A. Engage the Learner - W.7.5 (5 minutes)

• Repeated routine: Students respond to questions on Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 3.

• Once students have completed their entrance tickets, invite several volunteers to share their works and their partners to share their feedback. 

• Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as with the previous lessons to review learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as in previous lessons.

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS 

Students may be reluctant to share their creative response to the poems in the previous lesson. Remind the class that sharing creative work can make people nervous and that they should practice empathy and respect, giving only positive feedback as directed by the prompts in the entrance ticket. Also, allow students to choose their own partners and to share as much of their piece as they feel comfortable. Finally, students may abstain from sharing their feedback orally as reading the feedback may be easier on students' nerves.

Students may be reluctant to share their creative response to the poems in the previous lesson. Remind the class that sharing creative work can make people nervous and that they should practice empathy and respect, giving only positive feedback as directed by the prompts in the entrance ticket. Also, allow students to choose their own partners and to share as much of their piece as they feel comfortable. Students may want to choose a partner who speaks the same home language and discuss their work in their home language. Finally, students may abstain from sharing their feedback orally as reading the feedback may be easier on students' nerves.

A. Read and Analyze Structure: “On Bully Patrol” – RL.7.5 (20 minutes)

• Review appropriate learning targets relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

“I can analyze how the structure of ‘On Bully Patrol’ contributes to its meaning.”

• Inform students that today they will read and analyze the second half of the poem “On Bully Patrol” by Nikki Grimes. Ask students to retrieve their copies of One Last Word anchor texts and open to the poem “On Bully Patrol.” Explain that students will again read the poem several times through before analyzing it. Read aloud the whole poem, asking students to close their eyes and listen. Then read stanzas 7–12 aloud a second time, asking students to follow along. Finally, read stanzas 7–12 aloud chorally as a class.

• Ask students to retrieve their Analyze Poetry note-catchers or Analyze Poetry note-catchers ▲ as necessary. The differentiated note-catcher supports students in writing about structure, figurative language, and themes with sentence starters. ▲ Allow a minute for students to review their note-catchers and share with a partner the overall gist of the first half of the poem. (A mother comforts her daughter after she is picked on at school.)

• Read the whole poem of “On Bully Patrol” aloud as students follow along.

• Use a total participation technique to determine the gist of each stanza with the class. Record the responses on the board:

  • Stanza 7: her husband works a lot, but finds time to spend with his daughters

  • Stanza 8: the mother tries to imagine her girls’ future, reminds them to follow their dreams

  • Stanza 9: the eldest daughter wants to date, her mother wants her to wait

  • Stanza 10: the mother was focused on education when she was her daughter’s age

  • Stanza 11: the mother teaches her daughters the value of hard work

  • Stanza 12: the mother reminds them they don’t have to listen to mean people and can choose their own paths

• Invite students to note these responses on their Analyze Poetry note-catchers.

• Ask students to form small groups to look more closely at how the stanzas are structured and how the poet uses figurative language to develop ideas within them. Follow the same routine as in the previous lesson, assigning each group a stanza to analyze and discuss, noting that students will analyze stanzas 11 and 12 for homework. 

• Ask students to Think-Group-Share about their assigned stanzas, focusing first on the structure of the stanzas.

“What is the speaker thinking about or doing in this stanza? How does the stanza develop ideas from the line it borrows from ‘Hope’?”

• • • Stanza 7: (The speaker is describing her family’s life and reminding her daughters to enjoy their father. It is connected to the line from “Hope,” because it urges the children to take time to enjoy their lives, as in the “mellowing shade.”)

    • Stanza 8: (The speaker is trying to imagine the future for her daughters, trying to imagine what they will be and do. She also mentions the advice she gives them. This is connected to the line from “Hope,” because that line urges the children to “rise with the hour for which you were made,” or to become who you are meant to be.)

    • Stanza 9: (The speaker is thinking about how her eldest daughter wants to date, but she wants her to be patient. It is connected to the line from “Hope,” because that line focuses on the “cycle of seasons,” or how time has different cycles.)

    • Stanza 10: (The speaker is thinking of her own childhood and comparing it to her daughter’s. The line from “Hope” reminds the reader that life and events play out in the “orb of an infinite plan.”)

• After groups have shared, invite students to note these examples of how the poem is structured on their note-catchers. To support students who need more time or visuals to process, record responses on the board or a displayed copy of the Analyze Poetry note-catcher. Consult the Analyze Poetry note-catcher (example for teacher reference) as necessary.

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS 

In Work Time A and B, allow students to respond to the discussion and analysis prompts in the modality that best suits them. They may want to record their responses in writing or practice their oral responses with a partner before sharing them out. Allowing students to respond in multiple ways increases their confidence and success in analyzing the structure, language, and themes of poems.

In Work Time A and B, allow students to respond to the discussion and analysis prompts in the modality that best suits them. They may want to record their responses in writing or practice their oral responses with a partner before sharing them out. They may want to share their responses in their home language. Allowing students to respond in multiple ways increases their confidence and success in analyzing the structure, language, and themes of poems.

Finally, in Work Time A and B, encourage students to use the Analyze Poetry note-catcher ▲ that was distributed in Unit 3, Lesson 2. This resource includes sentence frames that support students in comprehension and writing about the structure, language, and themes in the poems.

B. Analyze Figurative Language: “On Bully Patrol” – RL.7.4 (10 minutes)

• Review appropriate learning targets relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

“I can determine the meaning of figurative language in ‘On Bully Patrol.’"

• Ask students to remain in their groups and return to their stanzas to analyze the impact of figurative language in each of their stanzas. Post the following examples or direct students’ attention to them in the text. Ask students to discuss how these examples of figurative language develop an idea in their stanzas. As they do so, they can determine the meaning of unknown words using strategies such as context, word parts, and a dictionary. For the word cerebrum in stanza 10, encourage students to try replacing that word with one that would make sense in order to arrive at a definition of cerebrum (students may choose “brain” or “head”—congratulate students on the understanding and clarify that the cerebrum is specifically the part of the brain dedicated to higher-order thinking.)

• Guide students to analyze the figurative language in their stanza by asking them to Think-Group-Share:

“What is being compared? How is the abstract idea like the concrete object? What does this simile or metaphor show about the speaker and her family?”

• If necessary, model answering these questions with the following figurative language from stanza 11: “we / lay tomorrow, brick by brick, move / forward through wind and storm, from winter to / winter” (1–4). (Making a future is compared to laying brick; living is compared to walking through winter storms. Creating a good future is hard, careful work like making a brick wall. Living life can be hard and even painful as it is to walk through a winter storm. These metaphors show how creating a good future and even just living life requires hard, careful work and perseverance.) ▲

• Responses will vary, but may include the following:

  • Stanza 7: “Count these times precious, girls” (59) (Time or memories are compared to something you can count. Memories are precious. This figurative language shows the mother’s advice to her daughters to fully enjoy their time with their father. It also reminds the reader that the speaker lost her own father.)

  • Stanza 8: “Your longings were / already carefully carved, your true purpose long ago made.” (69–70) (Longings are compared to sculpture; life’s purpose is compared to something created. What we want to be and our life’s purpose are like artwork because they are beautiful and take a long time to create. This figurative language suggests that her daughters have a purpose that they need to discover to live their truest lives.)

  • Stanza 9: “Hard to explain tidals to one who’s never gotten her feet wet, of / course.” (76–77) (Life experience is compared to swimming in the ocean. The daughter doesn’t understand the ebb and flow of life (tidals) because she is young and inexperienced (not gotten her feet wet). This figurative language shows that her daughter has a different sense of time because she is still inexperienced.)

  • Stanza 10: “The / whole of my cerebrum was an orb / stuffed with history, geometry, and the plays of / Shakespeare.” (81–84) (The speaker’s brain is compared to a ball that is filled with knowledge. Our brains are like containers of all that we know because our knowledge is stored in our brain. This figurative language illustrates how the speaker mostly thought about school and education when she was younger.)

• Invite students to note these instances of figurative language on their note-catchers. To support students who need more time or visuals to process, record responses on the board or a displayed copy of the Analyze Poetry note-catcher. Consult the Analyze Poetry note-catcher (for teacher reference) as necessary.

• Remind students that they will answer questions about stanzas 11 and 12 and the poem overall for homework.

• Ask students to Think-Pair-Share:

“What is a theme that is developed in this poem? How is the author developing it?” (A theme being developed is that difficulties don’t last forever, but it takes hard work to achieve your goals. The author develops it by structuring the poem using the words of “Hope,” by Georgia Douglas Johnson to connect the themes of the older poem to her poem. Grimes aligns each stanza to the ideas from each line from "Hope." Grimes also uses figurative language and descriptions of advice between mother and daughters and memories to develop this theme as well.)

• Display the Harlem Renaissance Themes anchor chart. Add student responses for the theme in “On Bully Patrol” to the chart. Reference Harlem Renaissance Themes anchor chart (example for teacher reference) as needed.

• Once students have finished reading and reflecting on the poem, ask students to Think-Pair-Share:

“What habits of character did you see in this poem? Who demonstrated them? What did they look/sound like?” (Responses will vary, but may include: The speaker of the poem demonstrates perseverance as she recounts the difficulty she experienced and how she overcame it, while passing on advice about how to do the same to her daughters.)

• Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS 

In Work Time A and B, allow students to respond to the discussion and analysis prompts in the modality that best suits them. They may want to record their responses in writing or practice their oral responses with a partner before sharing them out. Allowing students to respond in multiple ways increases their confidence and success in analyzing the structure, language, and themes of poems.

In Work Time A and B, allow students to respond to the discussion and analysis prompts in the modality that best suits them. They may want to record their responses in writing or practice their oral responses with a partner before sharing them out. They may want to share their responses in their home language. Allowing students to respond in multiple ways increases their confidence and success in analyzing the structure, language, and themes of poems.

Finally, in Work Time A and B, encourage students to use the Analyze Poetry note-catcher ▲ that was distributed in Unit 3, Lesson 2. This resource includes sentence frames that support students in comprehension and writing about the structure, language, and themes in the poems.

A. Analyze Theme and Connections – RL.7.2 (10 minutes)

• Review appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

“I can determine a theme and trace its development over the course of ‘On Bully Patrol.’”

• Invite students to work in their groups to finish filling out their note-catchers, including the synthesis paragraphs and connections to other works. Remind students that they wrote many of these poetry theme paragraphs in Unit 1 of this module. As necessary, review the components of a poetry theme paragraph:

  • Introduce the poem.

  • State the theme.

  • Support the theme with specific references to structure and language.

  • Connect evidence back to the theme.

• If students need further support, draw them together in a group and write the theme paragraph together. Ask them to discuss the connections before writing them. This collaboration and oral processing supports student writing and comprehension as well as speaking and listening skills. ▲

• Invite students to reflect on the relevant learning target and habits of character focus in this lesson, discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS 

As necessary, allow students to work with a partner to discuss the language structures and vocabulary they will use in their theme paragraph. Oral rehearsal gives students confidence in writing as well as practice with speaking skills. 

At the end of the lesson, encourage students to take a few moments to reflect on their learning. Use the following questions to prompt reflection. Post the questions for visual learners. Explain that students do not have to respond to all the questions. They are examples to allow them to reflect on their learning. 

What have you learned about the Golden Shovel structure? How does it connect the new poem to the old poem? What have you learned about figurative language? Why do poets use it? What have you learned about themes in poems? How do poets develop them? What are some themes that black Americans develop today and in the Harlem Renaissance?

What new vocabulary or language structures did you learn in this lesson? 

Encourage students to share the most important or exciting thing they learned in this lesson. Reflecting on learning allows students to more firmly grasp abstract concepts and gives them confidence and ownership over their own learning.

To assist them in writing their theme paragraphs, encourage students to use the sentence frames on their Analyze Poetry note-catcher ▲ that was distributed in Unit 3, Lesson 2.

At the end of the lesson, encourage students to take a few moments to reflect on their learning. Use the following questions to prompt reflection. Post the questions and allow partner discussion time to support students in responding to one or more question. Explain that students do not have to respond to all the questions. They are examples to allow them to reflect on their learning. 

What have you learned about the Golden Shovel structure? How does it connect the new poem to the old poem? What have you learned about figurative language? Why do poets use it? What have you learned about themes in poems? How do poets develop them? What are some themes that black Americans develop today and in the Harlem Renaissance?

What new vocabulary or language structures did you learn in this lesson? 

Encourage students to share the most important or exciting thing they learned in this lesson. Reflecting on learning allows students to more firmly grasp abstract concepts and gives them confidence and ownership over their own learning.