Primary Type: Lesson Plan
Status: Published
This is a resource from CPALMS (www.cpalms.org) where all educators go for bright ideas!
Resource ID#: 32706
Unit: Poems About Death Lesson 1 of 3-- "To an Athlete
Dying Young" by A.E. Housman
This lesson supports the implementation of the Florida Standards in the 9-10 classroom. It includes the literary text as well as templates for
organization and links to pertinent materials. The purpose of this lesson is for students to read, understand, and analyze poetry. Students will
analyze the poem, "To an Athlete Dying Young" for use of figurative language, word choice, imagery, tone, style, and theme.
Subject(s): English Language Arts
Grade Level(s): 9, 10
Intended Audience: Educators
Suggested Technology: Document Camera,
Computer for Presenter, Internet Connection, LCD
Projector
Instructional Time: 1 Hour(s) 30 Minute(s)
Resource supports reading in content area: Yes
Freely Available: Yes
Keywords: poetry, tone, cause and effect, metaphor, TWIST, Housman, “To an Athlete Dying Young”
Resource Collection: CPALMS Lesson Plan Development Initiative
LESSON CONTENT
Lesson Plan Template: General Lesson Plan
Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?
In this lesson students will be able to:
Identify and interpret figurative language, particularly metaphors, used in the poem "To an Athlete Dying Young" by A.E. Housman.
Identify cause and effect relationships within the structure of the Housman poem and explain the effects this structure creates.
Analyze how the use of figurative language and word choice impacts the overall tone of the poem.
Determine themes in the poem.
Cite evidence from the poem to support their claims.
Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?
Students should be able to define, identify, and interpret the meanings of figurative language, including metaphor.
Students should have an understanding of poetic structure (i.e. stanzas, rhyme scheme).
Students should be able to identify cause and effect relationships in a text and explain how this structure affects the poem.
Students should know how to use a T-Chart to help organize knowledge.
Students should have some background information on A.E. Housman. Teachers may wish to share this link from the Poetry Foundation, this link from the Victorian
Web, or this link from Poets.org with students as a way to provide background information/an engaging hook.
Students should be able to interpret/explain the affect of author's style. See also this sample lesson for pre-teaching.
Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?
How does Housman view death?
How does Housman's tone convey meaning in the poem?
How does Housman's choice of words convey his intended meaning?
page 1 of 3 How would you characterize the Housman's style in the poem?
What are the common themes that run through the piece?
Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?
1. Upon ensuring students have an adequate amount of background knowledge on Housman (see suggested strategies in "Prior Knowledge" section above), teacher
will direct students to independently read the poem looking for possible meaning. The teacher should not reveal the title, and students' copies should not include the
title either.
2. Students will then listen as the teacher reads aloud the poem. Teacher should model meter and fluency while reading to help students appreciate the poem's
rhythm and perhaps to help students pick up on the poem's tone/author's style.
3. Individually, students will reread the poem and write down a title appropriate for the poem.
4. As a class, students will share and explain the choice for their title. Teacher should ask, "What did you read that made you give the poem that title?", providing
corrective feedback as necessary.
5. This could segue to the teacher asking students if they can interpret a possible theme for the poem based on the poem's subject and the evidence students
gathered to justify their choice of titles. Possible questions to address this part of the lesson include: "If the poem is about 'death', what is the author's take on death?
How do we know?"
Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher guidance?
1. In groups of three, students will paraphrase the first two stanzas of the poem.
2. Groups will then create the first two frames of a comic strip illustrating the first two stanzas of the poem.
3. Each group will share the first two frames of the comic strip using the document camera. The class will discuss the illustrations. The teacher will check for
comprehension/correct interpretation. While presenting comic strips, students will share their thinking. Students will note certain words in the poem to support
drawings. Teacher will ask, "What did you read that caused you to include [this] in your drawing?" The class will discuss and teacher will provide corrective feedback
as necessary.
4. The teacher should now share the title of the poem with the students. Discussion should again address the poem's possible theme(s) as well as the author's
purpose for writing it. Teacher should guide students with questions including "What possible implications of this poem's purpose/meaning does the title suggest? Does
knowing the title now alter your interpretation of poem? If so, in what way?"
5. Students will finish creating scenes within their comic strips for the entire poem. Using the document camera, student groups will share comic strips with the class.
Groups will explain illustrations using words from the poem. During class discussion, teacher will provide corrective feedback as necessary.
Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce the concepts and skills developed in the
lesson?
1. Students, working with their groups, will now paraphrase the five remaining stanzas of the poem.
2. Students will code the text. Students will underline examples of imagery and circle the metaphors used in the poem. To help students understand this process, the
teacher could incorporate these steps into the think-aloud modeling in the "Teaching Phase" section. Students can discuss within their groups.
3. Students will create a T-Chart. One side will be for the imagery and metaphors used in each stanza. The other side will be for the explanations of these. Students
can discuss within their groups and then report out to the class.
4. The teacher can then share visuals of certain metaphors used within the poem.
For example, the pictures from Pere Lachaise could be shown to illustrate the phrase, "Townsmen of a stiller town."
To illustrate "that early-laurelled head," these pictures could be shown.
To illustrate "and home we brought you shoulder high," these pictures could be shown.
Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the lesson?
Teacher will lead class in group discussion regarding how a poem's tone, word choice, structure, and theme contribute to its overall effect. To help support this
discussion, teacher should ask students to reflect upon and provide insight to the "Guiding Questions" above, using evidence from the Housman poem to support their
assertions. Teacher should ask students to explain whether these elements are able to impact the effect of all poems in general or only this one.
Summative Assessment
The teacher will evaluate students' work on the TWIST* activity and their final comic strip.
Teacher will assess students' comic strips using this rubric.
*TWIST- tone, word choice, imagery, style, theme. Students will find examples of words and phrases that demonstrate tone, imagery, style, and theme. See
attachment for directions.
Formative Assessment
The teacher will check the students' text marking and T-Charts for correct identification/interpretation of metaphors and imagery.
If students are having difficulty, teacher can model text marking on the Smartboard using think-aloud procedures.
The teacher can also point out metaphors for students, then have students work in groups to grapple with their meanings before releasing to the summative
assessment.
Feedback to Students
Students will work in groups to mark the text and discuss their markings. The teacher will monitor groups and check for understanding.
While students are working on paraphrasing, teacher will provide corrective feedback by:
Modeling a think-aloud and explaining the thought process. For example: "In stanza three the poet says, 'Smart lad, to slip betimes away,' I think that means that
the young man was smart to die young".
page 2 of 3 Asking clarifying questions. For example: "Why do you think the poet says the young man was 'smart' to die young? In stanza four what is the 'shady night'? What
does it mean that eyes are 'shut' by the shady night? In stanza five, what do you think the author means when he says 'And the name died before the man'?"
During the text marking, the teacher could assist struggling students by pointing out the metaphors in lines eight and thirteen while modeling a think-aloud. For
example: "When the author says 'Townsmen of a stiller town', I know that since this poem is titled 'To an Athlete Dying Young', the stiller town must have
something to do with death. The stiller town must mean a cemetery." Teacher could also show pictures of Pere Lachaise cemetery to help students connect with
the poem's subject/theme.
ACCOMMODATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Accommodations:
To differentiate instruction, the T-Chart can be completed in groups or with a partner.
The individual components of this model can be rearranged to meet the needs of learners.
Extensions:
This is part one of a three part lesson. Teachers can use parts 2 and 3 as extensions of this lesson.
Suggested Technology: Document Camera, Computer for Presenter, Internet Connection, LCD Projector
Special Materials Needed:
Copies of "To an Athlete Dying Young" (teacher should ensure the title is omitted before providing).
Copy of tone words to help students express their interpretation of the poem"s tone.
SOURCE AND ACCESS INFORMATION
Contributed by: Patricia Wiley
Name of Author/Source: Patricia Wiley
District/Organization of Contributor(s): Lee
Is this Resource freely Available? Yes
Access Privileges: Public
License: CPALMS License - no distribution - non commercial
Related Standards
Name
LAFS.910.RL.1.1:
LAFS.910.RL.1.2:
LAFS.910.RL.2.4:
LAFS.910.W.3.9:
Description
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences
drawn from the text.
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including
how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative
meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language
evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
a. Apply grades 9–10 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Analyze how an author draws on and transforms source
material in a specific work [e.g., how Shakespeare treats a theme or topic from Ovid or the Bible or how a later
author draws on a play by Shakespeare]”).
b. Apply grades 9–10 Reading standards to literary nonfiction (e.g., “Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific
claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false
statements and fallacious reasoning”).
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