Type 1 writing
Please Do Now!
What characteristics do you need to be a good mother or father?
Please write 5 lines that describe a good mother or father.
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Type 2 writing
Poem:
Bats by Randall Jarrell
In the poem Bats by Randall Jarrell the author describes many different
things the mother bat does with their baby bat. Do you think the bat from
the poem is a good mother? ______________
Find strong evidence in the poem to support your answer:
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*How does this part of the poem show that the mother was good or
bad?_________________________________________________
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Text: Bats by Randall Jarrell
Purpose: Whole group read of text through close reading and TDQ
progression to guide students in their understanding of complex texts in
conjunction with opportunities for writing to learn.
Comprehension standards: RL4.1, RL4.2, RL4.3, RL4.4, RL4.5, RL4.6
(Do not read to students) Lesson focus: Baby bats are dependent on their
mother for survival. Through reading this poem students will be analyzing
the importance of the care a mother bat gives to its newborn and how it
affects its survival.
Before reading: Activate prior knowledge
1. Students will complete, independently, and share the Type 1 writing
prompt.
2. Set purpose with students: As I read the poem Bats by Randall
Jarrell I want you to think how the author describes the mother and
baby bat.
During reading:
Teacher reads the text aloud. Students follow on their copy but do not
annotate at this time.
Level 1: What does the text say? Students are asked to be prepared to use their pencil or
highlighter to locate textual evidence in poem, with their partner.
General Understandings: Describe what a newborn bat is like. Go back
into the poem and find how the author describes a newborn bat. (line 2)
Key Details: Go back into the poem and find the text that can answer
these questions:
When do the mother and baby bat fly? (Line 9, 12, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25)
When do the mother and baby bat sleep? (Line 25, 33)
What do bats eat? (Line 9, 17, 21)
Level 2: How does the text work?
Vocabulary:
How does the author describe the mother bat’s cries? (Line 10, 11, 12)
What words tell us what the bats look like? (Line 4, 5, 28, 29, 31, 35)
Structure:
Where does the poem begin? (After the birth of the baby bat, line 1)
Where does it end? (on the rafters of a home, barn, building, line 26)
What does this tell us about a bat’s life? Predictive inference
Author’s Craft:
Does this poem rhyme? Why do you think the author chose not to use
rhyming?
Level 3: What does the text mean?
Author’s Purpose:
What does the mother bat do to care for her baby?
After Reading: Formative assessment
Students complete the Type 2 writing and use their evidence to support
the shared writing piece.
Level 4: Opinion with Evidence or Argument
Whole group shared writing template: Students use their Type 2 writing to
support this process. Do you think the bat from the poem is a good
mother?
After reading the poem, Bats by Randall Jarrell, it is evident that the
mother bat is a ___________ mother. The poem states this _______
and it show me that_______________________.
Data Collection tool for teachers
Skills Taught:
1. Close reading: Are students following the text as the teacher reads?
Are students able to go back into the text, multiple times for
multiple purposes, with engagement and maintaining focus?
2. Annotation of text: (underline, highlight, notes, questions)
Are students using annotation when citing textual evidence?
How complex are their annotations?
Are they relevant to the task or question?
3. Finding evidence and citing text: Are students citing text that
supports the answer to the question?
Are students using quotations when they write their evidence?
4. Analyze: (The author’s description about mother bat and her baby)
Are students able to effectively explain how the textual evidence
supports their opinion about the mother bat?
5. Speaking and listening: Are student responses relevant to the
question?
Are students able to effectively communicate their thought process?
Are students able to listen to their partner and comment on their
responses?
Are student pairings appropriate for collaborative work?
Reflection debrief notes:
Bats
by Randall Jarrell
1
A bat is born
2
Naked and blind and pale.
3
His mother makes a pocket of her tail
4
And catches him. He clings to her long fur
5
By his thumbs and toes and teeth.
6
And then the mother dances through the night
7
Doubling and looping, soaring, somersaulting—
8
Her baby hangs on underneath.
9
All night, in happiness, she hunts and flies.
10
Her high sharp cries
11
Like shining needlepoints of sound
12
Go out into the night and, echoing back,
13
Tell her what they have touched.
14
She hears how far it is, how big it is,
15
Which way it’s going:
16
She lives by hearing.
17
The mother eats the moths and gnats she catches
18
In full flight; in full flight
19
The mother drinks the water of the pond
20
She skims across. Her baby hangs on tight.
21
Her baby drinks the milk she makes him
22
In moonlight or starlight, in mid-air.
23
Their single shadow, printed on the moon
24
Or fluttering across the stars,
25
Whirls on all night; at daybreak
26
The tired mother flaps home to her rafter.
27
The others all are there.
28
They hang themselves up by their toes,
29
They wrap themselves in their brown wings.
30
Bunched upside down, they sleep in air.
31
Their sharp ears, their sharp teeth, their quick sharp faces
32
Are dull and slow and mild.
33
All the bright day, as the mother sleeps,
34
She folds her wings about her sleeping child.