Text:

The Charge of the Light Brigade by: Tennyson

Casabianca by: Felicia Hemans
Strategy from Making Thinking Visible

Where in the class? What does this strategy do?

This class will be in the middle of a unit where the core text is Antigone. This play can be difficult, but it
has a unique take on the theme of loyalty/ it is important for students to be able to take this theme of loyalty and
make intertextual connections. Therefore we are going to create a lesson that looks at the theme of loyalty in
texts other than Antigone. Students will use the annotation techniques that we have learned and used in class to
annotate the poems that we will be reviewing and then synthesize their thinking into a thematic statement. This
will allow them to identify the theme, discuss its significance, and relate it back to the core text for the unit. The
strategy that we are going to use will allow for students to practice that annotation strategies as well as identify
thematic moments in the text. They will be able to find textual evidence that supports their thoughts on the
theme without even knowing that is what they are doing. This is also important to the success of the unit
overall, because the culminating text for this unit is an argumentative essay in which they will need to identify
textual evidence to support a claim.
Standard:
The standard that we will be addressing is a Reading for all Purposes standard for 11 grade. This
th

Standard comes from the Colorado academic standards. It is important that students can identify theme, but also
the significance and uniqueness of that theme. Since the standard asks students to analyze the theme and how its
significance interacts, they will be thinking on a deeper level than simple identification. This standard also
allows for us to practice other skills that students have used and needed in this class including annotation,
theme, intertextuality, and evidence based reasoning.

Lesson Plan:
Standard 2: Reading for All Purposes
(CCSS:RL.11-12.2)
Determine two or more central themes or ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the
text including how they interact; and build on one another to produce a complex account.
Learning Targets:
I can refine my reading of a text through analysis and develop my thoughts into theme(s).
I will know I have it when I have annotated and analyzed my poem and written a theme explanation.

Strategy: Sentence, Phrase, Word (Making Thinking Visible)

- Read the text.
- Choose a sentence that is meaningful to you as the reader. One that you felt captures the core/central
ideas of the text.
- Then a phrase that moved you or was particularly striking.
- Then finally identify a word that was powerful to you, again focusing on core themes and ideas.

Materials:
- Document Camera
- Copies of the poem(s)
- INBs
TEACHER
1. Introduce Learning Targets and purpose for the
day.
2. Read the first poem aloud once through first.
Students will follow along with their own copy of the
poem and practice the annotation strategies that we
have learned previously in class. These include
underlining important words, powerful
phrases/lines/words, circling vocab, writing questions
and feelings in the margins, and making connections.
3. Model the strategy by choosing a line that we
(the teachers) found to be meaningful. Then use a call
and answer strategy to identify a phrase and word as a
class
4. Briefly discuss the answers given.
5. Write a theme statement; this will identify the
central theme and discuss why it is unique or
significant in this text.
6. Instruct students to repeat the process with the
second poem. They can do so on their own and in
small groups if they wish.
7. Filter through and talk to students.
8. Share out with class and discuss how the themes of
these poems relate to the axis text of the semester
Antigone.
(Special thanks to Rachel Franks for co-creating this lesson and teaching it with me).
STUDENT
1. Students will follow along while the first poem
is being read aloud by the teachers and practice the
annotation strategies that we have learned previously
in class. These include underlining important words,
powerful phrases/lines/words, circling vocab, writing
questions and feelings in the margins, and making
connections.
2. Participate in the call and answer strategy to
identify a word and phrase as a class.
3. Briefly discuss the answers given.
4. Copy theme statement written by teachers to use
as a guide for identifying a central theme. Students
will discuss why the central theme is unique or
significant in this text.
5. Complete the same process with the second poem.
6. Share out with the class and discuss findings.