Example of some performance tasks for poetry.
Students respond to the theme of courage in terms of how Carver responded to threats
by the Klan in Marilyn Nelson’s “Friends in the Klan”. (RL. 5.2)
Students discuss the notion of “progress” in the poem “Junkyards” by Julian Lee Rayard
and the poet’s attitude toward it. (RL. 5.2)
Students compare and contrast the sensory details used in each of the poems, “When it
is Snowing” by Siv Cedering and “Poppies” by Roy Scheele. (RL. 5.3)
Students compare and contrast the attributes of the cats described in the poem, “Every
Cat Has a Story” by Naomi Shihab Nye. (RL 5.3)
Students refer to the elements (e.g. figurative language, metaphors, similes) of Ernest
Lawrence Thayer’s “Casey at the Bat” when analyzing the poem and contrasting the
impact and differences of those elements to a prose summary of the poem. (RL.5.4)
Students identify and decode the metaphors that the author used in “Tugboat at
Daybreak” by Lillian Morrison. (RL. 5.4)
Students determine the meaning of the metaphor of a cat in Carl Sandburg’s poem,
“Fog” and contrast the figurative language to the meaning of the simile in William
Blake’s “The Echoing Green.” (RL 5.4)
Students explore the central metaphor of a storm as described in the poem “Spring
Storm” by Jim Wayne Miller. (RL 5.4)
Students will fill in a plot diagram to identify the parts of the narrative in the poem “A
Poison Tree” by William Blake. (RL. 5.5)
Students fill in an organizer to outline the narrative arc (beginning, middle, and end) of
the ballad the “Wreck of the Hesperus” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (RL5.5)
Students will examine and describe the’ family photos’ as a window into family life and
how this leads to the mood of the poem “Ode to Family Photographs” by Gary Soto.
Students will describe the narrator’s point of view of the ‘family photographs’ and how
this (RL. 5.6)
Students explore how the figurative language of the narrator in the poem, “Hoods” by
Paul B. Janeczko conveys his point of view.(RL. 5.6)
Students discuss how the sensory details in the poem, “Tugboat at Daybreak” by Lillian
Morrison create the mood of sense of quite. (RL 5.7)
Students examine the sequence of action in the poem, “Foul Shot” by Edwin A. Hoey
and the use of active verbs and how this adds to the overall effect of the poem.
(RL 5.7)
Students examine the similarities between the setting in the two poems; “Abandoned
Farmhouse” by Ted Kooser and “Deserted Farms” by (RL 5.9)