HPISD CURRICULUM
(ENGLISH, GRADE 6)
EST. NUMBER OF DAYS: 4th 9 Weeks
UNIT NAME
Unit Overview
Generalizations/Enduring Understandings
SELF-EXPRESSION: POETRY AND PERFORMANCE
Students will identify multiple themes within one piece of literature as well as identify performance
potential in written poems. Students will recognize poetic devices used to convey ideas and to create
rhythm as well as demonstrate understanding of meaning and nuances of text through oral reading.
Reading:
-There can be multiple themes within one piece of literature.
-Some poems (such as spoken word) are intended to be performed for an audience.
-Poetic devices guide a reader’s understanding of meaning and create rhythm for the reader.
-Poems often have both a literal meaning and figurative meaning.
-Comprehending a text’s nuances leads to deeper understanding.
Writing & Conventions
-Figurative language and sensory details are used by a writer to create meaning.
-Diction, including connotation and denotation, is carefully selected to clarify ideas and establish tone and
mood.
-Poetry differs from prose in that poetry is written in lines and stanzas rather than sentences and
paragraphs.
-Poets communicate ideas through various stylistic techniques and forms (such as sonnet, ode, ballad,
etc.).
-Writers employ poetic devices to create meaning and rhythm in poems.
-Parentheses and brackets communicate an interruption to the reader.
-Subordinating conjunctions introduce dependent clauses.
-Sentence variety (such as simple, compound, and complex) contributes to meaning, voice, and logical
progression of ideas.
Guiding/Essential Questions
Reading:
How does a reader recognize various themes within one piece of literature?
What are qualities of a poem intended to be performed?
What are poetic devices?
How do poetic devices affect the meaning and rhythm of a poem?
How does a reader differentiate between literal and figurative meanings of a poem?
What textual clues enable the reader to attain deeper understanding?
Writing and Conventions:
HPISD CURRICULUM
(ENGLISH, GRADE 6)
EST. NUMBER OF DAYS: 4th 9 Weeks
How do figurative language and sensory details convey ideas within poem?
What is the difference between tone and mood?
How does diction impact meaning and influence the tone and mood?
What is the difference between poetry and prose?
How are ideas organized within a poem?
How are poetic devices utilized to create meaning and rhythm?
What is the role of parentheses and brackets in a text?
What makes a clause independent or dependent?
What impact does sentence variety have on a written piece?
Learning Targets
Performance Levels
Learning Progressions
Student will be able to:
-understand and communicate multiple
themes of a piece of literature
-use textual clues to support an analysis
-explain how poetic devices shape meaning
and create rhythm
-differentiate between figurative and literal
meanings of a poem to demonstrate deeper
understanding
-employ various sentence structures to
enhance sentence variety
- craft a poem that demonstrates mastery of:
- figurative language and sensory details
- diction that clarifies ideas and establishes
tone and mood
- organizational structure and form
Student will be able to:
-identify theme in a piece of literature
-identify different forms of poetry
-recognize poetic devices
-understand textual clues
-understand the difference between figurative and literal
meaning
-recognize and practice using figurative language and
sensory details
-understand the impact diction has on a text’s meaning
-identify the difference between connotation and
denotation
-understand the difference between prose and poetry
-identify organizational structure of poems to include
lines and stanzas
-recognize various forms of poetry (such as sonnet, ide,
ballad, etc.)
-understand the role of parentheses and brackets
-identify and understand differences between dependent
and independent clauses
- recognize and practice using a variety of sentence
structures
HPISD CURRICULUM
(ENGLISH, GRADE 6)
EST. NUMBER OF DAYS: 4th 9 Weeks
Formative Assessments
-recognizing themes in one piece of literature by small group discussion
-selecting poems with qualities that allow performance
-performing poems to audience
-defining various poetic devices and identify in poems
-annotating poems to show understanding of:
-recognize rhythm and rhyme scheme
-effect of poetic devices
-literal and figurative meanings
-writing poems to include various poetic and sensory devices
-small writing assignments practicing sentence structures
-small writing assignments practicing figurative language and sensory details
Summative Assessments
- TWA #4 (poem): Students will write an original poem with effective use of poetic devices, figurative
language, sensory details, and poetic structure.
TEKS (Grade Level)/Specifications
110.18. English Language Arts and Reading,
(1) Reading/Fluency. Students read grade-level text with fluency and comprehension. Students are
expected to adjust fluency when reading aloud grade-level text based on the reading purpose and the
nature of the text.
(2) Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and
writing. Students are expected to:
(B) use context (e.g., cause and effect or compare and contrast organizational text structures) to
determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or multiple meaning words;
(E) use a dictionary, a glossary, or a thesaurus (printed or electronic) to determine the meanings,
syllabication, pronunciations, alternate word choices, and parts of speech of words.
(4) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Poetry. Students understand, make inferences and draw
conclusions about the structure and elements of poetry and provide evidence from text to support their
understanding. Students are expected to explain how figurative language (e.g., personification, metaphors,
similes, hyperbole) contributes to the meaning of a poem.
(14) Writing/Writing Process. Students use elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising,
editing, and publishing) to compose text.
(15) Writing/Literary Texts. Students write literary texts to express their ideas and feelings about real or
imagined people, events, and ideas. Students are expected to:
(B) write poems using:
(i) poetic techniques (e.g., alliteration, onomatopoeia);
(ii) figurative language (e.g., similes, metaphors); and
(iii) graphic elements (e.g., capital letters, line length).
HPISD CURRICULUM
(ENGLISH, GRADE 6)
EST. NUMBER OF DAYS: 4th 9 Weeks
(19) Oral and Written Conventions/Conventions. Students understand the function of and use the
conventions of academic language when speaking and writing. Students will continue to apply earlier
standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to:
(A) use and understand the function of the following parts of speech in the context of reading, writing,
and speaking:
(i) verbs (irregular verbs and active and passive voice);
(vii) subordinating conjunctions (e.g., while, because, although, if)
(B) differentiate between the active and passive voice and know how to use them both
(20) Oral and Written Conventions/Handwriting, Capitalization, and Punctuation. Students write legibly
and use appropriate capitalization and punctuation conventions in their compositions. Students are
expected to:
(B) recognize and use punctuation marks including:
(iii) parentheses, brackets, and ellipses (to indicate omissions and interruptions or incomplete
statements)
(21) Oral and Written Conventions/Spelling. Students spell correctly. Students are expected to:
(A) differentiate between commonly confused terms (e.g., its, it's; affect, effect);
(B) use spelling patterns and rules and print and electronic resources to determine and check correct
spellings; and
(C) know how to use the spell-check function in word processing while understanding its limitations.
Language of Instruction
Reading and Writing: theme; figurative language; simile; metaphor; personification; hyperbole; poetic
devices; alliteration; end rhyme; internal rhyme; rhythm; symbolism; stanza; line; quatrain; syllable;
imagery; onomatopoeia; haiku; ballad; ode; sonnet; limerick; free verse; spoken word; form; style; diction;
connotation; denotation
Performance/Speaking: projection; stance; eye-contact; pacing; inflection; dynamics/volume; dramatic
pause
Grammar/Mechanics: independent clause; dependent clause; complex sentence; subordinating
conjunction; comma; parentheses; brackets; interruptions
State Assessment Connections
6th Grade STAAR Reading
Resources
- Interactive Readers
- Literature textbook (varied poems)
- 180 Days of Poetry (Atwell)
Various Poems including
- “The Ball the Rim and Him” - Al Letson
HPISD CURRICULUM
(ENGLISH, GRADE 6)
EST. NUMBER OF DAYS: 4th 9 Weeks
- “The Road Not Taken” - Robert Frost
- “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” - Robert Frost
- “Dreams” - Langston Hughes