 questions are correct, the student has reached mastery. If 1 or more questions is incorrect, the student will need re-teaching.
Plans for Individual Differences: For the lowest group of readers, they will work with the teacher in a small group on the independent practice assignment to be sure they understand the concept. While teaching be sure to call on different students to check for understanding among all of them. Read poems more than once while teaching to provide clarification.
Reference(s): Clinical teacher’s guidance and suggestions