Lesson Plan for the Stanislaus Poem
Note to Teachers: This lesson was written by a junior high English teacher using a lesson plan model
most teachers are familiar with in one way or another, but please feel free to modify as needed for
both your grade level and your student population. This is a set of ideas, not commandments. Thank
you for taking time to keep poetry in your classroom and for everything you do!
This lesson can be completed as a whole class project, or in small groups, pairs, or individually.
This lesson can take as long as the teacher needs, but probably should be no shorter than two half
hour periods or one hour-long period.
Suggested Lesson Objectives:
Students will write a quatrain, a four-line rhymed or unrhymed poem, that reflects a positive aspect
of life in Stanislaus County.
Students will create a “word picture” in the form of a quatrain about something they like about our
area.
Students will use imagery, figurative language (metaphors, similes, or personification), and (possibly)
rhyme to reflect a positive aspect of life in Stanislaus County. (Of course, this one could be further
unpacked to focus on just imagery or just similes or just rhyme.)
Students will practice the writing process as they create quatrains for the Stanislaus Poem.
Accessing Prior Knowledge:
The teacher can lead the students to think about what they like about living in Stanislaus County.
(For younger grades, the teacher might need to define county or to limit the discussion to what the
students like about the neighborhood, town, or school.) The teacher can discuss landscape, activities,
friends, family, weather…anything the students might find beautiful and positive about living in our
area.
The teacher might consider creating a class web or cluster of student ideas on the board.
If any negative aspects of life here come up (there’s nothing to do; the air gives me asthma, etc.), the
teacher could redirect students to look for the positive. (i.e.: what a joy it is when the air is clear and
we can see the mountains around us, going to the river for a picnic, etc.).
Concept Development:
The teacher will explain that some poems have forms (haiku have three lines and a certain number
of syllables, sonnets have fourteen lines and a specific rhythm, etc.). The poem students will write
today will have four lines and is called a quatrain (relate to the Latin quad- and the Spanish cuatro). The
lines can be as long or as short as the writer likes, but should share something that is important or
beautiful to the writer about living in our area.
The teacher will share two or three of the sample quatrains, pointing out the four lines that make up
the poem and pointing out the ‘word picture’ the poem creates. The teacher can ask, “What does
this poet find beautiful/important/positive about living in our area.” After looking at two or three
quatrains, the teacher can share a couple more, asking the students to point out what makes this
poem a quatrain, what is the ‘word picture’ created, what is the positive idea or image, what is it the
poet likes about our area. In addition, if the quatrain sample rhymes, the teacher could point out the
rhyme scheme (Which lines rhyme with each other? How do they create a pattern? Options: AABB,
ABAB, ABBA, etc.)
Checking for Understanding
(can be done with white boards or non-volunteers)
The teacher may ask
* What makes a quatrain?
* How many lines are in a quatrain?
* Can anyone tell me what Spanish word quatrain is related to?
* What is one aspect of our lives here in Stanislaus County that your quatrain could be
about? (i.e.: hawks nesting in the cedar next to my house!)
• What is one aspect of our lives here in Stanislaus County that your quatrain would
probably not be about? (i.e.: someone graffitied our fence)
• Can your quatrain rhyme? Does it have to rhyme?
• What should your quatrain create in the readers’ minds? (a word picture/imagery)
Guided Practice/Skill Development (I do/You do)
The teacher demonstrates (thinking aloud) writing a quatrain about a positive aspect of life in
Stanislaus County. It is strongly suggested that the teacher write a quatrain ahead of time and refer
to that as their think aloud, but teachers could also use the following quatrain and think aloud to
demonstrate if they choose:
Teacher Talk:
Poem:
I want to write a poem today about something
that I really like about living in our area. Hmmm.
What do I really like? I have to think hard about
this because sometimes it’s not easy to see the
beautiful in an area we are so familiar with and
sometimes I may just forget to notice those
things, so….hmmm…I have hawks nesting in a
really tall cedar tree across from my back yard.
And they’ve been building a nest every year for
Idea! Hawks in the cedar tree!
the past four years and raising their hatchlings,
so I think I want to write about that.
Now, what do I especially like about the
hawks? I like to see them swoop into the top of
Brainstorm about hawks:
the tree and I like to see them fly off again. I like
Flying in and out
to hear their calls to each other. I like the way
Calling to each other
they are shadowed against the sky at dusk. And I
Getting chased
think the way they get chased sometimes by
Kings and Queens of the neighborhood
smaller birds is funny. I love their grace and their
majesty…by majesty I mean they seem like kings
and queens of our whole neighborhood, and it
makes me really happy that they come back year
after year.
Now I want to figure out what I most want
my poem to say, and sometimes poets don’t
know this ahead of time. Sometimes the poet has
to write the poem first and then see what it says
to know what they really want to say, and that is
a-okay. Now I’m going to use some of my ideas
to write this little poem.
I think I want to start here with placing the
hawks in time, so I’m going to use twilight
because I like seeing them silhouetted against the
getting-dark sky. I like including the name of the
tree because I want to be specific. I could just
say tree, but a cedar looks really different from,
say a crape myrtle even though they are both
trees. Being specific helps create a better ‘word
picture’.
I really like how the hawks call to each other as
well. It makes me happy to know that they are
there and communicating, so I want to mention
the calls and I think I might tie that in to them
being kings and queens. When I think of kings
and queens, I think of medieval times, so I think
of swords and hawks do have very sharp,
screechy voices, so I think I can use a metaphor
here…their voices are sharp as swords (that’s a
simile), but I’m going to make it shorter and say
‘sword-sharp.’ Remember that in poetry every
word counts so if you don’t have to use extra
words, don’t. Poetry can be simple, short and
powerful all at the same time. You don’t need to
get all fancy…
I want to continue with the idea of them being
king and queen of the neighborhood, so I am
still thinking about kings and queens, and I know
that kings and queens usually wear…what do
they wear?...right! Crowns! But hawks don’t wear
crowns, so maybe I can say that right here in the
poem. They don’t wear crowns, but they are still
pretty royal.
So the idea of them being royal is really
growing in this poem. I think that might be a big
idea for me, so I’m going to stick with it. They
don’t wear crowns, but they are still in charge,
they are still royal and everyone knows it.
Hmmm…I think I’m going to put that in my
poem too. And I think I’m going to put in a nod
to my town of Modesto (Modesto means modest
First draft:
At twilight, we see them, our hawks. They swoop
out and down and into the cedar calling to each other
with their sword-sharp voices.
They don’t wear crowns
in Spanish) so I’m going to mention my town
without really mentioning it. (That’s called an
allusion, a hint at something.) And I want to end
my poem with a really strong, visual word maybe
realm? Maybe territory? No, I think I’ll bring it
back to the king idea and use kingdom.
So let me put my ideas together now and see
how they turn out…
but everyone knows that this modest place is
Okay! I like this pretty well, but I think I can
make it work even better and I know it has to be
a quatrain, but right now it looks like it is six
lines instead of four, so I need to fix that.
I’m going to move the and from the first line
down to the second, and I think I’m going to put
the fourth line up one as the second part of the
third. And I think I want to change, “They don’t
wear crowns to something else that sounds more
formal, so I want to get rid of the contractions,
so… “They wear no crowns…” The fragment
that looks like the sixth line is really part of the
fifth (or what will be the fourth, but because of
the formatting here it is indented to show that it
is part of the one above. So, a second draft
might look like this.
Okay! I like this better. I’m going to read it
aloud a couple of times to make sure it sounds
just right. In fact, I’m going to read it once and
then I wonder if I can have a couple of
volunteers to read it aloud. Thank you! I think
this is going to be my final draft.
And I don’t need to worry about a title since
this will just be one part of what we hope will be
a very big and wonderful poem celebrating our
county.
their kingdom.
At twilight, we see them, our hawks. They swoop out
and down and into the cedar calling to each other
with their sword-sharp voices.
They wear no crowns,
but everyone knows that this modest place is
their kingdom.
At twilight, we see them, our hawks. They swoop out
and down and into the cedar calling to each other
with their sword-sharp voices. They wear no crowns,
but everyone knows that this modest place is really
their kingdom.
At twilight, we see them, our hawks. They swoop out
and down and into the cedar calling to each other
with their sword-sharp voices. They wear no crowns,
but everyone knows that this modest place is really their kingdom.
So, now it is the students’ job to write a poem. They can work as individuals, in small groups, or as a
class to do this. Remind them that it is okay to write something and then decide to write something
different. The important thing is to create a quatrain that shares something they think is great about
our area, creating a “word picture” and/or using figurative language or rhyme (whatever your
emphasis is) to do this.
Check for Understanding:
Use the questions in the CFU section above. In addition, you might ask
•
•
•
•
•
Do the poems need have to have short lines or long lines? (either is fine)
What is a “word picture”?
Is it okay to write something and then to decide to change it? (yes!)
Is your quatrain going to be about something you like about our area?
And of course, you can create CFU questions to fit the specific emphasis of your lesson
(i.e.: figurative language, rhyme scheme, etc.)
The students write while the teacher circulates and provides encouragement. It might help younger
grades to draw a picture of their idea first to get their ideas flowing or to draw a picture to go along
with their quatrain. (Please note, though, that no pictures will be published as part of this
collaborative work.)
Closure:
Have students share what they have written so far. (A mini poetry café?)
Or, ask any of the above CFU questions and have them write answers on their whiteboards and do a
class check.
Or, have them write three questions they think people should know the answer to (and have them
write the answer too!) after today’s lesson and turn these in to become a quick review tomorrow.
If they want to write more than one quatrain, please encourage them to do so and then have them
chose the one they like best to send in to the Stanislaus Poem.
If necessary, don’t forget to attain the proper parent permission needed to submit your students’
poetry to this project. You don’t need to send this to us, but it might be good for you to have on
hand. Be sure to include the names of every poet involved as well as your name, school, and contact
information.
Please mail your students’ quatrains (and yours too, we hope!) to the
Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center
P.O. Box 578940
Modesto, California 95357
We will publish up to 300 quatrains in a print edition of the Stanislaus Poem, and every quatrain
submitted will be published on our website.